Gillian Horvat’s short Whiskey Fist plays tomorrow at Fantasia Fest. Here, she pens her second guest essay for Filmmaker. After asking whether brands’ lives matter, she returns to continue her critique of independent film’s complicity with brand messaging. The last time I unsubscribed from an Urban Outfitters e-newsletter I don’t even remember signing up for they told me they were sorry to see me go. A few days later I got a message from Citibank that they “missed me” because I hadn’t been doing any online banking recently. For a moment, I felt moved. I have close human friends that […]
by Gillian Wallace Horvat on Jul 26, 2017In my new short, Whiskey Fist — premiering Friday, September 10 at SXSW — the characters work in front of a sign that reads “Brands’ Lives Matter.” The font is ripped off from Ed Ruscha and the fluorescent ombre background is purloined from posters of the kind stapled to telephone poles advertising local reggae or salsa concerts. Such an insidious combination of high and low appropriation characterizes the vanguard of marketing today, that joking/not joking tone that one would find flourishing in the branding firm where Whiskey Fist takes place. Branding’s sophistication is more seductive than ever, and even more […]
by Gillian Wallace Horvat on Mar 10, 2017No stranger to branded content, Wes Anderson’s latest effort in this area is a four-minute short for H&M, whose logo bookends the film. It’s appropriately seasonally themed and features some very cool lighting effects.
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 28, 2016A film can be as simple as coming up with a concept, brainstorming the shot list, shooting, and editing. That’s what Vine, the app that lets you produce six-second video loops, and Airbnb, the site that lets you rent people’s apartments, are counting on for their short film Hollywood & Vines. Airbnb is tasking Vine users with creating the content that will comprise its crowdsourced short, which will premiere on the Sundance Channel on September 12th. From August 22nd to 28th, Airbnb disseminated the shot lists hourly between 8am and 5pm via Twitter. Each tweet issued a creative prompt for […]
by Shaun Seneviratne on Aug 28, 2013