FOX turns to IKA Collective to create a launch campaign for its new series, “The Following,” starring Kevin Bacon.
New York, NY -- For the launch of the new psychological drama The Following, which marks Golden Globe winner and Emmy Award-nominated actor Kevin Bacon’s primetime series debut, Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) again turned to the creative production/post studio hybrid IKA Collective to produce one of the multi-spot promo campaigns that led to the series’ highly-rated premiere. IKA had previously worked on successful series launch promo campaigns for several other FOX series, including New Girl, Raising Hope and The Mindy Project. They also produced the extravagant promo for last season’s So You Think You Can Dance premiere.
“We’re proud that FOX again entrusted us with this crucial series launch,” Ian Karr, Founder/Director at IKA Collective and Executive Producer on this project, says. “Launches are a huge deal -- for the networks and for IKA. Whether it’s assembling an A-list team, or coming up with creative solutions to logistical and production challenges, we thrive in that high-stakes environment.”
Directed by Kerry Shaw Brown and lensed by Anthony Arendt, production on the two promos (entitled "Footsteps" and "The Raven") proved especially challenging because it called for multiple, visually unique promos to be shot in just one day. That meant finding a location that not only captured the sense of urban dystopia that drives the creative, but one that also provided enough space to build a jail cell and an FBI office set.
Karr and his production team used an abandoned grain elevator in Brooklyn as the primary location for the sequence in which series co-star James Purefoy and his many followers walk through a graffiti-filled, decaying building, leaving behind bloody footprints as they walk toward a stone-faced Bacon. The other sets were built in an adjacent structure, creating a “pop-up” production studio on the Brooklyn waterfront.
“The FOX team came to us with epic creative concepts and everyone performed at their very highest level,” Karr adds. “The spots turned out great and more than 20 million viewers tuned in for the premiere. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Source: IKA Collective
