Nice Shoes has opened the Nice Shoes Creative Studio headed by executive producer Geraint Owen. Joining Owen are newly signed creative director/director James Coulson, creative director/director Harry Dorrington and VFX/animation director Steve Parish. Entering its 18th year as a shop known for its color grading and finishing, Nice Shoes has expanded its creative capabilities and constructed a new workspace for the Creative Studio team on the company’s NYC premises.
“We make stuff, and the Creative Studio combines the best thinking and the best making,” said Owen. “It’s start to finish, immersive storytelling through purposeful design, with the highest regard for craft–what we call ‘Content by Design’.”
As founder of design and live-action company Süperfad, Owen spent the last 12 years making work for a long list of clients including Adidas, X-Games, Target, Bloomberg, American Express and Durex. He’s known for assembling teams that create smart, eye-popping solutions. Owen joined Nice Shoes in mid-2013 and began forming his approach and talented new team.
Coulson began his career at the BBC in London. He’s led teams in all aspects of production and post for Imaginary Forces, Psyop and B Reel in New York and oversaw the re-brand of The Sci Fi Channel to Syfy. His clients include BMW, Nike, HBO, IBM, Def Jam and MTV.
Dorrington is a creative with a reputation for graphics and animation, a shelf full of notable awards, and an Emmy nomination. His career has spanned the BBC, English & Pocket (UK), Lambie-Nairn (UK), R/Greenberg Associates and Gravity/Rhino in NY.
Parish has vast experience in both television and film, having worked at QuietMan, Smoke & Mirrors, and The Mill. His endeavors span campaigns for Pepsi, GE, AT&T, HBO, Coca Cola, Spike Lee, and The Beatles Rockband “Abbey Road” commercial. At Industrial Light & Magic, Parish worked on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and more recently Elysium and Thor: The Dark World while at Whisky Tree.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More