Commercials
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Commercials: Acting School for the Rest of Us
I didn’t work in the ad world for a long time. I remember always being a bit jealous of my DP friends who somehow found their way on that path early on, usually through music videos. I dabbled in music videos but kept coming back to to narrative shorts and crewing on features instead. Years later I was shooting features of my own. Meanwhile those DPs had really gained ground in commercials, shooting for Mercedes, Nike, Adidas. Anytime we’d catch up, the grass was always greener: “I want to shoot ads!” I’d say. “I want to shoot movies!” they’d say. […]
by Sean Porter on Jun 16, 2017 -
David Fincher Shoots Rooney Mara in Luscious Black and White
David Fincher directed this beautiful Calvin Klein commercial starring his Girl with a Dragon Tattoo muse, Rooney Mara. Karen O. provides Mara’s interior soundtrack as the actress moves from subway to concert hall. At Movie City News, Ray Pride gives the spot a loving meditation: The glimmering of inconsequence… Angles on cafe to compare with Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; Rooney Mara walking same cadence as cyclist in zebra crossing; sugar crystals in coffee instead of Godardian cream; cuttingly crisp and creased white blouse under fitted form of lightest black leather blouson of highest odor; taffeta dress knee-length as girl-kick […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 8, 2013 -
The Screen Matters
The way we watch TV shows is changing. Whether one is watching a movie or other program over a TV set, a PC or a mobile device, the size of the display screen matters in terms of a viewer’s appreciation of a show. A recent study by two ad service firms, YuMe and IPG Media Lab (IPG Mediabrands), analyzes consumer viewing experiences, comparing four TV screens – traditional TV, online TV, a PC and a smartphone. As it reports, “while the size of the video screen did drive more excitement, variables such as ad clutter, creative content, and context had […]
by David Rosen on Sep 19, 2012 -
WHY IS MOTORMOUTH MARTIN SCORSESE SELLING SIRI?
In the public’s mind, Martin Scorsese is known for many things. One of them is directing some of the best movies made in the 20th century. But another, stemming from his various public appearances, acting jobs and cameos, is his rat-a-tat-tat, staccato speaking style. I think anyone heading into a meeting with Scorsese knows to focus and drink that extra shot of espresso beforehand. So, what’s Apple doing by hiring Scorsese to make the case for Siri, its iPhone personal assistant that some commenters, including Nick Bilton of the New York Times, have found lacking in basic communication skills? In […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 25, 2012 -
CRASH THE SUPER BOWL IS BACK THIS YEAR!
SPONSORED POST Want to break into the commercial business on the largest stage imaginable? Doritos has launched their Sixth Annual “Crash The Super Bowl” contest, calling on filmmakers to create 30-second spots that will compete for a spot on this year’s big game. Last year’s memorable commercial, “Pug Attack,” featured a dog crashing through a glass door to get to the chips. Its creators, Tess Ortbals and J.R. Burningham, went on to form their own commercials company, Mythmakers Entertainment. This year’s winner will have a shot at a $1 million cash prize, the opportunity to work with some of the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Oct 26, 2011 -
MARK ROMANEK’S ANIMATED DANCE-OFF
Mark Romanek’s KIA ad, which was debuted on last night’s MTV Video Music Awards, got a lot of online buzz today. Just caught up with it now, and it is somewhat… weird. From Entertainment Weekly: With the help of choreographers Rich & Tone, a group of “great dancers from the East and West coast” and computer animation, Romanek had the resources to bring the latest chapter of those jamming hamsters to the small screen. “The key was making the dance great,” said Romanek. Of course, they’d need a great song to dance to. Romanek explained that while there were a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 29, 2011 -
HARMONY KORINE WANTS YOU TO RISE
Harmony Korine directed and Anthony Dod Mantle shot this ad for Mahindra, the Indian multinational conglomerate. According to Ad Age, it was shot at 1,000 fps with a Phantom camera.
by Scott Macaulay on Aug 29, 2011 -
Jean-Luc Godard’s Schick Commercial
Here’s something I didn’t know: Jean-Luc Godard once did a Schick commerical. Nicholas Rombes writes about it over at the Rumpus in his Art Film Roundup: Schick was owned by ultra-Conservative, capitalist extraordinaire Patrick Frawley. Does this matter, that Godard made a commercial to help sell products for a company whose profits supported political causes antithetical to his own? We are all complicit in these hypocrisies, small and large, as we use and consume objects each day whose sources in the global matrix are often obscure. If Godard made the commercial to help fund his more radical projects (perhaps Tout […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 10, 2011 -
ERROL MORRIS’S BEST COMMERCIAL EVER
Via Twitter, Errol Morris called this the best commercial of all time. He may have a point. (Hat tip: HTML Giant.)
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 24, 2010
