Mothership directors Dael Oates and David Rosenbaum have teamed up with Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, to roll out the Sprint HTC EVO 4G mobile phone, billed as a technological first. Titled “Firsts,” the :30 cinematic TV and in-theater commercial (with an extended :60) showcases an elaborately choreographed domino effect toppling the world’s technological and cultural “firsts.” Visual effects were contributed by Mothership’s sister facility, Digital Domain.
“Firsts” is set on an expansive and surreal landscape as a rudimentary stone wheel rolls across screen and the voiceover states, “First is the beginning. First leads.” The wheel sets off a massive domino chain of objects that have changed human culture. A 19th century bicycle topples a row of steam engines, a gramophone, microscope, typewriter and light bulbs. A seemingly endless queue of the world’s first telephones and film cameras knock over a Ford Model T, which rolls into a towering wall of televisions avalanching upon impact. A lone TV rolls across the salt flat, felling the first airplane, rocket and a manned missile, which unlocks from its docking station and takes off into space. Finally a long chain reaction of circuit boards, VHS tapes, computers and mobile phones culminate in the last “first” standing, the Sprint HTC EVO.
Oates and Rosenbaum, who do not regularly direct as a duo, joined forces to handle the complex Sprint spot, including overseeing a three-day live-action shoot at the Bonneville Salt Flats and the digital integration of hundreds of all-CG elements.
The 40-person production team, which included Ed Ulbrich and Tanya Cohen, president and executive producer, respectively, of Mothership, worked on the project over six weeks. Oates and Rosenbaum opted to showcase as many practical props as possible, which were then digitally augmented and enhanced by the sister VFX team at Digital Domain, with Aladino Debert as creative director. The directors tapped longtime collaborator DP Claudio Miranda, who has worked with Digital Domain on commercials as well as features, including the upcoming TRON: Legacy and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More