Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney had his Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief debut on HBO on March 29. And opening the documentary was a title sequence from New York-based VFX studio Artjail. Gibney and Jigsaw Productions enlisted Art Jail to work on different aspects of the documentary. The opening sequence drew viewers right into the mysterious inner world of Scientology by depicting its peculiar “auditing” process. Artjail shot live-action footage and created the type design for the sequence.
“Working closely with Alex and his team, Artjail was responsible for giving vision to the filmmaker’s ideas,” said Arthur Portnoy, executive producer at Artjail. “We created a simple, elegant visual language for a film featuring a complex story spanning many years, many themes and many characters, both famous and not. There was a lot of collaboration in terms of how the type, graphics and animations looked and worked in the film until everyone was satisfied we had hit the right notes. In the end, it was well worth the effort.”
Using stock footage, CG and 2D elements, Artjail also created the animations for the film’s “Myth of Creation” sequence, which is narrated by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard himself. The animated footage is layered, creating a surreal and bizarre set of images that serve as a visual interpretation of Hubbard’s sci-fi explanation for how the world was created. Impressionistic imagery was used throughout different parts of the film to illustrate some of the strange rituals and circumstances in which featured church members found themselves. These shots were filmed by Artjail creative director Steve Mottershead over a two-day shoot using Phantom and Bolex cameras.
Artjail also worked on additional short animations, titles and graphics found throughout the film, as well as treating a number of archival still photographs. All in all, the studio executed 80 shots in the film, helping provide the work with its unified look and feel.
CreditsClient Jigsaw Productions/Alex Gibney’s Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief Production/Design Studio Artjail Steve Mottershead, Tamir Sapir, creative directors; Andy Grieve, editor; Lee Towndrow, main titles DP; Chris Monaco, designer/animator; Jade Milan, motion designer; Arthur Portnoy, exec producer; Lisa Starace, producer; Ben Vaccaro, Flame artist; Delano Samuels, VFX assistant.
Director Gia Coppola Teams With Mejuri For “A New York Minute”; 1st Episode Takes Us To The Grocery Store
Mejuri, known for turning fine jewelry into an everyday luxury, has partnered with director Gia Coppola (The Last Show Girl, Palo Alto) and The Directors Bureau in Los Angeles, for the first time reimagining the brand’s story as episodic content. In a series of microfilms, co-created by Coppola and premiering following New York Fashion Week, Mejuri eschewed a typical celebrity campaign and cast us as voyeurs to a group of aspiring young women--real people, not actors--at the crossroads of their adult lives against the backdrop of New York City.
Titled “A New York Minute,” the series features five real-life friends, who include one perfectly imperfect heroine named Emma. The women celebrate ordinary moments and interactions which reveal, sometimes retrospectively, the extraordinary within the mundane. Adjacent to the brand’s own community, the 30-something year old cast includes Laura Love (Emma), Rebecca Ressler, Natalie Vall-Freed and Rozzi Crane. Mejuri’s jewelry makes an appearance as the best supporting actor.
“When I met with Gia and The Directors Bureau team, there was instant creative and personal chemistry and a natural alignment on the desire to push and blur the lines between marketing, storytelling, and the construct of what a ‘campaign’ could be,” said Jacob Jordan, chief brand officer, Mejuri. “Gia was able to push that idea into something that truly feels new and artful, with a realism and relatability that almost feels jarring. Gia was such a perfect collaborator and partner, someone I had complete trust in to be a catalyst for Mejuri’s values of celebrating women as their truest selves. I can’t wait for us to continue to tell the next chapters of this story.”
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