Broadway Video Provides Editorial & Audio Post For ‘Will Ferrell: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize’

NEW YORK, NY -- Broadway Video recently provided editorial and audio services for PBS’ 90-minute special presentation ''The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor'' honoring Will Ferrell. The comprehensive post services at Broadway Video contributed to a quick turnaround from performance to air. The show’s director Linda Mendoza collaborated with Yossi Kimberg, senior editor for Broadway Video, and Ralph Kelsey, VP for Broadway Sound, to highlight an evening of toasts and accolades from Ferrell’s friends including Ed Asner, Jack Black, Matthew Broderick, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, Gwen Ifill, Tim Meadows, Adam McKay, Conan O'Brien, John C. Reilly, Paul Rudd, Andy Samberg, Molly Shannon and Ben Stiller.  

Kimberg traveled to Washington, DC to view the show in person and then began editing on Avid Symphony in his suite back in New York the next morning. He said, ''The challenge was to edit, mix and deliver the show within three days. Thanks to a tapeless workflow and the Broadway Video team, that goal was achieved.''

At Broadway Sound, Kelsey worked in tandem with Kimberg, providing audio sweetening to deliver a polished final mix. Under Executive Producer Bob Kaminsky’s direction, Kelsey used the numerous recorded tracks to illuminate the live feel of The Kennedy Center. ''Everything that’s needed to finish a show is right here,'' said Kelsey. ''You don’t have to leave the building to get it all done, and our team keeps the editorial and sound moving smoothly.'' 

In addition to Bob Kaminsky, executive producers Peter Kaminsky, Mark Krantz, and Cappy McGarr were all instrumental in bringing the special together. 

''I've made shows at Broadway Video for many years. I believe the number of TV specials now exceeds fifty,'' said Bob Kaminsky. ''The Brill Building feels like show business and I'm always happy to walk into that historic lobby. It is a great luxury to go from Yossi and the video edit and to be able to run down to Ralph in the audio studio and back and forth. It saves all kinds of problems during the post process and makes the final mix a creative collaboration rather than the tedious process of patching things that should have been avoided in the first place. I'm a lifer.'' 

''Will Ferrell: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize'' can be viewed in its entirety at http://www.pbs.org/mark-twain-prize/. 

About Broadway Video:

Founded in 1979 by Lorne Michaels, creator and executive producer of "Saturday Night Live," Broadway Video Entertainment is New York's leading full-service entertainment company. BVE offers an unparalleled scope of services that include the production of some of the country's most popular TV programming and feature films, the marketing and distribution of a rich entertainment library and access to state-of-the-art design and post production facilities staffed by the industry's most creative visual and sound designers and technicians.

Broadway Video is located at 1619 Broadway, New York, NY 10019. For more information, call (212) 265-7600 or visit us at broadwayvideo.com. 

Web Resources:

http://www.broadwayvideo.com 

http://www.broadwayvideo.com/#/PostProduction 

http://www.pbs.org/mark-twain-prize/

COLLECTIVE GROWTH: IKA Collective Adds Music/Sound Design Services; Director of New Business Development

NEW YORK, NY – IKA Collective, the creative production/post studio led by director/brand strategist Ian Karr, has forged an alliance with Mixology Post, the original music/sound design/audio post studio founded by composer/engineer Rob Kahn. Additionally, IKA Collective named Stu Sternbach its Director of New Business Development.

“This year has been an exciting one in the evolution of IKA Collective,” Karr says. “We’ve been a one-stop creative shop since the beginning, but now brands and agencies are embracing that concept like never before. We’re the classic story of an overnight sensation -- 25 years in the making. Adding Rob and Mixology to the Collective increases our creative critical mass and takes audio finishing to a whole new level – he is super-talented and a great fit for us. Stuart has a wealth of experience and connections in the advertising production/post production business to bring our collective skills to an even wider array of clients.”

Kahn, who will continue to operate Mixology as an independent company, is available to IKA Collective clients looking for original music/sound design/audio post. The company already offers an array of creative services including, creative development, live action production, editorial, visual effects design and animation.

Since joining IKA Collective, Kahn and his team of audio experts have lent their talents to a launch spot for PurAbsorb, a women’s vitamin supplement, via agency Nail Media Group; a campaign for Penguin Publishing celebrating Nora Robert’s new book, “The Next Always,” and IKA’s own web series “The Midnight Archive.”

“I’m really proud to be associated with Ian and IKA Collective,” Kahn says. “They are a forward-thinking company that is well-positioned to take advantage of the way the industry is heading with its emphasis on creatively nimble companies that can do a lot of things well, fast and on-budget.”

Sternbach joins IKA Collective following years as the president of the independent representation company Pangea, where he represented some of the production/post community’s leading companies. He got his start as an Account Executive at BBDO and from there he transitioned into sales/marketing positions at numerous top post houses before launching Pangea.

“IKA Collective is a rarity in the world of creative production and post,” Sternbach says. “There literally is nothing we can’t do – whether its creative strategy, production or post. IKA Collective possesses the perfect business model for the current economy in which clients are looking to work with shops that can do a lot of things well. I’m proud to be a part of what Ian is building and look forward to playing a role in the company’s the next level of success.”


About IKA Collective:
Founded by noted brand strategist/director Ian Karr, IKA Collective is more than a production company. Rather, they’re creative collective of writers, producers, editors, directors, composers, digital artists, fashionistas, foodies and horror film fanatics who love to tell stories. Whether it’s an ad, a network promo, a digital media project, or their own original content, IKA Collective is all about communicating in a way that entertains and gets results. Our facility includes a live insert stage, five edit rooms, digital color grading, graphics, compositing and audio mixing suites, allowing us to deliver great work at budgets that make sense in every medium. Recent clients include Fox TV, Discovery Channel, Continental Airlines, Hallmark Channel and Penguin Publishing. For more information go to http://www.ikacollective.com

BIGSMACK Teams With A&E Network For Comprehensive Promo Campaign For The Glades

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- The Glades, A&E Network’s new offbeat original scripted drama has been the beneficiary of some great buzz, thanks in part to the comprehensive teaser/promo campaign created by BIGSMACK, the full-service creative/production/design studio led by Creative Director Andy Hann.

Hann and the BIGSMACK team were involved in nearly every facet of the promo effort -- from writing the tagline that drives the teaser campaign “Sunny...with a chance of homicide,” to concepting, producing and designing three :15 teaser spots and a :30 promo featuring series star Matt Passmore. Moreover, BIGSMACK collaborated on the multifaceted outdoor campaign that includes billboards, kiosks, bus and taxi ads, even completely outfitting Chicago’s ‘L’ transit system, as well as an array of online content.

BIGSMACK rose to the challenge delivering a conceptually simple campaign that cleverly taps into the show’s offbeat, Coen Brothers-esque characterization, coupled with a taut police procedural narrative style.

“We definitely ‘got’ the show’s balance between the quirky characters and crime narratives that makes The Glades work,” Hann explains. “A&E loved our ‘orange’ teaser spot concept and the rest of campaign grew from there. The one similarity between all of the spots is the over-arching theme of things not being what they seem.”

Teasers & Promo:
To the strains of Sam Cooke’s classic song “Summertime” (chosen by BIGSMACK) “Orange” begins with a dramatic shot of a glorious sunset behind a photo real 3D animated orange. The word “Sunny” hovers ominously above the imagery. As the camera tracks back, the mood turns dark as the sun is eclipsed by the orange and the words “with a chance of homicide” are abruptly split in half by a knife piercing the orange. The spot ends with an overhead shot of the orange bleeding over The Glades logo. Other teaser spots in the campaign include “Water,” featuring a slow overhead tracking crane shot of a picturesque swimming pool that ends on a deceased woman floating in the water; and “Bikini,” which pans over a bikini clad hottie face down on a lounge chair finally revealing bullet in her back.

The :30 “Sunny” promo offers a completely different tact. Directed by BIGSMACK director Scott Whitham, the spot features Passmore on a beautiful beach talking directly to camera about how he left the “cruel, cold air of the big city for the sunshine state.” As the spot continues it becomes clear he’s not on the beach for fun, but rather examining a crime scene. The promo ends with Passmore sarcastically noting how “it’s still pretty sunny, but that just makes the bodies smell worse” just as camera cuts to show a victim lying on a beach chair. The spots were shot with the RED Mysterium-X on location in Miami, Fl.

Adds Hann, “In many ways The Glades was an opportunity for us to showcase what we’re capable of creatively when we partner with our clients -- from concept development to mounting complex location production, through intricate 3D animation, design and post. A&E showed a lot of trust in us to pull this off, and I’m gratified their trust wasn’t misplaced.”

About BIGSMACK:
Lead by Creative Director Andy Hann, BIGSMACKtv is a full service creative agency specializing in the broadcast industry. From their offices in downtown Philadelphia, BIGSMACK creates, produces, designs and posts image and promotional campaigns for the world’s leading entertainment providers. Recent clients include Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, HBO, Comedy Central, Sundance and A&E, among others. For more information contact: Brett Ashy at The Ashy Agency (brett@ashyagency.com, 323-464-2749) or go to www.bigsmack.tv


Creative Credits:
Client: A&E Network
Project: The Glades teaser/promo campaign, outdoor campaign

Agency/Production/Design/Post: BIGSMACK, Philadelphia, PA
Creative Director: Andy Hann
Executive Producer: Heidi Erney, Kelly Dials
Director: Scott Whitham, Andy Hann
DP: Andrew Turman
Line Producer: Kipp Christiansen

Web Resources:
Click here to watch The Glades teaser/promo campaign:
http://bigsmacktv.wiredrive.com/l/p/?presentation=0bda226cf13ca22e95fbb77d085786a6

Click here for more info about BIGSMACKtv:
http://www.bigsmack.tv

Click here for more info about The Glades:
http://www.aetv.com/the-glades/

One Fine Day Designs Eloquent Video Sequences For National Museum of American Jewish History

NEW YORK, NY -- The much anticipated opening of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, which the New York Times recently noted ''sheer ambition gives the museum immediate importance,'' features two powerful feature video sequences designed by One Fine Day, the six-year-old design/visual effects studio led by Creative Directors Nathalie de La Gorce, Chris Haak and Executive Producer Tom Bayer. EMMY-Winning filmmaker David Grubin directed both videos.

For de la Gorce, who led the One Fine Day creative team for this pro-bono project, the intricately designed 2-plus-minute sequence entitled “Purim” that is part of the exhibit looking at the American Jewish experience around the late 1800s, was by far the most creatively challenging.

''The video illustrates a moment in time in the history of American Jews when they had finally assimilated and prospered in America and could afford extravagant parties in luxurious settings, only to see it change because of a resurgence of anti-Semitism,'' de La Gorce says. ''We depicted that shift visually by contrasting these silhouetted ballroom dancing couples with backgrounds made of racially-charged newspaper articles and illustrations published during those years.''

Shot by Grubin on a soundstage with professionally choreographed ballroom dancers, ''Purim'' is seen solely from the POV of someone looking into a ballroom from a distance. Subtle lighting adds a sense of mystery, with the dancers appearing only as non-descript silhouettes moving gracefully to an original score by composer Joseph Lanner.

Designed to convey both a sense of grandeur of the time and ominous changes on the horizon, Grubin’s live action footage -- coupled with footage of actual artifacts from the museum such as fine crystal candelabras and chandeliers, and print content such as advertisements, illustrations and newspaper articles – was composited by de la Gorce and the One Fine Day team using Adobe After Effects and edited using Final Cut Pro.

In addition to ''Purim,'' One Fine Day also contributed creatively to the more editorially focused video called ''Revolution'' -- an exhibit that focuses on the American Revolution.

''The fascinating part of this project for me was working with scholars rather then brand managers for a change, whose most important concern was historic accuracy,'' de La Gorce says. ''It was fascinating to be a part of their process. Their level of passion was both and blessing and a curse because if also meant a lot of last minute changes, but we’re proud of the work and the opportunity to work on such an important project.''


About One Fine Day:
Launched in 2004, by former R/GA and Trollback & Company creatives Nathalie De La Gorce and Chris Haak, One Fine Day (www.ofdny.com) is a boutique motion graphic design and visual effects studio specializing in film and television production. Known for their storytelling prowess, One Find Day’s work focuses on exceptional design that goes deeper and is both more complex and simpler than passing fads. It is that understanding that ultimately makes each project emotionally and visually relevant to its audience. Recent work includes projects for HBO, Cinemax, MTVN, Vh1, LOGO, AMC, TV Land, TNT, Spike, SciFi, National Geographic, TCM, TNT, Discovery, Fidelity, Pontiac, Dodge, Lincoln, GMC, Volvo, Proctor & Gamble, AICP, Intel, SAP. For more information contact Executive Producer Tom Bayer at 212-529-3196 or tom@ofdny.com.


Web Resources:
Click here to watch the “Purim” video:
http://onefinedayny.com/One_Fine_Day_nmjah.html

Click here for more info about One Fine Day:
http://www.ofdny.com

Click here to see a photo of the “Purim” exhibit from New York Times.com:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/11/11/arts/design/20101112-museum-5.html


Creative Credits:
Client: National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA
Project: ''Purim,'' ''Revolution'' -- video exhibits

Production: David Grubin Productions, New York
Director: David Grubin

Design/Post: One Fine Day, New York
Creative Director: Nathalie de la Gorce
Executive Producer: Tom Bayer

Music: Joseph Lanner