Boards Magazine - September 1, 2000

In the end: bugs & ads

Board Flow is 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-July to mid-August.

Radioaktive Kiev offers up the Wild East 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.

Capsula Creativity For some creatives, leaving the cozy womb of a global network agency can be a bitter pill to swallow, but the renegade Brazilian creatives behind Capsula beg to differ.

The Directors Bureau WARNING: Federal law prohibits the unlawful destruction or demolition of household objects including refrigerators, bedroom sets and televisions, as well as the perceived or actual combination of undead soccer players with upbeat Latin American soundtracking. The Directors Bureau and all agents of the Bureau, including video and commercial operative Roman Coppola, have been granted full amnesty for all past and future violations of the above-mentioned legal conditions.

The Luxury of Grit: Frederic Planchon Saddled with the pleasant misfortune of filming luxurious, stylish and moody ads, Frederic Planchon endeavors to work from scripts offering original ideas, increasingly moving towards those with a gritty edge.

K & M: A Surreal Grip on Reality The interview begins in the rear of an empty trailer, where two low chairs sit patiently across from a taller, more elegant stool. In between the two chairs, a short man stands dressed in kimono, poised with sushi and three cans of Guinness. A TV sits close by awaiting attention. Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire, directors from bicoastal Propaganda Films, stride on to the scene, completing a cryptic setting as the interview tape rolls.

Buddy Lee Stands Tall...Short Paragon of denim Buddy Lee has returned for "The Buddy Lee Challenge." This latest campaign for Lee Dungarees sees the short hero on the defensive against a number of aggressive adversaries.

US Guinness Ads Pursue Epic Ideal Thanks to the UK's AMV BBDO, the global standards for Guinness advertising are lofty enough to ensure US creatives charged with moving the malty beer must carefully balance the necessary product shots with the now prerequisite cinematic delivery.

Jones Can't Keep Still "It took being a really established editorial photographer to have the advertising community come after me," says celebrity photographer Sam Jones contemplating his foray into commercial production.

Making Room for Football

Nataro Founds Brand New School Graphic designer Jonathan Notaro has founded Brand New School, a creative boutique that he describes as "a bit off center, where we're comfortable." Partnering with executive producer Casey Steele and animator/designer Dennis Go, Notaro is determined to create a new school of thought that extends design beyond the typographical experience.

Pushing Innovation "We're not selling a product. We're selling innovation," says Jonathan Cude, the Wieden + Kennedy copywriter on Nike's global product innovation campaign developed for the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

SIGGRAPH 2000: Movers and Shakers The living may be easy, but the air is hot in the Louisiana summertime. In one day, two separate cab drivers, both born and raised in New Orleans, complained openly about the oppressive heat, then expressed something akin to longing admiration for Canada's cold. Yeah? One Montreal January, and these two'd be scampering back to the balmy Bayou right quick, I'll betcha. But I digress.

Enviable Effects "If my dad didn't get laid off, I probably would have gone to some stupid college," says Colin Strause, cofounder of Pixel Envy, Santa Monica. "The colleges I looked at had a two-and-a-half-year waiting list to even touch a computer."

Homage to Glam Trash Glassworks, the London-based post-production house, has just gone retro to create a seedy '70s-style video for Madonna's new single, "Music." Director Jonas Akerlund of bicoastal HSI in the US and PAR in Sweden, shaped the video before Glassworks added an array of effects created with Discreet Logic Inferno.

Medialab's "Fantasies" Medialab Pictures, the Paris-based digital visual effects company, has played a crucial role in "Fantasies," part of Unilever's dramatic ThermaSilk campaign. The campaign, conceived by J. Walter Thompson New York, features the fantastical stories of women embracing the power of heat, and illustrates Medialab's sophisticated production techniques.

Naked Transparency

Pump Up the Violence While there have probably been hundreds of porn hounds who clicked to the short film Pump Action only to walk away disappointed, those who were looking for gorgeous, photorealistic animation and a simple yet compelling story have been uniformly satisfied.

In the Loop with Chartier David Chartier animates with a simple ratio in mind: animation is 10% drawing and fabrication and 90% performance.

Animating "Music"

de Crecy: Beefy Beats Geoffrey de Crecy was recently signed by Partizan Entertainment on the weight of an impressive animation promo entitled "Les Miserables." The music video was created by de Crecy for his musician brother Etienne, whose second CD is about to be released under the label Solid in France.

Stillking/Miro's International View A partnership between Prague-based Stillking Films and Miro Film of Milan has resulted in a new production service company in Italy, Stillking Miro Film.

The Lure of the Southern Cone Producer Julian Vella started Shoot Argentina with the concept of offering up the varied locations of "the Southern Cone" region (Argentina, Uruguay and Chile) to foreign commercial producers.

Film Planet treks the Amazon for Texaco Film Planet, a production service company with branches in Argentina, LA and Brazil, has just wrapped production on an intense one-day shoot in Manaus, Brazil. Gartner Films, in conjunction with BBDO, New York, swept into Rio Negro using Film Planet's expertise to shoot a spot for Texaco.

Palma Pilots Mallorca Production Palma Pictures has made Mallorca an even more attractive destination with the completion of its Mediterranean Production Centre.

theFIRM Spawns NYPS

Filmmaster's Nakata connection Filmmaster, an Italian production services company with offices in Rome and Milan, has made good use of some of Italy's more unusual local resources.

Prague-Rock

7 UP Goes 007 With Frankenheimer Renowned director John Frankenheimer visited Toronto in August, shooting a James Bond spoof for 7 UP through the recently opened Toronto office of LA-based production service company Johnson Burnett. The ad agency on the project is San Francisco-based Goodby Silverstein.

Deepend's Purple Patch

Virals: Not Just for Sick People Anymore

eBrochures

Commercials Are Shortfilms, Right?

Zentropa's revolutionary appeal The recent alliance between Denmark's Zentropa Production and @radical.media may expand each company's global and creative reaches worldwide, but Zentropa remains a revolutionary force that stands defiantly as an autonomous art house.

Bolt Locks Onto BBH and The Haxans

Commercial Industry Mourns Camitz

More of Moore at Fallon

Hollywood Welcomes Biscuit

Hit Songwriter Tommy Coster Opens Tommy Sound

MVPA screens 3rd Director's Cuts

Mia Network Expands to Argentina

Rules of Engagement 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.