Lenses that Rock October/November 2015 • V.30 | No.4
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
2.0
Shooting in a Bubble Lighting Solutions 1,000 Feet to Victory Drones’ Are Here…
Markee2.0
October/November 2015 volume 30 | Number 4
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
co n t e n t s w w w. m a r k e e m a g a z i n e . c o m
fea tu res
06
Cinematography
The Perfect Guy Needs the Perfect Lenses
6
Seeking the perfect lens and camera combination for The Perfect Guy required testing and judgement. By Tom Inglesby
12
Cinematography
A Rocker for All Seasons
18
If you think any lens with a servo on it is strictly an ENG lens, not one suited for feature film and high-end commercial cinematography, read on. By Tom Inglesby
14
Lighting
Shooting in a Bubble Diffused light has been a staple of photography for ages. Now it can be applied to larger areas for reflection-free shooting. By Allan Wachs
32
18
Audio
Production Music in Non-Theatrical Films and Videos
36 2 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
A little research up front can make a big difference in the sound of your next production. And there are many folks willing to help you pick the right music. By Joel Goodman and Andrew DeWitt Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
C olum ns & Dep a t ments 4 From the Editor 42 CINDY Awards News 44 Marketplace
24
Business
SaaS Solutions Software as a service (SaaS) offers many advantages over server-based applications. Turning to “the cloud” for storage and highspeed file transfer solutions is a growing trend. By Margaret Craig, CEO, Signiant
28
Production
Markee2.0
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
Markee 2.0 is a results-driven magazine that has been published since December 1985. A nationwide survey of film and video industry professionals revealed that Markee 2.0 is at the top of their must-read list. Editorially, Markee 2.0 offers a wide range of content tailored for its diverse readership. Features span film and video production and postproduction topics to include must-read interviews with leaders in the creative community, the latest equipment and technology news, perspectives on innovative independent filmmaking, and in-the-trenches reports on shooters, editors, animators and audio pros – plus regularlyscheduled specialty supplements. Markee 2.0’s seasoned writers know the industry inside-out. That’s what makes Markee 2.0 compelling, informative and timely reading.
www.markeemagazine.com
Pay no attention… The Hunger Games trilogy has garnered rave revues and big box office. Like many films today, the three films require a temporary suspension of reality. Or like the Wizard of Oz might say, “Pay no attention to that room behind the curtain.” By Monte Swann, Supervising Engineer, Cygnet Video
32
Spotlight: New York
1,000 Feet to Victory A school project gets wheels and a film crew to document how success can inspire even more success. By Miles Weston
36
Special Feature: Aerial Photography
Never Fear: ‘Drones’ Are Here… To Stay! What can unmanned aerial vehicles—“drones”—really do? Are they safe? How are they regulated in the U.S. for both hobbyist and commercial use? By Jeff Foster, Co-Founder of the Drone Coalition w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[On The Cover]
Removing reflections from a polished surface is tricky in post; a better way is to shoot the object, like this Mustang, in a diffused lighting environment: the Photobubble.
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 3
Markee2.0
from the editor
Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People
| By Tom Inglesby
LIONHEART PUBLISHING, INC. 506 Roswell Street, Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060 Tel: 770.431.0867 Fax: 770.432.6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com www.markeemagazine.com
Roots and Branches
Publisher John Llewellyn llewellyn@lionhrtpub.com
The old adage “Everyone has to start somewhere” is both obvious and somewhat profound. In the digital age, however, the “where” sometimes gives the starter a false sense of accomplishment before it is earned. What I mean is, the Internet is filled with videos “produced” by people with cameras who become celebrities and instant filmmakers without the traditional training and experience. If anyone with a camera is a filmmaker, where will professional filmmakers work? Ages ago, I learned the trade incrementally. Back then, we actually had apprenticeships, learning opportunities at the bottom of the stack. I had a background in radio and educational TV from my college days before I landed my first real filmmaking job, as an audio engineer—the sound guy—for Encyclopedia Britannica Films, the premier educational film producer. In the late 1960s, I developed their in-house recording studio and found myself going on locations to record everything from natural sounds to voices with a Nagra tape recorder. By working with the producer and crew in the field, I was learning by observation. And being there when something went wrong—these were, after all, basically documentaries and we know that things go wrong in docs—gave me both a chance to see how to deal with problems and be available to help solve them. There is nothing scarier than having a respected producer yell at you, “Hey, kid, get on that second camera and get to work.” Especially when you’ve never touched an Arriflex before. Back in the studio, we dubbed the voices and sound effects on magnetic film so the editor could match it to the visuals using a Moviola. It was primitive compared to today’s digital editing, precluding easy entry by those with interest—and often talent—who didn’t have access to the resources. And that, perhaps, is where the traditional methods let us down. Professionals came up through the ranks before getting their big chance; classic story line. But talented people found many doors closed if they didn’t go down the university path or union apprenticeship. Another old adage: “You need experience to get experience.” The cost and ease of entry today marks a change, one that lets talent be the driver not experience. But ease of entry also builds, it seems, an uneasy relationship between professionals and wannabes. When we have film festivals honoring the value of shooting a feature with an iPhone, those who labor long hours with an F65 might feel a little dishonored. Some companies in the business understand the need to get more opportunities for talent to come forth through education. VideoBlocks is one, sponsoring a College Film Contest. Filmmakers at the undergraduate and graduate level are eligible to win a first prize of $5,000 by sending in an original piece that incorporates VideoBlocks content. Four runner-up prizes of $1,000 will also be awarded, in addition to a $1,000 prize for the sponsoring professor of the first place winner—a total of $10,000 in cash prizes. Cinematographer and director Arthur Albert will judge the contest. Albert has served as director of photography for Breaking Bad, ER, The Blacklist, Better Call Saul, and numerous other film and television hits. The contest is an initiative to support the artistic development of the next generation of directors, cinematographers, and producers. As one with his roots in educational films, I applaud VideoBlocks for their efforts and look forward to seeing the results.
4 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
www.markeemagazine.com
Editor/Associate Publisher Tom Inglesby tom@markeemagazine.com Executive Editor Cory Sekine-Pettite cory@lionhrtpub.com Director of Sales and John Davis Marketing Companies L-Z jdavis@lionhrtpub.com 770.431.0867, ext. 226 Advertising Sales Aileen Kronke Companies A-K aileen@lionhrtpub.com 888.303.5639, ext.212 Art Director Alan Brubaker albrubaker@lionhrtpub.com Online Projects Manager Patton McGinley patton@lionhrtpub.com
Assistant Online Leslie Proctor Projects Manager leslie@lionhrtpub.com
Marketing/Reprints Kelly Millwood kelly@lionhrtpub.com Subscriptions Amy Halvorsen amyh@lionhrtpub.com
Markee 2.0 (ISSN 1073-8924) is bi-monthly digital publication published by Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
Subscription Information – For a free subscription to Markee 2.0 and Markee 2.0 eNews, sign up at: www.markeemagazine.com Click on Subscriptions. Copyright © 2015 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. The copyright owner, however, does consent to a single copy of an article being made for personal use. Otherwise, except under circumstances within “fair use” as defined by copyright law, no part of this publication may be reproduced, displayed or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, Lionheart Publishing, Inc. Send e-mail permission requests to cory@lionhrtpub.com. Disclaimer – The statements and opinions in the articles of this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lionheart Publishing, Inc. or the editorial staff of Markee 2.0 or any sponsoring organization. The appearance of advertisements in this magazine is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised.
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Cinematography
6 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Lenses
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
The Perfect Guy
NEEDS THE PERFECT LENSES Seeking the perfect lens and camera combination for The Perfect Guy required testing and judgement. After a painful breakup, successful lobbyist Leah Vaughn jumps into a passionate relationship with a charming stranger. When her ex-boyfriend resurfaces in her life she has to figure out who she should trust and who she should fear. Which, if either, is the perfect guy for her? The Perfect Guy is a film by director David M. Rosenthal and, like most feature films, there was almost as much drama behind the camera as in front of it. Director of photography Peter Simonite, gives more details, “The film is a thriller, much like Fatal Attraction. The story revolves around Leah Vaughn, played by Sanaa Lathan, who just broke up with her boyfriend, Morris Chestnut’s character, and she finds this guy, Michael Ealy, who just seems too good to be true. It turns out, he is. He’s got kind of a dark side, and he won’t let go when she tries to break it off. He starts to stalk her, and she has to take things into her own hands. It’s a suspenseful thriller with a nice, dark, mysterious undertone.” By Tom Inglesby w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 7
Cinematography
[Top Right & Below] DP Peter Simonite on the set of The Perfect Guy.
8 | Markee 2 .0
|
Lenses “Dark, mysterious undertone” has a film noir feeling to it and Simonite wanted to play up that element. “When I met David Rosenthal, the director, he made it clear to me that he wanted to have a unique look for the film that was darker. He likes the cinematic look of anamorphic. We decided to use Sony F65 cameras because they have a really big canvas for cinema. They have an 8K sensor and they see well in low light. They provide a really rich palette for the movie. There’s also a mechanical shutter in the camera, so you can have a really filmic, creamy look.” Cameras need the right lenses to get the right feeling on the film. Simonite recalls, “We looked at a lot of different anamorphic glass, and we settled on the Hawk Vintage ’74 lenses, mainly because of the unique character it had when paired with the F65. It looked great on Sanaa’s skin, and all of our actors looked really beautiful in it. It gave a rich background for the city lights; the distortions of anamorphic look great on a background of a nighttime L.A. noir thriller.” Experience plays a role in every DP’s choice of camera and lenses. But there is usually more. “We did a lot of testing,” admits Simonite. “Before we chose those lenses, we tested almost every anamorphic lens available at Keslow Camera in Culver City. They were helpful in getting this set up for us. We tested them during the day, during the night, and under several different
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
lighting conditions that would match the way we envisioned doing the film.” Tests cover a lot of options but the biggest test is with the actual actors. “Once we had chosen the lenses, we were pretty sure that we needed to see them with Sanaa,” says Simonite. So we did a test at Sony where we brought in our cast. It was a combination of makeup, hair, and wardrobe, but it was also a way for us to see how everyone looks with this lens combination, to make sure that we’re really committed to the style. And everyone loved it. David really felt that it gave a unique look that he hadn’t seen before for his film, so away we went.” Besides the look, were there any technical advantages to this combination? Simonite believes there were. “One of the technical advantages was that the F65 made it possible for us to shoot anamorphic at night, and balance to the available light in some of our scenarios. A neat thing about the F65 is that it’s a really fast camera. Modern digital cameras have such extreme low light sensitivity that it makes working with anamorphic a lot easier. You can shoot with a little more stock to help the assistants, and to really see into the night a little better. That was one of the big technical advantages.” Working with anamorphic is more challenging for the assistants and for the crew, because it requires more lighting and more care with focus. Simonite relied on his crew and they didn’t let him down. Neither did the lenses. “We had a full set of the
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] Sanaa Lathan and Michael Ealy in a serious moment of The Perfect Guy.
[Below] Lathan and Ealy get romantic on the dance floor.
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 9
Cinematography
[Above] Tensions are played up as confrontation among the male characters and stalking scenes.
[Below] Sanaa Lathan lets go in one of the more violent scenes in The Perfect Guy.
10 | Markee 2 .0
|
Lenses
Hawk Vintage ’74 Prime lenses and two Hawk zooms that are also anamorphic, a 70-180mm and a 35-80mm. Those were terrific.” Hawk Vintage ’74 lenses come in different single focal lengths, from 28 to 140mm. A 28mm anamorphic is not something you normally would use in a film like The Perfect Guy. “That’s an interesting point,” Simonite acknowledges. “I had some advice from another cameraman who I really admire, Alwin Küchler. We started talking about his work on a movie called Sunrise, and he was suggesting that I consider spherical lenses for very wide shots, in the 28mm range, or for very long shots. His point was that, when you get that wide on an anamorphic, the distortion becomes pretty distracting. So, we did use a few spherical lenses here and there for very wide shots. Inside of Sanaa’s house, I think I put an 18mm or maybe even a 16mm on, instead of using a 28. I just felt that it worked better and you don’t really notice the depth of field characteristics of the anamorphic that much when you go that wide. It just made the image a little bit more flat, a little more square. So, for a handful of shots where we needed to go wider, we would put a spherical lens.”
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
The Sony F65 was Simonite’s camera of choice for some of the same reasons he chose his lenses. “It produces incredible images, and especially with a mechanical shutter, it just looks really exquisite,” he recalls. “But it’s not the smallest camera available, so there were times when we used the F55, which is smaller and more compact, and fits into tight spaces. We used F55 for some hood mounts on cars and we also used the F55 for Steadicam. Our Steadicam operator, B. J. McDonnell, did use the F65 on Steadicam, just because he can manage it. It was kind of a crazy thing to see the F65 with the Hawk 35 anamorphic, which was our basic wide lens; together those two are pretty huge.” Several other cameras were used for special situations. According to Simonite, “We did a sequence in Griffith Park, a chase sequence, and we had to crash a car. We were looking for a solution for action cameras that we could keep our anamorphic look going with, but something smaller that we could use for mounts or for crashing a car. Glenn Gainor, who is our executive producer, is a very tech savvy guy. He managed to get us some early Sony A7S cameras. We tested those out and found that they were extremely light sensitive and that we could work with those with deeper stops at night for lock-off cameras and for action cameras. I think one of those shots did make it into the trailer, too.” Simonite continues, “We had two cameras full-time, an A and a B. We had B. J. McDonnell doing Steadicam and A camera, and Brown Cooper was our B camera operator. I think we had 10 cameras for our three or four stunt days, and we brought in additional crews for that. We had an extra crew that came in on a weekend to help us with some plates that we did. We had some driving sequences, and we did rear projection for the driving sequences. We had to go out and shoot plates with a gyrostabilized four-camera rig, where we would drive around Hollywood at night and shoot all of our backgrounds.” Simonite has worked in documentaries and some of that experience came in handy on The Perfect Guy. “A documentary background is helpful in staging scenes to available light, and working with the ambient light to produce nice images. But this was a lot different because I had an incredible crew to support me. Sometimes with a documentary shoot, you’re left to your own devices. But I had Jim Plannette, who was my gaffer, a veteran of the film industry for more than 50 years. He’s incredible—his first film to gaff was Young Frankenstein. He’s done everything from E.T. to Oceans 11, 12, 13, you name it. This guy is an incredible artist, and he and my key grip, Manny Duran, have worked together on a number of movies, and are the best. To work with them, and to have their support, it’s a lot different than working on a documentary; they bring a lot to the table artistically and they really help you solve problems in a hurry.” The Perfect Guy was released on September 11, 2015 and when Simonite attended the premier, he was surprised. “When I watched the film, because the way it was cut, there were several scenes that weren’t used or were used differently, and I thought it was just terrific, because it really added to the suspense to the point where I was kept off guard throughout the film.” When the DP is surprised with the end results that says a lot. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] DP Simonite frames a shot while working outside.
[Below] Sanaa Lathan confronts Morris Chestnut.
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 11
Cinematography
Lenses
A ROCKER FOR ALL SEASONS If you think any lens with a servo on it is strictly an ENG lens, not one suited for feature film and high-end commercial cinematography, read on. By Tom Inglesby With a name like Johnny Derango, you might expect him to be a cowboy actor but he’s actually a DP who has worked on multiple films and commercials. One of those films changed his mind about what a servo lens, a “rocker lens,” can do. Since his introduction to the Fujinon PL 19-90mm Cabrio two years ago, it’s become his go-to lenses for everything. 12 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
The film was Bullrider, directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf with actor Josh Lucas. It was a handheld shoot done with three people on an active bull riding ranch. “An F-stop of 2.9 all the way through the zoom range is incredibly fast, so it turned out to be perfect for this type of run-and-gun shoot,” recalls Derango. “The rocker zoom gave me the flexibility I needed for that chaotic situation and little to no crew.” How did Derango come in contact with the lens? “I was with a good friend of mine, Ryan Beardsley, who owns Lightstone Rentals in Glendale. We were talking about lenses and he brought up the Fujinon Cabrio. He told me it had a rocker zoom on it and when he told me that, I lost all interest because I was looking for a cinema zoom, like an Angenieux. When I heard rocker, I was like, ‘Okay, that’s clearly an ENG-style lens. I’m not interested.’ He convinced me that it wasn’t.” Then the Bullrider project came up, and Derango needed a lens with some flexibility, something that was clearly a cinema zoom but that could function in “runn-gun” situations. He remembers, “I was cautious but said, ‘All right, you told me about this. I’ll give it a chance.’ I tried it and I was just blown away with the optics. It’s a beautiful, clean piece of glass. But the fact that I can use it in a run-n-gun shoot made it invaluable to me, because I can use it in every part of my work.” The lens was very straight forward, like every other rocker that he’d ever used, “Aside from the fact that I think it’s smoother,” he admits. “It’s not ‘stuttery’ at all. The adjustments on it are really fine. Everything about it is pretty much perfect as far as that goes.” The 19-90mm Cabrio features a detachable servo drive unit, making it suitable for use as a standard PL lens or as an ENG-style lens. It also features flange focal distance adjustment, macro functionality, and is LDS (Lens Data System) and /i metadata compatible. With a 19-90mm focal range and weight of only 6.3 pounds, including servo motors, it has one of the longest focal ranges available in a light weight zoom. Derango hadn’t used zooms much before this shoot. “I was using mostly primes, and occasionally I would use Angenieuxs. My first feature I shot with a huge Panavision zoom. So my experience was mostly in the prime world, but this opened my eyes to a zoom that can be just as sharp as the primes and makes your life a lot easier. You’re not switching out lenses. You can take one lens and go all day.” Fast action, in-the-scene shooting requires planning and top quality equipment. Doing a run-n-gun is far different than most features or commercials. Derango explains his technique. “Usually, I’m doing audio, too, using a wireless on the camera. Everything’s got to be as straight-forward and as easy to handle as possible. I built up a hand-held rig, my Easyrig—that thing has been a life saver; my back is going to feel ten times better when I’m 60 years old. I just go in a ‘one-man-band’ sort of configuration. It’s truly fantastic. I don’t know how I would do it any other way.” He continues, “When I used only primes and do run-n-gun stuff, I was hesitant to use my F3 because I was concerned about getting focus and changing lenses. When the 19-90 came along, I threw it on the F3 and started using that. I was using a Panasonic HPX250 for run-n-gun stuff, just because it was simpler. But now, with the 19-90 on the F3, the F55, or really any camera, I feel comfortable using that instead.” When you shoot with only primes, you have to be careful in your scene set up; zooms allow more flexibility but even they have limits. Derango recalls, “I did a movie called Waffle Street, with Danny Glover, and I wanted to get the 85-300mm to pair with the 19-90. Budgetary constraints just didn’t allow it and I was a little w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] Camera crew going over a scene with DP Derango and the Sony F65 with the Fujinon zoom “rocker” lens.
nervous going in that the 19-90 wasn’t going to be enough. But never once did I go, ‘I’m stuck because I don’t have a longer lens or a wider lens.’ We made it work. Maybe there would have been a time or two when it would have been nicer to have the longer focal length, but there was no time when I felt like I compromised because I didn’t have another lens.” Every DP will have a favorite lens or set of lenses. Most will, after hours, admit there are a few features they’d like to have in the kit. Derango is no different. “The macro features on the 19-90 are okay, but it’s not the best macro I’ve ever used. It would be absolutely incredible if it were an actual macro lens and not just a back focus adjustment. That’s my only gripe. The focus pulls nice and smooth, the zoom is great. If it were a little faster, f2.2 or something like that, that would be great. But with the cameras being as fast as they are today, I haven’t found myself hurting too bad with that range.” Anything else? “The thing I see, especially with this Fujinon lens and what Canon did with their 17-120, is that the ranges are getting better. Before, you’d need two or three zooms to have a complete range, and now you’re using one or two zooms and you’re there. They’re making fast zoom lenses with a nice range and I think that’s just going to get better and better. Maybe someday you’ll see a 15-250!”
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 13
SHOOTING IN A BUBBLE By Allan Wachs
EDITOR’S NOTE: One of the major issues of film and video production lighting is control. From the days of daylight-only filming through Klieg lights and now LED, DPs have been trying to control the lighting of their sets. Tools of the trade, such as scrims and diffusion boxes, are just part of the ongoing challenge of controlling all aspects of lighting. In still photography, when shooting small, highly reflective objects such as jewelry for catalogs, the photographer often will depend on a tent or diffusion box where the light is softened and highlights are eliminated by passing the light through a translucent material that is color-neutral. That concept has been expanded to a fully walk-in capable shooting stage under a bubble—a Photobubble. Here is the story, by Allan Wachs, CEO of The Photobubble Company, Hollywood, California.
14 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
The Photobubble was originally invented as a solution to another production problem. In 2003, I was producing the first Prius commercial for director Roman Coppola and we were given the task of filming a car at speed (55mph) in a reflection-less environment, so that a “sea-of-holes” world could be created for a car to travel in without having the producers spend a fortune and a great deal of time pulling a world of reflections out of the car’s exterior in post. Through one of those “sometimes cool stuff just happens” moments during the bidding process, I was given a budget of virtually no money to create this environment. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 15
Lighting
[Above] Erecting the Photobubble inside a warehouse shooting stage.
16 | Markee 2 .0
|
Whiting out an entire stage was way beyond the money I could scrape together out of the corners of our awarded budget, nor could I find a similar amount of money to create a clean environment out of a practical location such as the Sepulveda Dam. What to do? That’s when inspiration struck. Roman remembered a conceptual art group from the late 1960s and their experiments with inflatable environments. After discussions with our production designer, Steve McHale, our team taped together a bunch of clear plastic garbage bags in the offices of the Directors Bureau, grabbed a table fan, and the next thing we knew, we had a dozen people sitting inside this make-shift inflatable structure. We realized this just might work for the Prius job! We next found an empty hangar down at LAX, and Steve, with the help of his art director, Tom Iacino, designed and built the first Photobubble out of a polyethylene material that Steve sourced. Open at one end and totally air supported by two air movers, the first Photobubble was 250’ long by 100’ wide by 40’ tall. No one had ever seen anything like it before. DP Larry Fong lit this huge whale of a structure with a couple of mini Bee Bee Nightlights and a ring of 18K’s around the circumference. The Prius entered at speed from outside the bubble, followed by a Cayenne with a Russian Arm, and it worked better than anyone could have hoped for. At the end of the shoot, we thought the concept might be able to help many other productions beyond ours. Thus, the Photobubble Company was born. Our first job as the Photobubble Company was in New York City for Anonymous Content shooting a series of spots for Intel featuring the Blue Man Group. A unique feature of the Photobubble that came in handy for this assignment was that additional holes or doors could literally be cut into the material and it would not deflate. In addition to a cool environment so their make-up wouldn’t run, the members of The Blue Man Group needed stunt rigging to pull off many of the gags that were intrinsic to the spots. Various holes were cut in the ceiling to drop rigging lines through for sight gags, and air-conditioning was pumped into the bubble to keep talent cool and make-up applied. All production problems solved. Recently, we got a call from a production designer seeking an estimate for us to create and install one of our Photobubbles for an upcoming Old Navy commercial for which she was designing the sets. Production’s problem with this assignment was that they would be shooting two spots in one day with a major star spokesperson (Julia Louis-Dreyfus,) who only had 10 hours of availability, and the spots were to be for two totally different sets and scenarios. Normally, these two spots would have been shot on two different practical locations, but there was no time for Julia to travel and to shoot two spots within a 10- hour timeframe. More often than not, production companies use the Photobubble for its ability to supply a beautiful, even reflection-less light, like shooting in a 360-degree soft box, but for this Old Navy project, it was needed to provide a 360-degree contained set, which allowed for an adjacent set to be built just footsteps away on the same soundstage. By incorporating the Photobubble into this project, the production designer was able to create a bustling, immersive backstage fashion show setting
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
with a cast of 40 and the intimation of a fashion show runway happening just around the corner. Lit entirely by LED Mac Techs, there was no re-lighting inside the Photobubble from shot to shot. The crew was able to move quickly and efficiently within the bubble to make their day and satisfy Julia’s schedule requirements. The Photobubble can be projected upon with advanced projection and lighting systems or lit with multi-colored LED’s to create the first 360-degree EFX stage. The possibilities are enormous not only in budget savings and time savings in physical and post-production, but the creative freedom for storytellers is boundless. It is perfect for transforming less-than-perfect environments into pristine, clean rooms suitable for any film imagination. Every Photobubble is custom-made with our specially formulated material, hand-built on-site. At the end of each production, each Photobubble is recycled. Due to a lack of wind-resistance, we only build bubbles in enclosed spaces: soundstages, warehouses, hangars, convention centers, etc. The Photobubble can be designed and installed in almost any size or configuration that will suit the needs of the production. Among the many advantages are fully coved walls and ceiling with a 360 degree area of view; green/ blue screen application; the bubble can be painted (or rear projected upon) for day or night sky effects; and rigging and lighting can be lowered through holes cut into the structure. In addition, this can all be done at a reasonable cost with a quick set-up and break down. Photobubble sizes have ranged from as small as 20’ wide by 30’ long to as large as two football fields. The cost of a Photobubble is determined by the size of the bubble, the location of the shoot, and the duration of usage. We are seeking directors and producers from within the feature film world, as we believe movies have yet to scratch the surface of the Photobubble’s creative potential. With the advance of LED technology, new frontiers of application are constantly being explored. We are also looking for strategic partners to set-up the first pre-lit Photobubble stage that would further increase production budget savings and accessibility. We want to work with people who are excited about presenting the Photobubble to the feature film and visual effects industries. For more information, see www.photobubblecompany.com.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] The Blue Man Group used the Photobubble for its flexibility and creative lighting potential.
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 17
Production Music in
NON-THEATRICAL
18 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
A little research up front can make a big difference in the sound of your next production. And there are many folks willing to help you pick the right music.
FILMS AND VIDEOS By Joel Goodman and Andrew DeWitt Music plays a critical role in how we experience any audio-visual production. Through harmony, melody, instrumentation, rhythm and structure, music is a vehicle for both pacing and emotion that, when used properly, can really give a story that “next level� impact. But for those working with tight budgets, this can seem like a challenge. Is it really possible to get great music without hiring a composer? Where does one even begin to find the right music, let alone get it to work well with the picture?
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 19
Audio The good news is there is no shortage of solutions out there. The production music business was built around supplying music to productions of all shapes and sizes, including non-theatrical and non-broadcast films and videos for corporate, industrial, education, and government use. With the right approach, you can find yourself a highly effective soundtrack—on time and on budget.
Know your options When shopping around your music needs, it’s important to know your options. There are many music suppliers out there, and you want to make sure you’re aware of and working with the companies that are right for you. Do some research and see what you like. Do you prefer a large catalog of many styles, or a smaller, specialized catalog that focuses on a certain sound? Do you prefer to search for music yourself using an online search system, or would you rather work with a specialist who can help pick music for you? Some suppliers produce their catalogs of music away from picture, and structure each piece to be as editable as possible. This flexibility works well for certain filmmakers, but for others might not provide the scored feeling they are looking for. Other suppliers offer music that originally was scored to picture from another project. This can provide the highly effective scored feeling that some filmmakers are after, but also has the potential to be less flexible depending on how the scene is cut. In either case, try to get a sense for the selection of variations or alternate mixes for each piece of music the supplier offers. Examples of these include versions of a piece of music without the melody, with an alternate ending, or with different instrumentation. Having these at your disposal will allow for the maximum flexibility in working the music into your picture just the way you want, and effectively give you the most bang for your buck.
20 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
A H I G H LY C U R AT E D C O L L E C T I O N O F T R A C K S FROM THE WORLD LEADER IN SONIC BRANDING™
C L I E N TS I N C LU D E : AL JA Z E E RA, AS S O C IATE D P R E S S, AXS TV, C CTV C H I N A, C N B C, C N N, E S P N , FOX, G O LF C HAN N E L, H D N ET M OV I E S, I O N, M E T V, N B C, TO P RAN K B OX I N G & M O R E
2 1 4 . 72 6 . 1 6 0 0 / 8 0 0 . 5 37. 5 8 2 9 / s t e p h e n a r n o l d m u s i c . c o m / v a u l t
Audio
[Above] Online searches are made easier when the library is carefully annotated and linked, provides an audio play back capability, and has a user friendly interface.
Of course, not all suppliers fall squarely into one type of offering. There are plenty who have different combinations of every example above; our company Oovra Music, being one of them. Ultimately, it comes down to identifying your needs and preferences. The membership of the Production Music Association is a great resource and starting point for researching possible suppliers. You can view a list of production music companies on their website, which encompasses a very diverse cross-section of suppliers. Most companies will be happy to set you up with an account so you can get a sense for their offering and even try some music in your production without needing to commit to a license.
Search is king While identifying the right suppliers is important, finding what you need in the catalog is really what matters most. A great thing to do when working with a production music company is to ask for some help at the beginning of your project. Most companies have a sales rep or a catalog specialist who would be happy to pick an initial selection of music based on your needs, and can be a continued resource throughout your project as well. Even if you normally prefer to search for music yourself, this can be a great way to find a starting point from which to explore, especially when working with companies that have a large catalog or multiple catalogs. Most production music companies today have some sort of an online system that allows you to browse or type in search terms based on a wide variety of criteria, including genre, mood, instrument, tempo, album, and more. Be sure to explore all of these 22 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
features, not only to see what is most intuitive to you, but also because each approach will yield different results. You never know where the right piece might be hiding! Often times, your search results will be presented as a long list of individual tracks from different artists and albums. Once you find a few pieces that you like, be sure to check for any variations or alternate mixes. Often, these will appear “nested” underneath the main track result, and can be seen by expanding the track information, usually by clicking on an arrow or other small icon to reveal the additional mixes. You also can use your favorite tracks as new starting points to find similar tracks. Take a look at other tracks that are on the same album as the tracks you like. If the system shows you what keywords, moods, and other tags are associated with your favorite tracks, use these same combinations of tags to find similar music. Some systems even have a built-in option that will “find similar music” based on the same combinations of tags, or by analyzing the actual audio waveform. No matter how you navigate your search, it can be helpful to create a new playlist (a feature available on most search systems) before you start, and add music to this as you explore. There’s nothing more frustrating than losing track of a great track!
Rights and licenses When scoping out potential suppliers, it’s also good to speak with a sales rep early on about licensing costs and options. Be upfront about your budget—this way the sales rep can be working with this in mind from the start. If your production is non-broadcast or non-theatrical, and limited only to the United States or a specific region therein, make sure they know. There often are savings that can be found when limited rights are needed. If you plan to use a lot of music, consider speaking with your rep about a production blanket license, which allows you to choose as many tracks as you need for a single fixed cost. In all cases, make sure the supplier owns or represents 100 percent of the rights in the music in which you are interested. This includes rights in both the recording and the underlying composition of the music. Most production companies do, but it’s important to confirm this. You don’t want to be chasing down multiple rights holders for approval, or have someone knocking on your door several months down the line, asking you for money. Similarly, in order to limit any potential complications, make sure the supplier represents their music exclusively. In addition to being a good indicator of quality, music that is represented exclusively is free from potential claims by other companies, and you can rest assured that you are getting great music from a hassle-free source. With more production music available today than at any other time in history, and the quality at the best it’s ever been, it’s an exciting time to be working with music in film and video. Every project deserves a great musical soundtrack, and with the right approach this is entirely achievable and affordable. Research your suppliers, perfect your search technique, feel confident in your rights and license needs, and make your project sing. Joel Goodman is the founder of, and Andrew DeWitt oversees production and operations for, Oovra Music. Oovra is a music licensing company that represents the works of great composers exclusively. For more info, visit www.oovramusic.com.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 23
SAAS SOLUTIONS Software as a service (SaaS) offers many advantages over server-based applications. Turning to “the cloud” for storage and high-speed file transfer solutions is a growing trend.
24 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
By Margaret Craig, CEO, Signiant Over the past few years, the first software as a service (SaaS) solutions for accelerating the transfer of large media files—both between people at various locations and into the cloud—have entered the market. They’re not only transforming file-based workflows for media companies of every size, they’re supporting the development of new media-focused SaaS and web applications. The first media facilities that could reliably handle electronic transfer of large files were owned by the biggest media enterprises. They had the necessary infrastructure and IT teams to install and manage specialized software, developed by companies like Signiant that could move hundreds of gigabytes quickly and securely over IP networks around the world for editing and broadcast.
As imaging technology continued to advance, resulting in incrementally larger file sizes, enterprise file transfer software kept pace and it is still in use by all the top-tier media companies. Even though they work with files just as large, smaller companies did not have the resources to invest in this technology, meaning they often only had access to slower, less reliable solutions like FTP and courier services.
[Spread image] Local Hero Post’s Santa Monica, Calif. studio
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 25
Business Three years ago, Signiant developed the first SaaS large file transfer solution, Media Shuttle, making enterprise file transfer technology accessible to smaller media companies from post-production houses to boutique studios and up to the largest media brands in the world. Among other benefits, the SaaS model makes Media Shuttle much more affordable and easier to use than on-premises software, and it is now being used in nearly 200 countries by businesses of every size. Local Hero Post is a good example. Situated in the heart of the Santa Monica post-production community, Local Hero specializes in digital intermediate and feature finishing, working with a global network of clients and partners. “When you’re stepping into the next level, where people are hiring based on ability rather than location, something like Media Shuttle becomes vital for your business,” said Andrew Wahlquist, technologist at Local Hero Post. “Shuttle is surprisingly cost-effective because of the pay-as-you-go model. We looked at [other] services, and they were way out of our price range in terms of what we can pay upfront.” But why is SaaS so much more cost-effective and easier to manage when compared to traditional, on-premises software? A recent TV Technology article by Al Kovalick, education director of SMPTE, explains the difference between traditional, stand-alone software installation and management versus the growing use of web applications and SaaS for media creation, management, and distribution. “Web apps and the SaaS model are the future of the media [Below] Image resolution squares incrementally—4K = 8 megapixels but 8K = 32 megapixels—with corresponding leaps in raw footage file sizes. What was already huge in 4K (6000 Gb on average for 90 minutes) is nearly three times that in 8K.
26 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
facility,” Kovalick concludes. He highlights some of the benefits of SaaS, but also a major obstacle to SaaS adoption that we’ll address later in this article. First, let’s expand on the advantages of SaaS over on-premises software.
The benefits of SaaS SaaS solutions are fully hosted for users in the cloud, giving customers continuous access to the latest product release without impacting customizations. You don’t have to worry about managing upgrades or maintaining the software. This is the “service” aspect of software as a service; vendors take ultimate responsibility for operation of the cloud environment for their customers, managing and maintaining it across multiple levels of redundancy with multi-tenant architecture. SaaS products also scale according to the load you are generating, automatically spinning virtual machines up or down in capacity and load balancing across multiple instances. This means you won’t have to deal with tracking and managing virtual machines. Because SaaS begins and ends on the Internet, users always are connected to the vendor through the product. This allows a lot of labor-intensive processes to be automated through the network. For example, software deployment and upgrades usually require significant downtime. With network automation, this can be handled without any downtime. This not only frees up the time of technology managers, but also on-premises infrastructure space. Unlike SaaS, on-premises software often is complex and technologically difficult to deploy because it is designed to accommodate each unique customer infrastructure, including different servers, network technologies, and versions. With cloud-based software, developers work with a standard, unified infrastructure. This unified cloud-based infrastructure results in many of the benefits of SaaS for businesses, including the advantage of economies-of-scale. Being able to serve hundreds, thousands, or even millions of customers on a single cloud infrastructure saves SaaS vendors a huge amount in operational costs, which are passed on to customers through flexible billing. All of this has a direct impact on the way SaaS can be billed. Often called “pay-peruse” or subscription billing, SaaS programs automatically track how much each customer is using the service, and scale subscriptions up and down in response. Not only does this allow customers to only pay for what they actually use, it frees IT departments from having to provide enough fixed infrastructure to handle peak loads. No matter where a user is in the connected world, SaaS solutions are accessible and perform consistently. This is especially Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
beneficial to media companies, who often have geographically diverse locations with varying computer systems. With any well-designed SaaS solution, there never should be any downtime. High-availability means SaaS will switch automatically to standby or redundant servers in case of a failure, creating something of a “self-healing” quality. So, even if something fails, you’ll still have a whole, functioning system.
The media transfer barrier In the article by Kovalick, he covers the biggest “shortfalls” to SaaS and web app adoption in the media industry. Not surprisingly, just as transferring raw footage from the set to the editing studio has long been a challenge, the time it takes to transfer large files into the cloud inhibits the adoption of cloud-based media solutions. And, it isn’t just a problem for creative teams needing to utilize cloud storage or other cloud services; it’s a problem for the technology companies that want to make SaaS versions of their applications. “For media apps, constrained access bandwidth poses the biggest problem (i.e. 4K editing). Usually the media is first uploaded to the server location, which could take days for some workloads,” said Kovalick. “So it’s not always practical to use web apps, which is one reason why Avid, Adobe and others do not yet offer full-featured creative apps only via SaaS.” In fact, getting large files into the cloud is a barrier to adoption for any SaaS solution that works with big data, and why Signiant created Flight, a SaaS solution to accelerate large files into cloud storage. Flight utilizes the same file acceleration protocol as all of Signiant’s data movement solutions and can be used by third-party SaaS providers as a PaaS (Platform as a Service) solution within their products to address this problem. Or Flight can be independently used as a SaaS solution to move content in and out of cloud object storage. But why is it so difficult to transfer large files in the first place?
Latency and bandwidth TCP (transmission control protocol) is the main protocol that moves data from one point to another over the Internet. It forms the foundation for both FTP and HTTP, and works fine for the vast majority of data on the web. However, TCP has a fairly unsophisticated data transfer mechanism that will only send a limited amount of data before pausing for acknowledgement of receipt from the other end. This creates a lot of back and forth, with associated latency for every w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
round trip. With large file transfers over long distances, TCPbased protocols like FTP are very slow and prone to failure. Many companies try to remedy their slow FTP by purchasing more bandwidth, but TCP can only utilize a fraction of available bandwidth, so bigger pipes do not help. Signiant was one of the first technology companies to develop a data transfer protocol that maintains speed and fairness independent of latency, distance, and loss between endpoints. It is up to 200 times faster than TCP/ FTP, largely thanks to the way it deals with latency and loss, and its ability to fully capitalize on available bandwidth. We are living in an era of exponential data growth. Being able to transfer data of any amount efficiently and securely—whether it is between users or into the cloud—will likely become as essential to some industries as the Internet itself. RadicalMedia sums up well the role data transfer plays in media and entertainment. “We worked with the Signiant sales and engineering team to synchronize critical volumes between our bicoastal facilities,” said Evan Schechtman, chief technology officer of RadicalMedia. “Now, I can say that Signiant’s service has become a public utility for us. I don’t believe we can operate without it.” Efficient large-file transfer not only is a critical need throughout the production, post-production, and distribution process; it can open the way for new media-focused SaaS and web applications. The future of the media facility is indeed likely going to run on cloud-based software, but only if it can handle the weight of its own data with ease. October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 27
PAY NO ATT The Hunger Games trilogy has garnered rave revues and big box office. Like many films today, the three films require a temporary suspension of reality. Or like the Wizard of Oz might say, “Pay no attention to that room behind the curtain.” By Monte Swann,
Supervising Engineer, Cygnet Video
We’re far below the ground in a cavernous room illuminated by the light of a giant video screen suspended from the ceiling. The room is jammed with electronic monitoring equipment and it’s buzzing with activity as technicians on two levels monitor hundreds of video feeds. Although the technology is a combination of Apollo era electronics and the latest cuttingedge equipment, it’s impressive in its scope. This is the Command center of District 13 where its citizens are waging a valiant war against President Snow and the Capitol.
[Right] It’s the future as depicted in Hunger Games: Mockingjay. Command and control in an underground bunker with no flickering of the monitors.
28 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
TENTION‌
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 29
Production
[Above and Right] It’s not as impressive as the command room in the film, but here is where the real control resides for Mockingjay; behind the scenes where the work never stops.
30 | Markee 2 .0
|
All the major players are here as Haymitch leads a wide-eyed Katniss Everdeen into the room. President Coin and her staff are gathered around a dozen smaller screens monitoring the daring mission to rescue Peeta Melark and the others from the Capitol. Plutarch sits next to Beetee who is focused intently on the monitors of his makeshift broadcast jamming station. On the giant screen is a live feed of Finnick Odair, broadcasting a defiant message to the citizens of the Capitol while feeds from the rescue hovercraft and the helmet cams of its occupants, including Gale Hawthorne and Colonel Boggs, flicker to life around him. But of course, none of this is real. This is just one of the sets built for the last two chapters of The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, and we’re not far below the ground. We’re standing inside a Spanish colonial-style stage at the former Lakewood fairgrounds just outside Atlanta in what was once a livestock exhibition hall. The director, Francis Lawrence yells, “Cut!” and the war party relaxes, resuming their real-world identities. Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) snaps out of character immediately and starts’ goofing on Woody Harrelson (Haymitch) while Philip Seymour Hoffman (Plutarch) turns to Julianne Moore (Pres. Coin) and starts discussing last night’s dinner. Jeffery Wright (Beetee) is more than happy to get out of his wheel chair and walk around the set for a while. “Okay, we got that. Moving on for coverage,” announces Chris Surgent, the first assistant director. This means we’ve finished the main body of the scene and we’re going in for tighter coverage. But, in a room hidden under the front half of the set, buried behind the big LED screen, the war is still raging. This is where the real Command Center is located. It’s a cramped space built within the confines of the set that looks more like the attic space under a mansard roof than a command center. The room is surrounded by high-tech video equipment and dozens of computer screens lined up on long folding tables, and neat bundles of wires snake across the floor and climb up the supporting posts like the roots from some synthetic tree, before exiting through the rear wall. Suspended from the sloping ceiling are two flat screen TV’s, showing feeds from the cameras just outside, and a blueprint, detailing the floor plan of the set dangles between them. Technicians wearing wireless headsets roll in their office chairs from machine to machine, typing commands into keyboards, updating the displays for the next scene. One technician sits in front of a refrigerator-sized case holding the electronics that control the routing of all the images to their destinations, while a graphics artist huddled under one of the cross beams is modifying content as the script dictates. If this isn’t a war room, what is? Suddenly, the door swings open and one of the producers pops her head in and looks around. “We could have saved a lot of money if we dispensed with the set entirely and shot the whole scene in here!” she says. “Let’s do it! Get me to wardrobe,” I say, laughing. This is the world of 24-frame video playback, a little-known but essential process that enables filmmakers to photograph video and computer screens without unwanted artifacts. The goal, like set dressing, props, or hair and makeup, is to be invisible. For example, when the scene calls for Haymitch to scroll through a series
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
of schematics on a screen with just a wave of his hand, he only has to wave his hand. The actual scrolling and placement of the images has been pre-programmed and is being controlled by a video technician in our command center. The process has been around for a long time. I was introduced to it on Howard the Duck back in 1986 and I’ve been practicing it ever since. As the supervising video engineer on Mockingjay, it was my job to realize the vision of director Francis Lawrence and production designer Phillip Messina in regards to the technology implemented by Panem, and more specifically, District 13. The look they wanted was a blending of modern technology with older technology, the result of a closed society who had limited access to outside technology. The video department worked very closely with set dressing, and the art department, and we came up with a great combination of vintage consoles and state-of-the-art, nearly seamless LED flat screens. The command center eventually incorporated more than 80 individual monitors, plus a massive 16’ x 9’ LED wall, looming over the front of the set. To streamline the process, the studio decided to shoot both films, (Mockingjay Part 1 and Part II) concurrently. Principal photography began in Atlanta at the end of September and nine months later wrapped in Berlin. Almost every set featured an array of video screens or control devices of some kind, creating plenty of work for us. Beetee’s workshop had at least a dozen screens, Coin’s meeting room featured a large LED wall, and the cafeteria, where Katniss first see’s Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) broadcasting live from the Capitol, had screens everywhere. Then there was the Hospital, the Hydroponics Garden and the Emergency Command Bunker, which was a scaled down version of the main Command Center, but it still required more than 45 video screens, and all the equipment and personnel to control it. Back in the District 13 Command Center, the lighting is set, the cameras are in place and everyone is ready for the next shot. Harrelson strolls in after taking a break outside in his magic bus, Julianne Moore is discussing the details of the scene with Francis and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Jeffrey Wright casually rolls back to his mark in his wheelchair. The first AD calls out “Last looks!”—the two words that tell everyone to finish tinkering because all of the actors are in place—and we’re ready to shoot. Everyone’s in costume, the set is all lit up, and it looks so real you’d swear the battle with the Capitol is actually taking place. Jennifer Lawrence is laughing and goofing around with somebody else now, but when Francis calls “Action!” she snaps into character instantly, donning her mask of deep concern for her fellow citizens. It’s remarkable how effortless it is for her. It’s been a long battle and we’ve made some headway today, but with the words “That’s a wrap,” the whole of Panem and its 13 districts vaporize with a flip of a switch. The lights and monitors go dark; the set fades into a dull gray, and the citizens of District 13 slowly drift out of the room and become regular people once again. But the war is far from over. Tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m., we all reconvene in the same spot and resume our battle with the evil Capitol. Monte Swann is the supervising engineer at Cygnet Video, a Los Angeles based video production facility. He recently completed work on the latest installment of Jurassic World. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 31
New York
Spotlight
A school project gets wheels and a film crew to document how success can inspire even more success.
1,000 FEET TO
VICTORY [Above Top to Bottom] Five teams of students designed, built, and drove their racers The local time trials, measured in tenths of a second, determined which were the best machines and drivers.
32 | Markee 2 .0
|
It might be hard to believe that a youngster can enhance his or her self-image and develop a new set of goals in just 1,000 feet, but photojournalist/video editor Steve Eisen saw it again and again working on the 1,000 Feet Project.
By Miles Weston
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
Eisen first heard about the project a few years ago from a New York-based director friend, Chris Gale. Gale called him and asked for his creative assistance on a nonprofit film project. It was going to be a documentary on how participating in the annual Soapbox Derby was helping youngsters in one of the city ’s rougher neighborhoods. Teachers at PS 57 in New York’s Staten Island wanted to make classes, especially science, technology, engineering, and math, more interesting to their students. What they did was launch a year-long project to produce a vehicle and compete in the annual Soapbox Derby in Akron, Ohio. Five teams of students designed, engineered, produced, and raced their vehicles locally. The top racers then competed in the Derby. “As a photojournalist, working for all of the major networks for more than 20 years, I’ve covered the darker side of neighborhoods such as the one the kids were growing up in,” Eisen noted. “And I’ve also covered how competitive sports can make a big difference in their lives. So when Chris explained what he had seen with his own eyes, I thought I really had to be a part of the project and help get the story out to the world. I just didn’t realize how it would impact me as well.”
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] Steve Eisen, a 25-year-veteran photojournalist, filmmaker, and video editor.
[Below] Back row from left: Karyn Lind, principal PS 57; teacher Patricia Lockhart; student Lizbet. (last name withheld) Front row, from left: Brother and sister students Ivan and Isabel (last name withheld).
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 33
New York
Spotlight
[Above Top to Bottom] On the way to Akron for the nationals; the crew encouraged people to assist in paying for the students’ project by donations. Safety was high on the list of things the students learned. The film crew followed the project from start to finish (line).
34 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Once Gale had convinced Eisen to handle the double duties of the crew’s DIT (data wrangler and off-loader) and B camera, he focused on bringing together the rest of the crew. Key members included two respected DPs, Steven Smith and Jeffrey Clark, with Barry Rubinow signing on as editor for the 1,000 Feet Project. Early this year, the complete 20-person crew finalized the script and shot list and gathered the cameras, lighting, and special equipment for the project. By spring, the crew had visited the school more than a dozen times to get video background from the teachers and the kids and to document the various stages of preparing the racers. Patricia Lockhart, a teacher at Staten Island’s PS 57, came up with the program to make STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—interesting, fun and important to her students. “We provided a lot of assistance and advice,” said Lockhart. “But the project was all theirs and they quickly became very serious about producing the best racers possible.” What she didn’t tell the students was that her goal was to let them learn from each other how important the STEM courses were in their everyday lives and how they could put that education to practical use. “I’m not sure who had more fun with the project, the kids or the production crew,” Eisen recalls. “While capturing the expressions on the kids’ faces, all of us on the crew wanted to set the cameras and equipment down and give them a hand. But we resisted and at the end of each day of shooting, we knew we had great content—but we were exhausted.” Eisen explains that the main cameras were two AJA 4K CIONs, while as second unit DP he shot with a Panasonic Lumix GH4, format ProRes 4444 23.98. As DIT (digital imaging tech) on the project, the director emphasized it was Eisen’s task to ensure they saved every byte of the content they were creating at 4GB/min. At the end of each day of shooting, Eisen moved the content from the cameras to an Other World Computing (OWC) 32Tb ThunderBay 4 storage system. “Because it was a zero-budget project, we accumulated ten different hard drives full of great video that I needed to save and protect,” Eisen says. “I couldn’t take any chances. I did what any smart data wrangler would do; I moved everything to a RAID storage solution.” Next, he had to turn to the tough, unglamorous job of logistics. The crew had tons of gear (lenses, tripods, lights, sound equipment, filters, SteadiCam, and associated equipment) that had to be taken to the location, packed up, and secured every day. Eisen remembers numerous days he would rack up 150 miles on his car just driving Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
people back and forth to the hotel, grocery store, or other locations. After a week of timed trials, the crew took a break during which they edited and posted their first preview video to YouTube and prepared for the national competition in Akron. At the end of the local trials, Eisen loaded up his vehicle with all of the equipment, storage, and gear and drove to meet the rest of the crew. While the competition was all about the kids, the crew was cheering almost as loud as the parents. “I’ve always been attracted to feel-goodfrom-the-heart productions,” Eisen admits, “and I’ve done a few documentaries in that genre. But this project was really special to me because I was able to help show that underprivileged youth can have the same opportunities as other youngsters if they’re given the right guidance and assistance.” Students put all of the creativity possible into the design and production of their soapbox racers. Eisen won’t say whether one of the PS 57 contestants won this year’s National Soapbox Derby because he doesn’t want to spoil the film’s ending. “But I will tell you, each kid looked and acted different at the end of the 1,000-foot run,” he acknowledges. “Whether they came in first or second on their run, they were changed. It was a competition, but every one of them genuinely congratulated each other. They worked together on the racers. They shared ideas and information. They are looking toward tomorrow and I know it’s going to have a lasting, positive impact on their lives. It’s the kind of project every photojournalist and filmmaker wants to be a part of.” Miles Weston has spent more than 30 years in the storage, software, and video industry.
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Above] At the end of each shoot, Eisen transferred the footage to the ThunderBay 4 to eliminate the need to reshoot lost scenes.
[Below] The crew worked with teachers and school staff as well as the kids (Left) and at the end of a long day Bob Bettis (Right) takes a quick break to rejuvenate himself.
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 35
36 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
NEVER FEAR:
‘DRONES’ ARE HERE… TO STAY! What can unmanned aerial vehicles—“drones”— really do? Are they safe? How are they regulated in the U.S. for both hobbyist and commercial use? By Jeff Foster,
Co-Founder of the Drone Coalition
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, commonly referred to as drones) are radio controlled electronic aircraft, most commonly of a multirotor design or a foam, fixed-wing plane, with cameras and sensors for capturing video and photos. They are intended for hobbyists and professionals alike and are used for imaging and data collection in commercial and industrial applications. The increasing popularity and ease of owning and operating one of these drones—especially the class known as sUAS (small unmanned aerial systems), which accounts for over 90 percent of the drones used worldwide for hobby and light commercial applications—has led to a lot of discussion about their legality and safety. [Left] Some aerial shots come naturally for a camera drone: getting an over water shot on the cheap, for example. This is the Pigeon Point, Calif. lighthouse and rocks. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 37
Special Feature: Aerial Photography What can drones/UAVs do?
[Below] The CineStar 8 is an eight-rotor drone for lifting heavier cameras.
38 | Markee 2 .0
|
The most visible use of sUAS/drones is photography, with videography a close second. Both hobbyists and professionals enjoy capturing nature and classic landscapes with the exciting, new POV that drones avail them. More than just typical aerial shots that you can get with a $10,000/day helicopter shoot, these drones can fly and shoot in smaller, tighter confines and at much lower altitudes—pretty much anything from 5 feet to 400 feet AGL (above ground level). The real beauty shots usually come well under 100 feet, where the birds fly at the treetops. For videographers, the best shots often are those that replicate a moving crane or dolly shot, those that reveal a beautiful vista just over a building, hill or cliff; or a tight arc around a subject or landmark at close range and low altitude. Those are the true money shots that couldn’t really be achieved any other way until this recent technology made it possible. Feature film productions now are using larger, eight-rotor octocopters and sophisticated, large-format cameras to capture scenes from different POVs. Viewers can travel the globe from their laptop or smartphone by seeing photos and videos from some of the world’s most spectacular vistas and historic locations, all through a network of shooter-provided galleries. But drones can be used for more than just capturing images and videos for entertainment purposes. They range from a tiny “microdrone” class you can fly in your living room all the way up to large commercial applications such as for spraying crops in hardto-reach areas or those areas too small for manned aircraft to effectively service. There’s even a new sport class of FPV (first person view) racing drones and battle drones competing in flying cage matches. The possibilities are endless and the manufacturers are constantly evolving their vehicles to match the new creative uses discovered for them. While estimates of the number of drones in the skies are growing rapidly, it’s still nowhere near the levels being reported by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), especially in their incident reports and claims that have been made and repeatedly disproven. That still doesn’t mean that we aren’t up for serious consequences down the line if the demand outpaces the advancement developers are making in the technology to help keep them safe. Even the technology can’t keep them out of the flight paths of manned aircraft or near people on the ground—that depends on the pilot. What the technology can do is prevent some of the problems from happening, regardless of the pilot. Many manufacturers, such as DJI, are building in systems that will disable the craft from taking off if it is too close to an airport or landing strip, and they are working on technology for collision avoidance on some of their developer drones. Other third-party developers are designing ways to automatically deploy a parachute should your drone start to fall out of the sky.
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
I’m all for technological advancements and encourage any and all development in these areas from manufacturers and third-party developers, but to me the key is in education. Training both hobbyists and professionals to fly safely and fly smart is the number-one preventative measure we can all take. But education doesn’t stop with the flyer—it has to extend to the media, which I blame for circulating misinformation and driving hysteria about the dangers of drones and how they’ll be bringing down jetliners. If they would focus more on how they’re operated and what they can actually see and do, and the limitations of their flight capabilities, then we’d have a lot more support from an educated public. Until then, it’s the duty of every UAV pilot flying as a hobbyist or professional to educate people one-on-one while they’re out flying.
[Above] Author Jeff Foster demonstrating one of his camera drones in flight.
Drones vs. the FAA You can’t open a web browser or turn on your TV these days without hearing a story about a rogue drone flown by a hobbyist photographer getting into some precarious situation or crashing where it should have never been in the first place. The media then crams these sensational stories down our throats for months and drives the hysteria and paranoia about the dangers of these machines into the minds of all those who think someone is spying on their every move. And the FAA seems to be delighted by this as they fuel the flames with even more propaganda and misleading stories and statistics in hopes that the public opinion will force their hand in simply shutting down the entire industry so they won’t have to deal with it. But that’s not going to happen. The toothpaste is already out of that tube and the rapid advancement of technology is driving both man and machine to new heights with sophisticated drones capable of high-definition photographic images and 4K video for around $1,000. And they’ve only just begun. The FAA has once again blown past their deadline to produce a reasonable set of rules and guidelines for commercial use of UAVs; there are still no
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
[Below] Following the action with an aerial camera makes sense when the scene is outdoors and the area is inhospitable to helicopter operation. Various camera types, including IR, can be used.
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 39
Special Feature: Aerial Photography
[Below] Images shot with camera drones can be used in multiple ways, including as stock footage. Just be sure you have the required FAA clearances before going public with your work.
40 | Markee 2 .0
|
actual laws regarding their use nation-wide. Meanwhile, the National Park System has banned the operation of drones within park boundaries, as have several other government sites and regional/city locations. But these are local issues; overall, the FAA controls the skies. While the FAA has provided some simple guidelines for hobbyists, their process for getting approval for flying UAVs for commercial purposes is a daunting experience, full of unreasonable complexity and unnecessary requirements that have little to do with flying a remote-controlled multirotor copter weighing about 5 lbs. Their “answer” to avoiding setting actual policy or enforceable laws is to have commercial fliers file a Section 333 Exemption if they want to use their UAV to shoot photos/videos or for other commercial/industrial uses. I’ve personally gone through the process of filing and receiving my 333 just to see how the whole thing works. I’m a commercial photographer/videographer and
October/November 2015
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
product reviewer and trainer, so I have legitimate commercial use for UAVs. My request was based on two, small, off-the-shelf quadcopters: a DJI Inspire 1 and a Phantom 2 Professional. These are probably the most popular on the market for video or photo productions; they cost under $3,000 and weigh less than 10lbs. They also are the most common craft listed in the approximately 1,300 333s approved by the FAA. Yet very few recipients have actually gone the full, cumbersome nine yards in compliance to fulfill the requirements set by the FAA. The average approved 333 recipient must agree to not fly his/her craft above 200 feet AGL and always fly LOS (line of sight). But that’s not all. The FAA requires at least two operators, one of which must be a licensed pilot with a minimum of a Sports Pilot license (SPL). That alone has created a boom in the number of applicants now spending up to $10,000 or more for months of training, flying, and testing for their SPL or PPL (Private Pilot license). I haven’t spoken to a single pilot to date that has said they are a better
w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
UAV/drone pilot because of their manned aircraft training other than the value of the basic ground training rules and understanding the different classes of airspace, approach patterns of various airstrips, etc. Once the FAA does get around to finalizing the official rules that will become law, there should be both written and practical testing done for certification of commercial UAV pilots, without the necessity of getting a manned aircraft pilot’s license. But for now, we just wait. Jeff Foster can be reached at pxlpainter@gmail.com.
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 41
CINDY Awards
News | By Phillip N. Shuey
Make your (Award-winning) Work, Work for You Frankly, the notion of entering award events and festivals might seem anathema to some of you. You don’t see the
point. “My work speaks for itself” is a familiar refrain. Other folks just find the process of competition offensive in itself because they simply don’t like tooting their own horn if they win. But consider this: The next time you fail to win a bid, to close a deal on the strength of your creative proposal alone, to get your department’s budget approved exactly as you submitted it, to get that raise you so justly deserve, or to receive that production grant you absolutely knew you were perfect for, ask yourself: “What could I have done to make that difference between success and failure?” Consider the following media makers, the environments they work in, and what they do to “win” more often than they “lose.” Over the next few issues of Markee 2.0, we will introduce you to some very interesting digital media producers who work in a wide variety of environments and locales. They come from both the private sector and the public sector, including government, industry, education, the arts, advertising, commercial production, independent documentary production, and a host of other arenas where our industry’s finest award-winning media makers are found. These producers will share with you the tools they use every day to become successful and stay competitive doing the work they love. You’ll learn how they manage themselves, their people, their suppliers, and 42 | Markee 2 .0
|
sub-contractors—even their clients. They ’ll share their experiences on how to raise, better utilize, and retain capital, as well as how they attract, encompass, and retain creative people who help them succeed. These folks come in all sizes and shapes, as do their customers. Some serve large regional markets while others compete in small, specialized niche markets. As an example, Jana heads up the inhouse media production department of a large American manufacturer with a sales and production presence in mul-
tiple global markets. “My predecessor, who ran the department for many years, submitted our work to award events on a regular basis over many years,” she says. “He suggested I continue the process when I was promoted to his position upon his retirement. He stressed that not only was winning the award personally gratifying, but by involving clients and crew members in the award experience he found that it made the bond of our working relationships even stronger. “Much of the work we do here could be done through our advertising agen-
October/November 2015
cies or by the purchasing department with outside vendors, but at a higher cost,” Jana continues. “Additionally, department heads are free to look into outside bids and proposals on their own. Frequently, we are even asked to make recommendations for those projects that are beyond the scope of our department.” Jana adds, “I also do a quarterly inhouse, mini-newsletter/email update outlining the kinds of projects we’ve been working on and with which departments. I believe the recognition factor, along with the feedback we get from our in-house customers, goes a long way to proving our group helps maintain— and even improve—the overall corporate bottom line and, as an extension, our likelihood of continued employment.” Robert operates a home-based production company in a large metropolitan market. He aggressively competes with much larger companies when bidding on product rollout and meeting events. “When I meet clients away from their offices and on my own home turf, I utilize a shared conference room/common space and support facility in a nearby office complex. Along with one or two of my select group of freelancers, I always bring along a box of awards we’ve won and display them prominently during our meetings. Many times, these folks have worked with me on these award-winning projects and contribute to the conversation and overall pitch. The client comfort level is elevated and the client feels more involved in the planning process, knowing my team helps contribute to my success. And, yes, if we win an award with the project, I always make
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
sure the people on the client side get copies of it.” Maya also runs a one-person shop. “I provide public relations services to a small, but very specialized segment of the healthcare industry. I have two competitors nationally and the three of us serve a total market consisting of just over five dozen clients,” she says. “Because our market is so small and specialized, we share many of the same freelance contractors. It’s imperative that I be able to get those sub-contractors when I need them. I always submit my best work each year to three or four award events and, when I do win, I always send a copy of the award along with a ‘Thank You’ note to my key contractors on that job. They always appreciate the gesture, and when I call them always make time to work my project into their busy work schedules.” “The majority of our client work is delivered online through their website, on social media and client-presented webinars,” Bonnie explains. Her in-house Digital Media Creation department consists of her and two part-timers. “We use contract people exclusively to give us staffing flexibility to juggle the busy times with the down times. Because we’re so social media focused, it’s easy to let everyone know when we are given public recognition for our efforts. Our contract people also love it because they can easily access the details for their own sales efforts.” Bradley notes that, “My company is in the food service industry with over eighty franchised restaurant operations spread out over twenty states in the U.S. and three provinces in Canada. w w w. m a r ke e m a g a z i n e .c o m
If you never entered The CINDY Awards, we hope you will this year. The early Call for Entries begins the first week in December for the March 31 deadline. With multiple brand managers and a variety of communication needs, my department produces nearly 100 standalone pieces each year,” he says. “It is imperative to me that my bosses know how and to what extent my department is contributing to the company’s success. “In this industry, everything is results-driven and my department is no exception,” Bradley continues. “I always provide copies of our awards each year to those folks who help me get my programs out the door. In return, they frequently will share the successes—and sometimes shortcomings—of our work. It all contributes to the ongoing learning
process for my people to improve their skills.” Finally, Ryan is part of a Midwest university program teaching electronic media production and game design. “Winning awards and accolades in this business not only pleases our faculty and students, but it helps to attract new faculty members and even more students to the program. I feel the most important aspect to award winning, however, is that our grads now have something tangible to present in their first job interview that says ‘Hire me, because I can make a difference.’ You can rest assured that if he or she gets the job, that award won’t be their last.” Yes, in this space we are primarily promoting the Cinema in Industry (CINDY) Awards. There also are many other excellent digital media festivals and award recognition programs out there. When you’re ready to submit your work to one of them, it’s very important that you select more than just one event to compete in because receiving recognition from a variety of sources further widens that base of recognition and validates you even more as a world-class media maker. If you’ve never entered The CINDY Awards, we hope you will this year. If you have in the past, we would love to see what you’ve been doing lately. The early Call for Entries begins the first week in December for the March 31 deadline. Join us!
October/November 2015
|
Markee 2 .0 | 43
advertisers’ index page# company phone & website
MARKETPLACE
For Marketplace advertising details... Contact John Davis at 888.303.5639 or email: jdavis@lionhrtpub.com
45 Cygnet 661.713.9803 661.296.0337 monte@cygnetvideo.com
1 Facilis Technology
www.facilis.com
44 Glidecam Industries 800.600.2011 781.585.7900 www.glidecam.com
44 Lights Action CO 818.881.5642 www.lightsactionco.com
5 Nevada Film Office
877.638.3456 www.nevadafilm.com
44 Premier Studio Equipment 909.427.8591 www.premierstudioequipment.com
21 Stephen Arnold Music www.stephenarnoldmusic.com/vault
C2 Virginia Tourism Authority d/b/a Virginia Tourism Corporation
FOR MARKETPLACE ADVERTISING DETAILS...
804.854.6233 www.FilmVirginia.org
Contact: John Davis at 888.303.5639, ext.226 or email: jdavis@lionhrtpub.com
44 Willy’s Widgets www.willyswidgets.com
STAY CONNECTED TO MARKEE 2.0!
You can visit our website, www.markeemagazine.com, for exclusive news and trade show coverage. You can also sign up for the Markee 2.0 eNews and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
44 | Markee 2 .0
|
October/November 2015
Follow us on:
Film • Video • A nimation • Audio • Locations • People
WHAT DO THESE FEATURE FILMS ALL HAVE IN COMMON?
HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY
TRANSCENDENCE
JURASSIC WORLD
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS
DEJA VU
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE IV
UNSTOPPABLE
24-FRAME VIDEO PLAYBACK TO VISUALIZE THEIR SETTINGS, AND ONE VIDEO ENGINEER BROUGHT THEM ALL TO LIFE.
THESE FILMS ALL REQUIRED
MONTE SWANN CYGNET VIDEO (661) 713-9803 (661) 296-0337 monte@cygnetvideo.com