Ben Richardson, whose inspired lensing of Beasts of the Southern Wild earned him Best Cinematography honors at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards, has joined the directorial roster of Saville for spot representation in North America. This marks the first production company affiliation for Richardson as a filmmaker.

Richardson is no stranger to the director’s chair. He co-directed (with Daniel Bird) and shot the stop motion film Seed which earned Best Animated Short distinction at Slamdance in 2010. Richardson also helmed the short titled The Drip Machine.

Beasts of the Southern Wild represented Richardson’s coming-out party in the feature film world. Directed by Benh Zeitlin, the movie centers on a young girl named Hushpuppy who lives in a forgotten, impoverished yet fiercely independent bayou community isolated by a sprawling levee. Her imagination and sense of place and purpose at a young age enable her to deal with daily life as an adventure, until her reality is changed by a raging storm and her father’s failing heart. The drama plays like a fable, following Hushpuppy as we see the world, her reality, through her eyes, sparked by a sense of discovery. Beasts went on to earn four Oscar nominations–for Best Picture, Best Director (Zeitlin), Best Leading Actress (Quvenzhane Wallis) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Zeitlin with Lucy Alibar).

Hushpuppy’s story is cinematically captured through the richness and rawness of her southern Louisiana world. Richardson believes that cinematography is something that goes beyond just a “capture medium,” and ultimately an emotional connection is central, as filmmaking is “one of the most versatile interpreters of visual reality ever created.” By exploring the limit of the visuals, Richardson helped to create a stellar film in Beasts that resonates, inspired by capturing moments of truth that transcend into a magical realm with both subtlety and texture. Richardson observed, “When you’re creating a world that is so removed from reality, the idea of controlling it and keeping it neat seemed entirely wrong. We wanted to shy away from shiny, sparkly visuals and keep the photography grounded.” Richardson has been lauded by New York Times critic A.O. Scott to have found “rugged, ragged beauty in nearly every shot.”

Continue reading news article here

Saville has signed director Olivier Megaton for commercial representation within the North American territory. Olivier is best known for directing major Hollywood action films including Transporter 3 starring Jason Statham, the Zoe Saldana assassin movie Colombiana, and the Liam Neeson-fronted hit sequel, Taken 2. Taken 2 grossed over $350 million worldwide against a budget of just $45 million.

Continue reading the article here.

Saville Productions has signed filmmaker Gavin O’Connor (Warrior, Miracle, Pride and Glory) for exclusive commercial representation in North America.

O’Connor wrote and directed the critically acclaimed drama film Warrior, a powerful and gripping portrayal of a story between two estranged brothers (Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton) and the fight of their lives. Warrior earned Nick Nolte an Academy Award nomination last year for Best Supporting Actor.

O’Connor first garnered attention when he directed and co-wrote the drama feature Tumbleweeds, starring Janet McTeer and Kimberly Brown. O’Connor won the Filmmaker’s Award at the film’s premiere at Sundance Film Festival. The mother-daughter road drama went on to earn widespread critical acclaim. In addition, McTeer earned several Best Actress honors for her performance, including Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award, while Brown won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress.

O’Connor recently directed the new television series The Americans, an espionage period-drama about two undercover Russian KGB spies raising a family in America in 1981. The original series stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, and is now showing on FX.

Read the article on Shootonline.

Continue reading at Deadline Hollywood.

Watch the Official Trailer here.

The Pursuit – Director’s Cut
Digitizd.com

A live action trailer by the director of V for Vendetta, James McTeigue – that’s what Guild Wars 2 needed. And so, that’s what Guild Wars 2 has been given.

Titled Our Time Is Now, the flashy trailer shows modern city people becoming their Guild Wars 2 characters. There’s a liberal sprinkling of artistic interpretation, so you may be left scratching your head a bit.

The video coincides with Guild Wars 2 going back on sale on the game’s official website, as well as retail stock being replenished. This was suspended on 30th August while ArenaNet doubled down to fixing growing pains with Guild Wars 2 immediately after launch.

Read the rest of the article on Eurogamer

Mcgarrybowen teamed up with director Martin Campbell in a new spot for the new Sharp 90” Aquos TV.

The :30/:60 “Not For The Faint of Heart” for Sharp was edited by Avi Oron of Bikini Edit and Sonic Union mixers Paul Weiss and Rob McIver collaborated with Sound Designer Brian Emrich on the spot which features the high-risk exploits of three extreme athletes as seen in high definition on the LED screen of a Sharp Aquos.

“Not For The Faint of Heart” opens on a luger, careening full speed down the track. We quickly cut to a teenage boy prepping for a flip off of a building’s edge, later launching himself into a headfirst tumble through the open doors of a Sharp van. His tumble finishes out with a cut to a parachutist plummeting out of a plane with a rocky Cliffside underneath him. As he continues downward, a voiceover begins, “Breath-taking color, spine-tingling depth and way bigger than life.” The shot pans out to reveal the image on the screen of a Sharp 90” Aquos in a family’s living room. We intercut between images of the three extreme athletes accompanied by the voiceover, “It’s not for the faint of heart.” The spot closes with a shot of the Aquos followed by the Sharp logo and the voiceover, “The world’s largest LED TVs, only from Sharp.”

Link to SCREEN.tv

Simon West’s action sequel The Expendables 2 tops the box office at #1 in its debut this weekend, beating out The Bourne Legacy.

The Expendables 2 features an all-star cast incuding: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Bruce Willis. The sequel follows a mercenary group as they seek revenge against Jean Vilain, a rival mercenary who murders one of their own, and threatens the world with a deadly weapon.

View the trailer here

As winners of the Young Director’s Award in Cannes, Alex & Steffen specializes in visually striking action-driven cinematic filming, combining live-action shots with computer generated digital effects. The duo has filmed over 50 commercials with national and international agencies. Their commercial portfolio includes work for: Adidas, Nissan, Honda, Bosch, Alfa Romeo, Coca Cola and Snickers, among others. In 2006, they were selected for the Saatchi & Saatchi New Director’s Showcase.

Read the rest of the article here