This offbeat spot features a couple of animals who are would-be musicians dueling against one another, appropriately enough, with their renditions of "Dueling Banjos" at a yard sale. A customer observes that what she's witnessing is "all mixed up," a segue to the mix of foods and drink in Kraft Lunchables.
Comma served as music/sound house on this spot which was directed by Chris Woods of what is now MRS. BOND (Woods has since joined Hungry Man) for agency mcgarrybowen, New York.
Client Kraft Lunchables Music/Sound: Comma, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles Bryan Rheude, arranger/composer; Noam Pikelny, banjo player; Bonny Dolan, executive producer; Libby Morris, producer. Song: "Dueling Banjos" Audio Post: Another Country, Chicago Dave Gerbosi, mixer; Agency: mcgarrybowen, New York Brandy Ricker, music producer; Production: Recommended Media (since renamed MRS. BOND), Marina del Rey, Calif. Chris Woods, director (who has since joined Hungry Man)
Dancer turned director Ezra Hurwitz collaborates with Ailey II artistic director Francesca Harper, featuring movement as museum pieces against the Whitney Museum of American Art’s striking architecture for this short film titled Echoes of Ailey. Commissioned to celebrate “Edges of Ailey” at the Whitney Museum, the film accompanies the first large-scale exhibition on the life and enduring legacy of visionary artist and choreographer Alvin Ailey. “Edges of Ailey” is currently on view at the Whitney until February 9.
Animating iconic images from Alvin Ailey’s 20th-century repertory, the film expands on the exhibition by constructing a visual narrative around his storytelling and influences. Set to Radiohead’s “Everything In Its Right Place,” dancers from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, and The Ailey School capture the emotional core of the company’s history--physically situating Ailey’s masterworks amongst the Whitney’s collection.
“As a child, my grandmother took me to Ailey’s Revelations once a year,” said Hurwitz. “No matter how often I saw it, the work captivated me. There isn’t one specific thing I hope viewers take away from the film--or one way to interpret its images. It’s meant to be an abstract work, like Ailey’s creations.”
Turning to his archive, Hurwitz and Harper illuminate key sequences symbolic of Ailey’s profound legacy, closing on an uninterrupted sequence from "I’ve Been Buked," the opening movement of Ailey’s legendary "Revelations." Carrying a watershed moment back to its own medium, Echoes of Ailey captures the multigenerational impact of Ailey’s work, continued by his organization. The short film first premiered on Nowness.
Hurwitz is... Read More
