Markee 2.0 Magazine November/December 2012 by Markee 2.0 Magazine

Si gn

November/December 2012 • V.27|No.6

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

up w w fo w rF .m ar ke a RE em t E eN ag az ew in s e. co m

2.0

Animation: Magic: The Gathering & other creative projects Mobile Production: The market looks strong Hot Spots: Cutting commercials Spotlight: The South

AG-HPX600

Today’s lightest, 2/3" pro shoulder camcorder is also tomorrow’s best investment. With 10-bit, 4:2:2 AVC-Intra recording; a light 6.2-lb. body; Dynamic Range Stretch (DRS); and options such as wireless metadata, proxy recording and variable frame rates, the AG-HPX600 P2 HD camcorder has innovative features you can count on today. And the HPX600 only gets better because of its upgradability to AVC-ULTRA* recording, micro P2 card capability, Ethernet connectivity and more. Creating the lightest, future-proof shoulder-mount camcorder is how we’re engineering a better world. panasonic.com/hpx600 1.877.803.8492

*Does not support all AVC-ULTRA formats

SOLUTIONS FOR PRO VIDEO

Rethink editing One platform for complete video and audio production. An unmatched set of features, functions, and processes, all at your fingertips. A unique and progressive environment with hundreds of workflow innovations. If you’re using anything else for media production, it’s time to rethink how you edit. With powerful tools supporting a wide variety of formats for multi-screen distribution, Vegas Pro set the standard other NLEs follow. Now, Vegas Pro 12 delivers new professional enhancements that further make it the cutting-edge leader for everything from independent filmmaking to broadcast production. Vegas Pro 12 includes a new expanded edit mode to fine-tune the perfect cut; a comprehensive S-log workflow; project interchange with other post-production platforms; smart proxy editing, for full frame rate performance on a wider variety of hardware; new shape and effects masking tools; and a new professional L*a*b* color space plug-in, for quickly matching the color characteristics of your content. And we’re just getting started. Vegas Pro 12 is the only NLE you’ll need. Fast, efficient, and affordable. Vegas Pro 12 delivers the features you’re looking for. Isn’t it time to rethink the way you edit? Learn more about the entire set of new features and enhancements, or download the free trial at: www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegas12

Markee2.0

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

November/December 2012 Volume 27, Number 6

contents w w w. m a r k e e m a g a z i n e . c o m

16 22

features 8

Animation

Creating a State of Wonderment By Christine Bunish

Mobile Production

Rolling Into 2013, the Mobile Market Looks Strong By Mark Smith

Hot Spots

Cutting Commercials By Christine Bunish

Spotlight

The South By Cory Sekine-Pettite

Markee 2.0 |

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

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.

28 6

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.markeemagazine.com

columns & departments

4 Editor’s Note 6 Making TV – Shooting ‘MacGyver Medicine’ Royal Pains may have the brightest colors on television and the most resourceful main character since MacGyver. By Michael Fickes

7 Making Commercials – Sunday Night on ABC ABC promoted its Sunday Night line-up using live action and visual effects to highlight three dark, compelling stories. By Michael Fickes

36 Inside View – Steve Petersen Co-founder/Creative Director, Big Machine Design By Christine Bunish www.markeemagazine.com

[On The Cover] A character from Wizards of the Coast’s Dark Ascension strategic card game. The animation used for an online trailer was crafted by Spacejunk from 2D art.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

from the editor

Markee2.0

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

| By Cory Sekine-Pettite

www.markeemagazine.com

Music and Cinema Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a performance by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO), but it wasn’t just any performance. To be clear, this group of talented musicians could bring the most knowledgeable and experienced symphony aficionados to their feet. But on this night, the ASO was playing Photo courtesy of ASO/Jeff Roffman. the music of legendary composer and Academy Award winner John Williams, and Mr. Williams was their conductor! The event – “An Evening With John Williams, Stephen Spielberg and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra” – showcased the most legendary movie scores in Hollywood history, many of them for Spielberg’s films, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, and Schindler’s List. Mr. Spielberg was on hand to introduce some of the music and to talk about how his films just wouldn’t be the same without the brilliant scores composed by Williams. It was a privilege to be in their company for an evening and to see Mr. Williams in action. At 80 years old, this living legend – who has essentially provided the soundtrack to the lives of multiple generations – is as spry and energetic as any octogenarian I’ve seen. I think the music must keep him young at heart. I certainly feel young again every time I hear “The Imperial March” or any other piece of music from the first three Star Wars movies. And I bet you do too. These movies are a rite of passage for people around the world, and their scores – Williams’ music – stays with you. This special evening had me thinking about how crucial music is to cinema. Sure, on one level it is obvious that music is needed to help convey emotions and move the story along. But the relationship between the two is much deeper. As Spielberg said at one point during that magical October evening, if movies are lightening then music is the thunder. They’re natural companions, and you just can’t have the same level of enjoyment with one of those components missing. Just try watching one of your favorite movies with the TV muted. You’ll be reaching for your remote within minutes. As Christine Bunish wrote in our Sept/Oct 2012 feature article on Original Music, music has the power to propel plots and evoke emotion to deliver the impact intended by filmmakers. She explored this idea with four sound design/composers in great detail: Breed Music, Robert Etoll, The Music Factory, and Endless Noise. You can read her article on our website.

Highlights Coming In

January/February 2013

• Cinematography • Music and Sound Effects Libraries • Feature Film VFX

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

Markee 2.0 |

November/December 2012

LIONHEART PUBLISHING, INC. 506 Roswell Street, Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060 Tel: 770.431.0867 Fax: 770.432.6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com www.markeemagazine.com Publisher

John Llewellyn llewellyn@lionhrtpub.com

Executive Editor

Cory Sekine-Pettite cory@lionhrtpub.com

Editor Emeritus

Christine Bunish cbpen@aol.com

Senior Writers

Michael Fickes Mark R. Smith

Director of Sales and Marketing

Art Director

Assistant Art Director

Advertising Sales

Advertising Sales – Western Region

Online Projects Manager

John Davis jdavis@lionhrtpub.com 770.431.0867, ext. 226 Alan Brubaker albrubaker@lionhrtpub.com Lindsay Sport lindsay@lionhrtpub.com Gayle Rosier gaylerosier@gmail.com 386.873.9286 Jim Heath heathassocpubrep@gmail.com 310.701.8401 Patton McGinley patton@lionhrtpub.com

Marketing/Reprints

Kelly Millwood kelly@lionhrtpub.com

Subscriptions

Amy Halvorsen amyh@lionhrtpub.com

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

Subscription Rates – Annual subscription rate for U.S. orders - 1 year $34 / 2 year $56; Canada & Mexico – 1 year $58 / 2 year $89; All other countries – 1 year $85 / 2 year $120. Single issue $8. All orders outside the United States must be prepaid in U.S. Dollars only. Remit all requests and payment to Lionheart Publishing, Inc., 506 Roswell Street, Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060.

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.

Disclaimer – The statements and opinions in the articles of this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lionheart Publishing, Inc. or the editorial staff of Markee 2.0 or any sponsoring organization. The appearance of advertisements in this magazine is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised.

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Film & Video Gallery Credits:

Director/DP: Dustin Farrell Producer: Dustin Farrell

Landscapes Volume II Every frame of this time-lapse video is a raw still from a Canon 5D2 DSLR and processed with Adobe software. The motion is achieved with a dolly that is moved slowly by a servo motor. Besides all of the positive attention we’re getting, Landscapes Volume II has been a labor of passion that is bringing personal and professional rewards to all of us at Crew West. Crew West, Inc. P. O. Box 22147 • Phoenix, AZ 85028 Phone: 888.444.2739 • email: tvcrews@crewwestinc.com www.crewwestinc.com

Credits:

Client: Houston Habitat for Humanity Director/DP: Everett Gorel Producer: Nick Smeloff Writer: Bill Brauer Editor: Marco DuBose Music: Matthew Mason

South Coast Film & Video 5234 Elm Street • Houston, TX 77081 Phone: 713.661.3550 • F: 713.661.4357 www.scfilmvideo.com

www.markeemagazine.com

“Changing the world... One neighborhood at a time” Four stories (gleaned from real life) produced for Habitat’s fundraising campaign, dramatizing the impact of home ownership on families. Shot on our Sony F3 with Zeiss lenses, each story opens in black and white, contrasting conditions prior to homeownership with those of today (in color).

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

making TV

Joe Collins | By Michael Fickes

Shooting ‘MacGyver Medicine’ Royal Pains may have the brightest colors on television and the most resourceful main character since MacGyver. Royal Pains chronicles the exploits of Dr. Hank Lawson, a concierge doctor for the rich and poor in the Hamptons. Patients don’t visit concierge doctors; concierge doctors visit patients. A former emergency room doctor, Hank now handles emergencies without ER resources. In one show, for instance, he attends a “bark” mitzvah where everyone comes down with a mysterious lung infection that forces quarantine. Hank deduces that the “bark” mitzvah pooch has contracted an infection, infected one of the guests, who infected another guest and so on. Hank drains fluid from the dog’s infected lung and fabricates a microscope to examine the fluid. He uses the lens from theater binoculars, the cardboard core from a roll of paper towels and pieces of glass for a slide. The problem is an antibiotic resistant bacterium. Hank prescribes an effective antibiotic and cures everyone. “We call it MacGyver medicine,” chuckles Joe Collins, director of photography for Royal Pains. Collins and the crew shoot in the Hamptons in the spring and the fall, working for a week before Memorial Day, a week after Labor Day and for a couple of overnights during the summer. The Hamptons video mostly serves as establishing shots. “We cut from the establishing shots in the Hamptons to gorgeous homes located in and around Oyster Bay on the north shore of Long Island,” Collins said. “That’s where most of the show is shot.” Collins shoots with an ARRI ALEXA and uses Panavision lenses: Primo 11:1 zooms and Primo 4:1 zooms. The primes include a 14.5mm Primo and a 100mm Primo. Steadicam shots employ 6

Markee 2.0 |

a range of Angenieux Optimo lenses, including a 15 to 40mm zoom and a 28 to 76mm zoom. Collins works with two full camera crews plus 10 to 12 grips instead of the usual six. “We so much of an exterior daylight show that we need more grips with more lights to maintain daylight even when we’re losing daylight,” he said. The importance of daylight to Royal Pains scenes drives some of the show’s visual effects work, too. “If we run out of light and need a shot looking at the ocean out of a window, we will shoot on green screen and use a plate,” Collins said. To help with those shots, the production calls upon The Molecule, a visual effects and motion graphics company with offices in New York and Los Angeles. “They’ll help us put together the green screen and plate,” Collins said. The Molecule also helps with complex visual effects. One episode, for instance, concludes with a fireworks display that causes a large explosion. “The lighting crew created the fireworks by making long chains of Maxi Brutes gelled to match the color of fireworks explosions,” Collins explained. The chains were hung vertically high in the air from lifts, connected to a dimmer board and programmed to flicker and pulse like fireworks. The fireball explosion occurred in an exhibition tent located in the bottom right of the frame. A fiery piece of fireworks flies off course and into the tent. Suddenly, the tent explodes and catches fire. At least that’s

November/December 2012

[Above] DP Joe Collins (in the orange cap) on the set of Royal Pains with the star of the show, Mark Feuerstein.

what it looks like. “We couldn’t use big lights,” said Chris Healer, CEO and chief technical officer of The Molecule. “It might take ten seconds for the huge heating elements to produce light.” “So we connected eight nine-light fays to a dimmer board and programmed the lights to ‘explode’ on cue,” explained Collins. At 5:30 a.m., not long before the sun would come up and wreck the explosion of light designed to imitate a real explosion and fire, a camera mounted on a giant scissor-lift high above the scene got the shot of the explosion, which Healer then turned into large orange flames in The Molecule’s studio. You might say that resourceful MacGyver medicine is brought to you by resourceful MacGyver production techniques.

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

making Commercials

Ntropic for ABC | By Michael Fickes

Sunday Night on ABC ABC promoted its Sunday Night line-up using live action and visual effects to highlight three dark, compelling stories. ABC wanted a promo for its fall Sunday night line-up equal to the strength of the programming, which includes Once Upon a Time, Revenge and 666 Park Avenue. “They didn’t want people just staring at the camera,” said Nate Robinson, cocreative director of Ntropic, the visual effects and post-production house that handled the creative, direction, visual effects and post-production on the project. “In our research, we looked at hundreds of promos with the goal of re-thinking what a promo could be.” “Collaborating with the ABC creative group, we developed a spot that touches on the stories in each of the shows,” added Andrew Sinagra, co-creative director with Robinson at Ntropic, which has offices in LA, New York and San Francisco. Both Once Upon a Time and Revenge were starting new seasons, while 666 Park Avenue was a new show. The idea was to pick up where the first season left off for the continuing shows and to communicate the eerie evil of the new show.

Once Upon a Time Once Upon a Time takes place in Storybrooke, a town filled with fairy tale characters. An evil queen has banished them to the real world and caused them to forget who they are. In the first season’s finale, Rumpelstiltskin brings magic from the fairy tale world into the real world. The promo begins there, with a long, fast camera push-in following dense purple smoke – the magic – as it floods through a forest, into Storybrooke and engulfs the characters. “We went to Vancouver, where the show is shot and photographed the town,” Robinson said. “Then we built the town using Maya and a 3D plugin called Glyph, which helped align Maya’s cameras.” www.markeemagazine.com

Joseph Uliano, the executive producer, and Maz Makhani, the DP, both from One World Productions, the LA-based production house, chose the Red EPIC and the ARRI ALEXA for the shoot. “The EPIC has twice the resolution of the ALEXA,” Sinagra said. “The special effects needed the higher resolution. So we used the EPIC to shoot the Once Upon a Time characters against greenscreen.”

Revenge For the Revenge sequence, the crew shifted to the ALEXA, which is better for skin tones and beauty shots of people, continued Sinagra. “We brought in sand and bushes and built a beach on stage,” Robinson said. “I flew to the Hamptons, where the show is set, and took digital stills of water, which we matte-painted into the scenes.” Robinson and Sinagra also designed the clothing for the characters in the Revenge segment. For Emily Thorn, the main character, they designed an elegant back dress with a train that grows, thanks to Maya, into long coiling thorny branches – symbolic of revenge. In the sequence, the vengeful Emily walks slowly across the beach glancing at the other characters, whose expressions hint at how they feel about her. Finally, the camera cuts to a shot looking down at the thorns as they grow by coiling up toward the camera.

666 Park Avenue The branches morph into an elegant spiral staircase, a fixture inside 666 Park Avenue, an apartment building where the

[Above] Robert Carlyle as Mr. Gold in ABC's Once Upon a Time. Photo: Ntropic

tenants all seem to have sold their souls to you-know-who. The segment identifies the main characters, the building’s owner and his wife, and the building manager and her husband. “We shot the close-ups and portraits of the characters with the ALEXA,” Robinson said. “Then we used the EPIC for wide shots, which were effected.” The effects create lighting flashes around the owner of the building, as a large 666 flashes beside him. The editing, handled with Avid, cuts scenes to the driving rhythm of “A Little Taste” by Skyler Stonestreet, an emerging artist from whom ABC acquired the rights. Another Maya plug-in, V-Ray, handled the rendering, with Luster, from the Flame and Smoke suite, took care of color correction. The result is a powerful re-conceptualization of a program promo that blends motion control, CGI, animation, layered compositing and flame effects with live shots of the characters in the worlds of their stories.

Editor’s note: Just prior to press time, ABC cancelled 666 Park Avenue.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

CREATING A STATE OF WONDERMENT BY CHRISTINE BUNISH

[Clockewise from Above] A dinosaur created by Framestore rampages through an industrial kitchen in a new broadcast and cinema spot for Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. Spacejunk brought magical 2D paintings to life for an online trailer for Wizards of the Coast’s Avacyn Restored strategic card game. Natitude, the stadium open for the Washington Nationals’ 2012 baseball season, featured high-energy rotoscoping sequences by EP*Vision in the team colors. The online trailer for Wizards of the Coast’s Dark Ascension strategic card game was crafted by Spacejunk from 2D art.

Markee 2.0 |

Animation studios give unique and compelling looks to projects of every imaginable genre. They bring to life the magical worlds of strategic card games for online trailers, dazzle fans with entertainment and branded content in stadiums and arenas, and populate traditional broadcast and cinema commercials with menacing extinct creatures, reaching deep into their reservoirs of creativity and tools to keep us in a state of wonderment.

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

SPACEJUNK MEDIA Spacejunk Brings World of Magic: The Gathering to Life

olumbus, Ohio-based creative studio Spacejunk (www.spacejunkmedia.com) makes

the realm of strategic card game Magic: The Gathering, and the ghoulish world of Innistrad and its evil inhabitants, come alive in epic 90-second animated online game trailers Avacyn Restored and Dark Ascension for client Wizards of the Coast. Magic: The Gathering is the world’s premier trading card game. Players assume the role of a planeswalker, a powerful mage who fights other planeswalkers for glory, knowledge and conquest. The deck of cards represents a planeswalker’s arsenal of spells and creatures to be summoned as allies. Unlike trailers for video games, these trailers provide the only occasion that players get to see the universe of their card game in motion. “They are the sole video representation of the story line. They’re the only way for fans to see that world come to life,” says Spacejunk Creative Director Mike Beaumont. “The trailers, which play mostly on YouTube, can get 150,000 views and 60-70 pages of comments. When you do a broadcast project, you don’t normally get direct feedback. But with these trailers we can jump on YouTube and see what fans are talking about – it’s pretty cool!” Spacejunk has created more than half-a-dozen trailers for Wizards in the past several years. “Every card has a painting on it: a character, a world, a power. We use those 2D paintings as the basis for our animations,” explains Beaumont. Collaboration starts early with Wizards sending Spacejunk a storyboard and script for the game’s new block, and Spacejunk laying out JPG images in Apple’s Final Cut Pro to create an animatic with a scratch voiceover and temp music. “That takes a few weeks,” Beaumont says. “We discuss the animation, and Wizards has specific direction for some scenes: shimmering water, light, character movement. Sometimes it’s obvious where the action should be and sometimes Wizards explains where it should be.” Wizards provides Spacejunk with a large digital file of flat art, which artists bring into Adobe Photoshop and cut into layers, pulling out a foreground charac-

www.markeemagazine.com

[Above] Spacejunk brought magical 2D paintings to life for an online trailer for Wizards of the Coast’s Avacyn Restored strategic card game.

[Below Right] A bird’s-eye view of Spacejunk’s motion graphics and design teams in space designed to encourage collaboration and creativity.

[Below Left] Spacejunk’s studio lights up downtown Columbus, Ohio.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Animation Studios

[Above] The online trailer for Wizards of the Coast’s Dark Ascension strategic card game was crafted by Spacejunk from 2D art.

[Above] Spacejunk brought magical 2D paintings to life for an online trailer for Wizards of the Coast’s Avacyn Restored strategic card game.

Markee 2.0 |

ter here, separating arms, legs and torsos for movement, filling in backgrounds – all preparation for handing off elements to an animator. “We work with a lot of pre-set assets, and that’s part of the fun,” says Beaumont. “The paintings get our creative juices flowing – seeing 15 or 20 of them upfront gets everyone excited early on.” A lot of the animation utilizes a 2.5D production process, which wraps 2D layers around a crude 3D model to give the illusion of depth in three dimensions of camera movement. Some shots are “blown out in almost full 3D,” says Beaumont. “These are motion paintings, so we don’t want to go too far in 3D because the paintings have a unique look. But we want to make the paintings feel more alive.” Adobe After Effects dominates the toolkit with MAXON CINEMA 4D and Autodesk Maya for 3D animations. Spacejunk keeps updating the animatic, swapping out placeholder scenes with actual animations. “We work in transitions, add lens flare, composite environmental dust for more dimensionality,” says Beaumont. “Each pass gets more and more polished.” Some assets are created from scratch “using the paintings on the cards as a reference to keep true to the integrity of the original art,” he notes. Occasionally, Spacejunk teams with Wizards’ artists to devise a custom asset. “That’s time-consuming, but we’re trying to integrate that more into future trailers,” Beaumont reports. Since the paintings are typically done by different artists, “it can be tricky to make them all feel they’re part of one piece,” he points out. Spacejunk marries the styles through transitions and compositing, carrying lighting schemes and VFX from shot to shot to tie the scenes together during the Final Cut edit. Spacejunk also does the trailers’ sound design using Logic or Soundtrack Pro. “We pull sounds from our extensive stock library and manipulate them, but we also create sounds from scratch too,” says Beaumont. “We hit the studio’s metal support beams with wrenches and brooms to get the right metal clang we needed for an iron gate explosion. There’s a big difference between the trailers and traditional broadcast jobs where you don’t get to do the sound of dragons.” Spacejunk has begun work on a trio of trailers for Wizards’ new Magic block with the first set called Return to Ravnica. “We’re always refining the process and how we can work with the client to make things better. It gets more polished each time,” Beaumont explains. “Wizards presents their plan to us each year with a big kick-off meeting, but the games are all so different the animations are almost like a reset each time.” The use of fully 3D animation has “ramped up,” he reports. “And as we’ve become more familiar with the brand we see how to make the trailers either more seamless or more cut-based. We keep the technique fresh with the goal of making each trailer cooler than the last.” At Spacejunk, the Dark Ascension team included Creative Director Jeff Boddy; Producer Andrew Schneider; Senior Motion Designers Nick Couts and Chris Schoenman; Motion Designers Rich Seemueller, Marco Cardenas and Dan Wineland; and Production Artist David Allison. The Avacyn Restored team included Creative Directors Boddy and Beaumont; Producer David Ball; Senior Motion Designer Nick Couts; Motion Designers Rich Seemueller, Christian Perez, TJ Sochor, Isaac Woodby and Robin Roepstorff; and Production Artists Nick Huskey, David Allison and Cody Phillips. Mike Nelson edited both trailers; Mike Beaumont and Kurt Keaner performed the sound design, and Sean Beeson scored.

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

EP*VISION EP*Vision Goes Bold on Big Screens

s recent projects for the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team and Brooklyn’s new Barclays Arena demonstrate, motion graphics and

production shop EP*Vision (www.epvision.tv), with offices in New York City and Santa Monica, has the knowhow to meet the unique challenges of creating animations for arenas and stadiums. The sports and concert venues typically boast an assortment of giant screens and ribbon-like displays inside; Barclays also has incorporated an unusually shaped screen into its exterior architecture. All demand content to amuse fans and attract passers-by. Creative director and partner Maryam Parwana notes that while EP*Vision’s (EP*V) creative approach to arena and stadium jobs is similar to broadcast projects, “we also have to consider the environmental aspects of it, the physical aspects of experiencing something with that kind of dimension to it: how it looks from certain angles, how it feels when you’re watching it. You have to consider size and motion on screens that big. When you take what you’ve done on the computer and stretch it out to the Nationals’ enormous scoreboard screen, the experience of it is totally different. We have to take that into account when we’re animating it.” EP*V created Natidude, the bold, high-energy :60 stadium open for the Nationals’ 2012 season, which starts with shots of grooming the field and segues into live-action clips of the players intercut with rotoscoped shots of pitching, hitting, sliding and fielding in the red-and-white team colors. The company had a lot of creative latitude to design the open, following the branding agency’s guidelines for a “modern, super-clean” look in the Nationals’ signature colors, says Parwana. “They wanted more of a 2D feel rather the typical 3D sports aesthetic with lots of bells and whistles. They wanted something flat, modern and clean that was still interesting to look at and was cohesive with the branding on the tickets the fans were holding and the print ads they’ve seen. It had to feel like one big idea.”

www.markeemagazine.com

[Above] EP*Vision created corporate logo animations for numerous displays at the new Barclays Arena in Brooklyn.

[Below Left] Natitude, the stadium open for the Washington Nationals’ 2012 baseball season, featured highenergy rotoscoping sequences by EP*Vision in the team colors.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Animation Studios

[Above] Natitude, the stadium open for the Washington Nationals’ 2012 baseball season, featured high-energy rotoscoping sequences by EP*Vision in the team colors.

[Above] EP*Vision’s corporate logo animations play on ribbons encircling the new Barclays Arena in Brooklyn.

Markee 2.0 |

Based on Parwana’s concept, EP*V tapped existing game play clips for the open and shot new live-action footage of the team and preparing the field via its East*Pleasant division; David Weinstein, a partner at EP*V, directed. Animators used Adobe After Effects for extensive rotoscoping, MAXON CINEMA 4D for 3D elements and building wipes, and Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for graphics. The open, choreographed to a dynamic soundtrack, was cut on Apple’s Final Cut Pro and composited in After Effects. The Nationals’ LED scoreboard screen has 1920x1080 specs so Parwana took full advantage of the detail the screen displays. “It’s so huge and new; a lot of teams don’t have anything as big, clean and clear as the Nationals’ scoreboard screen,” she points out. EP*V also devised other big-screen and ribbon content, which plays during games: starting line up graphics, players’ intro headshots, transitional elements for live feeds and more than 30 crowd prompts. “There were over 700 assets in the package,” says Parwana. Ribbon screens always pose a challenge since they are just 72 or 80 pixels high and have odd lengths. “The dimensions are weird,” she says. “They’re not very tall but they’re big, and you have to make sure fans can read them when they’re sitting directly across from them because they’re not turning around to see [a ribbon] behind them.” EP*V’s brief for Barclays Arena was entirely different: to make the branding of corporate sponsors (Stoli vodka, Cushman & Wakefield commercial realtors, Starbucks, PNY technologies, Honda and Haier consumer electronics) look and feel interesting. “We only had a month to accomplish quite a lot of work and go through the approvals process with all the corporate brands,” recalls Parwana. “We didn’t want to offend anyone. It wasn’t time to flex our muscles and show off.” Bold and clean animations of the corporate logos run on the ribbons that wrap the massive center hung cube screen inside the arena; the sidelines ribbons, which are almost a 360º ribbon split in two; and the taller lobby displays fans see upon entering the arena. “The animations are on a random loop so you never know what will follow a particular logo,” Parwana points out. “That’s why all the animations had to have a similar approach, so everything felt clean and cohesive.” (Barclays Arena also displays other sponsor content not created by EP*V.) The “bizarre-shaped” oculus, which forms part of the exterior of Barclays Arena, features a ribbon-like screen that widens and tapers as it wraps around the 360º architectural eye. “How do you find the center of that screen? There is none,” Parwana says. “There’s no even space, so things tend to feel lopsided.” With that in mind, she decided that the oculus animations had to be “stripped down” to their simplest elements so logos could circle clearly and with ease around a display whose width grows and shrinks. “The client provided us with a template so we didn’t have to do any technical guessing,” she explains. “Each logo animation became a case of whatever felt right.” The toolkit for Barclays Arena was primarily Adobe After Effects and Illustrator.

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Parwana notes that having the experience with the Nationals big-screen content, which EP*V has done for two consecutive years, “helped us feel 100-percent confident” about the Barclays project. “Give us a weird-size or -shape screen or the side of a building – we know how it works.” EP*V has also done big-screen concert displays for top artists, including Shakira’s “She Wolf” song for an appearance in Baku, Azerbaijan. The company is poised to begin designing the stadium package for the Washington Nationals’ 2013 season.

FRAMESTORE Framestore Animates Dinos Looking for Dinner

ramestore’s London office (www.framestore.com) recently completed its second spot for Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes in the revitalized, “The trouble is they taste too good” campaign from Leo Burnett/London. The commercial launches a variant of the celebrated breakfast cereal, Crunchy Nut with Cranberries, Almonds and Yogurty Flakes, with a scenario that features a marauding dinosaur. Two terrified kitchen workers are pursued by a rampaging dinosaur that tears through an industrial kitchen overturning huge pots, ripping out overhead lights and clawing stainless steel countertops. The men, hiding under a table and trying not to make a sound, appear to have escaped unharmed as the dinosaur retreats. But in his rampage the creature has knocked a Crunchy Nut box within reach, and one of the cooks can’t resist. As he crunches his way through a bowl of the cereal the dinosaur perks up its ears – and summons a few of its mates to join the hunt for dinner. Framestore is no stranger to dinosaurs having created CG creatures for the Dinotopia and Walking with Dinosaurs series. Earlier, the company created a fully-3D snake that attacks an inquisitive wildlife expert for the same Crunchy Nut campaign. Rocky Morton of MJZ directed the spot, which was shot with a RED camera. Framestore VFX Supervisor Alex Doyle was on hand for the two-day shoot carefully noting lighting references to ensure that the atmosphere of the kitchen set could be recreated in CG. “In between recording lighting references I had to measure the entire kitchen to use later as a guide for lining up tracked camera to the backplates and also as an accurate

www.markeemagazine.com

[Below Left] Framestore’s colorful window display mixes things up for passers-by.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Animation Studios

[Below] A Framestore-animated dinosaur summons his mates when he hears the enticing sound of Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, which one of the hiding workers simply can’t resist.

Markee 2.0 |

guide for the animators so they knew where to position the dinosaur and what restrictions they had to work with fitting this huge creature in a cramped kitchen,” Doyle explains. “There were other details to collect, too: camera information for tracking, reference stills for compositors to use for set extensions or clean up.” Doyle stayed as close as he could to Morton so he was always aware of what was happening and could help with any questions regarding the CG shots. He similarly made himself available to the production crew. But that wasn’t all of Doyle’s responsibilities. He also “had the rare opportunity to design the dinosaur in-house,” using an amalgamation of species to create concept art to present to the client before production began. Once concept art of the unique creature was approved, Morton had “a very clear vision of the dinosaur’s actions in each shot before we started shooting,” says Doyle. “But the size and shape of the kitchen certainly dictated the animation.” Lead modeler Mary Swinnerton transformed the designs into a realistic and intimidating CG asset using Autodesk Maya for rigging and animation, Pixologic’s ZBrush for tiny skin details and The Foundry’s MARI and Adobe Photoshop for dinosaur textures. “Modeling the dinosaur was a dream job because it’s a cool creature, allowing lots of artistic freedom,” she says. “My brief for creating all the tiny details on the skin was ‘just make it look cool.’ There are some really interesting lizards that I used as inspiration for the lumps and bumps on the skin.” The most difficult task was “blending the different areas together so they flowed well across the skin,” she reports. “For instance, blending the spikes along his spine to the lumps on his back took some creative thinking.” The dinosaur was rendered using Mental Ray. Doyle notes that Framestore often deploys an array of software tools, jumping back and forth among them throughout a job to perfect the final piece. In-house pipeline tools for Maya enhance the ability to work smoothly and efficiently by reusing assets and easily making changes at any stage of the job. Next, lead animator Nigel Rafter and animators Chris Welsby and Steve Townrow had to make the 10-foot dinosaur fit into the kitchen. “The movements of the dinosaur had to be quick and aggressive as it smashed its way through the kitchen on the hunt for the kitchen staff,” Doyle explains. “There were various shots with physical effects, and the animators had to work within the limitations of the movement and timing of the props being manipulated on set.” In particular, they had to make sure that the dinosaur’s tail interacted with the set, such as when it whacks the refrigerator, but didn’t swing through any walls or objects. “To avoid

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

any intersection and to make sure interactions were correct, I built an accurate 3D model of the kitchen for the animators to use as a guide in their scene,” says Doyle. Compositor Anelia Asparuhova worked with Doyle to recreate the set’s atmospheric lighting within Maya and introduce the dinosaur into the backplates. She also used Maya’s integrated muscle system to give weight to the creature. “The challenge was to figure out the correct position of the muscles for an extinct creature and how they would interact with each other and affect the skin and the overall movement of the dinosaur. For reference, I studied crocodiles, lizards and horses.” Simon Stoney, Anastasios Agiakasikas and Jason Phua composted the CG elements with The Foundry’s Nuke adding dust, debris, sparks, saliva and lighting effects to help convincingly embed the dinosaur into the back plates. Phua says capturing some of the lighting changes within shots was the biggest challenge as the dinosaur moves through the industrial kitchen in and out of pools of light, some of them flickering. “The superb 3D renders got us the majority of the way there with the lighting, and by using the passes they provided us with we were able to add that extra touch to help the dinosaur sit seamlessly in the plate.” The dinosaur’s buddies were created using the same 3D asset, but featured some subtle color changes added in Nuke to differentiate them from each other. Framestore’s award-winning colorist Simon Bourne graded the spot, working closely with Morton to achieve a dark and moody feel that retained subtle color while picking out lights and reflections around the kitchen’s metallic surfaces. As befitting the dinosaur’s size, the spot also is being shown in cinemas where its actions are even more menacing on the big screen.

www.markeemagazine.com

[Above] Framestore based its dinosaur in the Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes broadcast and cinema spot on an amalgamation of species.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

[Above] Game Creek has grown its fleet to 32 trucks, working for “big” clients such ESPN (baseball, football, basketball), Fox Sports (football, baseball and NASCAR) and NFL Network.

[Left] MIRA Mobile has a multi-year contract with the Pac-12 Networks – which launched in August – for all A-level football and basketball, and its recent expansion to include the Pac-12’s B-level broadcasts.

Rolling Into 2013,

THE MOBILE MARKET LOOKS STRONG A quick tour around the mobile production industry reveals an industry that has been struggling – BY MARK R. SMITH

Markee 2.0 |

notably a recent labor strife in the NBA at the beginning of last season, followed by the NHL’s second standstill of the past decade – that is yet proving its resiliency today. New and extensive contracts, additions to fleets and the upcoming renovation to the last vestiges of the SD era provide proof that the industry is moving forward at the dawn of 2013.

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

[Above] An Alliance truck on location in Randalls Island, N.Y.

[Left and Bottom Right] Token Creek’s so-called Chippewa truck at the Detroit Holiday Parade for NBC affiliate WDIVTV. The crew is working in/outside of mobile unit.

Rolling Forward As is usually the case in the mobile production industry, Token Creek Mobile Television operates from a home base – in this case, Madison, Wis. – that is rarely the site of its work, says president John Salzwedel. He noted the further irony that the company is “less than four hours from most of the Big Ten schools, we but rarely work for them.” That’s not to say that Token Creek hasn’t enjoyed “a good, strong fall,” though December looked a little light” at press time, Salzwedel said. “That’s due in large part to the NHL strike, and we have part of the brunt of the real trickle down effect there. [The strike] isn’t just about the owners and players.” More on the upside, Token Creek’s 48-foot HD Expando, “Chippewa,” its third HD offering in its fleet of four trucks, will soon be on the road. Chippewa features triax and fiber capability, MADI audio throughout, a Calrec Artemis audio console, a GVG Kayenne switcher, “boatloads” of EVS and Fujinon 101x and 88x lenses, plus Cobalt Digital signal processing and a Pantech multi-viewer video wall. The addition will complement the company’s two, 53foot Expandos and its 48-foot SD truck. And, despite the www.markeemagazine.com

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Mobile Production

NHL’s labor strife, all three have been rollin’ of late and the overall outlook is strong. “We’ve been covering a ton college football, mainly for the ACC, since late August, with some MEAC and SWAC work, too,” says Salzwedel, “so that’s kept us busy. And we also have a full plate of college basketball, primarily for Raycom Sports and ESPN, with some NBA games for the Indiana Pacers also in the mix. Noting that broadcast signals can leave trucks “in many different flavors now, including HD, SD, or encoded for webcasting,” Salzwedel sees trucks evolving, with IT distribution, as well as getting away from tape machines in favor of transportable devices, such as smartphones, EVS XFiles and the new xFly system. “When we do entertainment shows, we have to come to rely on that equipment, because it’s server-based,” he said. And what that does is make editing and content transfer easier in Avid and ProRes formats. “We can avoid trading files with post facilities when we can avoid copying from tape to codecs, like the Avid, ProRes or AJA Ki Pro storage system.” In the next two years, he says, “we’ll be away from using tape formats altogether.”

Expansion at Game Creek

[Above] Token Creek’s so-called Chippewa truck at the Detroit Holiday Parade for NBC affiliate WDIV-TV. The crew is working in/outside of mobile unit.

[Below] Game Creek has grown its fleet to 32 trucks, working for “big” clients such ESPN (baseball, football, basketball), Fox Sports (football, baseball and NASCAR) and NFL Network.

Markee 2.0 |

A fleet expansion is the big news at Game Creek Video, located about 45 miles north of Boston in Hudson, N.H. President Patrick Sullivan has grown the company from its founding in 1993 to run a fleet of 32 trucks, which will soon include 16 production units and 16 support units. Five of those production and support trucks first hit the road this past summer, with four designated for NFL Network and the other for Comcast Houston, which covers MLB’s Astros and the NBA’s Rockets. Sullivan said the investment made Game Creek’s entire fleet HD. “The three production units [of the five] are our seventh, eighth and ninth trucks built in the past three years that are 3G,” he says, “and all three carry the new Sony HDC 2500, which is 1080p capable.” Game Creek also upgraded two of its trucks this

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

summer, one for ESPN and one for Fox Sports. The improvements consisted of a larger 288x288 HD2 router from Evertz for both; the company also upgraded the audio console with the Calrec Alpha Bluefin for the Fox truck. While about 90 percent of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work is for â&#x20AC;&#x153;bigâ&#x20AC;? clients such ESPN (baseball, football, basketball), Fox Sports (football, baseball and NASCAR) and NFL Network, Game Creek also was involved in multiple political events in 2012. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For instance, we worked on 20 of the 22 Republican primary debates, then the presidential debates from Florida and Colorado,â&#x20AC;? Sullivan said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We also did the lone vice presidential debate from Kentucky, as well as provide the pool feed for both partyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conventions.â&#x20AC;? While fuel costs have impacted Game Creekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bottom line, theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve â&#x20AC;&#x153;been mitigated somewhat by the agreements we have with our customers,â&#x20AC;? he said, also discussing tech issues like the move toward high frame rate cameras, â&#x20AC;&#x153;notably those made by Vision Research that shoot action at anywhere from 400 to 1,000 fps. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Several years ago, the images the Vision Research cameras were creating, especially in poor light, werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t very good,â&#x20AC;? Sullivan continued. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But during the 2012 World Series, for instance, Fox Sports used them to show [San Francisco Giantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; players] Hunter Penceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bat breaking and Marco Scutaro watching the raindrops. All told, he thinks the market is â&#x20AC;&#x153;pretty healthy,â&#x20AC;? noting that Game Creekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest competitor â&#x20AC;&#x201C; NEP out of Pittsburgh, which also owns New Century Productions and TRIO Video of Chicago â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is up for sale â&#x20AC;&#x153;and should command top dollar on the market.â&#x20AC;?

Pay Dirt With the Pac-12 Currently operating eight HD trucks with one SD truck, MIRA Mobile Vice President and General Manager, Frank Taylor, of the Wilsonville, Ore.-based company says he wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be surprised if that last SD truck has been replaced with an HD truck by late next year. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We still have some clients that are doing small conference college basketball and other events in SD,â&#x20AC;? he says. MIRAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fleet varies in terms of capability because most of its trucks are purpose-built for various contracts, which include handling the visitors of the Vancouver Canucks and home/away for the San Jose Sharks and Comcast SportsNet Bay Area. New of late is a multi-year contract with the Pac-12 Networks â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which launched in August â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for all A-level football and basketball, and its recent expansion to include the Pac-12â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s B-level broadcasts, which mainly cover basketball and some Olympic sports. As for the trucks, MIRA just built a new HD truck for the Pac12â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s A level games: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a 53-foot trailer with a 51-foot Expando, with 12 GVG LDK 8000 cameras, with a GVG Kayenne switcher, a Calrec Artemis Beam audio console and more than 20 channels of EVS. For the B-level events, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We renovated an SD truck into and HD unit,â&#x20AC;? says Taylor. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a 53-foot trailer with a 35-foot www.markeemagazine.com

[Above] MIRA Mobile has a multi-year contract with the Pac-12 Networks â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which launched in August â&#x20AC;&#x201C; for all A-level football and basketball, and its recent expansion to include the Pac-12â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s B-level broadcasts.

Los L os Angeles,, CA CA (" "UMBOUB (" "UMBOUB 0SMFBOT -" /FX 0SMFBOT -" /FX

www.nightlight www.nightlightsbybebee.com w tsbybebee.com t 'BY t 'BY B November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Mobile Production

[Above] MIRA Mobile has a multi-year contract with the Pac-12 Networks – which launched in August – for all A-level football and basketball, and its recent expansion to include the Pac-12’s B-level broadcasts.

[Below] An Alliance truck covering the action at an Auburn football game.

Markee 2.0 |

Expando, with somewhat scaled back equipment specs that are sufficient for college basketball games: It contains six of the same cameras, 14 channels of EVS and a GVG Kalypso. The “B” truck also will be used for the visiting side of West Coast NBA clients, such as the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors; as well as visiting shows for NHL clients. Concerning the company’s ledger, Taylor called 2012 “Our fiscal year ended at the end of September and even with an NBA basketball strike it was a solid year; as our new fiscal year started, we are now faced with an NHL lockout. But we still anticipate good year-over-year growth.” As for the next big tech push in the mobile industry, Taylor notes that while “there has been much discussion about the potential of 1080p, at the same time observers are already talking about 4K (which offers four times the present resolution of 1080p HD). While the new technology may or may not become mainstream, he says, “These are major steps and it will take the market some time to sort it out.”

Penetrating the Market Chuck McKean can offer a broad perspective on the mobile industry, as he can observe from somewhat of a unique perch: He’s the director of public relations for Alliance Productions, a co-op of 12 mobile companies based in Little Rock, Ark., that the entity refers to its clients as partners that are spread out nationwide. The partnership, which includes Token Creek and MIRA, was created to market mobile units to the TV broadcasters. “Our partners operate 40 HD trucks between them,” says

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

McKean, who can see the end of the road for one segment of the market. “Any SD trucks have become minimal. I think they will all be converted or off the road within 18 months,” he says, adding that conversions costs can vary. “New trucks are in the $6 to $8 million range, and a conversion costs about $3 million.” As for the Alliance, “We have a variety of trucks available, which is part of our appeal. We can do anything from small shows to the Super Bowl,” McKean says. “Some of our trucks are B units, while others include a new HD setup with up to 12 cameras.” As the Alliance locates new business, that business is distributed to the partners based on factors such as facilities within the trucks, client preference, geography and availability of schedule. “Our partners book plenty of business, but we help to supplement their jobs and clients with additional gigs. How much additional business they get varies from a few percent up to 25 percent of their annual revenues,” he says. Another benefit of being in a partnership is that partners can share equipment for a nominal fee, which negates the need to spend money at the rental houses. “That keeps the income in the family, so to speak,” McKean says, while also pointing to clients who are becoming more sophisticated and want more “tech bells and whistles,” such as telestrators, supplemental audio equipment, and more channels of EVS for additional cameras. McKean described business for the industry in 2012 as robust. “We’re very pleased with our ability to service repeat customers while we have located new clients. We have had the opportunity to work with some of the major networks on convention and election coverage, which is nontraditional,” he said, “but it bolstered our usual clientele of sports and entertainment entities.”

www.markeemagazine.com

[Above] An Alliance truck from YES covering a Presidential address in Washington, D.C.

[Bottom Right] An Alliance/Corplex HD truck in Las Vegas.

[Bottom Left] An Alliance video operator at work.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Hot Spots: CUTTING COMMERCIALS Editors showcase creative cuts that tell wistful, inspiring, informative, under-the-hood and behind the scenes-style stories for Werther’s, Major League Baseball/Stand Up To Cancer, Seventh Generation, Dodge Ram and Supercuts.

BY CHRISTINE BUNISH

Markee 2.0 |

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Edit house: Lucky Post/Dallas Editor: Sai Selvarajan Advertiser: Dodge Ram

Ad agency: The Richards Group/Dallas

Production company: Lucky Twenty One/Dallas

Directors/DPs: The Chartrands

Colorist/online editor: Brian Buongiorno, Tone Visuals at Lucky Post/Dallas

Graphics: Lucky Post/Dallas

Sound mixer: Scottie Richardson, Lucky Post/Dallas The storyline: “Heart” is a non-broadcast spot that goes way under the hood to pay tribute to the team at Dodge Ram who design, engineer and build the brand’s fabled “guts and glory” trucks. Why the spot’s on my reel: “When I first saw the script, I thought it was very poetic; it really spoke to me,” says Sai Selvarajan. “Then I saw the great footage; the texture, the macro cinematography and motivation behind each shot inspired me as I crafted each edit.” The biggest creative challenge: “Going through every shot and organizing it with the hopes of telling a story and conveying a feeling.” The biggest technical challenge: “Dealing with all the acquisition formats – RED Epic, Canon 5D, GoPro and more – and cutting to all the different formats seamlessly. The directors, the Chartrands, were exceptional. They captured great stuff on-the-fly, shooting in the main Ram plant in Detroit.” Input from other creatives: “The agency creatives had a great script that went beyond the macho truck feel to speak to a broader audience. It showed the people side of Ram trucks, the design and art that go into it. The directors were also key; I showed them my first cut and the direction I wanted to push the edit.” Why the spot works: “Everyone who participated gave their all. Everyone who saw the script and treatment felt it could be something special, a real piece of art.”

Acquisition formats/cameras: RED Epic, Canon 5D, GoPro

Editing system: Apple Final Cut Pro

Beyond broadcast: “Heart” is a non-broadcast spot; it plays on the web and was used at the Chrysler Group’s new product roll out in Las Vegas in September.

[Top] Dodge Ram looks under the hood to the “Heart” that goes into making the fabled trucks.

[Top Inset] A lot of “Heart” goes into the design, engineering and building of each Dodge Ram truck.

[Left] Editor Sai Selvarajan

www.markeemagazine.com

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

HOT Spots

Edit house: Therapy/LA Editor: Kristin McCasey Advertiser: Werther’s

Ad agency: Sterling Rice Group/Boulder, Colo.

Production company: Untitled/LA

Director: Linus Ewers

DP: Adam Marsden

Colorist: Marshall Plante, Ntropic/LA

Compositor/VFX artist: Wren Waters, Therapy/LA

Online editor: Omar Inguanzo, Therapy/LA

Design and effects: Ryan McNeely and John Cranston, partners; Dustin Bowser, CG; Oliver Regueiro, matte painter; Visual Creatures/LA

Sound and music: Kip Kuepper, composer/mixer, Coupe Studios/Boulder, Colo.

Acquisition format/camera: ARRI ALEXA

Editing system: Avid Media Composer

Beyond broadcast: Web spot

Award: Nomination, 2012 HPA Award, Commercial Editing

The storyline: “Magic” follows a young woman as she relives the wonder of childhood and becomes a little girl again when she enters a candy shop selling Werther’s caramels. Why the spot’s on my reel: “The spot was very beautifully shot and is very cinematic,” says editor Kristin McCasey. “Its emotions connect with people, and the story takes you back to your childhood.” The biggest creative challenge: “The biggest challenge is always telling a story in 30 or 60 seconds. I had so much fantastic footage. ‘Magic’ was shot almost like a short film – it could have been a two- or three-minute piece. I had to pull out the essential moments, which was amazingly tough – but it’s a good challenge to have.” The biggest technical challenge: “There are subtle reflections in the window of the girl skipping along as the woman approaches the shop. I had to match the woman’s gait to the little girl’s and give a hint of what’s to come” when the woman transforms into a child and back again. Input from other creatives: “The agency created a story that’s universal, and Visual Creatures created a lot of seamless elements and background plates you don’t notice that help sell the magical feel. Coupe Music nailed the score, which had to be cinematic in scope to match the sense of the spot.” Why the spot works: “The actors’ performances are great and the set feels magical so you really get it on a story level. Every detail was attended to – Linus Ewers is one of my favorite directors because he always pays so much attention to detail. And he comes from the European tradition of directors who work with editors: He and I spend quite a bit of time editing before the agency even comes in.”

[Top] A young woman is about to be transformed into a little girl again when she samples Werther’s caramels.

[Right] Editor Kristin McCasey

Markee 2.0 |

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Edit house: jumP/LA Editor: David Trachtenberg Advertiser: Stand Up To Cancer and Major League Baseball

Ad agency: Switzerland/Portland, Ore.

Production company: @radical.media/LA

Director: Andrew Becker

DP: Tom Krueger

Colorists: Stefan Sonnenfeld, Company 3/Santa Monica; Paul Byrne, Outpost Digital/LA

Assistant editor: The storyline: In a six-spot package, Steve Carell, Ken Jeong and Colin Hanks retell legendary Major League Baseball plays as if they were the announcer, conveying that the unbelievable is believable in support of Stand Up To Cancer. Why the spots are on my reel: “They are fun and humorous spots with an important message,” says editor David Trachtenberg. “The performances are great, and blending Carell, Jeong and Hanks with actual [archival] MLB footage makes for fun spots that are brought together through the edit.” The biggest creative challenge: “I always start with the best performances and build from there. In this case, working with the caliber of actors we had, that part came quickly. The next challenge was to keep a balance of the comedy with the drama of each of the baseball plays and still have the impact and sincerity of the message at the end.” The biggest technical challenge: “We had a couple of different color options for blending the MLB footage with the main story: Do we make the archival footage more stylized or keep it true to its original look? We ended up keeping it true to its original look in an effort to capture the nostalgia of the material.” Input from other creatives: “Bedonna Smith from Stand Up To Cancer as well as the agency creatives were very appreciative and respectful of the creative process. They allowed Andrew [Becker] and me to play and work the edit until we had something that really worked every moment. Andrew and I went in all different directions for the music in the beginning: Should it be funny to complement the performances or more contemporary rock like and ESPN highlights reel? We liked everything a little but nothing worked until Beta Petrol got involved, and it all came together with an orchestral piece that was more vintage and authentic in feeling.” Why the spots work: “They’re a blend of sincerity, comedy, nostalgia and energy. Andrew was able to get great performances, but at the same time create an elegant visual style that meshed well with the historical footage.”

www.markeemagazine.com

Erwin Fraterman, jumP/LA

Online editor: Tom Sawyer, Outpost Digital/LA

Music: Greg Chun, composer, Beta Petrol/LA

Sound mixer: John Bolen, Play/Santa Monica

Acquisition format/camera: RED Epic

Editing system: Apple Final Cut Pro

Beyond broadcast: Jumbo screens at many MLB stadiums

[Clockwise from Top Left] Steve Carell relives an exciting play in Major League Baseball history. Colin Hanks demonstrates the artistry of Major League Baseball. Colin Hanks relates an unbelievable play in Major League Baseball. Steve Carell and Ken Jeong celebrate a Major League Baseball play for the history books.

[Left] Editor David Trachtenberg

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

HOT Spots

Edit house: Hooligan/NYC Editor: Barney Miller Advertiser: Supercuts

Ad agency: Element79/Chicago

Production company: Detox Films/NYC

Director: Barney Miller

DP: David Lanzenberg

Additional editors: Erin Bowser (“Laura Bell Bundy”), Jordan Green (“Ken Loi”), Hooligan/NYC

Colorist: Les Rudge, Nice Shoes/NYC

Flame artist/conform: Andrew Granelli, TANQ/NYC

Sound mixer/sound designer: Dan Dzula, Shout It Out Loud Music/NYC

Acquisition formats/cameras: ARRI ALEXA, Canon 5D and 7D, iPhone

Editing system: Avid Media Composer

Awards: “Vintage Trouble” named Adweek’s Ad of the Day

Beyond broadcast: Miller also captured one-shot “Band in the Box” music videostyle segments for the web during the shoot.

[Top] Onstage with band Vintage Trouble and the Supercuts stylings that make them look like rock stars.

[Right] Editor Barney Miller

Markee 2.0 |

The storyline: Supercuts’ Rock the Cut campaign takes a documentary-style look at bands Vintage Trouble and The Gold Motel, country artist Laura Bell Bundy and DJ Ken Loi with glimpses backstage, onstage and at Supercuts for stylings that make them look like rock stars. Why the spots are on my reel: “I’m a big music fan,” says Barney Miller who directed the four-spot campaign and edited the :60 “Vintage Trouble” and “Gold Motel” commercials. “I played in bands, worked on music videos as a director and editor, cut MTV promos. I’ve prided myself on being a sound-based editor: audio, music and sound design drive a lot of the spots I do. These days there’s a lot of cross-pollination between advertising and music, and these spots turned out excellently.” The biggest creative challenges: “On the production side, we had to cover a lot of ground on the four-day shoot – seeing the artists in their element backstage, in rehearsals, performing and in the salon for the interviews, testimonials and stylings. We took a fly-on-the-wall approach and let them do their thing, and it all came together organically. On the post side, one of the things I bring to the table as a director is that I know what kind of coverage I need to cut the spot. Planning out the camera placement in the clubs in advance of the performances helped me keep the ball rolling and get what I needed for post.” The biggest technical challenge: “We had material from four cameras: ARRI ALEXA, Canon 5D and 7D and my iPhone for a few outside shots. My assistant, Erin Bowser, made sure we got the highest resolution through the whole conversion process and into color correction. It doesn’t look like we used a bunch of different formats.” Input from other creatives: “The two agency creatives, Chris Laubach and Ryan Bloecker, were really supportive. They had specific ideas about how to approach the interviews, but were flexible and open to ideas of mine. The whole shoot felt like a crew documenting bands on the road. Everyone pitched in; agency producer Michael Gabriel shot some B roll with his Canon 7D. There was none of the egoistic hierarchy you get on a lot of commercial sets.” Why the spots work: “The spots have done really well – they’re selecting artists for another round now. The campaign could have been really scripted, but instead it feels like little behind-thescenes pieces. Supercuts’ stylists really did cut the artists’ hair and the artists talked about their Supercuts experiences in a very natural way.”

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Edit house: Fluid/NYC Editor: Zeke O’Donnell Advertiser: Seventh Generation

Ad agency: Colangelo/Darien, Conn.

Production company: Fluid/NYC

Director: Zeke O’Donnell; producer, Leanne Diamond The storyline: In “Last Standing,” a web spot for Seventh Generation’s Natural All Purpose Cleaner, time-lapse photography shows how dozens of white hydrangea blooms wilt and die when placed in containers of leading household cleaning sprays whose toxic chemicals pollute the air in our homes. The bloom in Seventh Generation’s natural spray remains pristine. Why the spot’s on my reel: “I’m most proud of how unique this spot is. It’s visually engrossing, and it was done without any VFX; it draws you in. I haven’t seen anything quite like it,” says Zeke O’Donnell, who directed and edited the spot. “It feels more like a film in its approach and visual authenticity compared to what is currently out there in the household cleaner category.” The biggest creative challenge: “My research was extensive to find the perfect flower that would react/die within the parameters of our one-day shoot. It needed to wilt in the span or six or seven hours while soaking in the competitors’ products. This had to be 100 percent authentic: No cheating allowed. The timelapse approach seemed to be the most fitting and appropriate. I was very excited since shooting and assembling time-lapse is one of the most fun things to do. But I didn’t know until I was in the edit suite assembling images if the flowers would be dramatically drooping. We only had about 10 angles where the cameras were set up, and each camera ran a designated amount of time. So I had to make the takes we had tell the story in different ways. The music helped with that: We found a piece that had tension and the elements of a dance performance.” The biggest technical challenge: “We shot all the raw photographs with Canon 5D Mark II and Mark III cameras so a significant amount of processing was required in post to be able to assemble and choose the intervals and framing they played best at. That was a lot of work before I could get started with the edit. On the shoot side, we had to decide what the environment would look like and how to light it – could we roll the dice on the weather cooperating? We might get nice movement of the sun in the time-lapse, but if it were cloudy we’d get jarring effects. So we opted for a very controlled environment. Once we locked down the cameras, it was a waiting game.” Input from other creatives: “The agency got us involved from the get go; we went back and forth on the original concept and what we could do with the resources we had. It was refreshing to be able to help determine what we would shoot, and I’m really happy with the direction we ended up taking.” Why the spot works: “People are so much more aware about using environmentally-friendly products, and the spot makes a good point about the chemicals we introduce in our living environments. When you have a concept as strong as this and pair it with powerful, authentic images, the spot is going to be effective.” www.markeemagazine.com

DP: Mike Simpson

Colorist/online editor: Zeke O’Donnell, Fluid/NYC

Stock music: Elias Arts/NYC

Sound mixer: Dave Wolfe, Mr. Bronx/NYC

Acquisition format/camera: Canon 5D Mark II and Mark III

Editing system: Apple Final Cut Pro 7

Beyond broadcast: Web-only spot

[Top] White hydrangea blooms wilt and die in containers of leading household sprays, but thrive in a bottle of Seventh Generation’s Natural All Purpose Cleaner.

[Left] Editor Zeke O’Donnell

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Spotlight

South

The South

The South is many things to many people. To some, it is the

[Clockwise from Above] Beaver’s Bend, Okla. Vista of the West Texas desert near Marfa, Texas. Agent Tom Jones (Adam Cardon) and a member of his team prepare to storm the enemy stronghold in this scene from Sons of Liberty. DP Kevin Duggin and a member of his team do the really hard work. USM campus at night.

heart of religious and political conservatism; to others, it is a growing economic force and the headquarters for many of the world’s largest companies. But to filmmakers, the South is a painterly landscape of white-sand beaches, majestic mountains, dense forests and foreboding swamplands that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The region’s diverse scenery and generous tax incentives continue to attract filmmakers. So, to make sure you have the latest information, we contacted several Southern film offices and asked them a series of questions about their incentive packages, their geography, and about recent productions. In response, the state film offices of Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas gave us a sense for what it’s like to shoot in their states.

B Y C O RY S E K I N E - P E T T I T E 28

Markee 2.0 |

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

Alabama: Great locations. Great stories. As the Alabama Film Office (www.alabamafilm.org) is fond of stating: Alabama is the place to be for great locations and the state offers many of its own great stories. Geographically, Alabama boasts mountains and canyons in the northern part of the state, farms and pastures in the central region, and pine woods and bayous that lead to white sand beaches along the state’s Gulf of Mexico shoreline. The film office does not exaggerate; Alabama has much to offer. Speaking of offers, the state’s tax incentives program for filmmakers breaks down as follows: It provides for a refundable tax credit on the first $20 million of qualified production expenditures. (The minimum spending requirement is $500,000.) All qualified production expenditures, including nonresident wages, earn 25 percent, while wages and benefits for residents earn 35 percent. In order for payments made to a loan out to qualify for the incentive, the loan out must be registered to do business in Alabama. While there is not per project cap per se, Alabama only awards the incentive on the first $20 million of qualifying production expenditures. The state’s annual cap is $15 million for fiscal years ending Sept. 30, 2013 and Sept. 30, 2014. Each fiscal year after 2014 will have a state annual cap of $20 million. A certified production spending at least $150,000 within a 12-month period may apply to be exempted from the state portion – but not the local portion – of sales, use and lodging taxes. The sales tax exemption is not available on qualified expenditures in excess of the first $20 million. If you would like to learn more about Alabama’s great locations, but can’t make the trip in person just yet, check out some of the recent productions that filmed wholly or in part in the state: • Oculus, Lasser Productions, LLC (2014) – Filmed in Mobile and Baldwin County, Ala., Oculus stars Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, and Karen Gillan. The film is about a woman who tries to exonerate her brother’s murder conviction by proving that the crime was committed by a supernatural phenomenon. • Sons of Liberty, Home Front, LLC (2012) – Filmed in Mobile, Ala. This local movie production is a military action/adventure feature about a group of scientists and soldiers each trying desperately to keep the balance of peace in place. • Space Warriors, ARC Entertainment (2013) – Filmed in Huntsville, Ala. This film is about kids attending Space Camp who bond to help save the international space station. It stars Dermot Mulroney, Josh Lucas, and Mira Sorvino. • 42, Legendary Pictures (2013) – Filmed partially in Birmingham, Ala. A major motion picture starring Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. www.markeemagazine.com

[Above Top] Rick Davidson on Steady Cam with camera and sound crew following actors out of a building in this scene from Oculus.

[Above] 1st AD David Cluck appearing in a monitor playing in the next scene.

[Top Left] Ackley (Mark Sheppard) and Tom Jones (Adam Cardon) are surrounded by other cast and crew as they prepare for a scene in the Sons of Liberty command center.

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Spotlight

South

[Above] As Agent Jan Baker (Catalina Soto-Aguilar) is getting ready for a mission in Sons of Liberty. She is surrounded by crew and equipment that will never be seen on camera. The Director, Drew Hall, seems pleased with progress at this point.

[Below] Adventure Lake, Miss.

It’s probably best not to wait too long before seeing in person what Alabama has to offer filmmakers. One could place a safe bet that more and more film productions will be planting stakes in Alabama soil. According to the Alabama Film Office, since 2009, when the Alabama film incentives legislation passed, there has been a significant increase in filming in the state. In 2011 alone, production companies spent approximately $22.5 million in Alabama and more than $5.6 million was reimbursed to these companies through the incentives. The coming year looks even brighter.

Mississippi: Every production is important Nearly two dozen new projects are scheduled to begin in Mississippi in the New Year, making the state one of the busiest in the South. In fact, during the past few years, Mississippi’s enthusiasm for TV and film, and the state’s incentives program, have attracted many productions – big and small. According to the Mississippi Film Office (www.visitmississippi.org), every Mississippi city is supportive of the film industry. “Every one of them understands the needs and the impact of production on location,” said Mississippi Film representative Ward Emling. “In Mississippi, every production, big or small, is important. While we have developed workforce programs in Jackson and on the Gulf Coast, we are expanding film training programs into community colleges across the state to expand and deepen our crew base.” At the state level, that support extends to a generous incentives program. The Mississippi film incentive is a cash rebate of 30 percent on Mississip30

Markee 2.0 |

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

pi resident payroll, and 25 percent on local spend and on nonresident payroll. The incentive applies to feature films, television, reality television, commercials, documentaries, and shorts, the film office reports. The minimum spend is $50,000. There is an annual rebate cap of $20 million, a per project rebate cap of $8 million, and the payroll incentives apply to the first $1 million of any individual salary, above or below the line. The qualification process is quick Mississippi Film says: A short application submission, including script and budget is submitted to the Film Office; and the Mississippi Development Authority Board meets at least once a month to consider all projects. Upon the completion of production in the state, expenditures are submitted to the Department of Revenue, who perform the audit and return the rebate in about 60 business days. Several local production companies are there to assist with your projects, including Red Planet Entertainment of Ridgeland, Miss.; Eyevox/Mad Genius, Ridgeland; Gonzaflex Productions, Biloxi, Miss.; and RoadTown Enterprises-Mississippi Film Studio at Canton. And in its own way, Mississippiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s geography and location possibilities can offer support as well. According to Emling, Mississippi is marked by four, distinct geographical regions: the rolling foothills of the Appalachians to the northeast, the flatlands of the Mississippi Delta to the northwest, the Piney Woods and rivers region of the midsection of the state, and sandy beaches of the Gulf Coast and the barrier islands. There are production-friendly rivers (Mississippi, Pearl, Tennessee-Tombigbee, Pascagoula, Escatawpa) across the state, as well as the best town squares in the South (Canton, Oxford, Holly Springs, Carrollton, and Lexington). Jackson is the metropolitan center of the state, and throughout you will

www.markeemagazine.com

[Above] Tunica Visitor's Center

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Spotlight

South find supportive communities offering a variety of size and period, from depot-centered railroad towns to coastal cities. To catch a glimpse of some of these locales on film, check out As I Lay Dying, a Nu Image/Millennium/Rabbit Bandini Production that recently wrapped. James Franco directed and starred along with Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Parrack, Ahna O’Reilly, and Logan Marshall-Green. Other recently wrapped productions include the feature films Rise Again, which filmed in Natchez, Miss.; and Haunted, which filmed in Greenville, Miss. You also can rent O, Brother Where Art Thou?, Mississippi Masala, Cookie’s Fortune, and many more.

Oklahoma: Red carpet, not red tape [Above] Tallahatchie Flats, Miss.

[Below] Thunderstruck Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.

[Opposite Page Top Left] Scene from So This Is Christmas, featuring Eric Roberts, Vivica A. Fox, and Lexi Ainsworth Photo: Foster Entertainment.

Markee 2.0 |

In addition to its rebate program and geographic diversity, Oklahoma is known for its quality of life and the willingness of its communities to embrace film production, says Oklahoma Film & Music. “We pride ourselves on rolling out the red carpet, not the red tape,” reports Yousef Kazemi, locations coordinator. Located just south of the geographic center of the United States, Oklahoma is equidistant from Los Angeles and New York City. The Great Plains state ranks 20th in size in the nation and exemplifies 11 distinct ecological regions, with terrain including flat, fertile plains; sand dunes; high mesas; dense forests; cypress swamps; rolling hills; and mountains covered in rock or trees. Kazemi says the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate offers a tax rebate up to 37 percent on Oklahoma expenditures to qualifying companies filming in the state. The rebate is capped at $5 million per year. The company must have a minimum budget of $50,000 and spend $25,000 in Oklahoma. The sunset date for the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program is June 30, 2014, Kazemi reports. All available rebate monies have been allocated until this time. The Oklahoma Film & Music Office will work to extend this sunset date during the 2013 legislative session. More information is available at www.oklahomafilm.org.

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

If you are considering filming your next production in the state, Oklahoma has numerous production companies that can facilitate a project’s needs from pre- to post-production. As a state agency, Oklahoma Film & Music says it cannot highlight one particular company; however, a complete listing of production companies that have registered with the office is available on the organization’s website. As far as what’s been filming lately, Oklahoma Film & Music reports that in late September, production began on the film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize winning play, August: Osage County. Produced by The Weinstein Company and directed by John Wells, the film – about a family that overcomes certain differences when their alcoholic patriarch goes missing – boasts an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, and Sam Shepard. Also, currently in production, are several independent films including The Jogger and Running Deer. Other recent productions include Thunderstruck with basketball star Kevin Durant, Just Crazy Enough with Chris Kattan, and Home Run with Scott Elrod, Dorian Brown and Charles Henry Wyson.

[Above] Home Run is a story about a professional baseball player with a substance abuse problem. Photo: Home Run LLC

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

Texas: In the game a long time From contemporary urban settings to ancient deserts, Texas locations have doubled for the American Midwest, Manhattan, Mexico, the Middle East and more. A number of recent productions are taking advantage of the state’s diverse

www.markeemagazine.com

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Spotlight

South geography and wide-open spaces. For example, the following movies and TV shows were recently filmed in the state: • Bernie (2011, Millennium Entertainment), with Jack Black, Matthew McConaughey, and Shirley McClaine • Dallas, TNT TV series starring the late Larry Hagman, and Josh Henderson and Jesse Metcalfe • The Lying Game, an ABC Family TV series with Alexandra Chando, Andy Buckley and Allie Gonino • A Night in Old Mexico (2013, VT Films), starring Robert Duvall, Jeremy Irvine and Angie Cepeda • Exists (2012, Spiderwood Studios), featuring Dora Madison Burge, Brian Steele and Samuel Davis • Prince Avalanche (2013, Muskat Filmed Properties), with Paul Rudd, Emile Hirsch and Lance LeGault • Top Chef, a popular reality TV series in its ninth season • When Angels Sing (2013, When Angels Sing), starring Harry Connick Jr., Connie Britton and Chandler Canterbury.

[Below Top] The East Texas piney woods of Davy Crockett National Forest near Kennard, Texas.

[Bottom] The North Texas small town charm of Mineral Wells.

Markee 2.0 |

The key word for Texas is “efficient,” says the Texas Film Commission. “In some states, incentives try to create a production industry where virtually none existed before,” said Carla Click, marketing director of the Commission (http://governor.state.tx.us/film). “But, Texas has been in the game a long time. Its assets include experienced crew, infrastructure, world-class support services and vendors, diverse and cost-effective locations, film friendly weather, and a tremendous track record. We see filmmakers and studios returning to Texas; and with features and televisions productions averaging 84 percent local crew hire, it means they know the quality that Texas and Texans have to offer.” Indeed, since 1910 more than 1,800 projects have been made in Texas, including WINGS, the first film to win an Academy Award® for Best Picture, which was made in San Antonio in 1927. (A complete filmography is available from the Texas Film Commission’s website.) Perhaps this early success was the impetus for the state’s continued interest in attracting television and movie productions. For instance, what Texas can offer financially these days is the opportunity to receive a payment of 5 percent to 25 percent for their eligible in-state spending upon completion of an audit of their Texas expenditures. Projects completing at least 25 percent of production days in underutilized or economically distressed areas of Texas are eligible to receive an additional 2.5 percent to 4.25 percent. Texas also offers upfront sales tax exemptions on most items rented or purchased for direct use in production, refunds of the 6-percent State Occupancy Tax on hotel rooms occupied for more than 30 consecutive days, and refunds on Fuel Tax paid on fuel used off-road.

November/December 2012

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

advertisersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; index page# company phone & website C3

Cinelease

MARKETPLACE

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

EQUIPMENT

www.cinelease.com

Crew West, Inc. 888.444.2739 www.crewwestinc.com

Killer Tracks 800.454.5537 www.killertracks.com

Locke Bryan Productions, Inc. 713.977.5989 www.lockebryan.com

Night Lights by BEBEE, Inc. 310.605.5001 www.nightlightsbybebee.com

Panasonic 877.803.8492 www.panasonic.com/hpx600

Rochester/Finger Lakes Film & Video Office, Inc. 585.279.8308 www.FilmRochester.org

Sony Creative Software www.sonycreativesoftware.com/vegas12

South Coast Film & Video 713.661.3550 www.scfilmvideo.com

TM Television 972.243.4772 www.tmtel.com

VariZoom www.VariZoom.com

MUSIC LIBRARIES

www.markeemagazine.com

November/December 2012

| Markee 2.0

Inside View

Big Machine | by Christine Bunish

Steve Petersen Co-founder/Creative Director – Big Machine Design • Burbank, Calif. www.bigmachine.net

Markee: Since you and Ken Carlson opened Big Machine Design in 2003 you’ve produced visuals for film titles, advertising, TV shows, games, multi-screen experiences and mobile devices. You recently got Halloween off to a scary start with “Living Nightmares” for AMC’s FearFest, one of your biggest projects to date. Mr. Petersen: “We did AMC’s MobWeek package for the past two years talking to real mobsters, hit men and people out of witness protection and having hosts Anthony Bourdain and Rudy Giuiliani provide wrap up. AMC has done FearFest for years by scheduling horror movies in the run up to Halloween. Then they got George Romero to talk about his work. This year, they wanted something new and different, so we pitched a bunch of ideas, including ‘Living Nightmares.’ ‘Mockumentaries’ are almost the wrong word for them: They’re scripted but not totally factual with actors and a few legitimate people peppered in.” Markee: You created, from script to screen, 10 four-minute shorts for “Living Nightmares,” which was hosted by Kevin Smith. Topics ranging from cannibals and alien abduction to evil spirits and death by drowning were paired with appropriately themed movies on the AMC schedule; they also ran on the cablenet’s website and YouTube channel. What was the production process like? Mr. Petersen: “The timeline was really tight: from being awarded the project to delivery was just six or seven weeks. I directed all of the shorts; we shot in Southern California with RED and Canon 5D cameras, 36

Markee 2.0 |

built the sets and cast the pieces. While we were shooting, our research team found stock footage to intercut with the vignettes – but we created all the UFO footage. We couldn’t get the rights to footage on YouTube, so we made our own – super-shaky cam, grainy, out of focus. It had all the right ingredients! “Three editors cut the shorts inhouse, and we did all the design and motion graphics. One of the best compliments we got for ‘Living Nightmares’ was from AMC’s head of scripted programming who said they looked better than some of the shows they were greenlighting for next season.” Markee: Does the role of content provider mark an evolution for Big Machine Design? Mr. Petersen: “It’s been a gradual evolution for us. We started writing, producing and designing on-air promos then moved into commercial production and video game user interface design, promos and commercials. Then we got opportunities to do longer-form content and branded films running production internally. So we built great relationships with producers and crews. “Last year, we made 11 hours of content: six episodes of Hostage Do or Die and three episodes of Real Vice Miami for Discovery ID; a show about the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre for National Geographic Channel, which was very cinematic with tons of graphics and animation; and Hell’s Highway about U.S./Mexico border issues, for Current TV. “We pitched and scripted all the shows, tailoring them to fit the personality of the network. But we do have our own documentary style. Our generation is from Short Attention Span Theater –

November/December 2012

we don’t do Ken Burns’s slow zoom ins on photos. Our shows are really cinematic with a lot of graphics and animation cut in. It’s a way to tell stories that speaks to us.” Markee: What’s next? Mr. Petersen: “We’re trying to get ‘Living Nightmares’ sold as a scripted series. They were designed to work as four-minute fun pieces, so we’re reformatting the concept to sustain a series of one-hour programs. They wouldn’t be an anthology but would have a through-line and recurring characters. AMC will be our first go-to channel. “We’re one of the companies pitching the main titles for Iron Man 3 and some other big films. We’ve done an insane number of graphics deliverables, including realtime graphics engine-based animations, for Howie Mandel’s new game show, Take It All, and we did the launch spot and holiday-themed spot for the video game, Just Dance 4.” Markee: With Big Machine Design poised to celebrate its 10th anniversary next year are you surprised how far you’ve come in a decade? Mr. Petersen: “I’m surprised, but we’re proud of all we’ve accomplished. My passion has always been feature films, so this has been a great road to get us there. It’s my personal long-term goal to create films with strong visuals that are fun to watch and which leverage all the talents of our design team.”

Film • Video • Animation • Audio • Locations • People

The peerless service of Cinelease, now backed by the global reach of Hertz, creates the most complete and ŵŔɠƔġƫŔȭƫƔſƏȲƔǄſȭȚǒƫɆȲƔǒǄȭƔǄȭȲƏŔȭƔǄŁɆȚȲȒɢǷȭ ƏªȲŔɚŔȒȭȲƏŔȭ ƥǒġĻȭɛƏŔȒŔɚŔȒȭȲƏŔȭȚƏǒǒȲĻȭȲƏŔȒŔȎȚȭǒǄŔȭĬƫŔªȒȭĬƏǒƔĬŔǷȭȭ Cinelease. The Lights Behind the Scenes.

ǒȭƫŔªȒǄȭƻǒȒŔȭªġǒɆȲȭªŰűƫƔªȲŔȭǒǭǭǒȒȲɆǄƔȲƔŔȚĻȭɛƔȚƔȲȭĬƔǄŔƫŔªȚŔǷĬǒƻ Cinelease is a trademark of Cinelease, Inc. Hertz® is a registered trademark of Hertz Equipment Rental Corporation.

cinelease.com