The 12th annual California On Location Awards (COLA) yielded three spot industry honorees: Jof Hanwright was named location professional of the year in the commercials category based on work for Suzuki; and the production company/location team of the year honor in spots went to bicoastal/international @radical.media, location manager Peter Kwong and his department for a Grapenuts Trail Mix Cereal shoot. The COLA ceremony, which also honored location professionals in features, TV and still photography, was held this past weekend in Los Angeles…..Element 79, Chicago, has launched a sports branding group, Element 79 Sports, led by agency executive VP John Fraser and senior VP/group creative director Danny Schuman….Composer/sound designer Ted Gannon, formerly of Subvoyant, New York, has joined Manhattan-based Bionic….Panasonic Broadcast has released a DVD containing more than 25 commercials shot with its AJ-HDC27 Varicam HD Cinema camera. The DVD–featuring a range of national and regional spots, as well as promos, PSAs and alternative content–is available for free online at www.panasonic.com/varicam….
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More