Tourism Australia today launched “Transformation”, a new advertising campaign being rolled out in 22 countries around the world. Baz Luhrmann, known for his movies Moulin Rouge and William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, was responsible for the television and cinema commercials set in New York, Shanghai and Western Australia.
Original music for the New York commercial, Billabong, was composed by Sydney composer and song writer Elliott Wheeler, from sound and music boutique Nylon Studios.
The music for the New York spot was composed and recorded within a 48 hour timeframe in early September. Film directors Baz Luhrmann and Bruce Hunt called Nylon Studios on a Friday night a month before the launch, asking for a demo to be completed by the following Monday. Elliott composed two pieces on the Saturday before recording them with a string ensemble from Sydney Symphony Orchestra on the Sunday morning.
Once the creative team had chosen one of the tracks further work included the addition of multiple layers of piano tracks to create a a signature sound for the main piano melody, and careful sound engineering and mix by Wayne Connolly. Encouraged by warm response to the soundtrack, Wheeler has written an extended version with lyrics recorded by Abby Dobson from Sydney band Leonardo’s Bride.
“We wanted to use strings, but not on such a scale that we’d be dictating to the audience what they were meant to feel, so in the end we went with a much smaller chamber ensemble. We put a lot of energy into finding a balance between the intimacy expressed in the dialogue, and the grandness seen in the cinematography.”
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Hi,
I am in my last year of business school studying consumer marketing and marketing communication, and have been doing two internships in advertising (as a Planner in Sweden) for local subsidiaries of international networks.
In two weeks, I will be going to New York City for vacation, and I was thinking of trying to raid some NYC agencies and just try to get them to talk to me - meet with me. Now I have a few questions
1) Is it at all possible? (Back in the day, couldn*t you walk in the door and be persistent and get someone to meet with you?)
2) What*s the best way of accomplishing it (given that it is at all possible)?
3) Given that it is possible, what agencies do you recommend?
I offer anyone my gratitude in advance!
Best Regards
PB. smile
Well anything is possible as they say.... but this one.. not very likely.
When I went to NYC to find work I had 1) studied there for 3 1/2 years, so I had pals, connection all over, a place to stay and six month of pounding the pavement time. Two weeks is extremly short, you know that don*t you?
I also had a headhunter. Do you? He/She should have your resume and work examples already, you should already have spoken to him/her a few times over the phone. The headhunter might be able to arrange a meet or two in your two-week window.
The whole studied there thing was just to mention connections, I knew someone who knew someone and ta-dah, I managed to get a foot in a door somewhere thanks to that. Do you know anyone who knows someone? It helps, every little helps!
A lot of meeting were arranged before I got there, with me faxing and cold calling the recruiters of my targeted agencies before I got there, and once I was there I set up a meeting. It took a bunch of calls, but I did arrange twice as many meeting for myself than my headhunter did, so don*t get all depressed if you don*t have one, in the end they never worked out for me. I*m not sure how popular cold-calling is these days. Why you should do it ahead of time is because it might corner the recruiter into seeing you - "I*m coming to NYC (date) and could I see you then?", when they only have one small window to choose from and it*s set in a months time or more they might just pencil you in.
Keep in mind that all this I was doing back in 1995. Ten years can change a lot of things... I used to Fax things over with a creative cover-sheet that caught peoples attention because FAX was the "media" no other applicants used at the time. These days I hear they hate faxes, I guess you*re back to sending really nice looking letters.
Always send something tangible before calling! A letter, (a fax), your resume and ask in the letter if you can see them. Then call them.
>>1) Is it at all possible? (Back in the day, couldn*t you walk in the door and be persistent and get someone to meet with you?)
Yeah like back in 1967. C*mon that hasn*t happened in over thirty years. You couldn*t even do that at hot shit Stockholm agencies ten years ago.
Everyone is so busy these days. I*m not sure how much time agencies can give you. You should just visit everybody and drop off some samples or something. In this economy, it*s hard to be selective. You should think about flooding all the NYC agencies with your work.
I remember a few years ago, I was going to California for vacation. I thought it would be cool if I could visit an <unnamed> agency and meet people while I was there. A month before my trip, I send over a mini-portfolio and introduced myself. I told the creative recruiter when I would be in the area and if she could spare a few minutes. When I didn*t hear back from her, I e-mailed her but still got no response. A day before my trip, I called her and got a message that said she was going on vacation and wouldn*t be back for a week! That*s the business.
Aye... Thing is thouigh as a planner I*m not sure you should drop the book with the creative recruiter. A recruiter sure, but the creative one? Who hires planners? smile
But yes, definatly flood the agencies with small mini-books of cool stuff you did in school and on your placements. You might luck out and get one or two to chat with you.