Art imitates life–at least in part relative to inspiring Ben Callner, a commercial director whose wife is a doctor. As a New Yorker with a spouse on the frontlines of the pandemic, Callner observed that it’s been difficult to not allow news about the health crisis to take over. But one of the commercial production companies that represents him, Czar in Germany, gave the filmmaker a creative outlet, issuing a home video challenge to all its directors. The idea was to make a video (safely, of course) based on the Milton Berle quote, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.”
“During the first few weeks of the lockdown, truthfully, I was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the virus, my wife, and making sure we had enough supplies–toilet paper included. So, I pushed off the challenge indefinitely,” recalled Callner.
“But, when I started adjusting to this new routine, and with the help of my brother and producer (Adam Callner who lives in LA), I finally got around to making something. And, it turned out to be incredibly therapeutic: not only exposing/chronicling my own feelings (albeit a bit dramatized but sadly surprisingly close at times) but also eye-opening to hear and see the reaction and how people are relating to it from cities big and small.”
An alum of SHOOT’s 2012 New Directors Showcase, Ben Callner stars as a creative filmmaker navigating life in quarantine, trying to prevent himself from going stir-crazy while also pitching an ad campaign for a small business looking to make a splash when it eventually reopens. Callner also wrote, directed, shot and edited this short film, titled Apartment 8 1/2.
Director Callner is repped not only by Czar in Germany but also Hungry Man in the U.S., Grand Bazar in France, and Filmmaster in Italy.
CreditsProduction/Creative Ben Callner, writer/director/DP/editor; Adam Callner, producer, consultant. Actors Ben Callner, Elicia Skelton
FOUR PAWS Teams With Catsnake, Animation Studio Bewilder To “Be Their Voice”
Global animal welfare organization FOUR PAWS has launched the “Be Their Voice” campaign. Partnering with specialist creative agency Catsnake and South African production and animation company Bewilder, the campaign sheds light on a cruel practice called live lamb cutting. The film aims to raise awareness and inspire international action, urging fashion brands and policymakers to ban this inhumane practice by 2030.
The stop-motion “Be Their Voice” film follows a PhD student, Jesse, as he tries to perfect his sheep translation software with the help of a young sheep called Sunny. The initially heartwarming story takes an unsettling turn as Sunny discovers what is soon to happen to her on the farm.
Catsnake felt that the best way to capture the true horror of live lamb cutting was to focus on storytelling that would engage the audience emotionally. Catsnake creative director Rowena Wyles said, “A lot of animal rights campaigns rely on sharing shocking visuals of cruelty, but we know that tends to stop a wider audience from engaging with the issue. Instead, we wanted to draw people in with humor and heart before delivering the shocking truth of the practice.”
Working collaboratively with Bewilder, the film was brought to life with a mixed-media approach; recreating the look and feel of stop-motion with the flexibility of 3D animation. The sets, props and lighting were all made in Bewilder’s in-house studio, and the 3D characters were placed in afterwards.
Ruan Vermeulen, creative director at Bewilder, explained the process: “We built a ‘realistic’ miniature farm setting with stylized and lovable CGI characters. Combining a vast range of skill sets, with a multitalented creative team, our goal was to create an animation... Read More