Boards Magazine - March 1, 2000

The Age of Diversity

Board Flow a regular feature that will act as a gauge to monitor the activity of upcoming commercial production. The following chart is intended as a snapshot view of the level of "board flow" (i.e., potential scripts from ad agencies) that commercial production houses in various markets across North America experienced during the preceding month. The synopsis of each market is based on conversations with anywhere from six to a dozen production house executives in each market who were asked to comment on the number and type of "boards" they had received from ad agencies over the most recent month. The chart reflects "board flow" from mid-January to mid-February.

Production Notes

Border-Bending Creative Avoiding the network agency model and pooling a global sampling of creatives under one roof allows Amsterdam's 180 to serve up new creative (like their new Adidas campaign) for multinational clients seeking to reach an international slice of consumers.

Big Shooters If forging successful creative partnerships is a crap shoot, then TBWA/Chiat Day, Los Angeles creatives Chuck Bennett and Clay Williams are playing with loaded dice.

Jecel Goes Deep In this regular feature, Boards provides case studies of commercial projects shooting on location around the world. The stories follow the ins and outs of getting a spot produced on location, highlighting the production resources and processes in a number of international markets.

Cola For The Nomads

Spot Treatment Ten years of directing has given Noble Jones a key insight - shooting projects he enjoys brings out his skills and craft, resulting in higher quality film for commercials and music videos.

Hectic Eclectic Renck No stranger to eclecticisms, Johan Renck draws on artistic inputs from Finnish folk photography to the sounds of his triphop/ska/reggae group, Stakka Bo when directing.

Breaking Talent For Bud In this report, Boards talks to several broadcast producers well versed with the demands of the big job. They talk about getting ideas on the screen, their roles and how they look at production talent.If there had been a college program in recording engineering at hand when Greg Popp was pursuing his post secondary education, DDB Chicago may never have got hold of one of its most prolific producers. Then again, talking to Popp, observing his work and his reputation, one guesses he probably would have found his way into producing whichever way his scholarly career went.

Duggan's Olympian Effort Ever wonder why ad agency broadcast producers are so hard to get a hold of? Are they off having drinks at Shutters on the Beach, jetting to South Africa for that multi-million dollar shootÉ or, like Mary Ellen Duggan, are they busy returning calls at 6:30 at night from the office?

Kramer Vs. Miscommunication Avatar Kramer took an interesting route to arrive at his present position as Senior Producer at Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco; one that exposed him to quite an array of creative influences.

Saarinen: Commercial Art Eric Saarinen is a commercial director, cameraman, and a partner at Santa Monica's Plum Productions. He is the talent that has brought potent campaigns to life for a corporate who's who that includes Chevrolet, Nissan, Jeep Eagle, Fiat, Levi's, Reebok, and Mountain Dew. His spots have ranged from a serene father-daughter walk on the beach to the mind-bending scene of Chicago commuters riding exotic animals to work.

Baca-Asay: Light Made Right Experimental lighting, work with innovative directors and a solid grounding in camera skills lend DP Joaquin Baca-Asay's technique a memorably surreal effect.

Cinematographers' Tools

The Future of Footage The exponential growth of digital technology has many of the world's footage archives dusting off old film cans and transferring their footage onto digital formats. It's a daunting job, and costly too, considering that most footage libraries hold thousands and even hundreds of thousands of hours of film. But many feel that they can't afford not to go digital in order to survive today's highly competitive footage market. Why is digitization so key to the future of the footage industry?

Moving Together The summer 2000 season finds the South African commercial production industry busy at work; and not only on the influx of commercials from Europe, Asia and, increasingly, North America. The industry is also busy at work on itself, further developing the production infrastructure with the establishment of new film commissions, marketing initiatives and efforts to incorporate representatives of the country's long marginalized majority.

Codename: Sumatra

Blue Rock's Shotbot

P/S Cements Roster Contract renewal for Jonze symbolizes stable roster at Propaganda/Satellite Films.

Razorfish Tops Up Fuel

A Look At Who's Making The Moves

The Evolving Face of Production: The Role of Ad Agencies The Learning Curve is a regular column that offers insights into the commercial production process by examining the many relationships and processes behind the work. The column is a forum for the exchange of insights and ideas.