NYC-based audio postproduction studio Plush is expanding its team, bringing audio and music shop Headroom aboard its roster. The expanded company will operate under the Plush banner. Headroom’s composer/producer Jerry Plotkin will join the team, along with mixer/sound designer Evan Spear and producer Hanna Choi, and will add their slate of clients to Plush’s robust lineup of long-term clients across advertising, television, film, and beyond. With the addition of Headroom’s talent, Plush will continue to bring its audio and video innovation to a rapidly changing industry, working with agencies as well as direct-to-client. In addition to traditional media, for example, Plush is actively producing audio for newly emerged platforms such as VR, including immersive audio for the Broadway show “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The New Musical,” an interactive mobile experience for Netflix’s “13 Reasons Why”, and a benefit VR experience for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. This growth will position Plush to continue to allow the company to increase its services and partner with an expanding list of clients in both new and existing industries.
Noted Plush president/composer Mike Levesque Sr., “Bringing Jerry and his Headroom team under our roof at Plush means that we can amplify our offerings, allowing us to focus on the work and continue to expand our talent and capabilities to better serve our clients.”
Added Plotkin, “Our two organizations hold the same values, including an unwavering commitment to excellence. We couldn’t have found a better fit and we look forward to bringing the best of Headroom to Plush–and the best of Plush to our clients.”
Recent projects out of Plush include a spot for JetBlue, directed by and starring Spike Lee, and a powerful Kesha short film, “I Need a Woman to Love” that features the popstar officiating a wedding as part of the Universal Love project from MGM Resorts, out of McCann NY. Recent projects out of Headroom include audio post for Google, P&G, GE, Clinique, and original compositions for Ford and Pfizer.
More Than A Game: Bringing Sincere Representation Of The Shawnee Tribe To Civilization 7
Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes grew up playing video games, including "probably hundreds of hours" colonizing a distant planet in the 1999 title Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.
So when that same game studio, Firaxis, approached the tribal nation a quarter-century later with a proposal to make a playable character out of their famous leader Tecumseh in the upcoming game Civilization 7, Barnes felt a rush of excitement.
"I was like, 'This can't be true,'" Barnes said. "Do they want us to participate in the next version of Civilization?"
Beloved by tens of millions of gamers since its 1991 debut, Meier's Civilization series sparked a new genre of empire-building games that simulated the real world while also diverging into imaginary twists. It has captivated nerdy fans like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and a young Barnes with its intricate and addictive gameplay and rich historical context.
Choosing among leaders that can range from Cleopatra to Mahatma Gandhi, players build a civilization from its first settlement to a sprawling network of cities, negotiate with or conquer neighbors, and develop trade, science, religion and the arts. Circana, which tracks U.S. game sales, says it's the bestselling strategy video game franchise of all time.
But things have changed since the early days of Civilization. Of course, video game technology has advanced, but so too has society's understanding of cultural appropriation and the importance of accurate historical framing.
Firaxis dropped plans to add a historical Pueblo leader in 2010 after tribal leaders objected. The game incorporated a Cree leader in 2018 but faced public criticism in Canada after its release.
Developers knew that to properly represent the Shawnee leader, they would... Read More