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Edward Norton in American History X

AMERICAN HISTORY X REDUX
May 28, 2009

This week I was tasked with the interesting challenge of producing a new trailer for American History X, the memorable 1998 feature film starring Edward Norton and Edward Furlong about the impact of hate and how it affects generations.

Where New Line's original trailer fails is pounding us over the head with its heartfelt message. American History X speaks to young people; it demands a clever, highly stylized promotion that lures in viewers who need to understand the effects of racism but wouldn't ordinarily expose themselves to a film about race relations.

With this in mind, check out my new trailer for American History X. Here is an interesting example of how different approaches in crafting a trailer can serve to brand the same film in very different ways.

Special thanks to Simon Greet at Zealot for tasking me with this. Simon rocks!

 



TRAILER MUSIC LIVE
May 15, 2009


Music specifically created for use in film trailers is reaching an immense audience with a wide demographic base, and generating a rapidly growing base of fans eager to hear more of this exciting genre of music.

Get your tickets now for the highly emotional, massive multimedia experience that is Trailer Music Live on June 27, 2009. For more information visit trailermusiclive.com





Mad Men

MARKETING "MAD MEN"
May 10, 2009
Don Draper
Enjoy my new trailers and promos for Mad Men. Two feature-length trailers for the first and second seasons, and two character oriented promos. Viewable from my Portfolio.

I've been enthusiastic about working on AMC's Mad Men since it was first brought to my attention through Matthew Weiner, former Sopranos writer now in charge of his own show. Mad Men is set in the world of Madison-Avenue advertising in the 1960s, when men were men and women were skirts. It explores '60s mores via slick, womanizing ad execs and their wives, mistresses and credulous and conniving secretaries.

Mad Men's genius is that it may be the most politically incorrect show on TV right now. In an age when men don't have any role models at all and popular entertainment can't be bothered to elevate itself beyond the vacant insights of Victoria Beckham, Mad Men is a show about big ideas. In what ways has our society evolved - or devolved - since the 1960s? Not unlike The Sopranos, the Emmy-winning Mad Men thrives entirely on subtext. There's no episodic plot each week, unlike most of today's 'quality' dramas. Its characters evolve just as real people do - slowly and in barely discernible ways.

Mad Men: The Complete Second Season is available on Blu-Ray & DVD July 14, 2009. Look out for more of my Mad Men promos leading up to the new season beginning on AMC television this Summer 2009.





Shawn Smith Wrapped In My Memory

SHAWN SMITH'S 'WRAPPED IN MY MEMORY'
May 1, 2009

Renowned singer Shawn Smith got in touch after seeing my The Sopranos Cast & Crew Tribute set to his exceptional song, "Wrapped in My Memory," a track previously featured in a key Sopranos episode back in 2003. Here's what Shawn says:
Amazing Lyle, beautiful. Made me cry.

I loved how you tied the lyric with the pictures. The joy and innocent friendship cuts to the violence and heartache. The video captures the show in such a powerful way. Like your life passing before your eyes at the moment before death, which in this case is so appropriate. The song is absolutely about death, about the long ago passing of a beloved friend. Its placement in the actual show made me cry and this one did too. It's tugging at me now as I write.

I'm very thankful was allowed to bring this song into the world. I say it that way because it was written and recorded within an hour, if I had chosen to eat a sandwich at the time I wrote it, it would not exist. What I mean is that it was a delicate dance that happened over one hour that can only be described as magic. Opportunity meets preparation I suppose, which is the definition of luck. Also, the great drummer Michael Shrieve, the original drummer in Santana, played it with me. The main vocal is live with me on piano and Michael on drums. Sweet memory.

Thanks again,

Shawn Smith
www.sscollective.net
www.myspace.com/thediamondhand

Shawn Smith is the man. I've been a big fan of Shawn's solo album, Shield of Thorns, for many years now, and his new tracks are no exception. Show support for this talented singer and head on over to The Shawn Smith Collective or visit him on Myspace. See my recent Sopranos promos over in my portfolio.



24

NEW "24" TRAILERS
April 21, 2009

Check out my three new exciting promos for 24, Fox Broadcasting's groundbreaking television thriller soon available on Blu-Ray. They are now available in my portfolio.

It was interesting working within 24's inimitable split screen motif for the first time, which got me thinking about the uniqueness of 24 in the film making landscape. As much as we love Jack Bauer, the format that is the real star of this show. "I love that it's very unconventional," notes 24 film editor Scott Powell in this Exeter Street exclusive look inside 24's editing room. "When I was growing up in the editing business the goal was always to be smooth and seamless... We make a point of knocking the audience off their chair with our jarring edits," he laughs.
Click above to behind the scenes with film editors Scott Powell and David Latham inside the 24 editing bay. Courtesy 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.
Serialized television rarely lends itself to action oriented thrillers, but 24 consistently delivers a powerful punch week after week. The latest (seventh) season is no exception. Sean Callery's frenetic underscore is reason enough to sit up and take notice. 'Motion picture television' is a term used so loosely these days, but there's no better example than 24, and hopefully I've conveyed that here.

24 airs Monday nights on Fox at 9pm. 24: The Complete Seventh Season is available on DVD & Blu-Ray September 25. 24: The Complete Series is being made available on Blu-Ray in 2010.





Californication

NEW "CALIFORNICATION" TRAILERS
April 14, 2009

Check out my new trailers and promos for Showtime's flagship series Californication, returning for its third season in September 2009. Hilarity.

David Duchovny, the most educated actor in Hollywood, is perfect in his Golden Globe winning portrayal of Hank Moody as he struggles with his sex and drug addictions. "People just seem to be getting dumber and dumber," Hank bemoans in one episode. "We have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four finger wank machines... People don't write anymore, they blog. Instead of talking, they text. No punctuation. No grammar. 'LOL' this and 'LMFAO' that. It just seems to me that it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo communicating with a bunch of other stupid people in a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King's English." Word, Hank. But surely Fuck You, Penguin and Stuff White People Like are exceptions to the norm?

 Californication: The Complete Second Season is available on DVD later this year. Stay tuned for more of my promos leading up to CALIFORNICATION series return.


The Sopranos

THE SOPRANOS 'OWN AN ERA' CAMPAIGN
April 4, 2009

Check out three more of my recent promos to promote The Sopranos: Complete Series now available only DVD, now available for download via my portfolio.

What drama. 'The most important work of American popular culture in 50 years' is how The New York Times describes The Sopranos. I recently came upon a popular blog article boasting the 'Definitive Explanation of The End,' explaining the final moments of the most watched (and controversial) finale in the history of cable television. That final scene practically bordered on a religious experience for this Sopranos fan. Its ominous tone setting up Tony's looming assassination, undercut with Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing,' completely immersed me in the show's understated but intensely emotional style. The clues are all there and the entire composition of those final minutes - particularly the editing emphasizing the suspicious guy in the Members Only Jacket and our following him to the bathroom - reveals all. Clearly we are intended to expect Tony to get shot...but the screen goes black, and The Sopranos ends forever.

A satirical spec commercial for HBO offering reactions to the final moments of The Sopranos

Not because Tony is killed as this author subscribes, though his compelling P.O.V illustration does seemingly demonstrate how those curious shots of the diner's entrance serve to set up (and pay off) the final cut to black. No, with its deliberately obscure nod to the unknown in that final cut, show runner David Chase provides us the ultimate, final example of what elevates The Sopranos above mere entertainment: true art imitates life, and as in real life there is no narrative closure; no character 'arc.' There are no lessons or resolutions in The Sopranos. Like a mobster fleeing through the Pine Barrens, characters inexplicably disappear and frustrate our Hollywood shaped need for closure as spectators.

Our witnessing Tony's assassination would only serve to undermine this. Yes, given the implied danger it's very likely that Tony is about to be shot. But we are boldly, cheekily, cut short of that... and so Tony Soprano lives on forever! On some level, pointing to specific moments in The Sopranos to support any hypothesis concerning The End (such as Tony's conversation with Bobby in the final season premiere) in fact ignores this defiant, central subtext and structure of the series.

Cheer up, people, The Sopranos lives on... on DVD.



Simon McQuid of Go Films produced this gem for HBO.
 


The World According to Don Draper
MAD MEN (AMC Television)
"The World Accoridng to Don Draper" promo

The Sopranos Own An Era
THE SOPRANOS (HBO)
"Own An Era" spot

Californication
CALIFORNICATION (Showtime)
"Holy Shit" trailer

24
24 (20th Century Fox)
"Blu-Ray 2010" trailer

The X-Files
THE X-FILES (20th Century Fox)
"The Best of The X-Files" promo