St. Louis, the host city for this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, had to be central to the concept promoting the mid-season classic and the Fox Network’s broadcast of the star-studded game earlier this week.
Fox Sports Marketing, Los Angeles, came up with the perfect promo featuring the iconic St. Louis Gateway Arch. This spot opens on a large stadium during a ball game, as first baseman Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies holds New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter on base.
Suddenly, both Jeter and Howard are propelled skyward by an unseen force, which is soon revealed to be the St. Louis Arch doubling as a gargantuan magnet, resembling those magnets you used in elementary school science class.
The giant Archway magnet is being held by a giant hand, which takes it from city to city, attracting numerous fans as well as other all-star players to it. The players and everyday people are delighted to be drawn in for the ride; one fan is even taking pictures of the spectacle with his cell phone as he’s hanging in the wild blue yonder, magnetized to the giant Arch.
Finally the huge hand brings the magnet to Busch Stadium in St. Louis where Cardinals superstar Albert Pujols awaits. The fans and players are dropped off by the magnet into the stadium for the 2009 All-Star Game.
“We were really excited to have finally nailed a concept that tied St. Louis and the Arch and the All-Star Game together,” said Robert Gottlieb, Fox Sports Marketing senior VP/creative director, “But pretty immediately the excitement gave way to the realization that, great, we sold the idea, now how in the world do we actually pull this off?”
Towards that end, Fox called on Madrid-based visual effects studio La Huella to bring the spot to fruition. Fox has collaborated with La Huella in the past, a prime example being the Daytona 500 race promo (SHOOT, 2/27). Another hurdle was getting access to Major League Baseball all-stars in the throes of a busy season, but Fox took on the logistical challenge and with cooperation from the MLB Marketing team secured assorted stars, including New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera and Seattle Mariners’ outfielder Ichiro Suzuki.
Fox Sports packed up the green screens and headed to St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston and New York to shoot the players while Mark Simmons (creative director of Fox Sports) and his plate team darted in and out of various stadiums filming all the plates needed for compositing. Fox finished up back home in Los Angeles with a location shoot day and a stage day for stunts, threw it all into a blender andSãovoila, another All-Star extravaganza.
The Fox Sports team included Simmons, Gottlieb, exec VP of marketing Eric Markgraf, VP on-air promotions Bill Battin, director of on-air promotions Jason Dodd, designer Christian DeCastro, designer/Flame/color/compositing/finishing artist Kevin Prendiville, Flame/color/compositing/finishing artist Thomas Downs, editor Kirk Smith, sound designer Mic Brooling and marketing coordinator Rita Mazmanian.
Gottlieb directed via Marsha Hunt Productions which served as live-action production company. The DP was Tom McGrath. Producers were Marsha Hunt and Lissa Weiss. Additional credits for the company included art director Paul Bickel, stunt coordinator Joe Box, second unit director Simmons, second unit producer Jason Dodd, second unit camera Bennett Cerf and “hand of god” and bonus cameraman Guillermo Lecuona.
The La Huella ensemble of talent consisted of 3D/2D supervisor and 2D/post artist Jérôme Debéve, 3D/2D supervisor and 3D artist Juan Antonio Ruiz, 3D artists Antonio Lado, David Gonzalez, Gerardo Arpide, Miguel Angel Corominas, Vanesa Iglesias and Martin Contel, and 2D/post artists Régis Barbey, Thiago Dantas, Ricardo Gomez, Daniel Bryka, and Patricia Martin.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More