Cole Webley, whose spot roosts are Uber Content in the U.S. and Holiday Films in Canada, directed this self-financed passion project, a short film which inspired and is set to a poem written by Chateau Bezerra, an art director at AKQA. The two were university classmates and Webley went on to collaborate on some of the director’s first spec work.
“The film is a visual expression of the angst of being lost–emotionally,” explained Webley. “It represents something we all go through, and something that is integral to the human experience. We certainly don’t like it, but we almost can’t avoid feeling this way at some time or another.”
Feeling the need to re-charge his batteries, after a busy year shooting commercial films, Webley began this project as a personal creative outlet. He had been shooting a lot of footage and was in the process of editing it together, and trying to figure out a way to tie it all together, when he showed the footage to Bezerra who was immediately inspired to write the poem.
Webley instantly fell in love with the poem, and it provided him with the structure and the narrative he’d been seeking. He then shot more footage, to fill in the gaps, and began cutting it to the poem after the voiceover by Jessica Vizzone was recorded.
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More