Showcasing helmers who have helped to shape advertising in traditional and new forms, a look at new directorial talent and conversations with cinematographers about their ground-breaking work in collaboration with directors
By Robert Goldrich
Welcome to SHOOT’s fall edition Directors Series, featuring helmers who have helped to shape advertising in traditional and new forms, a look at new directorial talent and conversations with cinematographers about their ground-breaking work in collaboration with directors.
Fittingly, in some instances our profiles of master storytellers uncover their personal stories like Bob Ebel who recently returned to the director’s chair after undergoing heart surgery; director Eric Saarinen who finds himself in an unfamiliar free agent role being courted by production houses after 26 years at one shop, the recently closed Plum, which he cofounded; and Ram Madhvani, who has secured his first U.S. spot representation after years perfecting his craft in India–but surprisingly has acute stateside sensibilities leading his friends to describe him as “more American than Indian.”
And then there’s the body of work reflected in our series of profiles–work that is in some cases transforming the advertising/marketing landscape like the HBO “Voyeur” initiative directed by Jake Scott; new millennium forms of political campaigning, as well as the mini-episodic, intentionally low-fi, home grown-feel Toyota fare spanning broadcast and the web being directed by Dan Levinson, and the brilliant Cingular “Battle,” which definitively shows that art and commerce can successfully mesh (reflected in an Emmy nomination and a Gold Effie) as directed by Alison Maclean.
Then there are the backstories of new, up-and-coming directors whose atypical beginnings have translated into fresh perspectives on commercialmaking and other forms. Consider director Christopher Hutsul who found career initiative and a bright future as a filmmaker from his improbable entree into the field of newspaper journalism. And then we have Alex Ogus who financed his spec reel and shorts through the successful creation and marketing of a salad dressing, which was promoted via his first real-world spot.
SHOOT’s search for new talent isn’t confined to Directors Series editions or our annual New Directors Showcase at the DGA Theater in New York. Virtually every issue of SHOOT provides exposure for emerging artisans, including our ongoing “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery. But in an interesting twist, this week’s “Best Work” entry is from an established star director, Jake Scott, who teamed with agency GMMB to offer a poignant PSA on behalf of the Save Darfur Coalition.
Indeed, among our most enjoyable pursuits is bringing you great work and talent–whether the latter be brand new or already renowned. In that spirit we hope you enjoy this issue and we welcome your feedback.
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More