Some projects are deceptively difficult. Nailing a performance or putting together an emotional moment can seem easy to the audience but involve late nights and hours of hair-pulling. Then, there are projects like Porsche’s Drive2Extremes that are so difficult to create, it couldn’t be more obvious. Nearly impossible, even. According to Director Nick Schrunk, taking on the challenges in a project like this is a gamble, but one with high rewards.
Just like a good book, film or poem, a good ad requires repeat viewing. On the first watch of LaCoste’s incredible “Crocodile Inside” spot, you’ll follow the story and the spectacle, and maybe even look up the stunning song (It’s “Hymne à l’amour” by Edith Piaf). You may get a few chills or even notice the Buster Keaton-inspired moment.
There are jobs, and then there are jobs. Take, for instance, when Rakish Director Kevin Foley landed a pitch for the International Olympic Committee’s full film campaign. That’s a job. Not only did it involve global travel, capturing stories around the world, but it also involved navigating a pandemic and an IOC that’s redefining their identity in the modern era.
Every brief that comes across a filmmaker or agency’s desk provides a choice. In that moment, you can choose to pay the bills or work on a project you love. If you’re one of the lucky ones, those two overlap. That was the case for the team at Blue Ox Films when they got a brief from The CW. It didn’t have everything planned out, and that was a beautiful thing.
Director/Writer Ricky Staub and Producer/Writer Dan Walser are the founding team behind Neighborhood Film Co., a production team who recently released their first feature film Concrete Cowboy. On the other side of the table, we have famed producers Jeff Waxman and Jen Madeloff, who besides producing Concrete Cowboy, have worked on Vice, John Wick: Chapter 3, Mother!, and dozens more.
When thinking about the Star Wars universe, “small” is probably not a word that comes to mind. But for Dave Asling, Owner/Creative director of Creation Consultants, Inc., miniatures and models are perfect for creating larger-than-life visual effects. His company’s work on films such as I, Robot, X-Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Elysium and Welcome to Marwen, led Disney+ to tap them for work on Star Wars: The Mandalorian.
We’ve talked many times about creative constraints and their value, but sometimes as filmmakers we don’t have the luxury of constraints. As they say, there’s nothing scarier than a blank page, and that’s just what Director Josh McGowan was faced with in his production of Cadillac’s Oscar spot.
For Nike’s Lebron 17 spot, the team at Blue Ox Films knew they needed to do more than think outside the box—they needed to create a new one.
In filmmaking, it’s really easy for a project not to make it off the ground. At the beginning of pre-production, there’s a laundry list of things that can make you stumble out of the gate, which makes the production of Park Stories’ 8 part docu-series Prodigy even more astonishing.
