Marketing Ben Stein’s Movie: EXPELLED

by

When MLi first met with the producers of Expelled, filming was well underway. Premise Media was a new production company. They contracted MLi to develop their corporate image as well as the creative direction for the marketing of the film.
The subject matter was sensitive and bound to raise controversy so the marketing was going to need an edge… something gutsy… something outside the box.
With Ben Stein as the star and known mostly for his comedic rolls, MLi conceived a character cross between Ben and rebel musician Angus Young (AC-DC). Ben Stein, alias Rebel Ben… The schoolboy rebel with a cause… “EXPOSE ACADEMIC SUPPRESSION!”
MLi designed the concept of rebel Ben spray-painting the X in the title of EXPELLED, stamped on a brick wall. The wall represented the school Ben had been expelled from for daring to question the powers that be. It further represented the academic walls of suppression… A theme the producers developed further and became the hook in the final script of the film.

Favorite New App… 5 STARS!

by


Flixter: Watch movies… Tell friends!

This is by far the best app I’ve found in a while. Best because of it’s usefulness and incredible convenience. Flixter is a must-have for all movie buffs. Here are the features:
– View the top box office leaders, upcoming movies and new DVD releases.
– Browse a DVD catalog of over 50,000 films
– Watch high quality trailer and video clips for over 10,000 blockbuster and indie flicks
-Read movie reviews from RottenTomatoes
– Connect with your Facebook account to save your ratings and share them with your friends
– Look up movietimes and movieticket info for movies at the boxoffice
– Buy movietickets from movietickets.com
– Link directly to Roten Tomatoes and IMDB for additional cast, synopsis, reviews and details
– Get theater info with maps, cinema phone numbers, ticket info and show times
…and more!
Best of all… IT’S FREE!

"REMOTE" Photo Shoot Art Direction via New Technology

by





When time wouldn’t allow for an out of town photo shoot in Vegas, MLi Design did the next best thing… We utilized the new Adobe ConnectNow “Screen Share” feature that comes packaged with CS4.

Model selection was done via an agency web site and phone calls with sales reps, but on the day of the shoot, the on-site photographer connected his digital camera to a laptop, launched Adobe Bridge and ConnectNow and MLi art directed the entire shoot remotely from our offices here in WA. We were able to see everything the camera saw which enabled us to make wardrobe changes, adjust lighting, position the talent, suggest shot scenarios, comment on hair, expressions and anything else we would have done had we been on site that day.




Above are samples of two shots taken that day (out of over 500), laid out in brochure format. The shoot took place in the client’s airplane hangar near the main strip in Vegas so the photographer later went to a local casino for the background shots that we photoshopped in from here.