Markee 2.0 Magazine July/August 2012 by Markee 2.0 Magazine

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July/August 2012 • V.27|No.4

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

up W fo W rF W .M AR a RE KE t E EM eN ew AG s .C O M

2.0

LOCATIONS Scouting for Longmire and three other unique TV dramas

Eye on Independent Films Music & Sound Guide Setting the (Sound) Stage

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SOLUTIONS FOR PRO VIDEO

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Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

July/August 2012 Volume 27, Number 4

contents w w w. m a r k e e m a g . c o m

features 8

Eye on Independent Films With a strong emphasis on characters and storytelling, these films impact audiences nationwide. By Christine Bunish

14 Cowboys, Mobsters, and Concierge Doctors Location scouting for four of TV’s most unique shows By Christine Bunish

23 Music & Sound Guide 30 23 2

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July/August 2012

Soundstages

Setting the (Sound) Stage By Mark Smith Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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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 regularly-scheduled 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.markeemag.com

columns & departments 4 Editor’s Note 6 Making TV – Putting Flesh on the Bones About to embark on its eighth season, Bones begins with a skeleton and literally fleshes out its stories. By Michael Fickes

7 Making Commercials – Episodic Advertising AT&T, BBDO and the producers of Touch collaborate on a new form of advertising: entertaining Internet TV. By Michael Fickes

36 Inside View – DUCK Studios Mark Medernach By Christine Bunish

www.markeemag.com

[On The Cover] New Mexico’s beautiful Pecos wilderness served as a backdrop for an episode of A&E’s Longmire, starring Robert Taylor. Photo: Warner Bros. Television Entertainment/Ursula Coyote©2012 WBEI. All rights reserved.

July/August 2012

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from the editor

Markee2.0

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

| By Cory Sekine-Pettite

www.markeemag.com 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.markeemag.com

Film is dead. Long live film.

Publisher

Is it time to stop referring to movies as “films”? This is a question I’ve been pondering since June, when I read that movie studios will cease producing film prints for major markets by the end of 2013. At the very least, should we stop referring to new movies as films? In most cases, what we’re watching these days is recorded digitally – no celluloid involved. So this leaves me wondering if we need a new term for digital movies, or if we just refer to them simply as “movies.” My only hesitation is that, for as long as I can remember, I have differentiated between movies that simply were made for entertainment (“movies”) and those also made with the intent to educate, inform, document and, perhaps, change the world in some small way (“films”). How would I make this distinction in the future? Fast and Furious 20 certainly is not the same form of entertainment as March of the Penguins. I posed this question recently on Quora. Chris Keath, director of production workflows at Current TV, was kind enough to answer. He said: “I see no need. ‘Movie’ and ‘Film’ are already more or less inter-changeable terms for a general public point of view. It may fall out of fashion over time, but I find the whole notion of being able to intentionally remove a common definition from the public lexicon to be pretty suspect.” I am inclined to agree. For now, let’s leave well enough alone. I suppose we may not need an ideological push in the direction of referring to all films as movies; it may eventually happen without our consent. As our technologies change, so does our vocabulary. For example, we don’t tape our favorite music or TV programs anymore; we simply record them. And many people have taken to using the acronym DVR as a verb. So until we’re all DVR’ing documentary “movies” to our web-enabled wristwatches and eyeglasses, you can find me at the multiplex viewing the latest silent “film” from France. There are some in Hollywood looking to make a distinction as well – or least trying to make sense of how this digital transition will affect their business and their lives. For instance, actor Keanu Reeves produced a documentary titled Side by Side, which aims to investigate the history, process and workflow of both digital and photochemical film creation. Reeves’ aim is to explore what has been gained, what is lost, and what the future might bring in digital filmmaking.

Highlights Coming In • • •

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IN EVERY ISSUE: Making TV • Making Commercials • Inside View

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July/August 2012

John Llewellyn llewellyn@lionhrtpub.com

Executive Editor

Cory Sekine-Pettite cory@lionhrtpub.com

Editor Emeritus

Christine Bunish cbpen@aol.com

Senior Writers

Michael Fickes Mark R. Smith

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Copyright © 2012 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.

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Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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making TV

Gordon Lonsdale, ASC | By Michael Fickes

Putting Flesh on the Bones About to embark on its eighth season, Bones begins with a skeleton and literally fleshes out its stories. Artists painstakingly create the human skeletons that lie at the heart of the mystery in each episode of Bones. “If an eyeball falls out or a bug crawls out of a sinus cavity, it may be animated. Otherwise, the skeletons are practical,” says Gordon Lonsdale, ASC, director of photography, who has shot 112 episodes of the longrunning Fox hit. Bones is a murder mystery/comedy/ drama starring Emily Deschanel as the brilliant and socially awkward Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan and David Boreanaz as the emotional Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI. A forensic anthropologist, Bones helps Booth solve murders in which the human remains are so far gone that conventional autopsy procedures can’t help. Lonsdale says the show has no set style. The story dictates the cinematography. “We’ll shoot one episode on dollies, another on Steadicam and another hand-held,” he says. “We’ll light one show brightly to support humor and another in a dark, foreboding way because a main character is in danger.”

From Film to HD The show began on 35mm film in 2005. By season 5, Fox wanted to move to high definition, and Lonsdale picked the Sony F35. For seasons 6 and 7, Lonsdale used an ARRI ALEXA. “To me, choosing an HD camera is like choosing a film stock,” he says. “The ALEXA, for instance is close to Kodak 5218 – very sensitive. You have to retrain your eyes to see lower light levels and take care not to use too much fill lighting.” Sony recently introduced its F65 model, which Lonsdale is testing for the upcoming season. 6

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July/August 2012

Lonsdale favors Leica prime lenses. “Leica makes a set of lenses that are all the same length and same diameter. So if we’re shooting Steadicam, we can change from 25mm to 50mm, and nothing shifts – even the focus marks from 5 to 15 feet stay the same.” The Bones lens package also includes a set of ARRI Ultra Primes and 4 Angenieux Zooms.

[Above] For an episode set during a blizzard, the Bones crew covered their two-block set with snow.

Creative Lighting Before a shoot, Lonsdale scouts locations and goes through the script with the director. “He tells me his ideas, and that tells me about the lights we’ll use,” Lonsdale says. If a director wants a 360-degree view available in a room with a sevenfoot tall ceiling, for instance, Lonsdale and the gaffers might hide Source Fours on baby plates around the room and tape China Balls of different sizes to the ceiling for soft light. “We often use Kino Flos to key Emily [Deschanel] and David [Boreanaz] and use a 129 [strong diffusion filter] to soften the light on their faces.”

Shooting Snow and Blowing Up Santa Claus Bones is set in Washington, D.C., and shot in Los Angeles, which frequently requires set extensions, backgrounds created in CGI and carefully scrubbing California out of the backgrounds. “Last season, we did an episode where Brennan and Booth traveled to L.A.,” Lonsdale says, chuckling. “For once, we had no worries about palm trees.” Then there was the show with the rare Washington, D.C., blizzard. “Our

set covered two city blocks,” Lonsdale says. “We silked over the entire set to soften the sun and blew snow over the whole lot.” The scene begins with a Steadicam shot through the front window of a moving snowplow. The plow arrives at a diner, and the Steadicam operator steps down to the sidewalk and goes inside where Booth and Bones are eating. Sometimes, the big scenes are animated. The holiday show during the fifth season begins with Santa Claus robbing a bank. Terrified tellers give up their cash quickly when Santa reveals a bomb under his coat. Outside, Booth draws his gun and orders Santa to the ground. Santa refuses, shows his bomb and promptly explodes in a huge firestorm that destroys everything around him and deposits Santa bone fragments – practicals made by artists – all over the street. Using whatever technique it takes – practical or animated – the Bones crew and post-production start by stripping someone’s bones bare and end by fleshing them out again.

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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making Commercials

BBDO | By Michael Fickes

Episodic Advertising AT&T, BBDO and the producers of Touch collaborate on a new form of advertising: entertaining Internet TV. “Daybreak” is a five-episode commercial for AT&T. Each episode averages 10 minutes, making the entire commercial 50 minutes long. Created by BBDO of New York and Tim Kring, a television producer whose credits include Heroes, Crossing Jordan and the recent Fox hit Touch, the commercial is an action-adventure thriller that never mentions AT&T. The characters use AT&T products to get information, scramble and unscramble messages, find messages hidden at certain locations, and translate foreign languages. In the series, Ben Wilkins searches for a dodecahedron (dō-ˌde-kə-ˈhē-drən), an energy source that supports life. His goal is to return it to its rightful place. Murderous thieves are after the dodecahedron, too. For action-adventure fans, it is a great story told with great production values. See the series at www.day break2012.com or YouTube, where the program has a dedicated channel that had attracted nearly 300,000 hits as of mid-July. AT&T bought teaser spots on the last three episodes of Touch to drive viewers to the “Daybreak” website. The teasers connect the dodecahedron theme that appears in the Touch episodes to “Daybreak.” “Where Touch’s first season ends, ‘Daybreak’s’ begins,” says Roy Elvove, executive vice president and director, worldwide communications for BBDO. “The five-episodes of ‘Daybreak’ dovetail into season two of Touch.”

Television Plus Commercial Production The production and post-production teams include professionals from the television and commercial worlds. “David Carter, a senior creative director with BBDO, created the concept,” says David www.markeemag.com

Henegar, co-founder of BUTCHER Editorial in Santa Monica, Calif. Carter envisioned a television pilot that used AT&T technology, not as product placements but as part of the plot, continues Henegar, a commercial editor who co-edited “Daybreak.” When BBDO brought Tim Kring on board as producer, he arranged for Raven Metzner, an experienced television writer and producer, to work with Carter on the screenplay. Kring also brought in RSA Films with Touch Cinematographer Curtis Wehr and 24 Director Jon Cassar. “It was a fast 14day shoot, very different from advertising and feature shoots,” says Henegar. “Commercial and feature scenes need many takes, but television only has time for a few. The crews are very efficient.” Henegar and Ray Daniels, who was between seasons of Person of Interest (CBS), shared the editing. Henegar edited the trailer, the teasers and episodes 2 and 4, while Daniels took care of episodes 1, 3, and 5. They reviewed each other’s work to make sure the styles matched. Henegar enjoyed the break from 30second commercials. “It was freeing to hold on shots and to draw out the tension,” he says. BUTCHER also composited screen replacements on the phones and tablets using Smoke, and handled the final conform and clean up. Zoic Studios (Los Angeles and Vancouver) created graphical opening titles, blood squibs exploding on shirts, and three-dimensional effects. “The big effects involved scenes where Ben holds the dodecahedron, which causes him to see visions of different possible futures,” says Simon Mowbray, Zoic’s creative director.

[Above] “Daybreak” is an entirely new approach to brand advertising. At key moments in the episodes, or “webisodes,” an AT&T product helps a character move the plot forward.

In the show, viewers see the alternate reality on screen. To let us know it isn’t yet real, fast flash cuts in the vision show Ben holding the dodecahedron. “We applied a color palette and sweeping lights that are made of spinning dodecahedrons in those scenes with Ben,” Mowbray says. “A theme in the show is that dodecahedron is a fundamental, natural shape. We used the shape in our work to support the theme.” You can see the effect most clearly in the final scene when the dodecahedron explodes into the sky. “We animated the explosion with dodecahedron shapes and particle gas effects,” says Mowbray. For years, marketers have experimented with Internet advertising. This is the latest idea: television drama with a commercial message communicated as part of the drama. It’s a compelling idea. If it catches on, it could grow into a new category of work for the commercial post-production world. July/August 2012

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Eye on

INDEPENDENT FILMS With a strong emphasis on characters and storytelling, indie filmmakers create heart-felt documentaries, narrative shorts and features that impact audiences nationwide. BY CHRISTINE BUNISH

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Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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The film: Take Me To The Water (www.directorz.net) The genre/length: Documentary short; 30 minutes

What it’s about: The story of Pin Point, a Gullah/Geechee fishing village south of Savannah that’s the last piece of Georgia oceanfront property owned by descendants of freed slaves from the barrier islands.

What it’s really about: “It’s about family,” says filmmaker Jeff Bednarz who directs spots with Directorz. “The community is such a close-knit family that when the fishing and oystering factory shut down, the area shut down too. The women of the village pushed education and pushed the kids out; now a lot are coming back to save Pin Point.” What inspired the production: “The Pin Point Heritage Museum wanted a film that talked about the community – in their own words. I sat back and listened, and ended up with something totally different from what I expected. It’s less a Ken Burns history and more about family, values and the culture of the village.” The biggest hurdles to financing: “As a commissioned piece, I got a budget and rolled. It was a lot like a commercial in a way: Here’s what we want to do and here’s the budget we have.” The biggest production challenge: “Getting to know the people. The community is so tight-knit that you have to visit several times before people will start talking. We discovered that Pig – the oldest male in Pin Point – was the gatekeeper of the community and widely respected. When he finally decided to participate, he talked for three hours, and it seemed like 15 minutes.” The biggest post-production challenge: “Weeding through well over 100 hours of footage. We have no voiceover, no narrator: We wanted it to be in everyone’s voice. [Editor] Marc [Chartrand] had to pick through many stories and weave together a piece that made sense in 30 minutes.” I couldn’t have made the film without: “The community. And the support from O&H Brand Design and Emily Owens working with us.” Why this film was important: “Pin Point is one of the last rural communities with a tale like this to tell. It was important to log all these stories for them. All our footage has been archived and will be used in other museum displays.” Lessons I’ll take to the next film: “I learned to listen a long time ago. But manners can also get you where money can’t. [Doing the interviews] we didn’t pull out the camera right away, we let the occasion present itself then sat back and listened.”

Director: Jeff Bednarz

Executive producers: Jefff Bednarz, Tammie Kleinman. Jeremy Besser, John Gilliland, Travis Hopper, Brian Owens, Emily Owens

DP: Mark Thomas; camera: Patrick Smith

Editor/colorist/finish: Marc Chartrand, Lucky Post/Dallas; assistant editor, Wes Williams

Post-production sound: Michael Haines/Dallas, mixer

Music: Jimmy Lowrance, Cayan Recording Studio/Dallas

Acquisition format/cameras: Canon EOS 5D

Locations include: Pin Point and Ossabaw Island

Film festival: Charleston International Film Festival

Award: Jury Prize, Best Documentary

[Top] Take Me To The Water tells the story of the last piece of Georgia oceanfront property owned by descendants of freed slaves.

[Right] Director Jeff Bednarz captured the story of the community – in their own words – in Take Me To The Water.

www.markeemag.com

July/August 2012

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Independent Films

The film: Sironia (www.sironiafilm.com) The genre/length: Dramatic feature; 104 minutes

What it’s about: A singer/songwriter who’s been chewed up and spit out by the Hollywood music scene packs up with his pregnant wife and moves to Sironia, Texas to lead a more authentic life.

What it’s really about: “Trying to discover contentment outside your circumstances,” says filmmaker Brandon Dickerson, who directs with kaboom productions, which also produced the feature. “The film is about Thomas’s journey – letting go of things he thinks will fulfill him and make him cool in exchange for what’s truly meaningful in life.”

Producers: Laura Smith, Lauren Schwartz, Steven Sills

Writers: Thomas Ward, Brandon Dickerson, Wes Cunningham

Executive producers: Gary and Diane Heavin, Randy Chenot

DP: Jordan Valenti

Editor: Michael M. Miller

Colorist: Ian Vertovec, Light Iron Digital/LA

DI: Michael Cioni, Katie Fellion, DI supervisors, Light Iron Digital/LA

Post-production sound: Trip Brock, supervising sound editor; Mark Rozett, Kelly Vandever, sound mixers, Monkeyland Audio/Burbank

Music: Wes Cunningham

Budget: $1.8 million

Acquisition format/camera: 35mm film, ARRIFLEX cameras

Locations include: Hollywood and Waco

What inspired the production: “We were living in Hollywood when my wife’s mother in Waco, Texas was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and we moved with our two kids to care for her. There I reconnected with a friend, Wes Cunningham (who plays Thomas), who had given up his music career and moved to Texas to start a family. The two of us, and Wes’s playwright friend, talked about how visual Wes’s songs are, started crafting a screenplay around Wes’s music and ended up with Sironia. I never thought leaving Hollywood for Waco would spark my feature film career.” The biggest hurdles to financing: “It’s an enviable financing story. I tagged along on a business meeting with my wife whose company, Raven + Lily, empowers impoverished women with design skills and market opportunities. [The family we were meeting with] asked me what I did, and I described the film we wanted to make. Two weeks later, the husband introduced us to our investors.” The biggest production challenge: “Having our very first shoot day scheduled at the rodeo. We wrote mutton-busting, an event where kids ride sheep, into the script and everyone at the rodeo was super helpful. But they didn’t let us know about a concert that was happening simultaneous with our event, which posed a huge challenge when we were trying to shoot dialogue.” The biggest post-production challenge: “Letting go of a fantasy dance number that didn’t work. But I didn’t let it go entirely…it plays behind the credits.” How to get distributed: “We just signed with FilmBuff in New York. They really understand the film and are passionate about finding an audience in the digital realm. We also signed with TUGG for theatrical screenings; they have relationships with theater chains nationwide and if x number of people in a town book a ticket to ‘Sironia,’ it screens in the theater. In addition, the Hollywood theater chain in Waco will run ‘Sironia’ in the fall.” I couldn’t have made the film without: “It takes a great cast, crew and producers to collaborate with. I was blessed beyond measure with all three, starting with Wes and Thomas. But I couldn’t have made the film without my wife’s support. Her own passion introduced me to the investors, and her mother drew us to the whole experience in Waco in the first place.” Lessons I’ll take to the next film: “Spend more time with the crew in prepro because once the ball is rolling you’re in it.”

Film festivals: Heartland Film Festival, San Francisco Independent Film Festival, Dallas International Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Sedona International Film Festival, Hill Country Film Festival, Austin Film Festival (2011)

Awards: Audience Award, Austin Film Festival

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July/August 2012

[Top] Wes Cunningham rediscovers his music in Sironia.

[Left] Brandon Dickerson directs the muttonbusting scene in Sironia.

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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The film: Proof (http://backyardproof.wordpress.com) The genre/length: Dramatic short; 6 minutes

What it’s about: A father picks up his delinquent son from the drunk tank following an all-night bender. Proof was originally performed as an improv piece by Chris Farley and Joel Murray at Second City Chicago in the late 1980s and became a mainstay in the repertoire of touring companies for the next two decades.

What it’s really about: “A father and son finding common ground in a really unexpected place,” says director Rob Pritts of Backyard. What inspired the production: “Blair Stribley, my childhood buddy and the owner of Backyard, is friends with Joel Murray. I had wanted to do a piece longer than a TV commercial, and Joel knew we were looking to do a short. He told us about this 20-plus-year-old improv piece that would be great to put on film. It’s hard to find any kind of improv piece on film – they’re performed and poof! They’re gone.” The biggest hurdles to financing: “We’re very fortunate that we shoot a lot of commercials, and crews were gracious enough to let us call in favors. We put up some money to finish it; at that point you get into some hard costs.” The biggest production challenge: “Taking a stage sketch and turning it into a film. You’ve got two actors and a chair: How do you make it filmic without making it unnaturally cinematic with dolly moves for no reason. I wanted to keep something of the stage feel to it – it added to the intimacy and came out a whole lot more dramatic and poignant than we expected.” The biggest post-production challenge: “We had two actors (Joel Murray and Daryl Sabara) shot in three angles. Editor Jim Staskauskas had to augur into the comic or dramatic beats and find the right amount of space to let the line play or keep the ball bouncing. It’s tricky to edit a performance piece like this. A scene can die if the beats are left too long.” How to get distributed: “We’ve just started to enter Proof into every film festival that’s appropriate. Then it will hopefully live online; Second City wants it on their website. And if you get a short that’s really popular or an Oscar winner, it can be available as an iTunes download.” I couldn’t have made the film without: “Joel – it’s his baby. And Blair who has a passion for new projects and giving directors an opportunity to grow.” Lessons I’ll take to the next film: “Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse! Joel and Daryl were both very busy. Although they worked together once before, they came in cold and ran through the piece about three times before we started shooting. I was a nervous wreck. Joel had lived the piece, but you could see Daryl grow into the role with each take. No matter who you’re working with or how little time you have, definitely rehearse and have readthroughs.”

Director: Rob Pritts

Producers: Blair Stribley, Kris Mathur, Anton Maillie at Backyard/Chicago

Writers: Chris Farley, Joel Murray

DP: Ericson Core

Editor: Jim Staskauskas Optimus/LA

Colorist: Joel Signer, Optimus/Chicago

Online: Luke Sloma, Optimus/Chicago

Post-production sound: Joe Hettinger, mixer, POP Sound Santa Monica

Music: End title music “Bobbyflow and Spike” performed by Van Morrison

Budget: “We pulled in so many favors, but I’m pretty sure it was under $10,000.”

Acquisition format/camera: ARRI ALEXA

Stage: [Top] Joel Murray and Daryl Sabara star in Proof, which Murray and the late Chris Farley originally performed at Second City Chicago in the late 1980s.

DC Stages, Los Angeles

Film festivals: Accepted into Palm Springs Shortfest

[Right] Director Rob Pritts capturing the iconic improv piece, Proof, for posterity.

www.markeemag.com

July/August 2012

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Independent Films

The film: From Nothing, Something (http://fromnothingsomething.com) The genre/length: Documentary feature; 79 minutes

What it’s about: Profiling creative thinkers across a variety of disciplines and finding common methods, habits, mindsets and neuroses that help bring breakthrough ideas into being.

What it’s really about: “It’s an attempt to distill universal truths about how things get made,” says director Tim Cawley. From Nothing, Something is a thoughtful, intimate, often funny look at the creative process, straight from the brains of some of our culture’s most accomplished and inspiring talents.

Director: Tim Cawley

Producers: Amy Appleton, Jim Buckley

Executive producers: Lisa Belden, Eran Lobel, Mark Hankey, Tim Cawley

Production partners: Brickyard Filmworks, Element, Five2Nine

DP: Geoff McAuliffe; camera: Henrique Ghersi

Editor: Kat Baker, Element/Boston

Colorist/online editor: Owen Williams, Locomotive Post/Boston

VFX: Geoff McAuliffe, Robin Hobart, Ellen Schmidt, Gina Downing, Henrique Ghersi, Brickyard VFX/Boston

Post-production sound: Mark Wong, mixer/Boston

Music: Conan Skyrme, Skyrmish/Los Angeles

Acquisition format/camera: RED Digital Cinema’s RED; Canon EOS 5D for walk-and-talks

What inspired the production: As an agency creative director, songwriter and filmmaker under the Five2Nine banner, Tim Cawley takes idea generation personally. A conversation with his dad over a beer sparked an exploration of how 15 people – from cancer researchers and fashion designers to a creature designer and editorial cartoonist – approach the creative process. “I wanted people whose hands touched the work,” he says. The biggest hurdles to financing: “Financing was just me; I didn’t want to owe anybody anything beyond my production partners, Brickyard and Element, who worked out of belief in the project.” The biggest production challenge: “We did multiple interviews in a day. Schedules were tight. We flew coast to coast, drove thousands of miles lugging our own gear, eating on the go, sharing rooms. Basically just five people playing multiple roles to get the thing done.” The biggest post-production challenge: “I’m from a fiction filmmaking background. In a fiction film, you have script to follow. But with a documentary, you write the story through editing. I didn’t know exactly what we were making until it all came together. The practical, business parts were also a challenge.” How to get distributed: “I see this as a television film and think it will do very well in the educational market, too. We’re in the process of talking to sales reps right now – we had a very good screening at IFFBoston, which led to some sales contacts.” I couldn’t have made the film without: “We made From Nothing, Something with a very small, tight-knit group. If I had chosen my collaborators poorly it would have been impossible – we were working 18-19 hours a day in LA for no pay. You have to pick people to work with who are as crazy as you are – people who are driven and don’t know why. Everyone stayed friends, stuck with me and believed.” Lessons I’ll take to the next film: “Shoot a lot of B roll. Conceive an idea that requires no licensed footage. Get your lawyer and a sales rep involved early. Actually, for a team that had never made a documentary before we didn’t do very many dumb things.”

Locations include: Boston, New York, California, New Mexico

Film festivals: IFFBoston

[Top] Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Steve Breen at his drawing table in From Nothing, Something.

[Left] DP Geoff McAuliffe (left) and camera operator Henrique Ghersi of Brickyard Filmworks shooting in artist Huma Bhabha’s studio for From Nothing, Something.

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The film: Deadline Every Second: On Assignment with 12 Associated Press Photojournalists (www.DeadlineEverySecond.com) The genre/length: Documentary feature; 56 minutes

What it’s about: Follow 12 top photojournalists in eight countries as they cover war, political clashes, financial markets, natural disasters, sports and human-interest stories.

What it’s really about: Deadline Every Second takes viewers behind the scenes with photojournalists of the Associated Press, the world’s largest news picture agency, as they capture still images behind global headlines that range from comic features to international tragedy. The documentary will change how viewers look at news images, especially if they bear the credit “AP Photo.” What inspired the production: “I want newspaper, magazine and Internet audiences to understand and appreciate what it takes to capture the images that they see, but take for granted, every day in their print publications and online,” says filmmaker Ken Kobré. The biggest hurdles to financing: “The entire documentary was self-financed. When the time came to distribute [it], WNET (New York), KQED (San Francisco) and American Public Television all offered to be the presenting stations to the PBS network. However, all three required that I find an underwriter. I never did, so I have to distribute the film to PBS stations one at a time, myself.” The biggest production challenge: “Losing a critical SD memory card during a wildfire that almost burned up Santa Barbara, Calif. The day after the flames died down, I was able to go back to the site where I dropped the card and, after a meticulous search, miraculously find it.” The biggest post-production challenge: “Auditioning multiple candidates to find the perfect voiceover narration, which proved elusive. Solution: We used title cards instead of a voiceover.” How to get distributed: “I sent the documentary to PBS stations in New York, San Francisco and Boston. So far, it has been aired by WLIW, Long Island and will be aired in San Francisco (KQED) on July 25 at 11 pm and New York City (WNET) on August 26 at 7 pm. French distributor, 100% Distribution, is handling the non-U.S. rights and has sold the documentary to SBS, Australian public television.” I couldn’t have made the film without: “My editor and co-producer, John Hewitt. He took the 60 hours of raw footage I shot from eight countries and turned it into a viewable, cohesive one-hour story.” Lessons I’ll take to the next film: “Get the funding settled first before starting to shoot. However, frankly, in this situation, I don’t think I would have ever started if I had waited until the funding came through.”

Director/producer/DP: Ken Kobré

Co-producer: John Hewitt

Editor: John Hewitt, Current World Films/Mill Valley, Calif.

Colorist/post-production sound: Scott Stender, Digit Video/Mill Valley, Calif.

Music: Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring

Budget: “I’m still trying to figure this out. I will let you know as soon as all the bills come in.”

Acquisition format/camera: Panasonic AG-HMC150 3-CCD AVCCAM camcorder

Locations include: New York City; Santa Barbara and San Francisco, Calif.; Monaco; London; Provence; Jerusalem; Gaza, Palestine

Film festivals/screenings: Screenings followed by panel discussions featuring wire-service photojournalists at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, New York; UCLA; City Club of San Francisco.

[Top] Ken Kobré taping AP photographer Oded Balilty during a clash between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers outside Jerusalem. Photo: Oded Balilty, AP

[Right] Laurent Rebours, one of the AP photographers in Deadline Every Second, covers the finish line on the first day of the Tour de France cycling race. Photo: Ken Kobré

www.markeemag.com

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COWBOYS, MOBSTERS, AND CONCIERGE DOCTORS Four states that are popular destinations for location production are showing different sides to episodic television audiences. Often thought of for its adobe-accented southwestern vibe, New Mexico displays high plains landscapes in Longmire. New York goes distinctly non-urban serving up beaches and affluent beachfront homes for Royal Pains. Florida rolls back the clock to spotlight 1959 Miami for Magic City. Even Texas, which has dusted off the iconic Southfork Ranch for the new Dallas, shows off a young and hip namesake city for the second-generation Ewings.

BY CHRISTINE BUNISH

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New Mexico Shows Its High Plains Side to Longmire Although it’s set in Wyoming, A&E’s acclaimed new drama series, Longmire, is shot largely within a 60-mile radius of Santa Fe, N.M. Focusing on newly-widowed sheriff Walt Longmire (played by Robert Taylor) and the crimes that arrive on his big-sky doorstep, the series shows that New Mexico doesn’t have to be synonymous with a Southwestern look. “Wyoming didn’t offer us a long enough shooting season with the extreme cold and extended winter you get there,” says producer Chris Donahue. “In New Mexico, we get more diversity of weather, plus a very strong crew base and tax credits.” Interiors are shot on Santa Fe’s celebrated Garson Studios where the show has its production offices. A remarkably varied landscape meets Longmire’s need to “move around a lot,” Donahue notes. “For the bear release in the episode ‘The Worst Kind of Hunter,’ we drove about 50 miles northeast up the Pecos Valley and into the Pecos wilderness. The further north and east you go [from Santa Fe], you get the high plains look with Ponderosa pines and the Sangre de Cristo mountains. It’s more similar to Wyoming.” Producer Patrick McKee says the show was on location a minimum of five of its seven shoot days per episode when production was underway between April and the end of June. “The first day of shooting we had snow in the afternoon. By the time we finished in June the temperature was in the 90s. So we had a bit of everything.” Location manager Rowan Stanland and her team “winnowed down locations,” he says, covering all of north-central New Mexico as their beat. Although no tribal lands have been used as locations yet, Stanland imagines they will be – perhaps for season two. “The reservations have thousands of acres and a lot of unique specialty locations,” she reports. “And most of the pueblos are film friendly.” McKee credits Stanland’s “deep knowledge” of New Mexico for finding locations that bring Walt Longmire’s world to life. Stanland has worked in the locations field for almost a decade, primarily in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas, and has the HBO original movie Game Change and the features Cowboys & Aliens and The Book of Eli on her resume. She notes that Longmire is the first series based out of Santa Fe: The long-running In Plain Sight and Breaking Bad were headquartered in Albuquerque. Fans of the show are already familiar with the beautiful, rustic log homes that have been featured in episodes. “People have been very friendly about opening up their homes and property to us,” says Stanland. One particularly stunning residence, the home of a possible new love interest for the sheriff, is old-look new construction that blends into the landscape. McKee echoes the community support the series has received. “People have been very generous and open. The owner of the first location we used came back to do some extra work for the fun of it. We feel we’ve been accepted into the warp and woof of northern New Mexico.” The recurring location of Walt Longmire’s cabin is the ranch foreman’s home at the Valles Caldera preserve about 90 minutes from Santa Fe. The exterior of the Red Pony restaurant and bar is an abandoned office and café 15 minutes south of town; its extensive interior is a set at Garson Studios. Another recurring location is the sheriff’s office, which is shot on the plaza in Las Vegas, N.M., about 60 miles northeast of Santa Fe. “It’s a western-look town with a square, band stand, territorial architecture,” says Stanland. “About every two episodes we went up to Las Vegas to get that look.” She notes Las Vegas, N.M., “used to have one of the strictest film ordinances in the state,” but Longmire has benefited by recent loosening of those requirements. www.markeemag.com

[Above] Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) releases a bear in New Mexico’s Pecos wilderness in an episode of Longmire. Photo: Warner Bros. Television Entertainment/Ursula Coyote©2012 WBEI. All rights reserved.

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Locations

[Above] A pensive Sheriff Walt Longmire (Robert Taylor) on location in the middle of New Mexico’s Pecos wilderness for Longmire. Photo: Warner Bros. Television Entertainment/Ursula Coyote©2012 WBEI. All rights reserved.

For an episode in which a forest ranger is found to be cultivating a marijuana grove and consorting with a Mexican drug cartel, Stanland selected Hyde State Park, between the city of Santa Fe and its ski area, for the forested locations. The Santa Fe National Forest also has seen its share of shoot days. A ranch in Pecos was chosen for the episode featuring a burning horse barn. “One of the motivators for that location was our ability to build and burn a barn,” says Stanland. “We weren’t allowed to do that in Santa Fe County unless we used one of the three movie ranches in town. So we scouted San Miguel County.” Of course, all necessary precautions – and then some – were taken for the pyrotechnics. “We had a crew of six or eight firemen, the fire chief, a retired chief, two engines, a brush truck, and the barn was within 100 yards of the river,” recalls McKee. “We were in a field which is irrigated in summer and in a canyon without a lot of wind,” Donahue adds. The bear release sequence posed the biggest challenge for the crew this season, says Stanland. “We were the first to shoot on top of a mountain in the middle of the Pecos wilderness. We were at over 12,000 feet, half-an-hour from base camp. It was a real feat to make it up there with crew and equipment.” The hard-to-get-to location was selected for its remoteness and its vistas, says McKee. “We had already shot a lot near the river and in the forest. We didn’t want to release the bear there. We wanted to be in the back of beyond,” he says, with a background “of snowcapped peaks,” adds Stanland. McKee’s most interesting moment came when one of the show directors, the AD, DP, Stanland and himself rode in the back of a 4wheel drive looking for a location that could act as an energy company. They clung to the edge of a giant functioning gravel pit “and saw the world drop away,” he recalls. “We looked at each other and started to say goodbye.” “We’ll save that [location] for next season,” says Stanland wryly. Still, Donahue makes the point that “there’s nothing the writers have been able to imagine that we haven’t fulfilled.” Chimes in McKee, “and they’ve imagined some outrageous things.” Donahue, McKee and Stanland agree that the area has gifted them with “the more you look the more you find” wealth of location possibilities. Stanland gives kudos to the fact that “the producers are willing to go outside the 30-mile studio zone, which increases costs, but allows us to get the look we need – we go past the zone every episode.” “That’s why we’re here,” says McKee. “To get that look.” All concur that the New Mexico Film Commission under director Nick Maniatis has been “a great resource,” as has the state’s location master Don Gray. “Don scouted for the pilot and the season and found some oil derricks and wind farms in the southern part of the state. We haven’t been able to go there yet – maybe next season,” says Stanland.

Dallas Returns to South Fork – and a Revitalized City It would have been unthinkable for Dallas to make its long-awaited return to television and not shoot in Dallas. Already a certifiable hit on cablenet TNT, the new Dallas still makes the iconic Southfork Ranch the center of the action, although the secondgeneration cast of characters also takes advantage of the many attractions the thriving metro area has to offer – high-rise condos, upscale dining and shopping, the busy new Arts District. Location manager John Patterson is primarily based in Texas with credits ranging from the series Friday Night Lights and Good Guys to the Spy Kids film franchise and the recent Tree of Life. He was charged with securing both familiar and fresh locations for 16

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season one’s 10 episodes, the bulk of which were shot from late summer 2011 to February 2012. The series has been picked up for a second season. Patterson gives kudos to the City of Dallas and the Dallas Film Commission for their help with season one. “Locations were put together with the help of the show’s producers and by following direction supplied by our production designer, Richard Berg,” he points out. Southfork, located in Parker, Texas, remains key to the show. “It was an existing ranch, owned by the Duntons, in the late 1970s when the series started, and since then its ownership has changed a couple of times. Now it’s a conference center and tourist attraction – it still gets a lot of traffic from fans.” Fortunately, the location found enough holes in its conference center schedule for the production to shoot at least one day for every episode. “We didn’t shoot in a block, so we were there at least one day an episode and at satellite locations around it,” such as parks and the working Furst horse ranch, Patterson explains. “It’s the area where I grew up. Then it was all ranch land. Now it’s suburbia with lots of subdivisions on what used to be open land.” Given the area’s development, he admits that “it’s hard to find a clean 360” degree panorama, so tricks of camera angles and horizon lines come into play. Since a state road runs by Southfork, both the state and the city of Parker were very helpful in enabling the production to “control traffic for clear vistas,” he reports. Southfork provides the famous Ewing mansion as well as stables, cattle operations and a rifle range. Its Braddock Building has been transformed into the practical apartment set for love interest Elena Ramos. “We occasionally build a quick three-wall set, like a lawyer’s office, in the conference center,” adds Patterson. “But we rarely do mansion interiors at Southfork; they’re mostly on stage south of downtown Dallas. Because Southfork is a conference center we have good space for extras holding and our catering operations. It’s almost made for filmmaking.” Patterson ventured farthest afield when the production needed to find a functioning and accessible oil rig. He located a demo rig about 45 minutes southwest of Dallas that filled the bill. He notes that, “the original show did such a good job of putting Dallas into the consciousness of America – along with the Cowboys, it changed people’s concept of Dallas.” But in the intervening years, Dallas has become “a very cosmopolitan city. It’s still a hub of high finance and oil, but the Arts District has exploded, and there are lots of growth areas.” The fact that the city has moved forward is captured on the series, especially among the new cast members who spend a lot of time in town. The St. Ann Court office building serves as the offices of Christopher Ewing and Sue Ellen. The South Side on Lamar and The Beat condos are popular locations for the younger set. The University of Texas’s Southwestern Bio Center, “a technical incubator for up-and-coming companies,” is home to Ewing Alternative Energy. The Nasher Sculpture Garden in the downtown Dallas arts district has become a favorite new location along with the new Winspear Opera House and the hip Bishop Arts District, whose vibe Patterson calls “right now” in Dallas. The new Omni Hotel near the convention center also has become one of the show’s “go-to locations.” Although hospitals are “usually hard to shoot practically,” the show lucked out with the Forest Park Medical Center where scenes were scheduled in areas not in use. Southern Methodist University (SMU) also appeared in the new series. The production recreated the real Cattle Barons Ball in the American Airlines Center, where the Mavericks and Stars play. The Dallas National Golf Club played itself as did Cowboys Stadium where the production was able to shoot on game day. www.markeemag.com

[Above] The cast of TNT’s Dallas at Southfork. Photo: TNT/Martin Schoeller

[Below] Cliff Barnes and Sue Ellen Ewing (Ken Kercheval and Linda Gray) at a downtown location for an episode of Dallas. Photo: TNT/Zade Rosenthal

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Locations

Even the flagship Neiman Marcus department store opened up its bridal and jewelry boutiques and restaurant for shooting. “I’m not sure any show but Dallas would be able to shoot in Neiman Marcus,” says Patterson. “We have such success and name recognition built into our pitch – it’s not like approaching locations as a start-up show. “The fact that Larry [Hagman], Patrick [Duffy] and Linda [Grey] are back has made Dallas a much more substantial show,” he notes. “It’s not a reboot, but a moving forward of the story.”

Royal Pains Shows Off New York’s Affluent Waterfront

[Above] J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) on location at Southfork for TNT’s Dallas. Photo: TNT/ Bill Matlock

[Below] The DeSeversky Center of Long Island University, former summer home of a member of the Phipps family, serves as a Great Gatsby-style party location for an episode of Royal Pains. Photo: David Giesbrecht/USA

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Now in it’s fourth season on USA Network, Royal Pains, with its “concierge doctor” plot line, showcases a New York many viewers have only heard about in the society columns, or read about in coffee-table books. Set in the tony Hamptons beach communities on the easternmost point of Long Island, the bulk of the series is shot a little closer to Manhattan within the 30-mile IATSE union travel zone. But it still uses deep Nassau and western Suffolk County locations on Long Island as Hamptons’ stand-ins; interiors are shot on Brooklyn’s Broadway Stages. Michael Fucci, location manager for Royal Pains since the pilot, has been tasked with finding posh homes for the rich and famous patients of Dr. Hank Lawson (Mark Feuerstein) episode after episode. On the South Shore, or Atlantic Ocean side, of Long Island, “once you’re past Point Lookout you’re at Jones Beach [State Park] then Fire Island, which is past the IA [union] zone,” he explains. “There are few oceanfront homes within the zone. So the North Shore [which fronts onto Long Island Sound separating the island from Connecticut] has become our solution.” But the North Shore has a slightly higher elevation than the South Shore; its beaches are rockier and there aren’t as many waves. “So we try to be on the South Shore at least a day to get the ocean, some exteriors and homes,” says Fucci. “But most of the homes we use are in the affluent areas of the North Shore.” In fact, in one area of waterfront homes with lots of acreage, “there isn’t one house on that road that we haven’t used.” How hard is it to get wealthy New Yorkers to turn over their beautiful residences to television production? “It was more difficult the first and second seasons,” he recalls. “But it really is a small world. So many homes we use have been referred to us by other homeowners, and now people want to participate.” He prides himself on the care the production takes working in these 10,00015,000-square-foot homes. “In four seasons we’ve only had to re-do one hardwood floor,” he announces. “When you get people to say, ‘come back anytime’ we know we did a good job.” Even if homeowners want to show off their residences they don’t want to be besieged by a huge production entourage. “We’re a pretty large company for cable,” says Fucci, “so we try to find places to use as base camps for 100 crew, cameras and 15 support vehicles then truck stuff in to the homes. There aren’t too many places that can act as base camps, so we tend to revisit about half-a-dozen of them.” Fucci notes that in the Hamptons, which the show visits several times a season, most homes tend to be summer residences only in use for 10-12 weeks annually. “So people are reluctant to share their homes if they have parties and events planned. We’re taking a week out of their schedules.” On the North Shore, on the other hand, people tend to be year-round residents. The series has a long production schedule, often running from the end of February to the beginning of Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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Locations

[Above Top] On location at Cold Spring Country Club, Huntington, Long Island for an episode of Royal Pains. Photo: David Giesbrecht/USA

[Above] On location at a private residence on Long Island’s North Shore for an episode of Royal Pains. Photo: David Giesbrecht/USA

October, so Fucci also has to combat the elements. To cope with a blustery seasonal start, the show has decamped to Puerto Rico – which stood in for Cuba – and Georgia, which doubled for the Hamptons, in recent years. In the fall when foliage starts to change color, cameras try to shoot evergreens or they turn to color correction in post to re-green the leaves. Fucci also finds himself “opening [residential swimming] pools early at the beginning of the season and reopening them at the end of the season – we spend a lot of money with pool companies.” About a dozen locations recur in the show. One of the most familiar is the palatial Shadow Pond home of Boris (Campbell Scott), the rich German who set Hank’s doctor-for-hire career in motion. Fucci selected Oheka Castle in Huntington, built as a summer home and once holder of the title of second-largest privately-owned home in the country, as the residence. Oheka Castle functions as a hotel and conference center today. One Royal Pains script called for a tough find: an oceanfront house at the foot of a private airport runway. With only a handful of small airports to choose from, Fucci wondered if the script would have to rewrite the location or rely on the magic of VFX. Then he discovered tiny Mattituck Airport on the North Fork of Long Island. “It has a Cape Cod house picturesquely situated on the bay with a cliff and a runway about a 100 yards east,” he reports. “It was as if the writers had written the script for this location.” The only downside: “Now the writers feel there’s nothing they can’t write into scripts that we can’t find.” Fucci and his location team kept tabs on a particular South Shore property that was under construction the last few years. In an area populated by tiny bungalows on small lots, one homeowner acquired four lots, knocked down the existing house and built a minimalist summer home in a tapered shape. Its main floor features a 35x20-foot glass wall overlooking the ocean. At the touch of a button it lifts and retracts into the ceiling. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Fucci. “We used it for last year’s season finale.” Fucci, who served up locations for Law & Order for a number of seasons and has worked on many features, has nothing but praise for his colleagues on Royal Pains. They include his longtime location scouts Shannon Dennard and Brendan Kehoe, production designer Ray Kluga, leadman set dresser Chris Vogt, transportation head Steve Hammond and “the best grip, electric and camera departments.” He’s also grateful for help from “our friends at Jones Beach State Park who make things so easy” and at the New York State Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and TV Development, which also furnishes assistance.

Capturing the Magic of Miami in 1959 Miami was indeed a Magic City in 1959 – the playground of the Kennedys and their ilk, a glittering vacation spot graced by grand hotels, an entertainment mecca where all the top acts performed. It also had a seamy underside of mobsters and money, and the Cuban Revolution loomed less than 100 miles away. Recreating the Miami of the era could have been a tall order for the new Starz cable series, Magic City, but location manager Maria K. Chavez has been aided by widespread preservation efforts, which have saved much of the area’s classic architecture. “Quite a few examples of the Miami Modern (MiMo) architecture have been preserved – the Fontainebleau [Miami Beach Hotel], the Deauville [Beach Resort Hotel], the Bacardi Building with its wonderful suspended stairs,” she says. “It was the Golden Age of Miami Beach.” Magic City tells the story of Ike Evans (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), owner of the glamorous fictional Miramar Playa Hotel. Eight episodes aired in season one; the show returns in September for a 10-episode second season. Although a 20

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good deal of the Miramar Playa is a sumptuous set by production designer Carlos Barbosa in the old Bertram Shipyards, ballroom interiors and the pool are shot at the Deauville, which is a real time capsule according to Chavez. “Its skin and bones are intact from the ‘50s. It has original chandeliers, and the barbershop in the downstairs arcade has the old chairs that all the stars who played the hotel sat in to get haircuts.” The National Hotel, which also has retained its Golden Age look, is another find along with the Waterside Inn, a MiMo-style motel. Chavez, who began her career on the iconic Miami Vice, discovered private homes to shoot in on Pine Tree Drive, the “Mansion Row” of the time, which is graced with classic Mediterranean-style estates. Other areas have furnished 1950’s ranch houses and tract homes with carports, although “it’s been a challenge finding jalousie windows,” she notes. “We have Spanish architecture in The Gables, 50s’ homes in Miami Springs, MiMo apartment buildings in Bal Harbour and Key West-style homes on Little River. We try to find blocks of houses for running shots and add period cars and road signs. Sometimes we want a neighborhood where you can look 360 degrees and see all the elements.” Recreating downtown Miami’s Saks Fifth Avenue of the period was a challenge until Chavez found the Alfred Dupont Building, the city’s first air-conditioned building in the ‘30s. “We created the store upstairs – it even had those old escalators.” In her quest to find locations for Magic City, Chavez has had invaluable input from show creator, writer and executive producer Mitch Glazer, a Miami native who once worked as a cabana boy at a Miami Beach hotel. He soaked up the stories of the area as a kid and has been instrumental in pointing Chavez to likely locations. He’s even written scripts for existing locations, for example casting favorite lunch spot Jerry’s Deli in the role once occupied by the famed, and now defunct, Wolfie’s. One restaurant that hasn’t vanished is Fort Lauderdale’s Mai-Kai, a Polynesian classic with waterfalls in the windows. “It’s still there looking exactly as it did back in the day,” says Chavez. “It still has that tiki-bar look.” It proved impossible, however, to find a location in Miami’s African-American Overtown area that could serve as the celebrated Night Beat Club in the St. John’s Hotel. “All the big jazz singers played there,” Chavez recalls. “But everything’s gone – [highway] 395 went right through it.” So she “cheated” by using the Magnum Lounge in the National Hotel instead. The shoreline of Key Biscayne doubled as Cuba in an episode, and season two may show more “Cuban” locales. “We found an amazing location, a former Cuban embassy in Miami that we used as a dance studio,” says Chavez. “It had those Cuban tiles, and you felt as if you were there.” She’s already stockpiling locations to use in future episodes. “We haven’t shot in the Raleigh Hotel yet – that’s been renovated with the integrity of the period in mind and still has its terrazzo floors, for example. The Eden Roc has a great lobby and ballrooms, and there’s the Biltmore, which dates from the 1920s.” She also uncovered a refurbished World War II-era hangar with vintage aircraft, including an old Eastern Airlines plane. “The show gives us an opportunity to showcase Miami’s visual history, which is very elegant and beautiful,” Chavez points out. “We see these locations as jewels – they have great production value.” She credits the Miami-Dade County Film & Entertainment Office for public relations support and help with permits. The city of Miami Beach and the Department of Transportation also get kudos. “The city has been amazing; we work closely for permitting, which is pretty rigorous because it’s such a dense area, and we require street closures and picture cars on the street. Miami has been very excited about Magic City, and the public has been very supportive of it.” www.markeemag.com

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Locations Gallery Contact: Jutta Matalka Director, Tourism/Film

Palo Duro Canyon State Park Considered the second largest canyon in the U.S. and one of its most magnificent scenic attractions. More than 30,000 acres display extraordinary vistas of color and beauty. Today’s visitors appreciate the fact that they can drive 800 feet down to the bottom of the canyon.

Amarillo Film Commission 1000 S. Polk • Amarillo, TX 79101 Phone: 806.342.2012 • F: 806.342.2061 www.visitamarillotx.com

Contact: Nora Brown Executive Director Karl Goldsmith Deputy Director

Photo courtesy Visit Finger Lakes

Finger Lakes Vineyard — New York Truly a gem as a location - one of the most beautiful regions in the country - the Finger Lakes is also the second largest wine producing region in the country; its steeply sloping vineyards and clear blue lakes make it ideal for doubling the picturesque wineries and lush grape-growing valleys of Europe. Rochester/Finger Lakes Film & Video Office 45 East Avenue, 4th Floor • Rochester, NY 14604 Phone: 585.279.8308 • F: 585.232.4822 www.filmrochester.org

Contacts: Andy Edmunds Interim Director Kathryn Stephens Industry Relations Manager

Historic Backlot, Period A period farm, wharf, earthworks and ships are surrounded by 3,000 acres of pristine riverfront land – 30 minutes from Richmond, and available without a location fee. Virginia’s historic backlot is the perfect location for historic or modern projects requiring authenticity and wide-open spaces. Virginia Film Office 901 East Byrd Street • Richmond, VA 23219-4048 Phone: 800.854.6233 www.FilmVirginia.org

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July/August 2012 • V. 27 |No. 4

2.0 Music & Sound Guide

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

[Pictured] Warner/Chappell Production Music’s Nashville Studios. Photo Bo Boswell. Courtesy of Warner/Chappell Production Music.

www.markeemag.com

July/August 2012

| Markee 2.0

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Music & Sound Listings 5 ALARM MUSIC

626-304-1698

ASCHE & SPENCER

612-338-0032

info@5alarmmusic.com

5TH FLOOR RECORDING CO

414-276-1919

ASCHE & SPENCER

310-396-2344

ray@5thfloorrecording.com

615 MUSIC

615-244-6515

AUDACITY RECORDING

954-920-4418

323-650-0767

AARON/STOKES MUSIC + SOUND

612-373-2220

AUDIO ENGINE-NY

212-473-2700

AUDIO ENGINE-WEST

602-250-8605

612-339-6758

AIRCAST CUSTOM MUSIC

818-255-7100

AUDIO LAB RECORDING STUDIO

800-343-2514

AUDIOIMAGE RECORDING

212-352-1888

AUDISEE

310-582-8288

AZ LOS ANGELES

516-764-1466

BAD ANIMALS

312-706-5800

BAKER SOUND STUDIOS

323-461-3211

BAM STUDIOS

212-856-9800

BEACON STREET STUDIOS

312-527-7000 contact@aruchicago.com

612-252-3990

804-644-7700

info@bwn-music.com

BWN MUSIC

323-466-3122

206-283-4733

info@bwn-music.com

CAKEMIX RECORDING

972-818-1649

310-581-8081

record@cakemixrecording.com

CATAMOUNT RECORDING INC

206-443-1500 215-567-0400 312-255-8862 310-392-9535

BEAR CREEK STUDIO

425-481-4100

CHAPMAN RECORDING STUDIO

800-864-1467

913-894-6854 chuck@chapmanrecording.com

CHARLES ELLER STUDIOS, LLC

802-870-3436 chas@charlesellerstudios.com

CHICAGO RECORDING CO

312-822-9333 chrisshepard@chicagorecording.com

CINETRAX

323-874-9590 info@cinetrax.com

CLATTER & DIN

bearcreek@seanet.com

BIG SCORE MUSIC

319-235-6517 catamount@cfu.net

adrea@beaconstreetstudios.com

info@apmmusic.com

ARU

BWN MUSIC

info@bamstudios.com

info@apmmusic.com

APM MUSIC

208-344-9551

info@bakersound.com

tim.konn@anothercountry.net

APM MUSIC

615-298-2200 info@brockmusic.com

info@badanimals.com

info@americanmusicco.com

ANOTHER COUNTRY

BROCK MUSIC INC

alonso@azlosangeles.com

dana@ambermusic.com

AMERICAN MUSIC COMPANY INC

214-253-0980 bflores@breedmusic.com

info@audisee.com

michelle@ambermusic.com

AMBER MUSIC

BREED

info@AudioImageRecording.com

info@aircraftmusiclibrary.com

AMBER MUSIC

205-870-1180 greg@boutwellstudios.com

steve@audiolab.org

info@megatrax.com

AIRCRAFT MUSIC LIBRARY

BOUTWELL STUDIOS

sarahl@audioengine.net

absolute@absolutemusicinc.com

310-568-3355 mark@bluemusicla.com

sharond@audioengine.net

info@aaronstokes.com

ABSOLUTE MUSIC

BLUE MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN

info@audacitycreative.com

info@7outmusic.com

602-253-2448 laina@bigumusic.com

info@ascheandspencer.com

tim.arnold@warnerchappellpm.com

7-OUT-MUSIC

BIG U MUSIC / SOUND DESIGN

info@ascheandspencer.com

206-464-0520 tickle@clatterdin.com

CLEAN CUTS

info@bigscoremusic.com

301-495-7772 julie@cleancuts.com

CLEAN CUTS

410-467-4231 tal@cleancuts.com

CLEAN CUTS

202-237-8884 tetiana@cleancuts.com

COLORADO SOUND RECORDING STUDIOS 303-430-8811 colosnd@coloradosound.com

CONCENTRIX MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN, INC. COUPE STUDIOS MUSIC

704-372-3448 fred@concentrixmusic.com

303-447-0551 info@coupestudios.com

CREATIVE SOUND CONCEPTS

404-873-6628 creativesound@mindspring.com

CSS MUSIC

800-468-6874 info@cssmusic.com

CURTIS BRYANT MUSIC

770-964-3063 curtis@curtisbryantmusic.com

DAVENPORT MUSIC LIBRARY DAVID BERNSTEIN MUSIC

info@davenportmusic.com

503-396-5294 db@davidbernsteinmusic.com

DEAF MULE

214-849-5505 info@deafmule.com

DERRYBERRY AUDIO INC

303-456-8216 info@derryberryaudio.com

DEWOLFE MUSIC

212-382-0220 info@dewolfemusic.com

DIGITAL DOMAIN OF AUSTIN

512-328-9058 kelly@digdom.com

DIGITAL ONE

503-228-3441 info@digone.com

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DL MUSIC

323-878-0400

JAMES NEEL MUSIC HOUSE

info@dl-music.com

DOPPLER STUDIOS

404-873-6941

JAMIE DEFRATES MUSIC

info@dopplerstudios.com

DREAMSCAPE MUSIC

310-857-8599 469-360-1443

JAY HOWARD PRODUCTION AUDIO

312-527-1775

JDK MUSIC PRODUCTION

612-332-6299

JECO MUSIC

212-807-6500 ksherman@eliasarts.com

ELIAS ARTS

310-581-6500 ahaugen@eliasarts.com

EMOTO MUSIC

310-399-6900 info@emotomusic.com

ENDLESS NOISE

310-694-8251 marycatherine@endlessnoise.com

EXTREME PRODUCTION MUSIC

310-395-0408

KALEIDOSOUND

925-283-9901

704-525-7864

forrest@k-sound.com

KILLER TRACKS

800-454-5537

804-272-6777

info@killertracks.com

LAMBCHOPS STUDIOS

602-279-0900

310-315-3626

susan@lambchops.com

LEONARD WOLF MUSIC

615-254-4828

gus@jecomusic.com

JECO MUSIC

info@echoboys.com

ELIAS ARTS

904-399-2929

info@jdkmusic.com

info@earholestudios.com

ECHO BOYS

212-627-2200 info@jsmmusic.com

info@jayhowardaudio.com

sirreelsound@mac.com

EARHOLE

JSM

jamiedefrates@gmail.com

len@dreamscapemusic.com

DRM: SIR REEL SOUND

214-649-6052 james@jamesneel.com

212-768-8501

leonard@wolfmusic.com

LION & FOX RECORDING STUDIOS

gus@jecomusic.com

JRT MUSIC

888-578-6874

301-982-4431 mail@lionfox.com

LOS ANGELES POST MUSIC INC

info@jrtmusic.com

818-501-8329 info@lapostmusic.com

' J S T U $ P N .V T J D :PVS .VT J D 4 PVOEU S B D L G PS ' J M N 5 7

la@extrememusic.com

FIRSTCOM MUSIC

800-858-8880

QS FT FOU T

info@firstcom.com

FRESH MUSIC LIBRARY

413-786-1450 bob@freshmusic.com

G & E MUSIC

212-673-9274 info@gemusic.com

GAMEBEAT STUDIOS

708-283-8860 info@gamebeatstudios.com

GLENN SOUND

206-583-8112 info@glennsound.com

GMP MUSIC

800-955-0619 info@gmpmusic.com

GROOVEWORX CUSTOM MUSIC

4 Z OD I "OE .B T U F S $VT U PN .VT J D 4D PS J OH %J W FS T F $BU BM PHT 0S J HJ OBM 5 S BD LT * NNFEJ BU F .VT J D 4FBS D IFT 7J B G U WNVT J D T FBS D I!รถS T U D PN D PN

310-260-2626 info@grooveworx.com

HANDSOME BROTHERS MUSIC

617-666-1200 red@handsomebrothers.com

HEST + KRAMER

612-418-8830 bob@hestkramer.com

HI FI PROJECT

310-319-1100 info@hifiproject.com

HORRIBLE MUSIC

310-260-9939 jud@horriblemusic.net

HUM

310-260-4949

HUMMINGBIRD PRODUCTIONS

615-385-3729

dl@humit.com info@hummingbirdproductions.com

HUNTER GIBSON MUSIC INC

601-853-1778 huntergibson1@comcast.net

I DIG MUSIC

312-735-2894 info@idigmusic.com

ID MUSIC

312-587-0133 john@idmusicchicago.com

IMAGINARY MIND PRODUCTIONS COMPANY INTIMITA MUSIC

813-567-1444 323-573-2896 johnmassari1@mac.com

"VEJ U J PO 5IF $PNQM FU F ##$ $B U BM PH 5 PEB Z "U รถS T U D PN D PN

info@impcomultimedia.com

615-320-1444

'PS M J D FOT J OH EFU BJ M T D BM M 'PS NVT J D T FBS D IFT D BM M

skeller@ivgroup.cc

www.markeemag.com

July/August 2012

| Markee 2.0

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Music & Sound Listings LUMINOUS SOUND STUDIOS

972-331-7040

MULTI-MEDIA MUSIC INC

info@luminoussound.com

MACH 1 PRODUCTIONS

813-873-7700

MUSIC 2 HUES

info@mach1pro.com

MANCHESTER MUSIC LIBRARY

413-369-4331 212-333-5766

MUSIC A LA CARTE

972-484-1535

MUSICBOX

773-426-3073

MUSIKVERGNUEGEN

323-533-7294

NARRATOR TRACKS

801-575-4623

NON-STOP MUSIC

888-634-2555

NUANCE MUSIC

612-940-6177

OGM PRODUCTION MUSIC

214-574-6874

OMNIMUSIC

312-649-0330

OPUS1 MUSIC LIBRARY

212-229-2279

PRODUCTION GARDEN MUSIC

210-530-5200

323-856-5900

info@productiongarden.com

PROMIDI MUSIC

305-956-9116

800-448-6467

info@promidi.biz

RCB MUSIC LIBRARY

813-689-6066

818-238-6300

info@rcbmusiclibrary.com

REN MUSIC LIBRARY

512-468-4362

732-382-6815 joe@renmediapublishing.com

RIOT MUSIC

323-461-2701 800-828-6664 818-508-2040

OUTPOST AUDIO INC

305-250-9988

RIPE SOUND

OZONE MUSIC & SOUND

248-298-2858

RIPTIDE MUSIC

612-332-6299

RIVER CITY SOUND PRODUCTION RON ROSE PRODUCTIONS

chuck@monstertracks.com

Markee 2.0 |

July/August 2012

800-662-6638 anything@ronrose.com

ROYALTY FREE MUSIC

PBTM MUSIC LIBRARY

541-345-8117

info@royaltyfreemusic.com

303-422-6333 scm@scmpro.com

support@instantdownloadmusic.com

SCOOTMAN MUSIC PRODUCTIONS 215-567-0400

901-274-7277 info@rivercitysound.com

ozone@ozonesound.com

dorene@fischeredit.com

MONSTER TRACKS ORIGINAL MUSIC

310-437-4380 contact@riptidemusic.com

SCM PRODUCTIONS MODERN MUSIC

707-782-9099 andy1@ripesound.com

debbie@outpostaudio.com

info@mixologypost.com

305-332-1338 steve@riotmusic.com

office@opus1musiclibrary.com

info@mixkitchen.com

MIXOLOGY

866-239-0900

omni@omnimusic.com

mark@menzamusic.com

MIX KITCHEN

203-526-1198 contact@pond5.com

ogmmusic@gmail.com

info@mentenmusic.com

MENZA MUSIC

POND5, INC.

bmsatter@nuancemusic.com

info@megatrax.com

MENTEN MUSIC INC

305-854-1810

tim.arnold@warnerchappellpm.com

brian@mcbrideproductions.com

MEGATRAX PRODUCTION MUSIC

866-368-9603 tanvi@pointclassics.com

info@ntracks.com

kays@mbkproductions.com

MCBRIDE PRODUCTIONS

POINT CLASSICS LLC

info@musikv.com

mark@mayfairrecordings.com

MBK PRODUCTIONS

860-745-1312

info@musicboxmx.com

johnny@marshallsounddesign.com

MAYFAIR WORKSHOP

312-714-0434 jim@plugdmusic.com

info@musicalacarte.com

info@mpmmusic.com

MARSHALL SOUND DESIGN

PLUGGED MUSIC GROUP

info@music2hues.com

info@manchestermusiclibrary.com

MANHATTAN PRODUCTION MUSIC

219-662-8857 joey@joeyedwin.com

PERSONAL MUSIC

305-854-7014

615-319-9556 scott@scootmanmusic.com

info@personalmusic.com

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

WarnerChappel_MayJune2012_Markee2.0 8/29/12 5:13 PM Page 1

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L6GC:G8=6EE:AAEB# 8DB

MAR2704_JulyAugust2012_Markee 2.0 8/30/12 12:55 PM Page 28

Music & Sound Listings SHORELINE STUDIOS

310-394-4932

SOUNDS BIG

info@shorelinestudios.com

SIGNATURE MUSIC LIBRARY

219-921-0205

SOUNDSCAPES

bill@sigmusic.com

SINGING SERPENT

619-698-6586

212-920-4639

THE LODGE

501-661-1765

info@thelodge.com

THE MUSIC BAKERY

brent@soundscapes.com

SOUNDSNAP

Soundsnap@gmail.com

THE MUSIC FACTORY

404-688-1667 brian@themusicfactory.com

SOUNDVIEW RECORDING 310-882-5439

503-295-6435 dave@svrecording.com

THE MUSIC KITCHEN

music@singingserpent.com

818-760-5416 michael@themusickitchen.com

SPROCKETS MUSIC SINGING SERPENT

800-229-0313 helpnow@musicbakery.com

music@singingserpent.com

SINGING SERPENT

212-353-3895

andrew@soundsbigproductions.com

212-486-9819

305-860-6960 info@sprockets.com

THE PROCESS

336-402-5133

music@singingserpent.com

david@theprocess.com

STARTRACKER STUDIOS SINGLETON PRODUCTIONS INC

972-226-7118

800-775-2964 bholihan@startrackerstudios.com

THE SOUND ADVISOR

bobs@singletonproductions.com

STEPHEN ARNOLD MUSIC SMARTSOUND SOFTWARE INC

203-373-1847 dennis@thesoundadvisor.com

800-454-1900

214-726-1600 sales@stephenarnoldmusic.com

TIM CISSELL MUSIC

972-680-0817

TONAL

212-255-4369

info@smartsound.com

tcissell@wt.net

STEVE FORD MUSIC SMC ARTISTS

818-505-9600

888-828-0556 steve@stevefordmusic.com

OVavrin@SMCArtists.com

info@tonalsound.com

STIMMUNG SONIXPHERE

312-329-1310

310-460-0123 ceinwyn@stimmung.tv

TRAILBLAZER STUDIOS

info@sonixphere.com

SZABO SOUND & MUSIC SONY CREATIVE SOFTWARE

919-645-6600 eric@trailblazerstudios.com

608-203-2300

713-956-7451 scott@szabosoundandmusic.com

TRF PRODUCTION MUSIC LIBRARIES

201-335-0005 info@trfmusic.com

SOPERSOUND MUSIC LIBRARY

800-227-9980

TEQUILA MOCKINGBIRD

sopersound@aol.com

512-499-8655 info@tequilamockingbird.com

TRIVERS MYERS MUSIC

310-862-9340 liz@triversmyersmusic.com

SOUND IMAGES

513-241-7475

THE CARPORT, INC.

info@soundimages.com

615-400-7877 russlong1@earthlink.net

TUNEDGE

800-279-0014 musicsales@tunedge.com

SOUND LOUNGE

212-388-1212

THE HIT HOUSE

kathyg@soundlounge.com

310-378-8633 music@thehithouse.com

TWISTEDTRACKS

773-972-2972 music@twistedtracks.com

SOUNDDOGS

877-315-3647

THE HOLLYWOOD EDGE

support@sounddogs.com

323-603-3252 jmoran@hollywoodedge.com

UNIQUE TRACKS

888-400-2149 info@uniquetracks.com

SOUNDMINE

818-767-4226 patrickm@soundmine.com

THE LIONFISH GROUP LLC.

510-521-2758 info@lionfishgroup.com

VAGABOND AUDIO

312-321-0828 rise@vagabondaudio.com

VALENTINO

310-201-0015 valentino@selectracks.com

VIDEOHELPER

212-633-7009 info@videohelper.com

WALTER BRYANT MUSIC

816-741-3750 walter@walterbryantmusic.com

WARNER/CHAPPELL PRODUCTION MUSIC 615-244-6515 tim.arnold@warnerchappellpm.com

YESSIAN MUSIC

212-533-3443 info-ny@yessian.com

YESSIAN MUSIC

888-937-7426 info-la@yessian.comol

YESSIAN MUSIC

248-553-4044 info-detroit@yessian.comol

Markee 2.0 |

July/August 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

MAR2704_JulyAugust2012_Markee 2.0 8/29/12 5:26 PM Page 29

Music & Sound Galleries

5 Alarm Music

American Music Company

CSS Music Celebrates 30 Years

5 Alarm Music for film, TV, commercials, promos and replacement work. Over 60 production music libraries. Search and download online. Live chat help! Indie artists (Rescue Records).

High quality, great production music and variety. Every selection of music is posted to our web site for immediate review and instant downloading. Inexpensive music licensing and no bull@#$%!

A lot has changed since 1982. Formats have come and gone, but CSS, the oldest royalty free library under original management, is still striving to deliver the music you’ll be proud to use.

P: 626.304.1698 • F: 626.795.2058 www.5alarmmusic.com info@5alarmmusic.com

P: 516.764.1466 www.americanmusicco.com info@americanmusicco.com

P: 800.GOT.MUSIC • F: 323.660.2070 www.cssmusic.com info@cssmusic.com

Your Music Soundtrack For Film & TV

Killer Tracks

Megatrax Production Music

21 unique music libraries plus thousands of quality sound effects and production elements, fast & easy one-stop licensing, friendly and knowledgeable music supervisors and account reps, and convenient music access online, on hard drive and on interactive DVD!

Megatrax Production Music is the leading independent music source. Featured in thousands of television shows, commercials, promos, trailers, feature films and multimedia projects, Megatrax truly is The Sound of Entertainment®!

FirstCom Music’s 25 spectacular libraries deliver the combined power of over 170,000 tracks, with 7,000+ new tracks released every year. Delivery options include: hard-drive and online.

hear the difference P: 800.858.8880 • F: 972.242.6520 www.firstcom.com info@firstcom.com

Music 2 Hues Music 2 Hues supplies royalty-free production music and SFX to the film, video broadcast & multimedia industries. Instant Downloads or CD’s. Huge selection.

www.music2hues.com info@music2hues.com

www.markeemag.com

P: 800.454.5537 • F: 800.787.2257 www.killertracks.com info@killertracks.com

VideoHelper Production music for people who hate production music.

P: 888.MEGA(6342).555 • F: 818.255.7199 www.megatrax.com info@megatrax.com

Warner/Chappell Production Music Warner/Chappell Production Music is an exciting new company uniting successful independent Production Music houses Non-Stop Music, 615 Music, Groove Addicts, V – The Production Library and many more. Library, Custom and News Music, all at www.warnerchappellpm.com

P: 212.633.7009 • F: 212.633.9014 www.videohelper.com info@videohelper.com

P: 615.244.6515 • F: 615.242.2455 www.warnerchappellpm.com Jennifer.stowe@warnerchappellpm.com July/August 2012

| Markee 2.0

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Setting the

(SOUND)STAGES

[Clockwise From Top Left] Philadelphia Soundstages, EUE, Second Line Stages, and RED Studios.

Soundstages. Some states have one; some have more. But some states don’t have any, so producers who want to work in those locales may find a properly sized and located warehouse or another structure to fit the bill. Those built-to-standard (or renovated) stages vary in size and appeal, too. Some house one or more stages within; others offer multiple options for the company’s creative pleasure, as well as various services and other enticements to help attract production to a given area. Herein, four soundstages from various parts of the country are profiled, each with its own particular offerings; two are fairly new, one is a blast from a fairly recent past; and this first profile updates the tale of another facility that’s steeped in the traditions of oldtime Hollywood, but with a new-ish technological twist.

BY MARK R. SMITH 30

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Seeing RED Means Green A producer who wants to wed cinematic history with the future needs to look no further than RED Studios Hollywood. While RED Digital Cinema purchased the facility in January 2010, it was founded in 1915 and, until 1927, was part of Metro Studios – which resulted in the merging of the talents of Messrs. Goldwyn and Mayer, and the rise of MGM Studios. The current RED space was a backlot used for many silent picture shoots; previously, it was known as Ren-Mar Studios (1984-2010), TV Center Studios and the famed Desilu Studios for the prior 20 years (1954-74; check www.redstudio.com for the timeline). Fast forwarding to today, Irvine, Calif.-based RED bought the studio “because we wanted a Hollywood location, to work with local directors and DPs, for better access to and for the people who inspire us, our RED users,” said Carol Cassella, the studio director/“den mother.” There are five soundstages on-site. “When it was built out in 1946, there were nine stages,” said Cassella, “but when I started working for Ren-Mar, we took down some walls.” Today, RED offers “one really large stage” of 25,000 square feet, “one of the largest in Hollywood;” two, 18,000-square-footers, an 11,000-square-footer and a 5,000-square-foot insert stage with a hard cyc round out the lot. Not surprisingly, “We’ve [hosted] all kinds of projects over the years” from music videos and spots to TV shows and major motion pictures, Cassella said. Of recent note were extensive reshoots for Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a significant portion of The Artist (which won the Oscar this year for Best Picture) and, most recently, Hitchcock, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren. Also on the hit list were music videos by Madonna (“Girls Gone Wild”), Lady Gaga (“Bad Romance”) and Rihanna (“California King Bed”); plus big ad campaigns via agencies for such clients as Nike, Toyota and Target. As for services, Cassella said, “A big box with lots of power and A/C is a big box, meaning anything can shoot in it, and we offer packages for productions that shoot with the RED camera (of course), notably for the RED package, which includes stages, offices, et cetera., at a special rate.” That “etc.” also includes accoutrements such as dressing rooms, wardrobe space, mill space, editing, lighting and grip rentals. “This is a studio that has been a home for major innovators in the industry,” she said, “and now, we’re undergoing a major interior and exterior renovation with fiber throughout the lot and state-of-the-art IT and telecomm services. As a company, RED is constantly innovating ahead of the curve.”

[Above Top] RED Studios stage set up for reshoots for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

[Above] Front gate of RED Studios, with some RED camera users.

[Below] A Christmas movie currently is in production in Studio A at Philadelphia Soundstages.

Ready, Running, Renting CEO Thomas Ashley says that business has “picked up significantly” at Philadelphia Soundstages, for good reason – three years of construction are finally complete. Ashley said recent gigs that have lensed under roof include Virgin Produced’s Limitless, which starred Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish and Robert DeNiro; and a (picked up) pilot for NBC, Do No Harm. He added that Philadelphia Soundstages has come a long way since its 2009 opening, when space in Studio A, its 5,000-square-foot stage with a 22-foot grid and a cyc wall, was its main offering. Ashley said the studio has greatly expanded in the amount of space, as well as the number of amenties, it can offer the production community. “Basically, everything was overhauled,” www.markeemag.com

July/August 2012

| Markee 2.0

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Soundstages

[Above Top] Rapper Beanie Siegel used Philadelphia Soundstages for a recent music video shoot.

he said, with the notable addition being a second stage, the 4,000-square-foot Studio B, a black box with a 22-foot grid. And after the gutting, everything was brand new: lobbies, kitchen, green rooms and “The Neighborhood,” a colorful area of production offices that loom on the second floor that offer high-speed internet and electric. Other amenities include a boost from 1,000 to 3,800 amps and the addition of a 50-ton AC unit. But that’s not all. Clients also can find discounted in-house equipment rentals, including the RED Scarlet-X package, and a full complement of lights, grip equipment and a van. As for Studio B, it has been the site of talking head-type productions and, most recently, a large Viking ship as part of a music video shoot for what Ashley could only identify as “an emerging artist.” In Studio A, the house is hosting the indie film Christmas Dreams, a modern-day take on “The Nutcracker,” that will employ various green screen effects. Other recent productions include The Silver Linings Play Book, again starring Cooper and DeNiro, this time with Jennifer Lawrence; various programs for Animal Planet, such as Pets 101; and spots (via agencies) for such companies as Slack’s Hoagie Shack, Peco Energy and Sears. While Pennsylvania has seen considerable recent action in the film incentive arena, that economic infusion was seen as an accent to the proceedings at Philadelphia Soundstages – a one-time mail sorting warehouse, among other things – rather than a necessity. “We were going to build it regardless of whether the film incentives went through,” said Ashley, “since we’re the only soundstage of this kind within the city’s borders.”

Big Business in the Big Easy [Above] Philadelphia Soundstages' Dining Area is perfect for any size production’s craft service and meals.

[Below] Exterior view of Second Line Stages in New Orleans, which is a 60,000-square-foot facility.

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July/August 2012

The liberal film incentive program in Louisiana has resulted in numerous major Hollywood productions setting up in the state – which also has resulted in the opening of numerous ancillary businesses that feed off of that huge success, like Second Line Stages, which is nestled within the city’s Lower Garden District. Second Line opened well into the state’s run as a production superpower in November 2009, first hosting The Mechanic (CBS Films), then Green Lantern (Warner Bros.), the production of which encompassed the entire 60,000-squarefoot facility and took just two months to film. “We’ve housed everything from $6-million indies to $150-million Hollywood blockbusters, and business has been steady since we opened,” said owner Susan Brennan, adding that two recent projects have “taken all of the stages and the almost the entire facility,” including the recently wrapped Quentin Tarantino thriller Django Unchained, from The Weinstein Co., which hits theaters Dec. 25. Under roof as of late summer was Lee Daniels’ The Butler, starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey, which took the second of Second Line’s three stages after Django exited Stage 1. Second Line also is home to tenants Storyville Post and Hollywood Trucks, and the stage also partners with TM Picture Equipment Rentals Lighting & Grip. There also are two casting directors on site and executives from a financial capital concern. How’s that for one-stop shopping? As for The Butler, Brennan said reps from Second Line are negotiating with backers from three Hollywood projects, “so that when that film wraps in early October one will take down our space the rest of the year.” Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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Soundstages

That’s quite a success story about a building that “was built with many tax credits. We took an historic building that was literally falling down,” she said, “and renovated it to include the stages, the largest of which is 18,000 square feet with a 45-foot grid; two large warehouses that can be used for construction and many smaller spaces” for green rooms, a screening room and the usual amenities. If it sounds like Second Line Studios is bursting at the seams, it is. “I’m eyeing certain neighborhood properties and others around town in hopes of expanding,” Brennan said, though nothing is pending yet. And, of course, this bustling business is equating to jobs, jobs and jobs. “The head of IATSE [International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees] Local 478 said he had about 60 members in 2001,” she said. “Now, he’s nearly at 1,200; the camera union has doubled in size as well. The workers just segue from show to show to show.” “And remember,” Brennan said, “plenty of content is shot without a soundstage, too.”

The ‘Wilmywood’ Reporter [Above] Stage 2 entrance at Second Line Stages in New Orleans.

[Below] The audio studio at EUE Screen Gems’ Wilmington, N.C., soundstages.

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July/August 2012

“Wilmywood.” That’s what the locals call the charming East Carolina seaside town of Wilmington, N.C., which had an attractive profile in the U.S. film industry long before most domestic locales did. That’s because, in 1984, a Hollywood producer put down stakes on the other side of the country. That would be Dino De Laurentiis, who founded the studio in 1984 as De Laurentiis Entertainment Group; by 1990, it had become Carolco Studios. Then in 1996, it was purchased by EUE Screen Gems, which has been operating the studio since – and has invested heavily in the facility. While business has fluctuated over the years, a recent boost in North Carolina’s film incentives are behind Paramount’s lensing Iron Man 3, starring Robert Downey, Jr., and Gwyneth Paltrow, at EUE and around the state; We’re the Millers, with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Sudeikis, also is under roof. The facility also is providing off-lot services for films such as Safe Haven, which is shooting in Southport, N.C.; and small-screen endeavors such as Revolution, which is being lensed around Wilmington; Homeland, which is in production in Charlotte; and the sixth season of Army Wives for Lifetime, which is shooting in Charleston, S.C. There are a host of services at EUE (an acronym for long-ago commercial directors Elliot Unger Elliot, which is now run by the Cooney family), “where the offerings are spacious and plentiful,” said EUE Executive VP Bill Vassar. It’s the site of a whopping 10 soundstages on its 50-acre lot, the largest a 37,000-square-footer with a 40-foot grid – the largest soundstage and special effects water tank east of Los Angeles – and the smallest checks in at 7,200 square feet. And all of the stages, Vassar notes, “are column-free.” In other words, there are no rehabbed warehouses on campus. Current ownership built stages 9 and 10, with the rest remnants of previous ownership. EUE’s most recent upgrades addressed internet capacity, with new connectivity around the lot via 36 strands of fiber. They’re connected to Time Warner Cable and AT&T networks that meet EUE’s switch. “That comes in handy when a production sends dailies back and forth,” Vassar said, “and we can get dedicated service for a client on short notice. That’s critical these days and part of our state-ofthe-art approach.” Infrastructure is crucial, but what’s the best thing of all at EUE? “Whenever the time comes,” he said, “we have an additional 10 acres available for expansion.” Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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Inside View

DUCK Studios | by Christine Bunish

Mark Medernach Executive producer • DUCK Studios, Los Angeles • www.duckstudios.com

Markee: DUCK opened 41 years ago as the animation studio Duck Soup. It rebranded as DUCK Studios, an animation/design studio creating commercials, music videos, short films and web content, about eight years ago. To what do you attribute DUCK’s longevity? Mr. Medernach: “Luck! Seriously, we believe in building relationships – developing new ones and maintaining the connections we’ve had in the past. Having a talented roster of animators helps as well. But relationships are at the core of our success: People know they can depend on us and our production process.” Markee: This year DUCK has added two new directors. Is the company still growing? Mr. Medernach: “We’re always changing and evolving and looking for people who are doing something relevant and current – that next wave. Animator/director Ned Wenlock and the director known as Knife Party are two good examples of our expanding talent roster. Ned does such simple, graphic character animation and Knife Party does interesting mixed media and other work.” Markee: Among the projects you’ve done this year is a fun, 12spot animated campaign for the U.S. Olympic Committee from Y&R. Each commercial starts with a live-action clip of an Olympian followed by an animation about the person who inspired the athlete. You’ve used just about every style of animation from the graphic line work of SMOG for archer Brady Ellison and gymnast John Orozco to fanciful animation by 36

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delicatessen for road cyclist Evelyn Stevens and rotoscoping by Kang Seong for track and field athlete LoLo Jones. Mr. Medernach: “We were screening our work at Y&R when they asked us about the Olympic project. We had a variety of work on our reel, and they needed 12 spots each with an individual look and personality to match the athlete. It sounded really exciting, so I said count us in and we started approaching different artists here. “Each spot starts with the athlete talking about who’s been most meaningful in their career. The live-action vignette is very touching and clever in its own way. Nothing was storyboarded. They gave us the voiceovers, and we came up with the style and boards. We let the individual directors have their own say, and they came up with spots with very distinctive styles and aesthetics.” Markee: Were you surprised by how the spots turned out? Mr. Medernach: “It was a real mix and match of animator and athlete. Hsin Ping Pan was the last artist I expected to want to do the spot about freestyle wrestler Henry Cejudo and his mom because she has such a cute animation style. But when you listened to Henry’s voiceover it was a really charming story. At one point in Hsin Ping Pan’s animation, Henry’s mom turns into a tree to shelter all of her seven children. So the spot was just right for her. “The campaign was a labor of love for our artists and for us as a studio. It gave us a chance to spread our wings and show who we are as a group. Working with the limited budget was a challenge, as was managing the process:

The artists created between one and two-and-a-half minutes of animation for each spot, so that’s a lot of animation. The artists donated a lot of their time.” Markee: What projects have you done since? Mr. Medernach: “We did the Champion 2D-animated campaign for McDonald’s from Leo Burnett/Chicago, which was a lot of fun; a series of branding spots for Cox Communications from Doner/Detroit featuring their CG Digeez character; and a series of six Safety Smart films for Disney and Underwriters Laboratories aimed at kindergartners and first-graders.” Markee: Do you see any trends in animation today? Mr. Medernach: “Hand-crafted animation seems to be thriving; a lot of people want that handmade feel. And stop motion has made a huge comeback – our director Jamie Caliri has developed DragonFrame software for stop motion that’s become the industry standard. “There’s always a pendulum with animation. It swings to slick CG then suddenly people want to go back to the funky and handmade. Our big hope is that no matter the style, animation will just keep going strong.”

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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