News tidbits from production/editorial land

Alien vs. Predator 2 film directed by Tight Films: Greg Strause (pictured l.) and Colin Strause (pictured r.), who comprise the tight directing team The Brothers Strause, will be making their feature film debut with ALIEN VS. PREDATOR 2, for 20th Century Fox and Davis Entertainment. The Strauses’ vfx company, [hy*drau"lx], will be creating visual effects for the film, which goes into production next month. Recent spot projects helmed by The Brothers Strause include a Coca-Cola campaign via McCann Erickson/Shanghai, Gatorade “Winning Formula” via Element 79 Partners/ Chicago, Fresca “Dance” via Campbell Mithun/MN, and the music video for Flyleaf’s “I’m So Sick.” [hy*drau"lx] recently created visual effects for spots, including Gatorade “Winning Formula,” Lincoln “Landmarks,” and Sony PlayStation’s “God of War” campaign.

Barbara Kopple returns to commercials: Bicoastal production company Nonfiction Spots announces two-time Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple is available for commercial shoots, following the completion of her recent documentary feature, “Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing.” Barbara has worked with Nonfiction Spots as a commercial director since 1995. She has worked for the world’s top ad agencies and renowned brands, including Sprint, Target, Applebee’s, Target, and Ford, to name a few. Most recently, she completed several spots for Ogilvy & Mather’s Grand EFFIE Award-winning Real Beauty Campaign for Dove. Click here to find out more about Barbara’s latest commercial reel.

Northern Lights scores big at the AICE Trailer Park competition: Three Northern Lights assistant editors nabbed the Grand Prize, Special Special Recognition and Honorable Mention at the awards for the competition held in NYC. Read more to see the winners.

Scott Rankin won the Grand Prize for his cut of "Cocktail" as Bollywood musical. Scott's craft alone may bring Tom Cruise's career back. Or Scott may be charging $20 million per campaign.

"When my agent first told me about this project I was very interested," says Greg Stebner, the voiceover talent on Scott's cut. "When I got the script and the rough cut I was blown away. Working on it was a real blast and a little tough, too – I couldn't stop laughing during the session. I've done hundreds and hundreds of VOs over the years and this was the funniest I've ever worked on. Scott did a masterful job of editing the trailer and deserved to win 1st Prize."

"Scott's super-talented," adds Mary Morgan, SeniorProducer at Kaplan Thaler Group. "He's creative, has a great technical sensibility, shows the patience of a saint and makes Birkenstocks look like high-fashion. My next project will certainly be with Scott."

Michael Novello won Honorable Mention for re-editing film noir "Double Indemnity" as "Double Femininity." In it, the lead character doesn't want to kill his lover's husband, but longs to have a sex change to BECOME his lover. (Michael also added the nice touch of using some eerie music from "Silence of the Lambs.")

"We're amazed that Michael had the time to do such a great job since he spends every night at Yankee Stadium," remarks Dave Holloway, Creative Director at Northern Lights.

George "Viral G" Carty won a special Judges' Award for re-envisioning Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" in quite a different way. There's no bare-chested Bruce. And no martial arts. At all. Instead, Bruce is a Renaissance man. But tragically, he's lost the only woman he's ever loved. Which leaves him but one thing to do. Take a boat ride to a
singles' island and look for some fun. And take it from us, George knows about love. Every client he's worked with adores him. (And a shout out to Director Adam Reid for voicing over Bruce's lusty thoughts.)