Where the Buffalo Roam (WTBR) produced all five episodes of this animated docuseries for Google Marketing, pooling together artists and creative companies across four continents and seven time zones. WTBR wanted this series–titled Being Human Is–to feel like a collection of cinematic documentary fables–nonfiction comic books with subject matter firmly rooted in reality through the words of the participants, with a visual language reaching deep into the world of mythology and magic realism.
Oddfellows, Meister, Where the Buffalo Roam and Giant Ant served as animation studios on the series. Nico Carbonaro (who’s repped by Nonfiction Unlimited) and Tuesday McGowan via WTBR directed the series.
In this first episode–“On Silent Ice” for which Oddfellows was the animation studio–we are thrust into the world of deaf hockey.
WTBR took a bespoke approach to the music and sound, bringing a unique and nuanced soundscape to each story, including “On Silent Ice.” The music is cinematic and orchestral with the eclectic sounds of each participant’s home and culture mixed in. Here, they brought on a team of composers and sound designers, led by Space Lute’s JR Narrows, with one of the original compositions performed by a 53-piece orchestra in Budapest.
“On Silent Ice” also shows how the Live Transcribe feature on a deaf hockey player’s Android phone allows him to connect in real time with professional scouts who are looking for stellar rink talent.
Credits
Client Google Marketing Agency Where the Buffalo Roam, Oakland, Calif. Tim Pries, executive producer; Taraneh Golozar, producer. Production Where the Buffalo Roam, Oakland, Calif. Nico Carbonaro (represented by Nonfiction Unlimited), Tuesday McGowan, directors; Tim Pries, exec producer; Taraneh Golozar, producer; Eden Cooney, coordinator; Von Diaz, Elisheba Ittoop, story producer. Editorial Where the Buffalo Roam, Oakland, Calif. James Boger, editor. Animation Oddfellows, Portland, Ore. Erica Kelly, exec producer; Chris Kelly, executive creative director; Fabian Molina, creative director; Jan Szeto, producer; Oddfellows, illustration. (Toolbox Adobe Animate, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects; Maxon Cinema 4D; Flame, Maya, Sidefx Houdini. Music & Sound Design Space Lute JR Narrows, composer, audio director/sound supervisor, sound designer. Audio Post Machine, New York T. Terressa Tate, sound mixer; Alek Rost, sr. producer; Amanda Fuentes, sound assistant; Kyra Hendricks, audio producer.
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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