Come Out and Play!

From Romanian director Alex Rotaru, comes the delightful story of an amateur piano contest for people over the age of 30 hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation.   “They Came to Play” took home awards for Best Documentary from both the Bucharest and the SENE film festivals and has been met with rave reviews!

We were fortunate enough to produce and edit the trailer for this film, design the collateral materials and build the website.

Intrigued? Wanna see it?

Well,  now you can! This Friday, Dec. 4th it will be screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center until Dec. 10th! This weekend there will be a special performance by Janet Underhill, Chicago amateur pianist and participant in the Cliburn Competition, and a Q & A with Director Alex Rotaru!

Begins at 6:00 pm on Friday and 6:30 pm on Saturday!
http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/weeklong-runs

Learn more about the film and watch the trailer at their official website: theycametoplay.com

*the film is not rated but all ages are welcome!

Topping Off 2009!

Foundation directors Aaron Brown and Ben Chappell have been in the spotlight recently for their music video work with band “Girls”. Just today, Pitchfork announced their picks for the top 40 music videos of 2009 and guess who made the list?!

Aaron and Ben’s video for Girls song “Hellhole Ratrace” made the list as did a video Ben handled the cinematography for a Cass McCombs tune, “You Saved My Life”! These videos are featured alongside videos for artists such as Lady Gaga, Depeche Mode, Coldplay and Kanye West!

Check it out: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/7737-the-top-music-videos-of-2009/

Why We Love the Web!

Just read an interesting article, from the NY Times online, which names the top ten “Internet Moments” of the decade! As could be expected, Wikipedia and the iPhone made the list alongside Facebook and Craigslist. But the three I found most interesting were the mention of President Obama’s 2008 campaign, the use of Twitter during the Iranian election protests this past year and what they call the “online video revolution” of 2006. These three really stood out to me as being the most important “moments” because they were events which happened because of the groundwork laid down by social networking websites and informational websites like Facebook and Wikipedia. It cannot be questioned that YouTube has greatly influenced much of our popular culture in the last five years, it’s colorful internet stars often parodied in other online videos and major television programs. Obama’s campaign utilized just about every site the internet had to offer during his presidential campaign. By using Twitter as a political forum, people were able to organize political protests and share experiences and information with people across the world, giving us in the U.S. an incredible insight into their 2009 election rather than getting our information through more conventional and perhaps less authentic news sources.

Our children will undoubtedly be taught a course on history of the internet or perhaps the evolution of information technology.  And the top ten moments of the next decade may include LBS friendly gadgets, online voting or perhaps even a total reinvention of the internet itself!

Moore Is Our Champion

Senior Assistant Editor, Suzie Moore, recently submitted a piece to the Splice Capades and placed as First runner up! If you are not familiar, Splice Capades is an annual competition in which assistant editors show off their editing chops by “splicing” two different films together to create a :90 trailer! This year’s mash-up featured the films “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and “Network”.

http://www.youtube.com/user/foundationcontent#p/u/0/m6WVv7ijlZU

Suzie says of the experience, “I just love Steve Carrell so when I watched the movies I knew I wanted to do something funny with him as the main character. It was a lot of fun to put together. As first runner up I won a blu-ray player!” Her trailer is absolutely hilarious, so be sure to check it out at the link above!!

There were 25 entries from assistants in Chicago. We’re proud of Suzie every day – this is just “splicing” on the cake!

Little Fish Seeks Big Pond

Just saw this article on Reel Chicago, (CLICK HERE TO READ), Ruth Ratny interviews filmmaker Ky Dickens (Fish Out of Water). The article discusses Ky’s motives behind this thought provoking film about homosexuality and religion, the unusual though refreshingly unique use of animation throughout the film and the equally unusual way Ky chose to finance her film… by cashing in her IRA!

Ky even gives Foundation a shout out, as she cites that Anna Patel on-lined and assisted with some creative editing, also cutting the trailer. We’ve hugely supported this film from the moment Ky walked through our door! It’s a wonderful message and brilliantly executed. If you haven’t seen the trailer, please check out the link above!

If you want to see the film, it will be playing at the 28th Reeling: Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival through Nov. 15.

For more details on the film, see fishoutofwaterfilm.com..

Time Out Chicago Supports Fish Out… of Water

This week, Time Out Chicago published an article, as part of their “Things to Do” section, promoting the documentary “Fish Out of Water” by writer/director Ky Dickens.  Our own Anna Patel not only cut the trailer for this bold film but she also onlined, color corrected and provided additional editing to the ending of the film!

We at Foundation support this humorous and insightful film and are glad to see it getting the recognition it deserves.

So…wanna see it?

The film will be screening on Sunday, November 8th at 5:00 PM at the Music Box Theatre as part of The Reeling Film Fest!!

If you’d like more info on the film, check out their website: http://www.fishoutofwaterfilm.com/

Catapulting Into Fame

We’re currently in production on a music video for Elizabeth and the Catapults and their sure to be hit single “Race You”! We couldn’t be more proud to be working with this band, Universal Music Group and Verve Records and are excited about the video launch later this November!

If you want more information on this awesome band, check out what  daytrotter.com has to say!

And be sure to check out their official website!

What Can Brown Do For You?

Director Aaron Brown, who has previously worked with Foundation’s Ben Chappell on music videos for Girls and Cass McCombs, has officially joined our team! Most recently, Aaron directed a feature length documentary about current Garage Rock and the thriving DIY music scene across the US. He has also produced pieces for vbs.tv, motherboard.tv and, fans out there will be glad to know, Aaron is currently in pre-production for  “a modern -day mythological musical” with Cass McCombs!

Brown says of joining Foundation, “I hope to bring a fresh perspective to advertising and give a fashionable and artistic feel to branding. Whenever possible I try to create as much of a collaborative environment as possible, ideas can come from anywhere.”

ABC…It’s Easy As…LOL

Today on CNN.com they featured an article on kids using social networks.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/02/kids.social.networks/index.html
What do you think? Vote Below!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Meet Ryan Prybil… our new IT Specialist and Audio Engineer. What you may not know about Ryan is that beneath his gentle exterior lies a mad genius!!

With the completion of our brand new audio studio, which Ryan will be heading up, there will be virtually nothing we can’t provide our clients in-house, from concept to completion! Check out the official press release at Shoot Magazine’s publicity wire!