Cory Noonan Joins Aero Film

The Aero Film family would like to welcome their new Executive Producer, Cory Noonan, to the LA office. From his bio below, I think you'll see how he'll fit in juuuust fine. 

CORY NOONAN has had grey hair for a very very long time. Surprisingly, it was not induced by the stress of attending the notably- challenging Art Center College of Design, nor the many arduous years as a freelance Art Director for a multitude of agencies, nor was it when he switched hats to become a freelance Copywriter for a few more. Was the salt and pepper hair caused by the year of unfettered world travel where his once-limited mind was exposed to countless cultures and philosophies? Nay? Well, it certainly wasn’t because he left advertising not once, but twice, for the pursuit of a marketing position at a dot-com, and then (of all things holy) commercial f**king real estate. Or, his year living in Amsterdam? Perhaps it was instantly shocked grey when he returned back, like a prodigal son, to the production side of advertising, where he ascended to his highest-and-best-use as Executive Producer?

No.

He just has terrible genes, as do his white-mopped parents, whom he loves despite their genetic curse.

When not discussing his hair, Cory can be found swearing at greasy vintage car parts, dispensing unsolicited fitness advice he does not himself follow, and making travel plans he has to cancel because of work. Thankfully, he loves his job, so it’s fine. Really.

Here is a picture of him looking satisfied, pensive, or casually judgmental. It’s really hard to tell. 

Cory can be reached at noonan@aerofilm.tv or in the office at 310-396-3636. Please don't confuse him with female EP Cori. And please don't call her female EP Cori. Or him male EP Cory. Oh boy... what have we done... 

Aero Film Director Sam O'Hare Dazzles with CG Storytelling for Tesla

Sam O'Hare, director at Rocket Film and creative director of our partner company, Parachute VFX, made a splash in October with his CG tour de force for Tesla. The 100% cg spot-- yes every frame is cg, nothing was shot-- was shared on Twitter by the head of Ted Talks as well as Telsa Motorcars. 2 months later, it's had over 200K views on Vimeo and was noted by AdWeek, Fast Company and several car blogs.

It's been noted again in this article in AdWeek written by Nick Childs, CCO of Initiative Media. Nick not only is impressed by craft as well as the care for the brand and storytelling. Form and function. Strategy and creative. Sam came to this project to create something in a complete CG world as a show piece for the reel, but he also wanted to stay true to creating a great spot, which is something that could only be created for that brand.

Find out more about the backstory of how this video came to be HERE.

Teamsters Local 399 to go on strike Feb 1

An agency creative just asked me what all this means... Here's my take...

There has been a trend over the last 10 years to not produce commercials in the US anymore, fleeing the States to cheaper pastures overseas. This exodus has mainly been to avoid residuals fees for SAG Actors, not to save money on the production itself. While sometimes that is the case, the savings is generally marginal after travel, etc. With the pending possible strike from the Teamsters in the West, this will put production companies in an even more difficult position of encouraging clients to stay in the US. 

There's a reason that LA is the hub of production for the world-- best crews, best locations, best accessibility to equipment. Is it great to travel to other places sometimes? Absolutely. But it's hard to not think about all the jobs that are affected when you do. It's not just the Teamsters that would be affected by this strike. It's the entire crew. And while all of production should stand united, they are striking for a reason that will not go away. The AICP is asking to change the threshold for what's considered "low-budget" from $75,000 a day to $125,000. On a low-budget contract, day rates can be negotiated with crew members below scale rates. 

Let's be clear: no one wants to pay anyone below scale. No one is really “excited” about low-budget work, but with more and more web work this is the reality of production. The days of getting $250,000 a day for production are gone. The words “nimble” are used on a  daily basis— who can make a scene look like a million bucks for $500 shot on an iPhone? This is our reality, and we need to embrace it or risk becoming extinct. 

Production crews are the ultimate team and no one is diminishing the value of Teamsters— from drivers to location managers, they can clearly be argued as the backbone of the crew. No one is looking for a way to short change their value. We fight everyday to make union crews work for the budget at hand. This provision will create jobs. It will ensure that union crews aren’t a thing of the past. It’s in the best interest of everyone. Let's keep jobs in the US. Let’s look out for each other. Let’s be union supporters by supporting the greater good. 

Chrysler Born Makers

When the Chrysler "Born Makers" boards came to Klaus Obermeyer, there were hundreds of scenes that needed to be shot, and not enough days to shoot them. But Klaus isn't a "we can't do it" kind of guy.  He called in Ken Arlidge and Sam O'Hare, and between the 3 of them, Klaus divided and conquered to get everything and then some. This is why its good have great partners on your roster.

All of the diverse locations would never have been possible with one crew. And those locations that couldn't be found, were created in CG with Sam O'Hare at Parachute.

Aero spreads Holiday magic with Wells Fargo

Always nice to have the family together at the holiday. We at Aero took this to a whole news level with the holiday spot we produced along side DDB-LA for Wells Fargo. Klaus Obermeyer was the director and brought on fellow Aero director Sam O'Hare for his VFX expertise (with the help from his crew at Aero Studios--which is being rebranded as Parachute in 2014!.. more on that later), and Aero alumni Bob Jenkis for the edit.

We do not condone snowmen smoking. It was just bubbles. We swear.

As you can imagine, it's not that snowy in Southern California in October... or really anywhere in the world. It's that sweet spot of entering spring in the Southern Hemisphere and still too autumnal in the Northern. So... With a mix of practical FX and movie magic, the winter landscape was born! We did a break down to show what was shot and what was CGI. Klaus oversaw the production from start to finish with Sam creating the pre-visualization with him and finishing all the VFX.

Nom nom nom nom nom. 

The shoot took place over one night and one day and the VFX took 4 weeks. There were a few late nights...

Sam O'Hare and Jesse Holmes (VFX lead) catch a nap. Totes adorbs. 

You can excuse the snoozy-ness when you consider this is what they'd been doing...

 Before...

 After!

 Kinda sad...

Magical!! and he got a new hat. Thanks, CGI. 

Other credits include Siggy at Company3 LA did the color grade; Jeff at Eleven Sound was the sound designer and mixer; HUM music scored the beautiful track.

Fun tidbits from the shoot... The dog was AMAZING. Her name is Jules and everyone wanted to take her home. The kids are really that cute. There were 28 horses in this production, and they were treated better than most people. And they really do like carrots... a lot.

From all of us at Aero Film, have a very happy holiday and we wish you the best in 2014!!!