4th Annual New Directors Showcase
On May 25, SHOOT unveiled its fourth annual New Directors Showcase reel. The 25 helmers–including three two-person teams–selected for the Showcase come from diverse backgrounds. However, the bond they share is great style, vision and commitment–whether it be reflected in comedy, visuals or storytelling. Helping fashion the Showcase lineup were entries from SHOOT‘s ongoing “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery, assorted submissions, and feedback from agency creatives and producers. Here’s a look at this year’s field:
Zack & J.C.
No affiliation
Mountain Dew’s “Foley” (spec)
How did you get into directing?
When Zack was 10 years old, he went into the woods with a video camera to recreate the film First Blood. Having a tough time casting POWs in the Pocono Mountains, Zack acted out all the roles on his own. Zack revisited the good ol’ days when he shot and directed his multi award-winning short film The Clearing in the same woods 15 years later. J.C.’s call to action came in a darkened theater during “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He knew from that moment on that he was either going to be an archaelogist or a filmmaker. Having trouble securing a plane ticket to Cairo, he decided to turn his lens on the streets of New York. The result was “Model Chaser,” a Hamptons Film Festival winner, and official selection of festivals around the globe. Our worlds collided in the graduate film program at NYU and we’ve been collaborating ever since.
Why do you want to direct commercials?
Some of the best creative work happens in the short-form realm. You can tackle a joke head on and do things that are off-kilter and forward thinking. As a directing team, we also know and appreciate the value of good collaboration, and how it can propel work to the next level. Commercials take advantage of this collaboration more so than any art form and we’re very excited to work with insightful agency creatives and clients.
What is your most recent spot project?
With just a few spec spots under our belts, we were given our first
national campaign by the founder of GenSpec Vitamins. He trusted us to carry out his agency’s creative ideas, and to fuel the launch of his new product. We also wrote and directed a branded entertainment short film for Aquafina through Tribal DDB.
Do you have plans to work in other areas–e.g., shorts, films, features or TV? Have you ever done any of that in the past?
We’re excited to parlay our success in the short film world into branded entertainment. We also have a feature script in development, and have toyed with the idea of making a flip book of “War and Peace.”
What do you think is the best part about being a director?
Working with actors.
What’s the worst part?
We’ll never get to live out our childhood dream of becoming actuaries.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More