DISTRACTED DRIVING AT THE WORKPLACE
We open on a de-saturated, darkly lit shot of an office interior. A solitary, fatigued executive labors quietly over paperwork, accompanied by only the faint ticking of a wall clock marking the increasingly late hour. Suddenly, the executive is smashed into his desk with the force of a head-on collision. Glass, papers and objects go flying on impact. Time slows for a split second as the executive’s body heaves forward before coming to rest lifelessly on the now-decimated desktop.
An unflinching camera remains trained on the devastating tableau until slowly dissolving to a stark white-on-black graphic: “7 of 10 accidents occur when you are thinking of something else.” A follow-up super urges us to buy insurance and then identifies the sponsor, the Association of Mexican Insurance Companies.
Directed by Rodrigo Garcia Saiz of L.A.-based Boxer Films–and produced by his Mexico City roost, Central Films–the spot titled “Crash” was filmed by DP Alberto Casillas entirely in-camera with a network of wires and pulleys attached to the actor; the rig was erased later in post. Agency is Ogilvy & Mather, Mexico.
CINELICIOUS FINDS, VALUES ITS SCANITY
Hollywood, Calif.-based Cinelicious has acquired the Scanity, a new high dynamic range, 2K/4K electronically pin-registered scanner manufactured by Digital Film Technology. Cinelicious, which was launched last year (SHOOTonline, 3/3/10), becomes what’s believed to be the first post house in North America to offer this technology to commercial advertising clients.
Cinelicious executive producer/principal Paul Korver described Scanity as a revolutionary scanner that can dramatically increase quality while decreasing turnaround time and costs for high-end VFX qualified scans. He observed that there’s a common misnomer that all development for imaging systems is being done in the digital arena and that there’s nothing new in the film space. The Scanity, he said, shoots that misconception out of the water.
Cinelicious’ Scanity comes fully featured and can scan both 16mm and 35mm film at up to 4K resolution. While anchoring Cinelicious’ 4K DI pipeline, the Scanity also provides unique opportunities to commercial and remastering clients, with Cinelicious contending that the new technology offers increased quality and efficiency over older film scanning technologies.
Korver had extensive proprietary resolution test films made in order to put Scanity and other systems through their paces. Based on its performance handling extreme challenges in resolution, dynamic range and registration/steadiness, the Scanity became Cinelicious’ first choice. The acquisition of the Scanity represents Cinelicious’ biggest investment to date.
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS….Trailer Park Interactive, a division of Hollywood, Calif.-based entertainment-marketing agency Trailer Park, has added Amy Gunzenhauser as director of social media. Gunzenhauser will lead Trailer Park Interactive’s social media team, shepherding initiatives from concept to strategic implementation. She will report directly to Michael Faulkner, the division’s VP, interactive accounts. Prior to joining Trailer Park Interactive, Gunzenhauser was marketing manager/social media strategist for FEARnet…..Joel Kaplan has joined San Francisco agency Eleven as associate creative director. He comes from Pereira & O’Dell in San Francisco where he was a senior copywriter on work for such clients as Corona, Captain Morgan and University of Phoenix….
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