Our remembrance of the late legendary ad man Hal Riney based on an interview with his long-time collaborator, noted editor Jacques Dury (4/11 SHOOT spot.com.mentary), hearkened back to the past. While that perspective was valuable in shedding light on Riney’s indelible imprint on our industry and how his work has stood the test of time, another aspect we didn’t touch upon was how Riney’s work carried future implications by virtue of being way head of its time.
Consider the contemporary buzz about the cooperative coming together of ad music and the record (CD) industry–and spot music becoming mainstream entertainment unto itself as reflected in SHOOT’s Music & Sound Series coverage last month (4/25), which included DDB San Francisco and Clorox releasing in response to public demand The Blue Sky Project CD containing select tracks from that client’s spots.
In that same topical vein, arguably the current holy grail would be to have music from a commercial become–or at least spawn–a hit song atop the Billboard music charts. Yet for Riney, this musical nirvana would hardly be a novel notion.
While he was at BBDO San Francisco in the early 1970s, Riney hired an up-and-coming songwriters Paul Williams and Roger Nichols to compose a theme for Crocker Bank. The song, “”We’ve Only Just Begun,” went on to become a number one hit by The Carpenters.
Furthermore, as the Association of Music Producers (AMP) looks to gain Grammy Award recognition for spot music (SHOOT, 4/18), it’s relevant to note that “We’ve Only Just Begun” was in 1998 inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of lasting quality or historical significance.
Industry vet Susie Goldberg–a production assistant at the time of the Crocker spot working with Riney and his colleague, the now late director Dick Snider of the venerable N. Lee Lacy/Associates–recently helped SHOOT connect with Williams who shared his remembrance of “We’ve Only Just Begun.”
“I didn’t know him [Riney] well but remember him as being a very likeable and amiable man,” related Williams. “We had a brief meeting or two around the time of ‘Begun’ and I’m forever grateful for his part in the birth of the song…but, there aren’t really any great tales to tell. It seems to me he was a natural ‘storyteller’ and lovingly connected with his audience, the market he was addressing.
“Hal asked only that we write a little song to accompany his footage of a wedding, the reception and the young couple driving off into the sunset,” continued Williams. “He promised no audible copy and only the printed tag ‘You’ve got a long way to go .. we’d like to help you get there. The Crocker Bank.’ He didn’t want a jingle. What he envisioned we’d recognize today as a music video. Soft sell romanticism.
“When Roger Nichols and I wrote ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ for the spot, we simply finished it as a song in case anyone wanted to add it as an album cut. Happily Richard Carpenter saw the commercial and asked about the song. An angel sang it and the rest as they say…is simply advertising and musical history.”
“Se7en” Turns 30, Gets A Special Restoration From David Fincher For Its Re-Release
For David Fincher, seeing “Se7en” in 4K was an experience he can only describe as harrowing. That or a high school reunion.
“There are definitely moments that you go, ‘What was I thinking?’ Or ‘Why did I let this person have that hairdo’?” Fincher said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He’s OK with the film being a product of its time in most respects. But some things just could not stand in high-definition resolution.
“It was a little decrepit, to be honest,” said Fincher. “We needed to resuscitate it. There are things you can see in 4K HDR that you cannot see on a film print.”
Ever the perfectionist, he and a team got to work on a new restoration of the film for its 30th anniversary re-release. This weekend the restored “Se7en” will play on IMAX screens for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, and on Jan. 7, the 4K UHD home video version will be available as well.
The dark crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives looking for a serial killer was somewhat of a career-reviver for Fincher, whose directorial debut “Alien 3” had not gone well. “Se7en” was not a sure thing: It was made for only $34 million (and only got that when Fincher managed to persuade studio execs to give up $3 million more). But it went on to earn more than $327 million, not accounting for inflation, and continues to influence the genre.
Fincher has over the years overseen several restorations of the film (including one for laser disc) but decided this needed to be the last. It’s why he insisted on an 8K scan that they could derive the 4K from. He wanted to ensure that it wouldn’t have to be repeated when screens get more... Read More