10 Years of LMP: Chapter 16 - Scary AF
It’s Halloween, and this is definitely the scariest thing we’ve ever made. The thought of this convicted felon, rapist, and unapologetic racist and fascist piece of sh*t regaining control with unchecked power is truly a nightmare. I wish this animated short we made 4 years ago about this cheating, narcissistic, pathological liar wasn’t still relevant, but if the polls are right, he might actually win. It’s real life terrifying. For the love of god, please vote Harris/Walz.
10 Years of LMP: Chapter 15 - No Bad Vibes.
Who knew that filming orange slices and cucumbers floating in a fish tank in super slo-mo would be so cool? @mimicave did. We took our hyper art direction skills up a notch on this dreamy, candy-colored launch campaign for Method Body. A day on a stage with a simple, yet deceptively complicated set build with moving walls and fully functioning plumbing. Over a hundred “good ingredients” captured swirling and dancing under water. Exhaustive stock footage searches for “bad vibes”. Then magically tattooing a collage of visuals onto our actresses as they washed away their daily stresses with the rejuvenating powers of botanicals and essential oils of citrus and seaweed… and other soapy stuff.
10 Years of LMP: Chapter 14 - A Historical Fact
On September 1st, 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates did something that no MLB team had done before. They fielded the first all black and brown starting lineup in MLB history. Really? It took until 1971 for that to happen? Surely that can’t be true… Well, it is true, and in 2017 we made an hour long TV show about it in partnership with MLB and FOX sports. We even got legendary Pirates fan Chuck D. to narrate it. And if Chuck D. says it, you know it’s true. It was one of the craziest schedules we’ve ever had - 8 weeks to write, shoot, edit and finish a 1 hour long historical documentary to air on FOX during the 2017 MLB playoffs. Multiple all-nighters with multiple editors, along with the best finishing talent in the Bay Area film community, got us to the finish line. Directed by David Terry Fine, DP Tyler McPherron, very special shoutouts to Clayton Worfolk, Joelle Wagner, Ellis Hawes & Pico Sound, Ayumi Ashley, Noe Chavez and Joaby Deal. Check out the trailer below, and if you want to see the whole film, reach out and we’ll send you a link.
10 Years of LMP: Chapter 13 - Break Out The Tissues
You wouldn’t think that Kraft, a brand ubiquitous with Macaroni and Cheese, would make a commercial so honest and authentic that it would bring tears to your eyes. But when you bring in David Terry Fine to capture real people, it’s good to have some tissues handy. Tears, prepare to be jerked.
10 Years of LMP - Chapter 11: Playing With Fire
You want to film a group of bad-ass women shooting real flaming arrows at their uncomfortable high heels? Sure, we’ve got insurance for that! Legendary creatives Jon Soto and Nick Cohen of Mad Dogs & Englishmen invited us along with bad-ass director Cali Bondad (@turbotwigs) to execute this wild pyro idea for their client Vionic Shoes. Cali brought a dreamy poetic sensibilty to the film, while San Francisco offered up an incredible sunset skyline for our heroine’s backdrop - though we did end up painting out the recently completed Salesforce Tower from the scene, it was just a little too, um... erect for the vibe of our film. Sorry Mr Benioff.
10 Years of LMP: Chapter 8 - Read. My. Lips.
Our first film that wasn’t a music video or commercial continues to be the most viewd piece we’ve ever made. The folks at RadioLab had initially wanted to turn Rachel Kolb’s essay “Seeing at the Speed of Sound” into an audio piece but realized it would be better told through video, so they passed the story along to our pal David Terry Fine. We filmed our friends and members of the deaf community, invented some scenes outside of the studio and spent a lot of time figuring out a clever way to bring it all together with picture, sound design and experiential subtitles. The film was selected for the National Geographic short film showcase and was also featured by Vimeo Staff Picks, Short of the Week and The Atlantic and was awarded an AICP award for best sound design (designed by Nathan Petty and mixed by Joaby Deal). It’s been adopted by institutions and integrated into training and education programs around the world. Posted and re-posted, it’s been seen and shared by millions of people who hopefullly have a better understanding of what it’s like to use one sense to do the work of another.
10 Years of LMP: Chapter 6 - Let’s Get Hyper
Before AI came gunning for our careers, the gig workers did, so we helped them make a fun commercial! This 2015 brand re-launch spot for UpWork titled “Ideas Need People” (remember when ideas needed people?) was our first forray into hyper art direction. It’s lo-fi and high-concept, and we love it! The first of many more LMP hyper art direction spots, and the first of many of our favorite projects directed by our amazing and talented friend @mimicave.
10 years of LMP: Chapter 5 - Criminal Element
LMP was originally conceived and founded as an editorial and post shop, but we quickly saw a need in our community of ad agencies and in-house brand studios for an all-in-one production and post service, so we adapted and like to say we “accidentally” became a production company. That said, editorial and post are still the heart and soul of LMP and we don’t shoot every project we work on. This period piece for 19 Crimes was directed by Nick Ball out of Furlined, and DP’d by the legendary Jan Velicky. Created by our good friend Joe Kayser and his agency @kayserandco, with copywriter Eric Boyd (who also has a cameo in the spot!). Shot in 2015 in the Czech Republic on an old Soviet era sound stage, the spot is based on an actual poem written by a real convict banished to Australia in 1867.
10 Years of LMP: Chapter 4 - The Oner
It’s a music video kinda week here at LMP, so lets revisit one from the archives... In 2014, thanks to the film Birdman, the seamless, no visible edits, single-shot technique known as “the oner” was all the rage. So we gave it a try ourselves. This music video for @dodosmusic was a choreographic and technical feat, that by the end of the day after 40+ takes, had the band completely drained and our camera op, Steadi-Stew, practically collapsing from exhaustion. But, he got the take. Directed by @tylerturtle, DP @devinwhetstone, Steadi Cam Op @steadistewart, and Choreography by @katiegaydos. See if you can spot the one and only cut in the edit :)
10 Years of LMP: Chapter 3 - Jet Lag
Deeper into 2014 - We’re about to move into our office on Geary Street in the heart of what the folks who market neighborhoods would call The Theater District. An opportunity presents itself to tell a story in Sunderland, England - which has no theater district at all. The people who lived there were wonderful and baffled by the presence of a crew. We got to see everything - factories, schools, city hall, a football match, and pubs of course. The agency creatives were nice enough to take a chance on the us as a fledgling company who hadn’t yet filmed much outside of San Francico, but were comforted when we brought on @devinwhetstone who had filmed other work for Citrix. David Terry Fine directed and we were lucky enough to bring @tylerturtle to shoot stills and timelapses. @yourstrulycreative, a studio we had known and admired for years were throwing an insane party in London for Ray-Ban that happened to coincide with our shoot, so after we wrapped in Sunderland, we took a train to London and got to see artists like Moses Sumney and Nick Hakim perform in an immersive event made with the help of future friend @lyddypiddy celebrating the 13th hour, the extra hour when we turn back the clock. Followed by a very hungover visit to the Tate Modern.
10 years of LMP: Chapter 2 - January 2014, officially incorporated, with post production operating out of a guesthouse in Nathan’s backyard, LMP is a real company, or at lest becoming one. We were still getting our bearings when Google Brand Studio approached us with a super loose brief - go ask people on the street what they’re searching for and make something cool. With a micro budget and no guarantee the piece would actually ever see the light of day, we were all over it. With a guerrilla 3 person crew, David Terry Fine, Austin Rhodes and a single PA roamed the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn stopping the most interesting people they could find and simply asked “what are you searching for?”
