Glen Montgomery the Third
Inspiration
Lurpak makes food fun again
Mar 20th
Be Wonderful and Wise – Lurpak® Lightest Spreadable
One of my coworkers shared this spot with me and I found it so inspiring. Not only will the narrating theme song catch you off guard but it will stick in your head for a long while. Just a warning. I think this is a perfect example of photography and editorial working in tandem to make something truly interesting. You have a wide mix of shots in different styles yet they all live in a close point of view, either of the food or of the cook. It feels much shorter than the 1 minute 10 second runtime and almost requires multiple viewings. Enjoy.
Spot Breakdown: “West Bank” for Sky TV
Jul 29th
This is a slight deviation from the ongoing series of Feature Scene Breakdowns that I have neglected for the last six month or so. Being apart of the advertising industry now, I am finding myself much more attentive to the ad work that seems to assault me from every screen I own these days and I thought I should include it in this personal study. One huge upside of being within agency walls is a glorious room full of demo reels from over the years for Directors, Creative Editors, DP’s, FX Houses and even Catering companies (jokes). I have been trying to take advantage of that opportunity to study the work of the advertising realm masters. It was in one of those reels that I discovered this little gem of a spot from New Zealand for the Sky TV news network.
“West Bank” was released in December of 2009. The agency was DDB, Auckland. The Director was Cole Webley, the Cinematographer was Travis Cline, and the Editor was Kim Bica out of Arcade Edit. For me, the beauty of the spot is in how much editorial had to play in its success, and how invisible that hand is. Invisibility has long been a description More >
Waiting and Preparation for the Producer and beyond
May 10th
Last week my boss and Director of Integrated Production here at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, David Rolfe, shared a reflection with our team that was too good not to share. It deals with preparedness in producing, but has such cross-over goodness for editors as well. Usually the producer is our closest companion and strongest champion in the work we do, and I know that my projects would never have reached the point they do without the diligence and support of Gina Vorman, who I have to give a shout out to as we have collaborated on 8 projects here together. We share in the same periods of waiting that the producers do and we can be just as involved in the acts of preparation. As in chess, we should be looking 6 moves ahead and solving problems before they ever occur. Here is what Dave shared with us.
I’m not sure waiting should exist, in producing. There is no real room for it. We don’t have time to wait and producers are not waiters. If a situation is coming forth that smells of waiting, then counter it by planning. Why do we wait? We wait for feedback. We wait for “approval process.” More >
Scene Breakdown: Empire Strikes Back part 1
Dec 15th
This breakdown is dedicated to Irvin Kershner, who passed away on November 27th. I can’t say I am well versed at all in his work, other than RoboCop 2, which rocked my childhood socks; but he holds the distinction of directing probably my all time favorite film, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. I had not planned to touch this flick for quite a while, due to how much it intimidates me as a fan, but Kershner’s unfortunate passing necessitated it. There has been a disturbance in the Force and he will be missed.
This movie consumed my young mind. At the time I had no real knowledge of filmmaking or film editing; I was going to be a fighter pilot. The first thing that enthralled me about the Star Wars trilogy were the awesome dog fighting sequences in each of the movies, with lightsaber duels and Princess Leia following close behind.
I am doing things a little different this time around. Rather than look at just one scene, I will be looking at the editing of a larger event; that being the Hoth Battle in the first third of the film. As a kid, it was my favorite part of Empire More >
Victoria’s Secret rocks the holiday spirit
Dec 2nd
Its hard not be a fan of girls in lingerie, so here is an early Christmas present. I am a bigger fan of well cut spots, and this one is an excellent example of that too. These day most high end commercials are mostly CGI or insane motion graphics, but this one goes back to the basics in a beautiful way. Other than the art cards that have a nice blue sparkle touch going on, there are very few effects involved. It is all cuts, dissolves, fades, and a couple luma flashes timed magnificently to the rock, break beat soundtrack. Enjoy, and maybe buy your lady, or yourself, something special this holiday season.
Scene Breakdown: Blue Velvet
Oct 23rd
I knew I would get to this movie eventually, but initially I had a different scene planned. Recently, I got to see a screening of Blue Velvet at the Starz Filmcenter and my intentions changed. Part of it was the other scene, upon further review, carried more of a performance punch rather than an editorial one; and I think part of it was that my sensibilities have changed a bit in the time since I last saw the film a couple years ago.
David Lynch’s work holds a special place in my film vernacular, and led me to his stylistic counterparts Brian De Palma and David Cronenberg, who have also become favorites of mine. Blue Velvet is a “surrealist mystery”, as many film historians have deemed it, but I’m drawn to the dark, twisted intrigue of the classic thriller. It starts with a college boy, Jeffrey, who while visiting home finds a severed ear that leads him down a dangerous road of sex and violence. Ok, so sorry for the cheesy ass synopsis. Most of my analysis is from a film editorial perspective but there will certainly be comments that deal more with directing and the other disciplines. First, I have to More >
Scene Breakdown: Mad Men “Maidenform”
Sep 26th
So I diverted from my plan a little with this post. In the last entry, I proposed that I would continue with the feature film breakdowns for a while before going to other mediums; but I lied. This week I was deep into a marathon of the second season of the exquisite AMC show, Mad Men, when one of the episodes jumped out as an excellent candidate for a breakdown. This breakdown is quite different as well, in that it looks at the opening and closing scenes of the episode. The beginning is a great little montage that really sets up the first dialogue scene perfectly and the ending is a beautiful capstone to all the story points covered in the episode. Even though they don’t directly reference each other I had to include both of them in this breakdown. Both scenes have my favorite characteristics of good storytelling; they draw you in and they stay with you after they have passed. Most of my analysis is from a film editorial perspective but there will certainly be comments that deal more with directing and the other disciplines. First, I have to give credit where credit is due.
Mad Men is a More >