NBFF See the Light Campaign - Mandible - (2013) :420 (United States)

Santa Monica, Calif., April 9, 2013 – With the release of yet another original and edgy multimedia campaign, RPA and Tool continue their fourth year of partnership in promotion of the annual Newport Beach Film Festival. This year’s package – on the power of film to elicit emotion – is the latest in a succession of traffic-stopping campaigns that have propelled the Festival to a power seat in the crowded film-festival circuit and includes a short film, print art, interstitials, program dividers, and digital art.

“Great film has the power to change you,” said co-founder and director of marketing Todd Quartararo. “Year after year, RPA and Tool have crafted campaigns every bit as powerful and unexpected as the films that make up the Newport Beach Film Festival, pushing the emotional envelope and helping to set us apart from other festivals, continuing to position ourselves as a forum for great films, and growing to a size that few could have imagined.”

At the heart of the campaign is “Mandible,” a shocking short film directed by the standout Tool duo of Erich Joiner and three-time Academy Award-winner Robert Richardson (Django Unchanged, Inglourious Basterds, Shutter Island, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2). The 7:00 short portrays a vengeful dentist, who with his sadistic sidekick tears a patient’s teeth out as a penalty for not flossing. Peppered with revealing thought montages and balanced with moments of beguiling calm, “Mandible” is a lucid exemplar

of the power of film, a point underscored by the dentist who closes the film, looking from his mutilated subject to ask, “Are you repelled? Appalled? Amazed? Amused? We’re particles of light on the screen, but we can make you feel anything.”

“We wanted to demonstrate the power of film by taking audiences to a heightened state of emotion and then pulling them back to reality, reminding them that they’re watching particles of light on a screen,” said RPA Creative Director Scott McDonald. “We forget that many of our memories, sorrows, romantic urges and inspirations have been generated by something that is actually not there. Film is incredibly seductive. Watching can be a transformative experience that changes your worldview. This is what the Festival is all about. We wanted to create an artful, provocative piece that demonstrates that idea and also pushes the boundaries of what a festival promotion can be. And we definitely had the dream team to do it.”

As in years past, RPA and Tool took a renewed creative approach, determined to push boundaries and craft something that would shock even the seen-it-all film set. This year’s advertising breaks away from the traditional 60-second format, evolving into a seven-minute showpiece that communicates the power of film.

The film will live on the Festival’s site as well as YouTube, and a :60 teaser will run before select films at the Festival. Signs throughout the Festival will remind the diverse audience of the power of particles of light to make people angry, ecstatic, sad or aroused. The campaign also includes theater, print, digital, outdoor boards, a program book and interstitials. Print will run in the “Los Angeles Times,” “Los Angeles Magazine,” and “Esquire”. Social-media activations will include an integrated Twitter and Vine campaign featuring six-second videos.

The Festival will run throughout Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, beginning April 25 and concluding May 2.

About RPA:

RPA, headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif., is a leading independent advertising agency. RPA builds momentum for brands by offering its clients truly integrated campaigns that resonate throughout its disciplines, which include traditional advertising, interactive, and direct and event marketing. RPA’s client list includes American Honda, ampm, ARCO, Castrol, California Department of Public Health, Intuit Small Business, La-Z-Boy, Farmers Insurance Group and Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. For more information, visit http://www.rpa.com.

Credits:

Client: NBFF See the Light Campaign
Film title: “Mandible”
Premiere: April 2013

Agency: RPA
EVP/CCO: Joe Baratelli
GCD: Pat Mendelson
CD: Scott McDonald
AD: Brian Farkas
CW: Tylynne McCauley
Agency Sr. Executive Producer, Content: Gary Paticoff
Agency Senior Producer: Selena Pizarro
Agency Assistant Producer: Ryan Radley

Production Co.: Tool
Directors: Erich Joiner, Robert Richardson
DP: Robert Richardson
Writer: Lee Aronsohn
Production Designer: Justin Trask
Executive Producer(s): Brian Latt, Oliver Fuselier, Dustin Callif, Erich Joiner

Talent:
Timothy Murphy (Dentist)
Ronald Blevins (Patient)
Jessie O’Donohue (Simone)

Editorial Company: Lost Planet
Editor: Chris Kursel
Assistant Editor: Trevor Schulte and Federico Brusilovsky
Executive Producer: Gary Ward
Producer: Jaclyn Paris

Visual Effects: The Mill
VFX Producer: Gabriel Libitsky
Lead Flame Artist: James Allen
3D Lead: Gawain Liddiard
Production Coordinator: Antonio Hardy
2D Artist: Daniel Lang – Patrick Munoz – Tim Bird
3D Artist: Meng Yang Lu – Matt Longwell – Tom Graham – Phil Mayer – Miguel Guerrero

Title Design: Laundry!
Creative Director: Tony Liu
Executive Producer: Michael Bennett
Head of Production: Eric Badros
Producer: Kirsten Collabolletta
Title Design: Tony Liu
Title Animation: Tony Liu, Yongmin Park, Julie Lenoble

Telecine Company: Efilm
Production Supervisor: Chris Taft
Digital Colorist – Ben Estrada
DI Producer – Vanessa Galvez
Post Production Supervisor – Erica Frauman
DI Editor – Curtis Lindersmith

Audio Post Company: Margarita Mix
Audio Post Mixer: Jeff Levy
Post Supervisor: Michele Millard

Print Credits:
EVP, CCO: Joe Baratelli
VP, CD: Scott McDonald
Art Director: Brian Farkas
CW: Tylynne McCauley
Illustrator: LAUNDRY!
Typographer: LAUNDRY!
Photographer: LAUNDRY!
Digital artist: LAUNDRY!