By KATHY DeSALVO
Director/cameraman Steve McWilliams, whos spent the last 10 years at Dallas-based Bednarz Film, has left to open his own Dallas production shop, The Steve Show.
McWilliams joined Bednarz Filmhis first production company roost – at its inception in 89. There he had worked alongside company principal/ director Jeff Bednarz. Prior to that, he spent a decade as a freelance DP for local and regional directors in the Texas market. Among his DP credits are assorted longform films, including the 86 video release The Revenge (John Carradines last film), and numerous commercialsmany of which were directed by Bednarz. Before his DP period, McWilliams spent four years as a post supervisor at now-defunct Dallas production company Sunrise Studios.
According to McWilliams, he was prompted to go out on his own in order to break away from Bednarz and establish a higher profile for himself in the market. It was difficult to work in the shadow of Jeff Bednarz, observed McWilliams, who said others had encouraged him to go solo. I would always be the second director there. (Bednarz Film signed third director Allen Kennedy last year, (SHOOT, 7/24/98, p. 8.)
In addition, McWilliams said, he has also been working on in-camera effects projects involving single-frame and stop-frame motion animation, and the manipulation of film elements. He has honed these organic techniques using his own equipment consisting of a 35mm motion control camera, time lapse cameras and a 35mm animation stand. According to McWilliams, his in-camera handiwork appears in portions of several 97 Doritos spots for BBDO, New York, for which Bednarz helmed the live action. The spots were Boy, World and Classroom.
They [Bednarz Film] werent really sure what to do with the in-camera effects side of my commercial world, said McWilliams. Id like to explore that some more, and Bednarz is just a commercial company, so this service of providing raw footage for post houses wasnt really in the mix.
At press time, McWilliams hadnt hired an executive producer or sales representation for The Steve Show, although he plans to. He does not, however, plan to add more directors, preferring to remain a one-man shop. The company is called The Steve Show, said McWilliams, with a laugh.
Among McWilliams directorial credits are spots for Nokia and PrimeCo phones via The Richards Group, Dallas; the Dept. of Transportation via GSD&M, Austin; Tony Romas restaurants via Hadeler Sullivan & Law, Dallas; and a client-direct spot for the American Heart Association.
Asked about his style, McWilliams answered, I want to do, and have had my best success, with concept-driven spots with some Amovie magic in them, be it compositing, motion control or special effects; some sort of trickery. Thats really what Im known for. People have said Im kind of like MacGyver: I come up with some wacky way to photograph something or achieve some effect.
To that end, McWilliams has also invented a patent pending device known as the EyeLiner (its web site is http://www. mceyeliner.com) which is now available for rental at Panavision, Dallas. The focusing device is a mirrored reflective contraption that resembles a teleprompter and is intended to pull the eyelines of babies and animals into the camera lens. McWilliams credits his technical expertise to his early days as a service department tech at rental house Victor Duncan, Dallas. He said he was inspired to create the EyeLiner several years ago while shooting a Target back-to-school spot via HMS/Minneapolis that starred canine TV star Wishbone.
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