Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/957795
DGA QUARTERLY 23 PHOTO: JEFF SPICER/GETTY IMAGES FOR BFI » Alma Har'el spot," notes Har'el. "The focus was on the actual stories, and [P&G] fully sup- ported us." The truncated filming schedule for a commercial can make rehearsing difficult, but Har'el found time with her actors whenever possible—during callbacks, costume fittings—and turned the first few takes on set into a makeshift rehearsal, making sure that screens and monitors were down. To create the Olympic skiing sequence at the end, Har'el "would watch hours of documentary films and alpine skiing competition" as research, since this was her first time filming a competitive win- ter sport. "I was adamant to figure out a moment that would stick out and feel dramatic even after all the prior commer- cials," she explains. "I wanted to do the leap from behind so we could reveal all of the Olympic crowd as the camera goes up, and to have the skier come very close to the camera in full speed when she reaches the finish line as if we were in the event. "Women are usually not trusted with big sports commercials of this kind, so when we get the chance, I think it's a high," she adds. Har'el, currently in the process of cast- ing her first narrative feature, knows the impact that both her directorial work and her Free the Bid movement, which seeks to increase the number of women directing commercials, have on others. "I was the first woman to direct a commercial for this campaign," writes Har'el, "and I wanted to make sure that it left the brand with the same feeling of 'Love Over Bias' that they were advertising." ® "It was very important to me that the kid with a disability [would] be a kid who really did live with that bias and was an athlete. We wanted to make sure... the details speak to the people who live with those realities." —Har'el on why she and her producer cast a young Japanese skier with a prosthetic leg Fast-growing film program in Nashville seeking experienced industry professional Belmont University's Motion Pictures department is looking for a narrative writer-director / producer to teach full time and bring ideas, talent, and enthusiasm to a thriving undergraduate filmmaking program. We have teachers who studied at USC, Loyola, and Chapman and, all have decades of industry experience. All are industry professionals, creating feature films, television, music videos, commercials, and documentaries. With six full-time faculty, 15 adjuncts, and 190 majors, Belmont Motion Pictures trains, prepares and helps find students a successful place in the industry. We're housed in a state of the art facility with 22,000 s.f. of production space, including a 250 seat theater / Dolby Atmos mix stage, 50 seat theater / mix stage, mix studio with Avid S6 console, color correction suite, 4K edit bays, 2,500 s.f. sound stage, and Foley / ADR stage. n.b.: Tennessee has no state income tax. Contact department chair Will Akers to talk about our program, Belmont, or Nashville. will.akers@belmont.edu 615/460-8647