By Robert Goldrich
Many moons ago a feature director working in commercials was frowned upon in some circles. That was due to the prevalent notion that only a filmmaker with extensive ad experience would have the proper creative and political sensibilities for spots. Happily that line of separation has since disappeared—in both directions, with feature directors making their mark in ads, and a number of spotmakers diversifying successfully into features and TV.
On the former front, we’re seeing more examples during the course of our “The Road To Oscar” series and related coverage. In our profile on Scott Cooper (SHOOT, 10/23) relative to Black Mass, he talked of his trust in the movie’s producer John Lesher, who’s a partner in Superprime Films. Cooper has joined Superprime for spots and branded content.
In this week’s “Road To Oscar” we interview Tom McCarthy who directed Spotlight. Via Park Pictures, McCarthy recently directed his first commercial, Duracell’s “Teddy Bear” for Anomaly NY.
Seth Jacobs, group CD at Anomaly, said, “Tom is a master storyteller, and his ability to convey emotion in a short amount of time is uncanny. From Station Agent up through Win/Win and now with Spotlight he has cemented himself as one of America’s great directors. We were honored to have his talents on ‘Teddy Bear.’ Tom is an actor’s director, quickly able to get incredible performances that got to the essence of the story. Transitioning from features to commercials is not always easy. It is a very different medium. Telling a story in 60 seconds is not something a feature filmmaker needs to do. Getting a consumer audience to actually feel strong emotions in that amount of time is even harder. Add onto that the fact that there are clients sitting there and it can be a daunting task for some feature directors, but Tom navigated it with ease and delivered a beautiful, emotionally resonant story that audiences have loved.”
And delving into spots can lead to new collaborators. Costume designer Paco Delgado earned an Oscar nomination for Les Misรฉrables, his first feature with director Tom Hooper. Now a return engagement with Hooper has yielded The Danish Girl. Delgado first worked with Hooper via Smuggler on a Captain Morgan commercial. This eventually led to Delgado getting the Les Misรฉrables gig.
Sometimes “The Road To Oscar” is paved by commercialmaking.
Optimus promotes Caralyn Moore to editor
Caralyn Moore has been promoted to editor at Optimus, the production and post house with offices in Chicago and New York. Moore started at Optimus in 2019 as a seasoned assistant editor, next earning the title of senior assistant and now making the jump to editor.
Moore has cut spots for such brands as CDW, Chicago Humanities Festival, Famous Footwear, Hillshire Farm, Walgreens and WW. In addition, she edited the independent feature film All Happy Families, which premiered at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival last fall and is releasing in select AMC Theatres nationwide on September 20.
โEditing is like a big open-ended puzzle, where you only use a fraction of the pieces and there are no right answers (though there are definitely wrong ones),โ said Moore. โI love the challenge of finding the right balance of visuals, pacing, music, sound, and information--itโs precarious, itโs challenging, itโs endlessly creative and fun.โ
โCaralyn has proven time and again how skilled she is in her craft,โ said Angelo Valencia, Optimus managing editor/partner. โHer calming presence always makes you feel you are going to be well taken care of and her attention to detail is second to none. I am so excited for her to showcase her talent for everyone to see.โ
Born and raised in Northern Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, Moore was passionate about theater classes at school and making short films with her friends and family. Her love of writing, acting and especially editing, landed her at Northwestern University for film school. Following graduation, Moore spent time in the documentary production world in Washington, DC, and then several years freelance assistant editing back in Chicago.
โCaralynโs... Read More