The Richards Group, Dallas, conceived of this two-minute Super Bowl spot which tapped into the “So God Made a Farmer” speech made by famed radio broadcaster Paul Harvey in 1978 at the National Future Farmers of America Convention.
The eloquent remarks become even more poetic and lyrical when played to a backdrop of images capturing U.S. farm life for this commercial. Noted photographers were commissioned to chronicle this slice of Americana, including William Albert Allard of National Geographic fame and noted documentary photographer Kurt Markus.
In SHOOT‘s survey of agency creatives seeking their assessments of this year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials, Cameron Day, creative director of Denver-based agency Barnhart, characterized “Farmer” as “the spot of the night…It started with the words “Paul Harvey” over a still image. My TV screen flashed a series of de-saturated stills of America’s farmlands, animals, calloused hands, combines and dawn-lit mornings. It was startling, beautiful, reverential and poignant. Then it revealed itself to be a tribute to farmers from Dodge trucks. There was not a single stereotypical truck shot in the entire spot. It was my Clint Eastwood moment of the night, and the production, sound design and narrative all coalesced into the most compelling truck commercial I’ve seen in years.”
Brent Herrington and Mark Sullivan of 3008 Studio served as offline and online editor, respectively.
Review: Drew Hancock Makes Feature Directorial Debut With “Companion”
"Iris, wake up!"
Early in "Companion," lovely Iris and her nerdy-nice boyfriend Josh are driving to a secluded lake house for a stay with friends. Iris wakes from a nap and lovingly tells Josh she was dreaming about him. They reminisce about how they first met at the supermarket. All those oranges tumbling onto the floor! Ha ha.
In 20 minutes, absolutely everything about this sweet scene will be turned on its head in a terrifying and sinister manner. You will be surprised and shocked. Unless you saw the trailer, which reveals the whole thing.
And so we begin with a dilemma, dear moviegoer. "Companion," an exceedingly clever and entertaining sci-fi-horror-thriller-comedy by Drew Hancock in his feature debut, has more twists and turns than a corkscrew. But it's utterly impossible to write about the film without revealing the first of those twists.
So if you like coming in totally cold to a movie, then we're sorry to see you go, but stop reading! Otherwise, stay with us — we promise there'll be more surprises to come.
Moving on: Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) arrive at the estate. A nervous Iris stops at the door, worried that Josh's friends won't like her. He urges her to simply brighten up and act happy.
Kat (Megan Suri), Josh's ex, greets them. She is gorgeous, and frosty to Iris. Eli (Harvey Guillén) and his handsome boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage) are nicer. Then there's Sergey (Rupert Friend), Kat's aloof Russian boyfriend — sugar daddy, really — and owner of the house. The password to his devices is Stalin's birthday, which tells you something.
Things get dark, quickly. The next morning, someone dies. They will not be the first — this is a horror movie. And suddenly Iris, caked in blood,... Read More