A flight attendant along with her beverage/snack cart and a male passenger are seen free falling through the sky. Clearly this was a bit of sky diving that wasn’t planned.
“What were you thinking?” asks the flight attendant.
A flashback to “10,000 feet earlier” supplies the answer as we’re taken to inside a plane. We see the guy, appearing quite weary, get up from his seat to go to the bathroom. The lavatory “occupied” light goes off. He glances at the flight attendant standing next to the beverage cart and without looking opens what he assumes is the lavatory door.
The only problem is that it’s the emergency exit, which once opened, wreaks havoc on those inside the plane as he, the attendant and the cart are sucked out into the wild blue yonder.
The spot then returns us to the present as the free fall continues, only now the twosome is joined by another passenger who explains, “It was after 3 p.m.. Your blood sugar was low. Have some Emerald Nuts. They’ll keep you sharp.”
The tired guy obliges, eats some nuts poured out of a container by the other free fallin’ passenger, immediately feels a quick pick-me up, and flashes the proverbial “thumbs-up” sign.
As the impromptu sky divers move further away from the camera, the canister of Emerald Nuts is in the foreground for all of us to plainly see. A voiceover relates, “Banish the 3 p.m. slump with the natural energy of Emerald Nuts.”
Baker Smith of Santa Monica-based harvest directed “Falling” for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
Bonnie Goldfarb and Scott Howard exec produced for harvest with Rob Sexton serving as head of production/producer and Mala Vasan as line producer. The DP was Tony Wolberg.
The agency team included co-founder/creative director Jeff Goodby, managing partner Robert Riccardi, creative director Steve Simpson, copywriter Erik Enberg, art director Will Hammond and producer James Horner.
Editor was Geoff Hounsel of Arcade.
Post/VFX house was Moving Picture Company.
Directing and Editing “Conclave”; Insights From Edward Berger and Nick Emerson
It’s been a bruising election year but this time we’re referring to a ballot box struggle that’s more adult than the one you’d typically first think of in 2024. Rather, on the industry awards front, the election being cited is that of the Pope which takes front and center stage in director Edward Berger’s Conclave (Focus Features), based on the 2016 novel of the same title by Robert Harris. Adapted by screenwriter Peter Straugham, Conclave stars Ralph Fiennes as the cardinal leading the conclave that has convened to select the next Pope. While part political thriller, full of backstabbing and behind-closed-door machinations, Conclave also registers as a thoughtful adult drama dealing with themes such as a crisis of faith, weighing the greater good, and engaging in a struggle that’s as much about spirituality as the attainment of power.
Conclave is Berger’s first feature after his heralded All Quiet on the Western Front, winner of four Oscars in 2023, including for Best International Feature Film. And while Conclave would on the surface seem to be quite a departure from that World War I drama, there’s a shared bond of humanity which courses through both films.
For Berger, the heightened awareness of humanity hit home for him by virtue of where he was--in Rome, primarily at the famed Cinecittà studio--to shoot Conclave, sans any involvement from the Vatican. He recalled waking up in Rome to “soak up” the city. While having his morning espresso, Berger recollected looking out a window and seeing a priest walking about with a cigarette in his mouth, a nun having a cup of coffee, an archbishop carrying a briefcase. It dawned on Berger that these were just people going to... Read More