MAN! This blogging stuff is hard! I have to do a new post every 6 months or so, whew!
This is another 48hr Film Project entry and like last year's, done with the kids at Cup 'O Meat. The genre was "Horror Film", I think the prop was a trophy, character named "Bill", and (I think) the phrase was "When do you expect her?"
An interesting fact about this film is that it was shot during the cicada invasion this year (shot Saturday, June 1, 2013) at South Mountain Reservation in NJ and that droning noise that plays throughout is what it actually sounded like on location. A very cool experience.
Now I give you the tremendous oddity that is "Bill Hates Bears".
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Friday, December 21, 2012
Blog Title Change
Well, it may not be the end of the world today, but it's the end of this blog's title "Jonny Fido • Actor". For now, anyway. Living life and paying bills are kind of in the way at the moment. I'm not sure if that was ever the best name for this blog anyway. It was more of a "welcome to this blog, here's what I'm about at the moment and here's me tooting my own horn" type of thing.
Anyway, I plan to get back to it, I just don't know when. Until then, follow me on Twitter for incoherent attempts at being funny. Until then, here's the second version of the opening to the 1978 TV show "Lucan" for no particular reason (what a still frame, right?):
Anyway, I plan to get back to it, I just don't know when. Until then, follow me on Twitter for incoherent attempts at being funny. Until then, here's the second version of the opening to the 1978 TV show "Lucan" for no particular reason (what a still frame, right?):
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
48 Hour Film Project Entry
Cup O'Meat Films latest entry into the 48hr Film Project called "Our Maplewood." Umm... it's best if I don't explain.
Their genre was "Mockumentary," the prop was a notebook, the character name was Oliver (something), and the dialog was "tell me all about it."
Their genre was "Mockumentary," the prop was a notebook, the character name was Oliver (something), and the dialog was "tell me all about it."
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Arbella Insurance Spot
Here's a commercial I did recently that's running in the Boston area. I was excited to be operating a puppet, but even more so to be operating a puppet that was made to look like me. Hopefully it will play in your browser, let me know if anybody has any trouble with it. I'm still working out some coding kinks.
Arbella Insurance - Puppet:
Arbella Insurance - Puppet:
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
A Collection of Elmo
For those of you that HAVEN'T seen it yet, here are the Elmo videos I made with my friends at Key of Awesome/BarelyPolitical.
The inspiration for all of this was that some parents were upset about what Katy Perry was wearing for her Sesame Street appearance with Elmo. Here's the article and click here for the Sesame Street/Katy Perry video that enraged so many parents.
My take on the Perry/Elmo controversy:
Elmo responds to comments:
The inspiration for all of this was that some parents were upset about what Katy Perry was wearing for her Sesame Street appearance with Elmo. Here's the article and click here for the Sesame Street/Katy Perry video that enraged so many parents.
My take on the Perry/Elmo controversy:
Elmo responds to comments:
Monday, September 20, 2010
Exorcism Clips
It's been awhile, and I put these links out on my Twitter account, but I thought I'd throw them up here for safe keeping as well. Here's a few videos my friends at Key of Awesome/Rated Awesome/Barely Political/Indy Mogul/Next New Networks asked me to be a part of, and doggone it, I'm proud of 'em. Well, not the smacking part, but it's all in the name of good fun.
A "scene" from the "film:" (The acting with the knapsack at the end might be my best work, ever.)
The Movie Trailer:
A portion of a deleted scene and the new guy, Todd:
There may be more... I'll just never know for sure!
A "scene" from the "film:" (The acting with the knapsack at the end might be my best work, ever.)
The Movie Trailer:
A portion of a deleted scene and the new guy, Todd:
There may be more... I'll just never know for sure!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Commercial Critique
Advertising is evil, no doubt about it. It can manipulate, control, brainwash, or just plain annoy. Be that as it may, I absolutely LOVE commercials. Good, bad, doesn’t matter, because they give me unlimited pleasure when it comes to dissecting them. Let’s get to it…
Auto Insurance. Not a very exciting thing to sell, so you’ve got to be creative. Let’s compare two spots from Progessive & Geico. I recently saw these two spots run within 5-10 minutes of each other on the same station and both of them blew me away. Progressive for it’s absolutely HORRIBLE script and Geico for it’s absolutely GENIUS vignette. Which one’s a better commercial? Unfortunately, the powers that be will argue they’re both good because I’m talking about them, but honestly Geico kicked Progressive’s ass.
I’ve never quite understood the universe that Progressive has built. There’s some ethereal, heaven-like store with sliding doors but no walls where people shop for insurance plans that are packaged in, presumably empty, boxes and “Flo,” the quirky sales associate helps people feel better about choosing Progressive and passing on to the unknown. Is everyone searching for insurance dead? Most of their spots seem apologetic, “we’re sorry you have to buy insurance, but since you do, please buy ours. By the way, here’s a not-too-whacky non-offensive sales associate to ease the pain of taking your money.”
The actress playing “Flo” is Stephanie Courtney and she does an excellent job of being not too whacky or offensive to anyone, yet still clever, but not too smart, but helpful and approachable, but not pushy. It was exactly what the client wanted and that’s just what an actor should do in a commercial, exactly what the client wants. It’s creatively stifling, but you gotta pay the bills, right? By the way, did I shoot myself in the foot writing this?
Unfortunately, the client doesn’t always know what they want so they go to an ad agency, and the ad agency comes back to the client with these AWESOME ideas that the client loves and has signed off on, and everyone’s excited about this groundbreaking campaign that’s going to get made. Then the ad agency writes a lot of brilliant spots, there’s casting sessions, crews are hired to shoot the spots, people are flown in from out of town and put up in hotels, equipment and costumes are rented or purchased (or both) and everyone’s ready to go only to have the client call up the ad agency the day before or day OF the shoot and request a “couple of minor changes” that totally castrate the commercials into what most people see as these annoying little time-fillers on your TV’s and computers.
This seems to have been what happened with Progressive’s campaign. Two guys… looking for insurance… one guy sold a watch, one guy bought a watch… Rates… bells ringing… What? No creativity or the creativity was stifled. I don’t know, it seems to be a whole lot of set up, but no punchline, no pay-off and I feel you need some sort of pay-off to make a commercial work.
That’s where Geico comes in. I have no idea what kind of client they are or even the ad agency that creates their spots. Geico seems to get it. They seem to be the type of client that can get out of the way of the ad agency and let them do what they do best – be creative. Some of the most memorable commercials were made against the corporate mentality of the client and what they feel would work and how they’re afraid of being perceived as too this or too that. Please, just let the ad agency be creative. “Where’s the beef?” Huge. According to the documentary Art & Copy by Doug Pray Wendy’s didn’t want it.
Geico’s Lincoln spot is one of the funniest spots I’ve seen in years, so much so I wanted to write about it. Again, I know nothing of how it got made, but creativity seemed allowed to flow. Everything works in this spot from the minimalist writing and direction, to the acting and special effects. It’s all so expertly done that you, most likely, don’t notice ANY of it and that’s just why it’s so excellent. But I have to say, the two actors in the spot are inspiring in their comic timing.
Now, which Auto Insurance would I buy based on these ads? Neither, I’m already covered by USAA, which is AWESOME! You really should try them out if you can.
Auto Insurance. Not a very exciting thing to sell, so you’ve got to be creative. Let’s compare two spots from Progessive & Geico. I recently saw these two spots run within 5-10 minutes of each other on the same station and both of them blew me away. Progressive for it’s absolutely HORRIBLE script and Geico for it’s absolutely GENIUS vignette. Which one’s a better commercial? Unfortunately, the powers that be will argue they’re both good because I’m talking about them, but honestly Geico kicked Progressive’s ass.
I’ve never quite understood the universe that Progressive has built. There’s some ethereal, heaven-like store with sliding doors but no walls where people shop for insurance plans that are packaged in, presumably empty, boxes and “Flo,” the quirky sales associate helps people feel better about choosing Progressive and passing on to the unknown. Is everyone searching for insurance dead? Most of their spots seem apologetic, “we’re sorry you have to buy insurance, but since you do, please buy ours. By the way, here’s a not-too-whacky non-offensive sales associate to ease the pain of taking your money.”
The actress playing “Flo” is Stephanie Courtney and she does an excellent job of being not too whacky or offensive to anyone, yet still clever, but not too smart, but helpful and approachable, but not pushy. It was exactly what the client wanted and that’s just what an actor should do in a commercial, exactly what the client wants. It’s creatively stifling, but you gotta pay the bills, right? By the way, did I shoot myself in the foot writing this?
Unfortunately, the client doesn’t always know what they want so they go to an ad agency, and the ad agency comes back to the client with these AWESOME ideas that the client loves and has signed off on, and everyone’s excited about this groundbreaking campaign that’s going to get made. Then the ad agency writes a lot of brilliant spots, there’s casting sessions, crews are hired to shoot the spots, people are flown in from out of town and put up in hotels, equipment and costumes are rented or purchased (or both) and everyone’s ready to go only to have the client call up the ad agency the day before or day OF the shoot and request a “couple of minor changes” that totally castrate the commercials into what most people see as these annoying little time-fillers on your TV’s and computers.
This seems to have been what happened with Progressive’s campaign. Two guys… looking for insurance… one guy sold a watch, one guy bought a watch… Rates… bells ringing… What? No creativity or the creativity was stifled. I don’t know, it seems to be a whole lot of set up, but no punchline, no pay-off and I feel you need some sort of pay-off to make a commercial work.
That’s where Geico comes in. I have no idea what kind of client they are or even the ad agency that creates their spots. Geico seems to get it. They seem to be the type of client that can get out of the way of the ad agency and let them do what they do best – be creative. Some of the most memorable commercials were made against the corporate mentality of the client and what they feel would work and how they’re afraid of being perceived as too this or too that. Please, just let the ad agency be creative. “Where’s the beef?” Huge. According to the documentary Art & Copy by Doug Pray Wendy’s didn’t want it.
Geico’s Lincoln spot is one of the funniest spots I’ve seen in years, so much so I wanted to write about it. Again, I know nothing of how it got made, but creativity seemed allowed to flow. Everything works in this spot from the minimalist writing and direction, to the acting and special effects. It’s all so expertly done that you, most likely, don’t notice ANY of it and that’s just why it’s so excellent. But I have to say, the two actors in the spot are inspiring in their comic timing.
Now, which Auto Insurance would I buy based on these ads? Neither, I’m already covered by USAA, which is AWESOME! You really should try them out if you can.
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