Most spots hide the effort it took to make them, wishing to immerse the audience in the act of watching them. But every now and then you get a spot that revels in its own audacity, and wants the viewer to revel in it, too. Like this 2014 Oscars promo directed by Paul Feig and starring that years’ host, Ellen DeGeneres:
If you watch that PromaxBDA Gold Award-winning little gem a few times – and really, you should – questions inevitably arise. Is Ellen’s march through the city streets really all one take? And if so, how did they do that? And how did a star like Ellen ever find the time to memorize a song and learn such a complicated-looking dance sequence? And how many dancers are in this thing, anyway?
Obviously, there are a ton of moving parts behind the scenes of such a production, and if you’re going to ask someone about how they fit together, you might as well ask the guy who is, well, fitting them together. Black Label Content owner Joseph Uliano served as executive producer on the promo, a role he has played many times throughout a long career producing and creative-directing music videos, commercials, films and live events. If you’re going to do a single-take promo for one of the world’s biggest live television events with one of the world’s biggest media personalities and more than 250 dancers on the ABC back lot, Uliano’s your guy.
