HARRY COCCIOLO, GEORDIE STEPHENS PLAY BALL WITH OAKLAND A'S, AGENCY ELEVEN
HARRY COCCIOLO, GEORDIE STEPHENS PLAY BALL WITH OAKLAND A’S, AGENCY ELEVENHarry Cocciolo and Geordie Stephens of Santa Monica-based Tool of North America teamed as creatives and directors of a multi-spot campaign for the Oakland A’s out of San Francisco ad agency Eleven. With industry roots as agency creatives before making a successful transition to the director’s chair, Cocciolo and Stephens were pegged by Eleven to not only helm but also write and art direct the commercials which show the comical effects on a suburban neighborhood when several A’s players move in as residents.
For instance, in “Wilkins,” we open on an elderly couple perched in lounge chairs in their suburban backyard. The woman explains, “They’re such nice boys. They’re so good with the kids in the neighborhood,” and we cut to a few A’s players and kids throwing the ball around the neighborhood. “We don’t get to the game very often–but we still feel the thrill of the game,” she continues, as the crack of a bat sends a ball sailing from the cul-de-sac toward them. “Bill! Bill! Get your glove!” yells the woman, which prompts Bill, her husband, to make far too slow an effort to catch the ball. Instead, the barbecue stops it, knocking ash and the cover to the ground. We see that the ball is one of many now resting in the yard. Back out in the cul-de-sac, an A’s player rounds the bases for a homerun–and the team logo and super appear above the action: “100% Baseball.”
For Eleven, Paul Curtin and Robyn Wilkinson served as creative director and producer, respectively.
Jennifer Siegel and Brian Latt executive produced for Tool with Jeff Tanner line producing. The DP was Adam Beckman. Production designer was Jamie Frank.
Editor was Kevin Zimmerman of The Whitehouse, Santa Monica.
BACK TO KODAK FILMSCHOOL FOR JUDGE AND CINEMATOGRAPHER DON BURGESS, ASC Oscar-nominated cinematographer (Forrest Gump) Don Burgess, ASC, will judge the Asia Pacific, Latin America and European entries of the 2008 Kodak FilmSchool Competition. Now in its ninth year, the competition is designed to recognize the creativity and skills exhibited by student cinematographers in the collaborative process of visual storytelling. It is open to students and recent film school graduates from Asia Pacific, Latin America, the United States and Canada, and more recently the European region. Regional FilmSchool Competition winners will be announced by November 1. Submissions are still being accepted. The grand prize includes a trip to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France for each of the regional winning filmmakers. Winning entries are screened at the festival and the filmmakers are invited to participate in a tailored program of seminars and industry activities hosted by Kodak. For more info, visit www.kodak.com/go/filmschoolcompetition.
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Lift Motion Design, Chicago, has added motion graphics designer and animator Kyle Shoup. He comes over from Lightborne, a Cincinnati-based animation studio where he worked on music videos, spot and broadcast projects. On the music clip front, he wrote and co-directed the video “Summer Skin” for Death Cab For Cutie…..Ian Beavis has joined media/marketing shop Carat in a new senior role as executive VP/executive client director. Beavis, who will work out of the agency’s Los Angeles office, most recently served as VP of marketing, PR and product planning for Kia Motors America….
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