Markee 2.0 Magazine May/June 2012 by Markee 2.0 Magazine

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May/June 2012 • V.27|No.3

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The Amazing Spider-Man:

Taking stereo 3D to new heights VFX for Episodic TV Stock Footage Guide Spotlight: Capital Region

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Markee2.0

May/June 2012 Volume 27, Number 3

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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

features 8

VFX for Episodic TV

Fairy Tales Can Come True HIVE-FX brings to life the creatures of NBC’s Grimm. By Christine Bunish

13 Stock Footage Guide 18 Stereo 3D Stereo 3D Format Is Taking Hold By Christine Bunish

Spotlight – Capital Region

Filming in and around the nation’s capital 8 2

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May/June 2012

By Cory Sekine-Pettite

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 – Filming Castle Fewer and fewer television shows shoot on film these days. Castle is one of the exceptions. By Michael Fickes

7 Making Commercials – Snail Mail Embedded with LCDs By Michael Fickes

36 Inside View – Stun Creative Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth By Christine Bunish

[On The Cover] Andrew Garfield stars as SpiderMan in Columbia Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man. Photo: Sony Pictures

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May/June 2012

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from the editor

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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

Fairy Tale TV is ‘Must-See’ TV

Publisher

With few exceptions, compelling TV dramas used to be the exclusive property of cable/satellite channels. This was not because network shows were subject to more stringent regulations regarding colorful language and nudity. Often, the cable shows simply had bigger budgets for their original dramas, because they may only be producing a few at a time – and for a shorter season than is typical of network TV. Sure, you could rely on your Big Three networks for passable one-hour dramas and the occasional made-for-television movie or miniseries, but for gripping, human drama, one had to be willing to pay for the viewing privilege. Millions of Americans, myself included, have been – and will continue to be – eager to spend a monthly fee to view series such as Band of Brothers and The Sopranos (HBO), Mad Men (AMC), Battlestar Galactica (Syfy), and Homeland (Showtime). However, during the last few years, the major networks have turned their attention toward producing better dramatic series with sizeable casts, big budgets, and even on-location shooting. Programs such as The West Wing (NBC), Lost (ABC), NCIS (CBS) and now Grimm (NBC) have brought creative storytelling, captivating action, and high production values back to the masses. Grimm, as featured in this issue, is the latest TV drama to charm the U.S. television viewing audience. In fact, its recent May season finale won its Friday night timeslot with nearly 6 million viewers. Grimm is a rather unique program that reinterprets the well-known “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” with a modern twist. Portland police detective Nick Burkhardt (David Giuntoli) has inherited the ability to see supernatural creatures, and as a “Grimm,” he is tasked with keeping the balance between mankind and the mythological. There’s truly nothing like it on TV, so Christine Bunish spoke with the show’s visual effects team at HIVE-FX to learn how some of Grimm’s scariest monsters are created as viewers watch them change from their human forms. As you will see, the production values of today’s network dramas certainly are on par with those of the pay channels. And the success of effects-heavy programming such as Grimm should lead to more shows in that vein. In turn, that will put more VFX artists and companies to work, the prospect of which pleases me a great deal.

Highlights Coming In • • •

Music and Sound Guide Independent Film Showcase Soundstages

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

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May/June 2012

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Markee 2.0 (ISSN 1073-8924) is published bi-monthly by Lionheart Publishing, Inc.

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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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making TV

Bill Roe, ASC & Daryn Okada, ASC | By Michael Fickes

Filming Castle Fewer and fewer television shows shoot on film these days. Castle is one of the exceptions. If you’re a fan of Castle, the popular ABC police drama, you may have noticed that the show’s terrific production values somehow look a little different than other shows with terrific production values. The difference is that the show is shot not in high-definition digital video, but on film, with two Panavision Platinum 35mm cameras using Kodak 3-perf 5219 film. The lens package consists of Primo zooms and primes. The zooms include several 25-75mm lenses, one 17.5-75mm and one 135-420mm. There are two prime lenses, a 14.5mm and a 65mm. The gear includes two dollies. The production team shies away from cranes. “We’re careful about using cranes,” says Daryn Okada, ASC, the cinematographer on 13 Castle episodes. “When you’re on a television schedule – eight days for an hour episode – there must be a story point that justifies the time and expense of a crane shot.”

Feature Film Sensibility That’s especially true when you’re aiming for feature film production values on episodic television budgets. Feature film sensibility always has been part of the show. The primary cinematographer, Bill Roe, ASC, set the tone in the first shows shot in 2009. Since 2010, Okada has been stepping in when Roe directs or takes a week off. (Roe has shot 68 episodes.) The two cinematographers are longtime friends. Both have significant feature film experience. Roe was camera operator on numerous features, including Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Dave (1993). He was the cinematographer for Elektra (2005) and The X Files (2008), having shot 84 episodes of the television series. Okada’s feature cinematography credits include Mean Girls (2004), Baby Mama (2008), and this year’s American Reunion. 6

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May/June 2012

Why Film? Executive producers Rob Bowman and Andrew Marlowe (who has written 77 episodes to date), as well as Roe, all came from the feature film world. So film was a natural choice for Castle. “There have been pitches to change to digital,” Okada said. “We’ve done tests. You can get a great looking image digitally. But for this show, we use extremely dramatic lighting, and film gives it a great look. “On locations in buildings, for instance, we don’t put neutral density filters on the windows,” he continued. “We use the natural light. In fact, we schedule so the natural light is in the position we want. The 5219 film has incredible dynamic range that enables us to make wide lighting contrasts work to our advantage.”

Lighting

[Above Top] A scene from “An Embarrassment of Bitches.” ©Karen Neal/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

[Above] Castle stars Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion from the episode, “Headhunters.” ©Randy Holmes/American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.

“We don’t need HMIs when we do daylight locations,” Okada said. “If we’re shooting an exterior during the day, we’ll shoot in the shadow of a building or in backlight. If we get caught in overhead daylight, we have 20-foot square diffusers – called fly swatters – that soften the light.” To recreate strong light, Okada’s crew uses Maxi-Brutes, a tungsten light with a dozen 1,000-watt globes arranged in rows of three. “We can place these further away and the beam feels more like the sun,” he said. Castle sets are designed with windows in mind. Outside of the precinct office, for instance, there are three trusses filled with Maxi-Brutes. “We raise and lower them

to get sunlight into the precinct,” Okada said. “If we’re lighting the actors in the foreground, we’ll let the light come through the windows and lower it to, say, seven stops overexposed. That gives the precinct a real sense of life, and the ambient bounce we get looks natural. With HD, you couldn’t do that with just one source.” In the end, though, isn’t shooting on film overkill for television? “We’ve done tests asking that question,” Okada said, “and we find that it gets through to the audience. The look of the show is a combination of the creative, writing, directing and the work that Bill and I do. And it ends up on the screen.”

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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making Commercials

Spacejunk | By Michael Fickes

Snail Mail Embedded With LCDs Spacejunk recently produced a 0:60 commercial that was uploaded to ultra-thin LCDs embedded in printed direct mail brochures. A new advertising concept called video direct mail (V-DM) is emerging as a potential new market for digital video. Direct mail marketing is a big advertising category, worth about $30 billion per year. In coming years, some of that money may fund digital video production. In a V-DM appeal, the audience receives an ultra-thin LCD and speaker embedded in printed material. The screen plays the main message. Columbus, Ohio-based Spacejunk (www.spacejunkmedia.com), a full-service creative, production, postproduction and VFX house, recently produced a digital video for a V-DM project commissioned by Columbus-based Nationwide Insurance. The 0:60 spot combined real and animated footage to introduce a fund management software application to 3,000 Nationwide fund managers who will use the software. “The assignment was to generate excitement about using the software,” Mike Beaumont, Spacejunk’s co-creative director, said. Nationwide contracted with Seattlebased UVIAUS (pronounced you-via-us, www.uviaus.com), a specialty print and interactive products and services provider, to produce the direct mailer with the embedded LCD screen.

Seize Control Spacejunk’s creative team developed the message. “This is a market of affluent, older individuals accustomed to being in control,” Beaumont said. Accordingly, the message became: here’s a software tool designed for speed that puts users in control. “Software isn’t interesting to look at,” continued Beaumont. “So we looked for metaphors about control. Did fund managers see themselves as quarterbacks or symphony conductors? Do they like fast cars?” www.markeemag.com

Spacejunk’s Co-Creative Director Jeff Boddy developed style frames for a couple of ideas to show the client. Controlling a fast car won. The spot would show close ups of a man sliding behind the wheel of a powerful car. Inside the car, a series of close-ups would show the man’s gloved hands gripping the steering wheel and operating the controls. The controls appear on the dashboard, but as images from the software – icons, buttons, charts, graphs and related images. The climax would show the powerful car at night, speeding into the desert away from a city on the horizon, the driver in complete control.

Pre-production The production team decided to shoot the interior scenes and modify the controls with CGI. Then they would animate the desert scene with the car. Casting the car proved challenging. “We needed a cross between a car and a spaceship,” recalled Executive Producer Andy Schneider. The choice: a Lamborghini convertible. Director of Photography Wayne Sells selected the ARRI ALEXA for the shoot. He brought in a crane to fly the camera into the car from above for close ups of the interior and the driver’s hands. Sells found a 9mm lens that could shoot extra wide and capture large sections of the dashboard from inches away. The shoot was straightforward. Sells lighted the convertible from above. The driver slid into the car and pretended to turn dials. “Later we replaced the gauges behind the steering wheel and anything else that read car with control images from the software,” Beaumont said. The interior shoot filled three-quar-

[Above] Spacejunk chose a Lamborghini and the ARRI ALEXA to make Nationwide’s video direct mail marketing piece.

ters of the spot. Next came the climactic dash across the desert. Photoshop created the desert landscape with a city on the horizon. Senior Animator Chris Schoenman animated the car in Maya, while Marco Cardenas created visual effects to dramatize the car – streaks of light streaming off the car as it speeds by the camera. After Effects did the compositing. Final Cut Pro edited. Then UVIAUS uploaded the spot into an LCD in a print brochure. Video-direct mail. Coming soon to your mailbox. Don’t miss it. May/June 2012

| Markee 2.0

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FAIRY TALES Can Come True HIVE-FX brings to life the creatures of NBC’s Grimm. BY CHRISTINE BUNISH

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ortland, Oregon’s HIVE-FX (www.HIVE-FX.com) can turn ordinary people into monsters.

That’s the company’s creative brief for the NBC series Grimm, now shooting its second season in town. HIVE-FX is one of the preferred VFX vendors for the creatures in the show in which Portland homicide detective Nick Burkhardt (played by David Giuntoli) inherits his family’s legacy as one of the last of the Grimms who protect the human race against the menacing creatures from folk and fairy tales still living among us. It was quite a coup for four-year-old HIVE-FX to land Grimm. The company competed against other VFX vendors in Portland and LA in two rounds of tests. HIVE-FX scored with its approach to the creature morphing process and was awarded approximately 100 VFX shots for the first five episodes, which the company completed in three weeks. It subsequently contributed 15-25 shots per show for episodes 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21 and 22. For Grimm, HIVE-FX specializes in creatures, morphs, hair and animals. Det. Burkhardt routinely gets entangled with creatures in his work on the police force; he has the ability to see that people who appear to be ordinary human beings conceal creatures – wolves, goats, bears, snakes, bees, dragons and more – within themselves. When these creatures are revealed to Burkhardt, the actors morph from human to their hidden personae and back again. Repeat encounters feature longer scenes of creature transformation.

Creatures Featured HIVE-FX is tasked with turning concept art for the creatures into fully 3D characters. “We sit down with the director, line producer and VFX supervisor and talk about the look and feel of every shot,” said HIVE-FX president Jim Clark. “We use photos of the It was quite a coup for fouractors, taken on set from every angle, as reference to help recreate their heads in 3D. We also put five or six trackyear-old HIVE-FX to land

Grimm. The company competed against other VFX vendors in Port land and LA in two rounds of tests.

[Left] The Geier, created by HIVE-FX, appears in the woods in an episode of Grimm.

[Top Right] President Jim Clark and executive producer Gretchen Miller in the Portland, Oregon studios of HIVE-FX.

www.markeemag.com

May/June 2012

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VFX in TV

[Below] It takes painstaking roto work for HIVE-FX to create the wispy-haired, witchy Hexenbiest, a recurring character in Grimm.

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May/June 2012

ing points on the face of each actor to New creatures turn up in reference the CG model and track to [it].” every episode, but two He explained that initially have had regular roles in they performed the creature morphs as a 2D process. “But the first season. that was too slow and inconsistent,” he said. So the company devised a process in which a 3D sculptor builds a model of the actor in several days. Then the creature is sculpted on top of the actor “so we can transform from the person to the creature seamlessly,” Clark said. “It’s easier to just move one slider and go from person to monster.” Since the camera is usually not locked down for the morphs, all camera tracking is a hybrid proprietary process using automated and manual techniques, which adds to the complexity of each shot. “Tracking heads and hands is very time consuming,” says Clark. “The way our process works allows us to do three shots per day – that’s one of our big competitive edges.” He recounts how, for the pilot, a subcontractor was charged with tracking three shots over a two-week period. They were unable to finish even one. Then HIVE-FX took on the task and completed all three in one day. The company employs Andersson Technologies’ SynthEyes 3D tracking software for camera moves and its own Pinning software for head tracking. As regular viewers of Grimm will know, sometimes a creature morph is preceded by the actor’s head shake. “That creates more tracking issues for us, but some directors like it because they feel it helps get the performance they want because the actor’s whole body is involved,” Clark explained. New creatures turn up in every episode, but two have had regular roles in the first season. Beautiful lawyer Adalind Schade (Claire Coffee) was also a frightening witchy

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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Hexenbiest. “Females are the hardest creatures to do,” notes HIVE-FX executive producer Gretchen Miller. “There’s a fine line between attractive and scary; we can get five, six, seven character redesigns for them.” The Hexenbiest was originally created as a one-off who tries to murder Burkhardt’s aunt, who is also a Grimm. “We didn’t know she’d be coming back,” Clark said. “Once we recreated her, we could repurpose the 3D asset over the other shows.” Adalind Shade has long, flowing blonde hair, which changes to white when she morphs to the Hexenbiest. “We have to paint out her hair in every frame and make it white for the transformation,” Clark reports. “It’s a very laborintensive process; we have really talented roto artists who can maintain the wispiness of the strands of hair.” In one of the last episodes of season one, the Hexenbiest loses her powers in a VFX shot where her ghostly spirit leaves her body. “We had a lot of latitude in creating the shot,” Clark said. “We decided to do it as a complex 2D process compositing a series of still photographs from start to finish. We have a good

www.markeemag.com

[Above] Monroe, seen here in his CG Bludbot incarnation created by HIVE-FX, befriends Det. Nick Burkhardt and helps him on his Grimm missions.

May/June 2012

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VFX in TV

dynamic with the production team; they understand that we try to push the look to create something different and sophisticated.” The other recurring character is Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), a clockmaker and reformed Bludbot – the proverbial Big Bad Wolf, who helps Burkhardt navigate the Grimm world. The design of Monroe’s creature, originally done by another vendor for the pilot, has evolved through season one. “Monroe is a bit amorphous; he’s designed a bit differently each time since the show alternates vendors, and we don’t typically share assets because we use different software,” Clark explained. “We rebuilt Monroe as a sculpted human so we can morph him from digital human to digital monster instead of using a 2D process. So his asset is easier for us to deal with now.” Among the most difficult creatures to craft were the fire-breathing dragon faces, says Clark. “They required hard-core displacement maps – incredibly high-resolution models. We shot real fire and composited it coming out of their mouths.” Among the most difficult Clark supervised an innovative shot in episode five in which the bluebeard creatures to craft were the Ziegevolk’s reflection appears in the fire-breathing dragon faces, garden pond of his Bed & Breakfast Inn. “We had the option to shoot plain water says Clark. and add a full CG character, but on set I decided to lock down the camera, shoot the actor with his real reflection, then have him step aside and shoot plain water,” he said. “We did the transformation on his reflected image and added back in the reflection values from the [Below] plain water. The process worked pretty smoothly.” HIVE-FX created the fire-breathing dragon HIVE-FX has no crossover with practical effects, he notes. But sometimes the Daemonfeuer for Grimm, compositing real pyro company is called upon to match the make up of Academy Award-winner Barney elements in its mouth.

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Burman, the show’s special make up effects designer and creator whose work is typically shown in wide shots. “We sometimes do 2D augmentation adding blinks or snarls to the make up,” says Clark. “One shot where a werewolf falls on his face and turns was done with a prosthetic mask, but we were asked to add facial twitching and mouth and eye movements.” HIVE-FX also has created full CG animals for season one, including a bear that falls into a pit trap and a series of small frogs that populate the Ziegevolk’s garden. “Ninety percent of the frogs hopping in the garden were CG,” Clark said. “When the Ziegevolk ate one, the actor was chewing on a gelatin version, which we replaced with a CG frog. When Burkhardt’s partner stepped on one he lifted his shoe, and we saw a CG squashed frog with CG blood and guts.”

Selecting Software Solutions The HIVE-FX team uses an extensive roster of software solutions for Grimm. Everything starts with 3D sculpting in Pixologic’s ZBrush then models are sent to Autodesk Maya for rigging and animation. Imagineer Systems’ Mocha is the 2D planar tracker; Adobe After Effects is the compositing tool. The company is transitioning to The Foundry’s MARI for high-end 3D digital paint. “It allows for displacement maps and texture maps and can easily be managed in realtime,” Clark said. Surfacing also is done with Autodesk Mudbox and hair with MAXON CINEMA 4D. Clark calls CINEMA 4D “pretty much the best off-the-shelf hair tool on the market.” He had tested the software when he worked at Portland animation studio Bent Image Lab, which he helped to build, “and fell in love with it. CINEMA 4D is not looked at as a character tool, but it’s very strong and its UI is so easy. I The company renders skin use it on every production.” In fact, a dedicated HIVE-FX team partners CINEMA through Chaos Group’s V-Ray 4D and Adobe Photoshop for Nike and hair with CINEMA 4D; branding projects. The company renders skin through Chaos composites tie the two Group’s V-Ray and hair with CINEMA 4D; comtogether. posites tie the two together. Software runs on custom Intel 12-core workstations with 24-48 gigs of RAM each. NVIDIA Quadro 4000 graphics cards are used to process data. The render farm is comprised of 42 IBM quad-cores; about half a TB of RAM is dedicated to rendering shots. After a cut of an episode is approved, most vendors receive DPX sequences to work with. But HIVE-FX requests raw QuickTime files from the ARRI ALEXA cameras used to shoot the show. Portland’s Koerner Camera supplies ALEXAs to Grimm; it also supplies cameras to Leverage and Portlandia, which also shoot in the city. “We rip our own sequences in-house, which helps our efficiency,” says Clark. “They ask for eight frames head and tail then automatically put 24 frames on head and tail if we want to extend a shot. We generate a QuickTime movie with all the data for the shot burned in: lensing, frame count, in and out points, plus three sets of timecode data – raw footage frame count, actual number of frames used in the edit and total number of frames.” HIVE-FX uploads QuickTimes of work in progress to drop into the editing software so producers and others in the approval chain can review their shots in context. Final DPX frames are uploaded to the network server; they are pulled off and given to the show’s colorist for grading. “With this method we can deliver up to Thursday morning for Friday air,” Clark said. “There have been times when we got a full character redesign three days before delivery – they may want to see more of an actor in a creature. But our pipeline is so smooth we could accommodate that.” www.markeemag.com

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VFX in TV

NAS Offers Failsafes Since HIVE-FX “is growing fast and is budget-conscious,” Clark says it has opted not to install one massive file server to handle workflow storage. Instead the company uses multiple Buffalo NAS (Network Attached Storage) systems: One for Grimm, one for Nike, one for active commercial projects and one for all the company’s assets. “We have triplicates of all of them in other secure locations; we back up day and night so we have three copies of data at all times,” explained Clark, who oversees all the data management. “Every hour, for example, Grimm files are copied to a back up server that never deletes them and to a mirror server, which is identical to the primary server.” [Above] Many failsafes are built into the NAS. “A free utility from Buffalo shows the staHIVE-FX created the porcine CG Bauerschwein tus of all the NAS so we know immediately if one goes down,” he said. “If the pricreature for Grimm. mary server tanks, we go to the mirror, change its name to primary server and it invisibly takes on that role.” The company added 120 TB of archival storage, which it maintains online, not offline. “We re-access so much material all the time that we have to keep an online archive,” Clark said. When season one got underway, HIVE-FX initially did episodes one through five consecutively. “Then we decided that it was best to do every other episode because the schedule was so tight: We were delivering an episode a week, and we want to do a great job,” noted Clark. But with the commencement of season two, the company hopes to increase the number of shots it takes on. “In season one we got a great process together; now we feel like we Clark is proud of what can streamline things and bump up the his company – and Portland – number of shots a bit,” he said. “We’re have been able to achieve. excited about building a team of talent that’s world-class. We’re in the position of being a company that’s recognized worldwide, but isn’t in LA.” In addition to its VFX offerings, HIVE-FX also has a full editorial suite and adjacent Pinata Post boasts a Da Vinci color suite. Clark is proud of what his company – and Portland – have been able to achieve. “When we opened four years ago nothing was shooting here. Now we have Grimm, Leverage and Portlandia. Portland is technically progressive: Google is discussing putting a major station here. Intel, HP, Adidas, Nike and [advertising agency] Wieden+Kennedy help drive a lot of work. The design energy is good, there are a lot of resources, and the cost of living is low. “We’re glad we got a foothold here before anybody else!”

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May/June 2012 • V. 27 |No. 3

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ABCNEWS VIDEOSOURCE

212-456-5421

abcvideosource@abc.com www.abcnewsvideosource.com ABCNEWS VideoSource is the footage licensing division for ABC NEWS. We feature most categories of video content including: current events, politics, business, crime, entertainment, sports, disasters etc. In addition to our user friendly website that features thousands of assets, our research and sales staff are ready to help you tell your story. The VideoSource collection spans from 1896 to the present.

ACTION FOOTAGE/WARREN MILLER

AERIAL HD STOCK LLC/CAMERA COPTERS

BBC MOTION GALLERY L.A.

866-235-5358

419-529-5900

bbc.sales@thoughtequity.com www.bbcmotiongallery.com

BBC MOTION GALLERY NY

866-235-5358

ALL-STOCK/ACTION SPORTS

310-317-9996

bbc.sales@thoughtequity.com www.bbcmotiongallery.com

BENNETT WATT HD PRODUCTIONS

info@all-stock.com www.all-stock.com

AM STOCK EXCHANGE

818-762-7865

BEST SHOT STOCK FOOTAGE

813-877-2118

researcher@amstockcameo.com www.amstockcameo.com

AMERICA BY AIR STOCK FOOTAGE

800-488-6359

request@bestshotfootage.com www.bestshotfootage.com

BLACK FILM CENTER/ARCHIVE

footage@americabyair.com www.americabyair.com

AMERICAN TIME LAPSE INC

224-628-2410

888-250-APEX

BLACKLIGHT FILMS

323-436-7070 smiller@blacklightfilms.com www.blacklightfilms.com

BLACKSTONE STOCK FOOTAGE

info@apexstock.com www.apexstock.com

ARTBEATS

541-863-4429

212-621-1500

615-731-5310

g.clifford@worldnet.att.net www.blackstonestockfootage.com

BLAUSEN MEDICAL COMMS

info@artbeats.com www.artbeats.com

ASSOCIATED PRESS

812-855-6041 bfca@indiana.edu www.indiana.edu/~bfca

sales@timelapse.com www.timelapse.com

APEXSTOCK.COM

800-327-2893

stockfootage@bennett-watt.com www.hdstockfootage.net

800-999-6173 info@blausen.com www.blausen.com

BLUE SKY FOOTAGE

info@ap.org www.ap.org

310-305-8384 sales@blueskyfootage.com www.blueskyfootage.com

718-626-2646 asl@airsealand.com www.airsealand.com

www.markeemag.com

404-523-9660 bill@atlantavideo.com www.atlantavideo.com

gm@allprohd.com www.allprohd.com

1-800-IMAGERY

sales@gettyimages.com www.aerialhdstockllc.com The Aerial HD Stock LLC collection, shot by cinematographer Steve Cassidy and co-produced with Camera Copters owner/pilotPaul Barth, features a diverse mix of day and night cityscapes, scenic beauty, industrial, energy production, urban, agriculture, and more from locations all across the USA and Caribbean. Shot with the Cineflex aerial system in 1080 24P, new material is constantly being added. Aerial HD Stock LLC footage is represented exclusively worldwide by Getty Images.

AIR SEA LAND PRODUCTIONS

907-349-8002

ALL PRO HD

415-431-1122 adpix@adpix.com www.adpix.com

ATLANTA VIDEO

stock@akvideo.com www.akvideo.com

310-459-2526

info@actionsportsstockfootage.com www.actionsportsstockfootage.com

ADVENTURE PICTURES

ALASKA VIDEO POSTCARDS

303-253-6300

stockfootage@warrenmiller.com www.wmefootage.com

ACTION SPORTS/SCOTT DITTRICH

502-581-8160 jjdrkn@yahoo.com www.airbossstockfootage.com

ASSOCIATED TELEVISION INTL

323-556-5600

BOEING COMPANY

info@ati.la www.ati.la

206-662-6628 imagelicensing@boeing.com www.boeingimages.com

May/June 2012

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BRIDGER PRODUCTIONS INC

307-733-7871

DOLLARHIDE FILM INC

601-853-4252

info@bridgerproductions.com www.bridgerproductions.com

BUDGET FILMS STOCK FOOTAGE

323-660-0187

DOUBLETIME PRODUCTIONS

filmclip@aol.com www.budgetfilms.com

CAELESTIS PRODUCTIONS

888-288-0550

516-869-1170 infodoubletime@optonline.net www.doubletimeproductions.com

DVARCHIVE.COM

800-666-8904

dan@caelestisproductions.com www.caelestisproductions.com

CAMERA COPTERS/AERIAL HD STOCK LLC 1-800-IMAGERY info@cameracopters.com www.cameracopters.com The Aerial HD Stock LLC collection, shot by cinematographer Steve Cassidy and co-produced with Camera Copters owner/pilot Paul Barth, features a diverse mix of day and night cityscapes scenic beauty, industrial, energy production, urban, agriculture, and more from locations all across the USA and Caribbean. Shot with the Cineflex aerial system in 1080 24P new material is constantly being added. Aerial HD Stock LLC footage is represented exclusively worldwide by Getty Images.

CAMERA ONE

206-523-3456

info@dvarchive.com www.dvarchive.com

ECHO FILM PRODUCTIONS

208-336-0349 echofilm@mindspring.com www.echofilms.com

EEF PRODUCTIONS

970-479-6333 hayden@eefhd.com www.eefhd.com

EFOOTAGE LLC

626-395-9593 info@efootage.com www.efootage.com

ELITE VIDEO

501-321-0440 support@elitevideo.com www.elitevideo.com

cameraone@prodigy.net www.cameraone.us

CARTER PRODUCTIONS

303-499-9430

ENCOUNTER VIDEO

310-360-9600 info@celebrityfootage.com www.celebrityfootage.com

CHICAGO VIDEOGRAPHER/NED MILLER

847-816-9020 ned@nedmiller.com www.nedmiller.com

CINEWORKS/NH MOVIES

603-463-5900 info@nhmovies.com www.nhmovies.com

CLASSIC IMAGES

310-277-0400 sales@classicimg.com www.classicimg.com

CLASSIC WORLDWIDE

440-838-5377 info@classicworldwide.com www.classicworldwide.com

CNN IMAGESOURCE

404-827-3326 cnn.imagesource@turner.com www.cnnimagesource.com

COMPASS LIGHT INC

207-236-2078 info@compasslight.com www.compasslight.com

CONUS ARCHIVE

651-642-4576 cbridson@conus.com www.conus.com

CORBIS MOTION

866-473-5264 sales@corbis.com www.corbismotion.com

CREATIVE ARTS TELEVISION

860-868-1771 catarchive@aol.com www.catarchive.com

CUSTOM MEDICAL STOCK PHOTO

800-373-2677 sales@cmsp.com www.cmsp.com

DIGITAL HOTCAKES

318-603-0236 info@digitalhotcakes.com www.digitalhotcakes.com

DIGITAL JUICE INC

800-525-2203 customerservice@digitaljuice.com www.digitaljuice.com

DOCUMENTARY ED RESOURCES

617-926-0491 docued@der.org www.der.org

Markee 2.0 |

May/June 2012

503-285-8974 dburkhart@encountervideo.com www.encountervideo.com

rcfilmvideo@earthlink.net

CELEBRITY FOOTAGE

GETTY IMAGES

jim@dollarhide.net www.dollarhide.net

ESPN FOOTAGE LICENSING

212-515-1252 footage@espn.com www.espnfootage.com

F.I.L.M. ARCHIVES INC

212-696-2616 info@filmarchivesonline.com www.filmarchivesonline.com

FARISH MEDIA

808-329-1655 farishmedia@hawaii.rr.com www.hawaiivideo.com

FAST FOOTAGE

612-789-6000 fastfootage@aol.com www.fastfootage.com

FILM & VIDEO STOCK SHOTS INC

888-436-6824 stockshots@earthlink.net www.stockshots.com

FISH FILMS FOOTAGE WORLD

818-905-1071 footageworld@aol.com www.footageworld.com

FLIXDISC LTD

800-708-1584 flixdisc@aol.com www.flixdisc.com

FLORIDA FILM & TAPE

407-297-0091 brad@ffandt.com www.floridafilmandtape.com

FOOTAGE BAKERY

800-773-2753 support@footagebakery.com www.footagebakery.com

FOOTAGEBANK HD

FOOTAGE.NET

800-442-0550 footageland@aol.com www.footageland.com

FRAMEPOOL

800-331-1314 americas@framepool.com www.framepool.com

FREEWHEELIN FILMS

201-384-7715

info@globalimageworks.com www.globalimageworks.com Global ImageWorks licenses contemporary and archival footage including: 9/11, aerials, climate change, destinations, extreme sports, fire and rescue, global conflict, hip hop, historic travel films, home movies, lifestyle, nature, pop culture, re-enactments, rock n roll, storm chasers, technology, time-lapse, US cities, wildlife. All formats including Hi-Def and 35mm. 30,000+ clips searchable on-line. Rights managed and royalty free. Additional services: Footage Research and Music Clearances.

GLOBAL VILLAGE STOCK FOOTAGE

888-798-3463

production@videosource.com www.videosource.com

GOAL PRODUCTIONS

626-584-9515 info@goalproductions.com www.goalproductions.com

GOLAN PRODUCTIONS INC

312-642-4500 candice@golan.tv www.golan.tv

GOLIATH MEDIA

617-306-6106 info@goliathmedia.com www.goliathmedia.com

GOTFOOTAGE.COM

702-257-8822 support@gotfootage.com www.gotfootage.com

GREAT PLAINS MOTION PIC CO

402-339-1001 rod@thegreatplains.com www.thegreatplains.com

GREG HENSLEY PRODUCTION

970-984-3158 hensley@sopris.net www.greghensley.com

HARBOR BRANCH OCEANOGRAPHIC

772-242-2400 cousin@hboi.edu www.hboi.edu

HAWAIISTOCKVIDEO.COM

808-329-1655 farishmedia@hawaii.rr.com www.hawaiivideo.com

HBO ARCHIVES

877-426-1121

footage@hboarchives.com www.hboarchives.com HBO Archives collections include: Sports – exclusive sports imagery and top athletes. Contemporary – stock shots from HBO Films. Archival – anchored by The March of Time documentary series. Wildlife – wildlife and scenics from exotic locations around the world. Entertainment News – exclusive behind-the-scenes and other footage covering music, comedy television and film celebrities. Our website features high-speed video and text searches and offers low-res video downloads. We also provide free research.

HERO SHOTS

406-581-0260 markzetler@hotmail.com www.heroshots.com

HIGH PLAINS FILMS

406-728-0753 yak@highplainsfilms.org www.highplainsfilms.org

732-385-1122 info@footage.net www.footage.net

FOOTAGELAND

GLOBAL IMAGEWORKS LLC

310-822-1400 info@footagebank.com www.footagebank.com

800-462-4379 motionrequests@gettyimages.com www.gettyimages.com

HISTORIC FILMS

800-249-1940

info@historicfilms.com www.historicfilms.com Since 1991, HISTORIC FILMS has been the world’s leading source for vintage entertainment, music performance and archival stock footage. With exclusive representation of such libraries as THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, DON KIRSHNER’S ROCK CONCERT and PATHE NEWS INC., Historic Films offers over 40,000 music performances (as well as comedy, vaudeville, burlesque and other performance genres) and over 20,000 hours or circa 1895-2000 archival footage.

970-925-2640 kayla@fwf.com www.fwf.com

HOLLYWOOD NEWSREEL

323-833-5920 rickspalla@yahoo.com www.hollywoodnewsreel.com

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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HOTSTOCKFOOTAGE.COM

303-721-6121

john@jsptv.com www.hotstockfootage.com Wild! Wacky! Unusual! Hostockfootage offers a myriad of extreme sports, action, wild, wacky and unusual scenes as well as RARE and one-of-a-kind sports crashes, rescues, scenics, sunsets, etc.

INTERNATIONAL HISTORIC FILMS

773-927-9091 info@historicfootage.com www.historicfootage.com

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL FILMS

213-841-6335 inttrvfilms@aol.com

IRON ORCHID FILMS

ISLAND CENTURY MEDIA

NBCUNIVERSAL ARCHIVES

K&K MEDIA

212-664-3797

NEW & UNIQUE VIDEOS

619-644-3000

NEWYORKSHOTS.COM

520-298-4810

KBC PRODUCTIONS

201-750-5860

KESSER IMAGE LIBRARY

NORBERT WU PRODUCTIONS

LAST FRONTIER FOOTAGE

831-375-4448

NORMAN KENT PRODUCTIONS

LEN AITKEN PRODUCTIONS

386-446-0505

NORTHEAST HISTORIC FILM

207-469-0924

LEONARD RUE VIDEO PRODS

OCEANFOOTAGE.COM

LONE PEAK PRODUCTIONS

866-375-2313

ODDBALL FILM + VIDEO

LONE WOLF DOCUMENTARY GRP

415-558-8112

OMEGA MEDIA GROUP INC

LOUIS WOLFSON II ARCHIVE

770-449-8870

OMNI PRODUCTIONS

MAMMOTH HD INC

435-259-8444

OPPER SPORTS PRODUCTIONS

MEDIA BAKERY

MIAMI NEWS NET

MICHAEL MAY PRODUCTIONS

PAL PRODUCTIONS INC

MOVIECRAFT INC

MYSTIC SEAPORT

860-572-5379 suki.williams@mysticseaport.org www.mysticseaport.org

NATIONAL GEO DIGITAL MOTION

877-730-2022 ngdigitalmotion@ngs.org www.ngdigitalmotion.com

323-666-7968 info@showpoppers.com www.showpoppers.com

SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGES

866-663-3954 support@shutterstock.com www.footage.shutterstock.com

SILVERMAN STOCK FOOTAGE

804-338-2234

donald@silvermanstockfootage.com www.silvermanstockfootage.com

SOURCE STOCK FOOTAGE

520-290-4810 requests@sourcefootage.com www.sourcefootage.com

SOUTHEAST STOCKFOOTAGE

404-685-2806

contact@southeaststockfootage.com www.southeaststockfootage.com

SPORTS CINEMATOGRAPHY GROUP

310-785-9100

sportscinema@earthlink.net www.sportscinematographygroup.com

lazpal@aol.com www.paladventurevideos.com

PENN STATE MEDIA SALES

800-770-2111 mediasales@psu.edu www.MediaSales.psu.edu

PERCEPTIONS INC

802-425-2783 perceptivt@aol.com www.perceptionsvermont.com

PRAIRIE PICTURES INC

817-276-9500 info@prairiepictures.com www.prairiepictures.com

PRODUCERS LIBRARY

818-752-9097 research@producerslibrary.com www.producerslibrary.com

PUBLICDOMAINFOOTAGE.COM

301-471-8058 info@publicdomainfootage.com www.publicdomainfootage.com

708-460-9082 stock@moviecraft.com www.moviecraft.com

SHOW POPPERS

206-361-9366

808-739-0032 mmmay@me.com

305-394-6000 mike@ultimatechase.com www.ultimatechase.com

541-923-1390

949-489-9330 info@graberproductions.com www.graberproductions.com

SEVERE WEATHER

mike@outbackmediagroup.com www.outbackstock.com

305-285-0044 mnn@bellsouth.net www.miaminewsnet.com

MICHAEL GRABER PRODUCTIONS

858-481-7283

OUTBACK STOCK

805-682-9325 info@mediabakery.com www.mediabakery.com

307-739-2256 sava@savafilm.com www.savafilm.com

info@oppersports.com www.oppersports.com

303-670-7973 info@mammothhd.com www.mammothhd.com

SAVAFILM

omni@moabvideo.com www.moabvideo.com

305-375-1505 info@wolfsonarchive.org www.wolfsonarchive.org

503-521-9004 info@royaltyfreestore.com www.royaltyfreestore.com

clientservices@omegamediagroup.com www.omegamediagroup.com

207-799-9500 info@lonewolfdg.com www.lonewolfdg.com

ROYALTYFREESTORE

info@oddballfilm.com www.oddballfilm.com

801-521-5567 info@lonepeakproductions.com www.lonepeakproductions.com

781-449-6282 info@royaltyfreehd.com www.royaltyfreehd.com

support@footagesearch.com www.oceanfootage.com

908-362-6616 sales@ruevideo.com www.ruevideo.com

ROYALTY FREE HD

nhf@oldfilm.org www.oldfilm.org

720-565-1313 brookaitken@comcast.net www.laproductions.com

562-438-6300 sales@rocketclips.com www.rocketclips.com

info@normankent.com www.normankent.com

541-326-1496 info@lastfrontierfootage.com www.lastfrontierfootage.com

ROCKETCLIPS INC

office@norbertwu.com www.norbertwu.com

305-909-1637 kesserimagelibrary@gmail.com www.kesser.com

504-834-8811 rberning@berning.com www.berning.com

nhlha@nhl.com www.nhlhockeyarchive.com

208-344-1948 kris@kbcconnect.com www.kbcfilms.com

ROBERT BERNING PRODUCTIONS

dfrench@newyorkshots.com www.newyorkshots.com

NHL HOCKEY ARCHIVE

804-683-0937

lionheartkrh@earthlink.net www.reenactmentstockfootage.com

footage@newuniquevideos.com www.newuniquevideos.com

281-495-3691 kurt@kkmedia-tv.com www.kkmedia-tv.com

REENACTMENT STOCK FOOTAGE.COM

footage@nbc.com nbcuniversalarchives.com

888-373-4539 info@icm4hd.com www.icm4hd.com

910-624-7488 nautilusvideo@earthlink.net www.nautilusproductions.com

808-955-1000 filmhawaii@aol.com www.filmhawaii.com

www.markeemag.com

NAUTILUS PRODUCTIONS LLC

REDA ARCHIVES, LLC

610-258-2957 research@louredaproductions.com www.redafilms.com

REELINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; IN THE YEARS PRODUCTIONS

619-281-6725

dpeck@reelininthe years.com www.reelinintheyears.com

May/June 2012

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SPORTS CINEMATOGRAPHY GROUP

212-744-5333

STUDIO 1 PRODUCTIONS INC

sportscinema@earthlink.net www.sportscinematographygroup.com

STILL HOPE PRODUCTIONS INC

360-598-4152

386-788-6075

SUPER STOCK

800-828-4545

info@stillhopeproductions.com www.stillhopeproductions.com

STOCK VIDEO

978-449-0065

888-444-2739

info@stockvv.com www.stockvideovault.com Stock Video Vault offers the highest quality 1080-HD, 2K, 3K, to 4K video and photography. Our contributors are the finest the world has to offer and we pay them a higher percentage than other stock footage sites. We provide the best in real-time video and time-lapse of natural landscapes and urban settings, and our underwater footage is exceptional. Rights managed.

STORM VIDEO

TETON GRAVITY RESEARCH

STORMSTOCK

307-734-8192

THE FILM GATE LLC

STREAMLINE STOCK FOOTAGE

THE FOOTAGE FIRM

STREAMWERX

THE FOOTAGE STORE

646-897-1227

866-777-9354

818-556-6080

THIRD MILLENNIUM FILMS

212-675-8500

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FILM LIBRARY

866-815-6599

VENTURE MEDIA

973-669-1930

VIDEO TAPE LIBRARY INC

806-224-5868

VOLCANO VIDEO PRODUCTIONS

808-935-5557

808-959-3885 lava@volcanovideo.com www.volcanovideo.com

WEATHERSTOCK AGENCY

520-751-9964 super@graceful.com www.weatherstock.com

WGBH STOCK SALES

617-300-3939 stock_sales@wgbh.org www.wgbhstocksales.org

WIDE AWAKE FILMS

dale@trailwoodfilms.comt www.trailwoodfilms.com

TROPICAL VISIONS VIDEO INC

323-656-4330 vtl@videotapelibrary.com www.videotapelibrary.com

info@timesteps.com www.timesteps.com

TRAILWOOD FILMS

803-547-3878 jim@venturemedia.tv www.venturemedia.tv

sales@thoughtequity.com www.thoughtequity.com

TIMESTEPS PRODUCTIONS INC

818-777-1273

roni.lubliner@unistudios.com www.universalclips.com

thirdmillennium@earthlink.net www.thirdmillenniumfilms.net

THOUGHT EQUITY MOTION

323-466-8559 footage@ucla.edu www.cinema.ucla.edu/footage

info@footagestore.com www.footagestore.com

704-421-3595

aerials@streamwerx.com www.streamwerx.com HD Aerial Footage: Beauty and adventure will reel you in to StreamWerx HD aerial footage collection. We stock low level shots above National Wild and Scenic trails, coastal waterways and both day and night cityscapes for many U.S. cities. If it looks like fun from the air, we probably have the gyro stabilized, lifestyle and scenic clips you seek. Visit StreamWerx.com for more art and beauty in action.

UCLA FILM & TV ARCHIVE

info@footagefirm.com www.footagefirm.com

212-925-2547 decroix@streamlinefilms.com www.streamlinefilms.com

205-348-6210 trieland@cpt.ua.edu www.cpt.ua.edu

thefilmgate@aol.com www.airpowerstock.com

817-276-9500 info@stormstock.com www.stormstock.com

U OF AL/CNTR FOR PUBLIC TV

stock@tetongravity.com www.tetongravity.com/stockfootage

262-443-0352 stormvideo@gmail.com www.stormvideo.com

404-622-0300 marc@dobiecki.com www.tsunamifilms.com

yourfriends@superstock.com www.superstock.com

stockvideo@aol.com www.stockvideo.com

STOCK VIDEO VAULT

TSUNAMI FILMS

studio1@studio1productions.com www.studio1productions.com

816-872-3456 info@wideawakefilms.com www.wideawakefilms.com

WILDERNESS VIDEO

redhotlava@hawaii.rr.com www.tropicalvisions.com

541-488-9363 bob@wildernessvideo.com www.wildernessvideo.com

WILDVISIONS INC

623-516-1975 mike@wildvisions.net www.wildvisions.net

WINGS WILDLIFE PRODUCTIONS

949-830-7845 info@wildlifelibrary.com www.wildlifelibrary.com

WPA FILM LIBRARY

800-777-2223

sales@wpafilmlibrary.com www.wpafilmlibrary.com WPA supplies high-quality footage on topics as diverse as history, pop culture, politics, celebrities, landmarks, home movies, Americana and more. Highlights include the entire British Pathe Newsreel Library, WETA’s coverage of political events, over 6,500 exclusive rock ‘n roll, soul and classic country music performances a growing HD collection and historic auto racing. WPA offers FREE expert research and free screeners, competitive pricing and a fully searchable online database with more than 30,000 viewable clips.

WRIGHTWOOD.COM

702-257-8822 info@wrightwood.com www.wrightwood.com

WTTW PBS STOCK FOOTAGE

773-509-5410 digitalarchives@wttw.com www.wttwdigitalarchives.com

Markee 2.0 |

May/June 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

MAR2703_MayJune2012-Q9_Markee 2.0 6/24/12 6:42 PM Page 19

Stock Footage Galleries

ABCNEWS VideoSource

Aerial HD Stock LLC

Crew West Inc.

ABCNEWS VideoSource is the content licensing division for ABC NEWS. Our extensive collection, superior customer service, and competitive pricing makes VideoSource the perfect choice to fulfill all of your content needs.

A diverse mix of day and night cityscapes, scenic beauty, industrial, energy production, urban, agriculture, and more, in 1080P. Represented exclusively worldwide by Getty Images. Shot by cinematographer Steve Cassidy and coproduced with Camera Copters owner/pilot Paul Barth.

STOCKVIDEOVAULT.COM

The place to come for industry leading 1080P and 4K stock video and time-lapse. Accepting content submissions NOW. One of the highest percentages paid to content providers in the industry.

P: 1.800.IMAGERY www.aerialhdstockllc.com sales@gettyimages.com

P: 888.444.2739 www.stockvideovault.com info@stockvv.com

Global ImageWorks, LLC

HBO Archives

Historic Films

Global ImageWorks licenses contemporary and archival stock shots and deep content footage. 30,000+ clips searchable on-line. Rights managed and royalty free. Additional services: Footage Research and Music Rights & Clearances.

HBO Archives is a full-service stock footage library offering free research and screeners. Our collections include Sports, Entertainment News, Archival, The March of Time Newsreels and Documentaries, Contemporary Stock and Wildlife.

For over 20 years, more than 10,000 productions have come to Historic Films for just the right footage. With over 30,000 hours of news, lifestyle and celebrity footage AND one of the worlds largest collections of music and entertainment footage... it’s no wonder!

P: 201.384.7715 • F: 201.501.8971 www.globalimageworks.com info@globalimageworks.com

P: 877.426.1121 • F: 212.512.8018 www.hboarchives.com footage@hboarchives.com

P: 800.249.1940 • F: 631.477.9800 www.historicfilms.com info@historicfilms.com

P: 212.456.5421 • 800.789.1250 www.abcnewsvideosource.com abcvideosource@abc.com

Hotstockfootage.com

Streamwerx

WPA Film Library

Wild! Wacky! Unusual! Hotstockfootage offers a myriad of extreme sports, action, wild, wacky and unusual scenes, as well as RARE and one-of-a-kind sports crashes, rescues, scenics, sunsets, etc.

Gyro-stabilized HD aerial stock footage. Wild and scenic rivers, national forests, skylines, universities, adventure flights from Alaska to the Atlantic. Streamwerx: Art and Beauty in Action.

WPA supplies high-quality footage on topics as diverse as history, pop culture, politics, celebrities, landmarks, home movies and Americana. Highlights include the entire British Pathe Newsreel Library. We provide free research and screeners.

P: 704.421.3595 www.streamwerx.com aerials@streamwerx.com

P: 800.323.0442 • F: 708.460.0187 www.wpafilmlibrary.com sales@wpafilmlibrary.com

P: 303.721.6121 www.hotstockfootage.com john@jsptv.com

www.markeemag.com

May/June 2012

| Markee 2.0

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[Top Left] Justin Bieber’s music video of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” with stereo 3D postproduction by In A Place Post, inhabits a Steampunk Santa’s workshop.

[Top Right] Steele Studios created a massive stereo 3D graphics package for 3net, the joint venture of Sony Corporation, Discovery Communications and IMAX Corporation.

STEREO 3D FORMAT Is Taking Hold

BY CHRISTINE BUNISH [Below] Nice Shoes used stereo 3D to enhance the visual storytelling in “Found,” one of three, self-produced poetry pieces in its Verses series.

Five companies show the depths that stereo 3D can deliver.

After the success of his Academy Award-winning Hugo, Martin Scorsese announced that he expects to use stereo 3D in all his future projects. Embracing 3D for cinematic storytelling – not just action-fueled gimmickry – is just one example of how the format is taking hold. Feature films for the big screen – and bigger screens – music videos, broadcast graphics and deeply personal productions all show the heights and depths that stereo 3D can deliver. 20

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Dzignlight Climbs to New Heights with The Amazing Spider-Man Atlanta-based Dzignlight Studios (www.dzignlight.com) has been doing stereo 3D projects for more than 12 years. Beginning with a pharmaceutical trade show piece, the company has expanded its 3D client base, which now comes from many market sectors. “We started our 3D work as a VFX/animation company and are now regularly integrated with production – the cameras and equipment required to shoot 3D. And we consult on projects to assess the pipeline from prepro to finishing and delivery because there’s a lot you need to be aware of in stereo 3D production,” says Dzignlight President Eric Deren. Dzignlight has invested in camera support systems for compatibility with the RED cameras, Sony’s F35 and F23 and Canon EOS Mark II 5D and 7D. It also has devised a custom motion control system for stereo 3D, including time-lapse photography. Clients include corporate giants such as Kia Motors, Shell and AGCO; several feature films; and a tourism spot, the latter 2D to 3D conversion for broadcast and cinema display. Dzignlight was one of about 10 vendors working on pieces of Titanic 3D last summer. “We did about 13 minutes, prepping VFX shots for the conversion company,” says Deren. “We ramped up to 85 people to accomplish that.” Deren served as on-set 1st unit stereographer for The Amazing Spider-Man, due to hit screens in July. “I’d never been on a shoot with such a Dream Team of consummate professionals – it was a methodical, efficient set,” he recalls. The first 3D installment in the franchise was shot with RED Epic cameras and 3ality Technica camera rigs. Deren was tasked with making per-shot creative decisions about how to capture the stereo elements and oversee the technical process. He was mindful to use 3D to support the story as well as the other shots in the sequence “whether they were shot the same day or at a different location a month later.” Deren notes that some people “like to nail 3D as some sort of gimmick. A lot of times it’s used as that, but sound and color were considered gimmicks once. Many content producers are trying to integrate 3D in a creative way to tell a story; the more that happens the more 3D becomes part of the vocabulary of filmmaking.” www.markeemag.com

[Above Left] Dzignlight Studios ramped up to 85 people to prep VFX shots for the stereo 3D conversion company for Titanic 3D.

[Above Right] Andrew Garfield stars as Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures’ The Amazing Spider-Man. Photo: Sony Pictures

[Above] Dzignlight Studios’ Eric Deren on set with a hanging stereo 3D rig.

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Stereo 3D

He reports that The Amazing Spider-Man does the franchise’s usual great job with the action sequences – now enhanced with 3D. But audiences also will see how 3D “helps them get into the story and experience the world of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. It makes the characters feel more real and human because you’re in the same space with them, and that’s more engaging.” Currently, Deren is acting as stereoscopic VFX pipeline consultant for a stereo 3D IMAX film in production. Dzignlight has previous experience in the field with several different 3D IMAX productions, including the extreme sports feature, Human Flight 3D.

Splice Here Goes Out of This World for Space Junk 3D

[Right] Editor/postproduction supervisor Carl Jacobs of Splice Here, the media hub and creative edit house for Space Junk 3D, a stereo 3D IMAX film.

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In Minneapolis, Splice Here (www.splice.tv) edited the new 3D IMAX film, Space Junk 3D, which premiered earlier this year. The 38-minute film, directed by Melissa Butts of Melrae Pictures, explores the expanding ring of manmade debris that threatens our planet’s orbit. Splice had edited Butts’ IMAX film 3D Sun several years ago and already had the SAN storage capacity and flexible workflows to take on the new project. “The 4K files were huge, and we had one set of images for each eye. We looked at over 750,000 frames, which took up about 30TB of space,” says Editor/Postproduction Supervisor Carl Jacobs. He says Splice acted as the “media hub” and creative edit house for Space Junk 3D. Lead designer Brian Olson created the end titles and the company’s VFX team supplied 3D VFX for the final shot of the picture, the live-action sequences of which were shot on 15-perf 70mm film. Splice converted its 14-seat theater into a screening and edit room for the project, adding a large 3D plasma monitor and, later, 3D projection. Several outside vendors provided the stereo 3D animations, live-action and timelapse elements. Any required adjustments were done ahead of time, so once Jacobs got the shots and dropped them in his timeline “we had 3D images ready to go. 3D did not drive the edit; it was mostly ‘prebaked.’ So I could concentrate on organizing the media, putting it together in the timeline and creating a comfortable environment for Melissa and [producer] Kim [Rowe] to fine tune it.” Jacobs cut on Apple’s Final Cut Pro; the Splice VFX team used Autodesk Flame and Adobe After Effects. Olson employed MAXON CINEMA 4D to create the end titles’ text animation; he built a 3D camera environment in After Effects and CINEMA 4D for “dimensionalizing” the elements and composited them in After Effects. Jacobs notes that editing for stereo 3D is a “very iterative process. You’re always looking at things, making adjustments, evaluating again, making more adjustments until things are exactly what you want. That’s one of the reasons that 3D takes a little longer. In some ways, IMAX 3D goes back to the roots of film editing when editors were examining each frame with an eye for detail. IMAX 3D requires a level of detail and scrutiny that 2D cinema doesn’t – after all, the frames are seen 70 feet tall!” The original IMAX theaters have an unusual 4x3 display aspect ratio, “like an old TV set, but unbelievably huge,” says Jacobs. “We had to look at everything in several different ways: 4x3 for the IMAX 4K giant screens; 16x9 for the digital IMAX theaters; and 2D for Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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the dome theaters where the center of interest is relatively far down the frame. All of our framing decisions had to work for all three formats.” A new version of Space Junk 3D for broadcast television will be coming up. When Jacobs attended NAB 2012 “all the talk was about 4K – the coming tools for acquisition, editing and distribution,” he says. “But wait – we just did 4K and in 3D! We’re already doing what a lot of people are just thinking about.”

In A Place Post Dances to Bieber’s Tune LA’s In A Place Post (www.inaplacepost.com) completed its first stereo 3D project late last year when it performed color correction and online editorial for the music video for Justin Bieber’s Christmas single, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” released in conjunction with the animated feature, Arthur Christmas. The video gives a new twist to the classic tune with a Steampunk Santa’s workshop set full of break-dancing helpers and mechanical toys. “We already had the software upgrade for our Quantel Pablo so we could work in stereo, and we had a stereo plasma monitor brought in,” says Dominique Martinez, one of the company’s owners and head of operations. “What’s always important for stereo is knowing the deliverables first then backtracking. Once we knew the DCP and digital deliverables, we could figure out the best way to handle the online and color.” She notes that, “Pablo automatically outputs Left Eye/Right Eye digital files when it recognizes a stereo project. The only difference to our editor, Augustine Arredondo, www.markeemag.com

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Stereo 3D

[Above] Justin Bieber’s music video of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” with stereo 3D postproduction by In A Place Post, inhabits a Steampunk Santa’s workshop.

[Below] Stereo 3D gave new dimension to dance moves in the Justin Bieber music video, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town,” set in a Steampunk Santa’s workshop and posted by In A Place Post.

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was seeing Left Eye/Right Eye on two different tracks. It was like a normal online session with Left Eye/Right Eye synch. Everything was really seamless.” Additional time was spent adding floating windows for the video’s theatrical release and convergence for all the deliverables. “DP Alice Brooks and director Charles Oliver were in session for color and the convergence geometry,” Martinez reports. “The director choreographed the video so he had stereo in mind for certain dance moves – they planned the choreography to work well in 3D.” Some toys were dimensionalized so they popped out of boxes. Milton Adamou colored the video and did all the stereo work for the project. Brooks shot the music video with a pair of RED Epic cameras on a Helios stereo rig by ParadiseFX. Adamou used a REDlogFilm gamma curve and REDcolor as his color space. “REDcolor gives me a little more saturation in the ‘negative,’ which is better than adding it later on with the potential of introducing noise,” Adamou says in a blog post. “As usual, from here I established my base contrast and density level.” To achieve the Steampunk look, he pushed toward a much cooler palette with varying degrees of blue. He settled on “a cool, shadowy image with glowing highlights and red costumes bleeding through. Our coolness didn’t come in the form of a blue tint, though. We simply added ‘white’ to the scene. Care was taken to ensure that the image didn’t feel ‘monochromatic’ by retaining enough color in the image,” he reports. “Neutralizing the colors involved adding a ton of blue gain, as well as taking out blue points using printer lights. This got rid of the rusty tint, but left us with a desaturated image,” he explains. “From there I began sculpting, using a luminance key to select and suppress the shadows and low mid tones, which was also where the background fell.” On the other end of the scale, Adamou used “a hi-con key to pick off the highlights and really bloom them, adding both gain and defocus.” For the red costumes and skin tones, he selected the upper range of reds and slowly eased them back into the picture, pushing the saturation a little further. “A final S-curve pulled it all together and gave the image more ‘snap,’” he says.

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In A Place Post is slated for upcoming stereo 3D commercial and feature work. “Some clients are interested in converting classic big-brand commercials into stereo to test the market for 3D spots,” says Martinez. “We’re getting more and more calls every week. ‘Are you set up for 3D?’ ‘What do we have to do to prepare?’ I think we’re building to a good amount of work this summer and fall.”

Steele Studios Gets Graphic for 3net For more than a year, the bulk of work done at Culver City, Calif.’s Steele Studios (www.steelevfx.com) has been in stereo 3D and much of it for 3net, the joint venture of Sony Corporation, Discovery Communications and IMAX Corporation, and the nation’s first and only fully programmed 24/7 3D network. Steele Studios helped 3net assemble content for its debut in February 2011 and Jerry Steele, who co-founded the company with wife Jo, has been a consultant for the network’s stereo needs. Last November, Steele Studios designed, created, composited and delivered a massive on-air graphics package for the network, which comprised more than 60 elements from main logo opens and IDs to promotional and sponsored elements, interstitials, program opens and closes, and many other transitional and supplemental elements. Steele Studios used bold geometrics in a blue palette, shot through with golden light, to convey 3net’s dynamic, forward-thinking position in the industry. “For these new graphics, we wanted to create really dynamic shapes that exaggerate depth, but at the same time, we were limited to a minimal [stereo] 3D depth and inter-axial distance. The way we could do this was to use really wide-angle lenses and shoot objects which we’d move only a few nanometers at a time,” Jerry says. “We had crazy big lenses, giving us massive distortions, which allowed us to exaggerate depth and to ‘stage’ the 3D space appropriately. All the elements in the composite were ultimately shot with different sized lenses and then placed carefully within our limited space. We layered a combination of solid and amorphous objects, so that we could ‘bend’ the rules as needed to fit all our pieces in the composites.” One of the biggest challenges, according to Jerry, was being “limited to the dimensional budget we could apply to 3D graphics for television. For the theater, the 3D cannot extend as far into the screen relatively as it can for TV; and for TV, the 3D cannot extend as far out of the screen as with movies. It is a result of the maximum positive divergence that the viewer can comfortably watch. We had to

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[Above] Steele Studios created a massive stereo 3D graphics package for 3net, the joint venture of Sony Corporation, Discovery Communications and IMAX Corporation.

[Below Left] Jerry Steele, co-founder of Steele Studios, which created the stereo 3D on-air graphics package for 3net.

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Stereo 3D

[Above] Steele Studios created a massive stereo 3D graphics package for 3net, the joint venture of Sony Corporation, Discovery Communications and IMAX Corporation.

[Below] Nice Shoes used stereo 3D to enhance the visual storytelling in “Found,” one of three, self-produced poetry pieces in its Verses series.

figure out a way to deliver interesting graphics which, when edited together, didn’t represent distracting convergence shifts, leading to eyestrain. In addition, the graphics had to be consistent and represent a norm that all the content around them could work with.” All the animations were crafted in CINEMA 4D, says Jo Steele, and finished in Quantel Pablo 4K, which boasts a suite of stereo tools. “We designed beautiful 3D stills that blew the network away,” she recalls. “But they thought they’d be impossible to animate. But by working back and forth in CINEMA 4D and Pablo we created something new and groundbreaking.” Jerry notes that, “in creating these 3D animations, we made sure that the [stereo] 3D was emphasized and de-emphasized appropriately. It is important to create drama within the 3D and allow the impact to play out. Timing and content are controlled to give the viewer the chance to rest and then feel the extent of the [stereo] 3D again.” Chris Williamson was the design and art director for the on-air package with CINEMA 4D artist Kurt Miller, and producer Mark Edwards. Prior to 3net, Steele Studios had completed a number of stereo 3D projects, including “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa),” a music video starring Shakira created for the opening ceremony of the World Cup in South Africa. The company provided stereoscopic supervision, online, color correction, beauty effects, compositing, stereo 3D geometry, linearity and finishing for the video, which was seen by more than 1 billion viewers worldwide. Jerry Steele also was online editor for Avril Lavigne’s stereo 3D music video, “What the Hell.” He was in charge of the 3D work and provided VFX, beauty work, color correction and finishing.

Nice Shoes Gives Verses a New Dimension New York City’s Nice Shoes (www.niceshoes.com) began developing a stereo 3D pipeline in 2009, prior to the success of Avatar, “simply because new technology and, particularly, how new technology impacts creative interests us,” says Creative Director Brian Bowman. Since then, the company has had a steady stream of stereo work, mostly with

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theatrical advertising and 2D to stereo 3D conversion, including a Friskies spot and a 3D broadcast spot for ESPN/Sony. The first stereo project Nice Shoes created from start to finish, however, is a series of three, self-produced poetry/spoken word pieces called Verses. “It was a great experience,” says Bowman. “We were aiming for a heightened visceral experience using stereo as a medium that enhances visual storytelling. Adding depth to film adds a visual impact, of course. But we were curious if it could create an emotional connection with the audience as well.” The three Verses are very different in their look and content. “Found,” about loss and possession, was inspired by words on a random piece of paper that Bowman, who directed and edited the video, found in a park. DP Rod Lamborn used a pair of RED cameras on a beam splitter rig to shoot the female talent on a black stage. Sets and environments – snowy mountains, planets, gently falling flower petals, a spider and its web, glowing columns of light, a rocky landscape – were created digitally. “Heartbreaker” features New York-based Trinidadian poet Rico Frederick performing his poem about lost love. The piece serves as a visual companion to the spoken word; Rod Lamborn shot Frederick on a black stage with lights and smoke atmospherics, which were used in the final composites. Nice Shoes built the digital city backdrop and replicated the poet in CG so he can ultimately fragment and dissolve into typography of his own words. “Ginsberg” takes the form of an animated waveform generated from Beat poet Allen Ginsberg reading “In Back of the Real.” No traditional keyframes were used: The vibratory vocal tones combine with fractal algorithms to create the waveform effects. Camera animation created the shots in which Ginsberg’s spoken words appear as flowing threads and graceful spirals. Brian Bowman created the piece with Lucien Yang and Kit Lam. Bowman explains that Nice Shoes has three pipelines for stereo 3D: Autodesk Flame, The Foundry’s Nuke and Adobe After Effects. “Flame works well for stereo conversion, Nuke is great with longer-format films than go beyond 30 seconds, and After Effects is still our tool of choice for motion design-oriented projects,” he says. The challenge for Verses was “to be careful about underestimating a post pipeline: We had to create the film for both eyes, but then we had to also gauge depth with the eyes together,” he says. In terms of dimensionality, depth was chosen over foreground effects, and depth decisions were made on set with a stereographer. “That’s the advantage of a beam splitter rig where you can set the depth as you are shooting,” he points out. “Of course, you can correct any mistakes in post, but the idea is that a conscious decision was made on set.” Bowman believes that “stereo 3D is here to stay. Whether or not it is indeed the next evolution is yet to be determined. Regardless, it will have a place among the aggregate of media formats we are seeing right now, including mobile and interactive.” www.markeemag.com

[Above] Nice Shoes used stereo 3D to enhance the visual storytelling in “Found,” one of three, self-produced poetry pieces in its Verses series.

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Spotlight

Capital Region

Filming in and around the nation’s capital The Capital Region is bustling with filming activity.

[Clockwise from Left] Science + Fiction filming in the New River Gorge for Degree Deodorant commercials, “Degree Men Chain of Adventure Challenge.” Photo: West Virginia Film Office

A 32-mile ride through scenic mountains of Allegany County aboard a 1916 restored Balwin Steam Engine and vintage diesels. Photo: Maryland Office of Tourism

Postcard Washington, D.C. The Washington Monument. Photo: Destination D.C.

A backlot just outside Richmond, Va. Photo: Kent Eanes

Our nation’s capital and the three surrounding states – Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia – that make up the Capital Region have been bustling B Y C O RY S E K I N E - P E T T I T E

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with filming activity. Dozens of movie and television productions are currently underway or have just wrapped, including programs for HBO, USA and NBC, a Spielberg film, and an original series for Netflix. Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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Maryland is America in miniature Maryland’s diverse and iconic scenery and architecture are attracting major film and TV productions. And the state’s incentives program doesn’t hurt either. Productions are attracted to the state in many cases because it can stand in for Washington, D.C., but also provide quaint small towns, thousands of miles of coastline, rolling countryside, and mountains – all just a short drive away. It’s “America in miniature” as the saying goes. For example, HBO’s new hit comedy series Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the vice president, recently wrapped its first season of filming in the state and will be returning soon to start production on the second season. The show centers on former Sen. Selina Meyer (Louis-Dreyfus) who finds being vice president of the United States is nothing like she expected and everything everyone ever warned about. Another recent HBO production that filmed in Maryland was the movie Game Change, which chronicled the McCain/Palin 2008 presidential campaign. The movie was filmed principally in Baltimore. Presently filming in the state is the first season of the Netflix series, House of Cards, which is a political thriller being produced and directed by David Fincher and stars Kevin Spacey (also a producer). But don’t peg Maryland as just a place to shoot politically themed film and television. Feature films of a different sort currently underway, or recently completed, in Maryland include Better Living Through Chemistry, starring Olivia Wilde and Sam Rockwell; LUV, starring Danny Glover, Roc Dutton and Common; and Jamesy Boy, starring James Woods and Ving Rhames. Certainly, part of the attraction of filming in the state is the refundable tax credit of 25 percent for feature films and 27 percent for a season of episodic television. The state’s incentives program mandates that 50 percent of principal photography must take place in state, and there must be at least $500,000 in qualified spend. (For additional

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[Above] The cast of HBO’s Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Photo: HBO/Bill Gray

[Below] The Baltimore National Pike, which linked into the National Road ran from this vicinity past the country's oldest railroad terminus, now occupied by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad Museum. Photo: Maryland Office of Tourism, Film and the Arts

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Spotlight

Capital Region details, visit marylandfilm.org.) Of course, the real attraction is the state’s varied landscape and architecture. According to the Maryland Film Office, the state has an extremely wide variety of geography and architecture that spans three centuries. Locations there have doubled for countless cities, states and counties, from scenes set in present-day New York City to Paris in the 1800s. Additionally, the film office says the state boasts experienced crews and an actor base, delivering strong film support services.

Virginia has it all [Above Right] Director Trevor White (far right) oversees a scene on the feature film Jamesy Boy, which shot in Maryland and stars James Woods, Mary Louise Parker and Ving Rhames.

[Below] Hallmark Movie Channel’s Lake Effects movie was shot at Smith Mountain Lake Va., and recently aired on the network. Photo: Virginia Film Office

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Virginia also is an exceptional place to film D.C.-themed projects, the Virginia Film Office says. Look no further than the hotly anticipated Lincoln (Dec. 2012) from Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day Lewis, Sallie Field and Tommy Lee Jones. Many locations in the Richmond area replicate buildings in the nation’s capital, and the development and history of the two areas are linked closely (Maryland and Virginia each carved out territory to form the nation’s capital.). But don’t typecast the state, please. “We pretty much have it all in Virginia – from the sparkling waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay to the pristine, scenic beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley; Virginia is a filmmaker’s dream come true,” says Mary Nelson, Virginia Film Office’s communications manager. “The state’s heritage spans four centuries, with idyllic rural communities, historic towns, and futuristic 21st century cities. Filmmakers can find pretty much whatever they need near a production center.”

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For example, Virginia now offers an historic backlot area and a major crew base within 30 minutes of Richmond. Located on 3,000 acres of state-owned riverfront land, the backlot features dirt roads that wind through untouched hills, streams, woods and valleys, as well as access to the James River, with a series of earthworks specifically created for battle scenes. Available without a location fee, the backlot offers privacy in a controlled production environment. Now that we have your attention, let’s talk incentives. According to Nelson, Virginia is a little different in its incentive opportunities. The state incentives includes a grant program, a separate tax credit program and tax exemptions, all of which can be used to create a custom incentive plan tailored to the specific needs of any production. “In addition, film office staff will work with each project to minimize production expenses to ensure that your experience in Virginia is as efficient and cost-effective as possible,” she said. Further details are available on the Film Office’s website at FilmVirginia.org. Currently taking advantage of this program are the feature film Wish You Well, an adaptation of the book by author David Baldacci, and TV projects such as A Haunting by New Dominion Pictures in Suffolk, Va., and Cold Case by m2 Pictures in Hampton, Va. New Dominion and m2 Pictures really are making a name for themselves, the Virginia Film Office says. M2’s compelling television programming includes FBI Criminal Pursuit, and Drag Queens to name but two. Similarly, New Dominion Pictures also creates and distributes a wide variety of cable television programming. Other local companies making waves include DreamsFactory and In Your Ear Audio in Richmond. Currently, they are working on a cooperative documentary project with CCTV, the state-run television in China. And Erica Arvold of Erica Arvold Casting in Charlottesville, Va., is “taking her place as a real force in our industry in Virginia,” Nelson said. “In addition to her casting role, she is the chair of the Virginia Production Alliance Charlottesville chapter, and is involved in producing, most recently working as associate producer on Wish You Well.”

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[Above] A backlot just outside Richmond, Va. Photo: Kent Eanes

[Below Left] Hallmark Movie Channel’s Lake Effects movie was shot at Smith Mountain Lake Va., and recently aired on the network. Photo: Virginia Film Office

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Spotlight

Capital Region Washington, D.C. is working toward offering incentives

[Above] D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (right) and local producer in front of the U.S. Capitol on the set of NBC’s The Firm. Photo: Government of the District of Columbia

[Below] Paramount’s blockbuster Super 8, filming on location in Weirton, W.Va. Photo: Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center

The District of Columbia currently does not offer an incentive package. However, the District is planning to conduct a feasibility study to determine the best way for the city to attract production in today’s competitive environment, says Leslie Green, senior communications manager with the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development (MPTD). An investigation into the potential financial return for offering film incentives will be part of this study. Part of that plan also includes enticing more digital media production companies to Washington, D.C. “There are a number of local production companies in the nation’s capital that are actively involved in digital media and are producing award-winning work,” Green said. “As a result, the District is poised to leverage its creative talent and production facilities to attract more digital media to the nation’s capital.” Still, there are several notable productions underway or planned for the District, including White House Down (Sony), an action thriller with Channing Tatum, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Jaime Foxx about a rogue paramilitary group that attempts a military coup by occupying the White House; Political Animals (USA Network), a political drama starring Sigourney Weaver about the lives of a former president and first lady; All Talk (HBO), a politically and intellectually irreverent comedy/drama from Ben Stiller that revolves around the daily dramas of a Jewish family in D.C.; and the as-yet untitled X-Men movie (Marvel/Sony) scheduled to visit D.C. next year. Geographically and architecturally, our nation’s capital offers locations not easily duplicated. In addition to the recognizable landmarks and iconic monuments that are unique to the nation’s capital, the city offers diverse neighborhoods such as Adams Morgan, Foggy Bottom, Anacostia, and Georgetown that are cinematically attractive, MPTD says. There also are places in the District that can be used to replicate other parts of the world, such as Amsterdam in the political thriller Body of Lies (2008) or Paris in the drama The Patriot (2000). MPTD (http://film.dc.gov) also notes the District offers a range of one-stop-shop services that include film and parking permitting; production support and logistics; research and technical assistance; location scouting, community relations, coordination assistance with film festivals, screenings, and other special events; and hotel, restaurant, and transportation assistance. “We also assist the production companies with navigating the unique and intricate process of securing approval for government services and buildings for location needs,” says Green. “We have a close working relationship with government officials and community leaders, which makes for an efficient process in getting production companies the types of services and locations they need with a minimum amount of red tape.”

West Virginia features generous incentives and breathtaking scenery What comes to mind when you think of West Virginia? Mountains? Coal Mines? Perhaps rural farming communities? Well, think again because the state has much more to offer. As the West Virginia Film Office notes, most people would be surprised to learn that, while the state is known as the Mountain State, out of its 55 counties, one – Jefferson County – can actually double for many regions of the Midwest with nearly-flatlands, gently rolling hills, farm lands, and more. Other regions of the state range in elevation from 240 feet to nearly 4,900 feet. There are urban cities with skylines, colonial and other historic small towns, tundra-like plateaus, dense forests, industrial cities and 32

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Spotlight

[Above Right] Feature film Doughboy, filming on location in Wheeling, W.Va. Photo: Flyover Films and Route 40 Pictures

[Below Left] Stephen David Entertainment filming a cable network mini-series in historic Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Photo: West Virginia Film Office

[Below Right] Paramount’s blockbuster Super 8, filming on location in Weirton, W.Va. Photo: Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center

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Capital Region towns along the Ohio River, deep river gorges, large university cities, and much more. If scenery like that isn’t enticing enough, consider the state’s generous incentives program. As Pam Haynes, film office director told Markee, West Virginia’s incentive program is competitive and easy to maneuver. For every dollar spent in West Virginia above $25,000, a production may be eligible to receive tax credits of 27 percent to 31 percent of the total qualified spend. Importantly, the tax credits are transferable, she said. There are no project caps, but the annual amount of credits available is capped at $10 million (July 1-June 30). There also is no restriction as to the amount of filming that has to occur; one day, two days, two months – it doesn’t matter. Eligible projects include feature-length motion pictures, TV productions, commercials, music videos, and commercial print. Similar to nearly all states with incentives, projects may not contain obscene matter or sexually explicit content. So what’s been filming lately in West Virginia? Random Acts of Christmas by Flyover Films, the filmmakers behind last year’s Doughboy, which just closed the recent G.I. Film Festival; Out of the Furnace, starring Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, and Woody Harrelson, shot for two days in April at the former WV Penitentiary in Moundsville; Stephen David Entertainment recently filmed in West Virginia for several months for its tentatively titled miniseries The Builders, expected to air on a cable network later this year; and the blockbuster Super 8 from Steven Spielberg shot for several weeks in fall 2010 in the steel city of Weirton. To aid in your future productions in the state, there are numerous in-state production companies that remain constantly busy, including Image Associates, MotionMasters, Pikewood Creative, Trifecta Productions, and Blackwater Video, to name a few. To see a complete list of companies, and to learn more about the state’s incentives, visit http://wvfilm.wvcommerce.org. “While West Virginia has a small but skilled crew base, the unique shape of our state reaches into two major metro areas with deep crew access, including Washington D.C./Baltimore, adjacent to the Eastern Panhandle region, and Greater Pittsburgh, adjacent to the Northern Panhandle,” said Haynes.

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

MAR2703_MayJune2012-Q9_Markee 2.0 6/25/12 1:03 PM Page 35

advertisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; index page# company phone & website 19

ABCNEWS VideoSource

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800-789-1250 www.abcnewsvideosource.com

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Camera Copters, Inc. 888-463-7953 www.cameracopters.com

Cinema Concepts 770-956-7460 www.cinemaconcepts.com

Crew West Inc. 888-444-2739 www.stockvideovault.com

D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development 202-727-6608 www.film.dc.gov

Global Imageworks, LLC 201-384-7715 www.globalimageworks.com

HBO Archives 877-426-1121 www.hboarchives.com

Historic Films 800-249-1940 www.historicfilms.com

17, 19

Hotstockfootage.com 303-721-6121 www.hotstockfootage.com

Panasonic Broadcast Systems Company 877-803-8492 www.panasonic.com/hpx250

ProductionHub 877-629-4122 www.productionhub.com

Sheldon Smith, Inc. 703-528-8540

Streamwerx 704-421-3595 www.streamwerx.com

MUSIC LIBRARIES

TM Television 972-243-4772 www.tmtel.com

Virginia Film Office 800-854-6233 www.film.virginia.org

18, 19

WPA Film Library 800-323-0442 www.wpafilmlibrary.com

FOR MARKETPLACE ADVERTISING DETAILS... Contact Gayle Rosier at 386.873.9286 or email: gaylerosier@gmail.com www.markeemag.com

May/June 2012

| Markee 2.0

MAR2703_MayJune2012-Q9_Markee 2.0 6/24/12 6:49 PM Page 36

Inside View

Stun Creative | by Christine Bunish

Mark Feldstein, Brad Roth Principals • Stun Creative, Los Angeles • (www.stuncreative.com) Markee: You head a multi-award winning ad agency and production company with many projects for the major networks promoting high-profile shows. And you’re also best friends. How did you meet and form Stun Creative? Mr. Feldstein: “I started as a copywriter at a boutique agency in [New York City’s] SoHo, then wrote and produced promos for Paramount Domestic Television, NBC and Showtime.” Mr. Roth: “I wrote on pilots for MTV, moved to Classic Sports Network where I became head of creative services, then went to Discovery as head of promos for Travel Channel. Mark and I met when we occupied two of the three edit bays at a facility and struck up a conversation that turned into a friendship, and finally manifested itself in a partnership.” Markee: What kind of business opportunity did you see for yourselves? Mr. Feldstein: “There was no agency/production company hybrid that targeted the networks. Nobody was delivering agency-level creative and production for the schedules and prices networks needed.” Mr. Roth: “We jotted down what we thought the opportunity was on the back of a napkin, literally. We only met face-to-face two more times before we went to LA to launch the company. It was partly design and partly good fortune that we came together as good business partners and good friends.” Markee: How has Stun Creative grown over the last 12 years? Mr. Feldstein: “We began with one Avid bay and us writing and directing everything, then built up the company organically. We added Buster, a motion graphics/animation/design shop, and about a year ago started Buster Ink, our 36

Markee 2.0 |

May/June 2012

print/outdoor/digital division. Now we produce cross-platform campaigns and services from concept through production, graphics, outdoor, print and digital. We can drill across from one core idea for an integrated, seamless marketing campaign.” Markee: What makes Stun Creative stand out? Mr. Feldstein: “We’ve carved a space for ourselves in comedy and have worked with high-profile celebrity comedy talent. We launched Conan on TBS with a highly-regarded campaign and Wilfred viral spots on FX last summer.” Mr. Roth: “Right now we’re shooting Neil Patrick Harris for the Tony Awards for CBS. We’re known for understanding and capturing the voice of the talent – they respect that we don’t write something generic or ‘schticky’ for them. We invest in understanding each comic and each brand.” Markee: Your company also does a lot of branded entertainment and commercials, right? Mr. Roth: “For March Madness we shot our second Dove Men + Care campaign with big pro athletes delivering Dove’s Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin message. This year, we had Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Nash talking about their Journeys to Comfort. What started as an online campaign with Andy Pettitte, Joe Girardi and Albert Pujols has transitioned to TV only. It’s an interesting way to sell men’s products and has been very successful for them and a great experience for us. We also produce the online comedy series, The Single Life, promoting Dentyne Ice; for the second season we have Zooey Deschanel’s company onboard as a creative partner.” Markee: How have new tools facilitated your work?

Mr. Roth: “We were almost exclusively 35mm until a few years ago; now the RED camera predominates for our TV work with the Canon 5D and 7D for web-based projects. We have Avid Unity across all of our edit suites so multiple editors can share the same media. The digital revolution has upped the speed at which you can work – every time you think you can’t go faster some new technology allows you to shoot faster or work concurrently. Because everything seems doable today, clients say there are no limits – anything can be achieved.” Markee: What are some of your latest projects? Mr. Feldstein: “We were one of the executive producers of the movie Welcome to the Jungle, a comedy starting JeanClaude Van Damme directed by Rob Meltzer, a director at Stun Creative. It’s sort of Tropic Thunder meets The Office. We’ve done promos for ABC’s Don’t Trust The B– in Apt 23, A&E’s Duck Dynasty and NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams. We just completed Bravo’s big summer campaign – 30 of their most popular talent together in one campaign.” Mr. Roth: “That’s quite a ride – comingling 30 ‘Bravo-lebrities’ who are all known for their drama and healthy sense of self. It gives fans of the individual shows a chance to see the stars interact and crossover.”

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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