Doug Liman Directs "Catch Me If You Can"
Director Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, The Bourne Identity) via Independent Media, and Lost Planet editor Hank Corwin teamed up with VFX/post house Method and Sonic Union mixer Paul Weiss to make a lost phone search a death-defying adventure in the new :60 “Catch Me If You Can” for Verizon Wireless out of mcgarrybowen. The spot features a man losing his Google Now-enabled Droid in the back of a nightmarishly erratic taxicab, and having to chase it down in action-film-star fashion. Stephen Dewey of Machine Head provided the dynamic sound design, creating a realistic urban environment.
“Catch Me If You Can” opens on a man riding in a taxicab piloted by a distracted and impatient driver. “Three blocks up,” requests the man as the driver yaks on his phone, narrowly avoids accidents and almost misses the destination completely. A title card appears, “Episode I: Rough Ride.” The man gets out of the cab and quickly realizes he left his phone inside, but it’s too late. The cab and phone speed away, sending the man sprinting after. He races through parks and down sidewalks until he’s lost sight of the cab. The ride in the racing cab bounces the phone off the ceiling and slams it against its car doors as a voiceover begins, “Reinforced with scratch-resistant glass and a uni-body made Kevlar strong.” Standing in the street, the man calls out, “OK, Google Now, call my Droid.” Voice activated, the phone rings, allowing him to retrieve it as the voiceover concludes, “The new Droid Ultra by Motorola. When strength matters, Droid does.”
Hunter Williams Named PMI’s Exec Director The Production Music Association, which promotes and protects the rights and interests of publishers and composers of production music for use in film, TV, radio and new media, has appointed Hunter Williams as its executive director. Williams, who will be based in Nashville, replaces Debra Young Krizman who continues with the PMA in her new role as VP, operations.
Prior to joining the PMA, Williams spent 20 years at SESAC, most recently as sr. VP, strategic development/distribution and research operations. During this time, Williams made great strides within the organization overseeing all royalty distribution operations, including the development of distribution and survey methodologies, performance tracking across all applicable media, and the maintenance of the company’s repertory and performance databases. He also oversaw the company’s research and analysis division, which helped drive strategic development by identifying new business opportunities. Under Williams’ leadership, SESAC pioneered the use of digital fingerprint and watermark technologies to track and pay royalties for performances on radio, TV and new media.
People In The News… Paul Abatemarco has joined Brand New School as exec producer of its L.A. office. He hails from past EP positions at MPC Creative and Stardust, and has worked with agencies including TBWA/Chiat/Day, Deutsch, Goodby Silverstein & Partners and Leo Burnett on campaigns for brands such as Nissan, Google, Adidas, American Airlines, and the Grammys….Bicoastal music/sound house Amber has brought Joey Reyes on board as sr. producer. Formerly at music shops Nylon and stimung, Reyes has produced music on spots for Gap, Puma, Levi’s and DirecTV, among others…
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