Back to main site.A Movable Feast with a Bike Race Running Through It
Posted by Brendan | Filed under behind-the-scenes, new work, traveling
Lost in the TV compound at the TdF
So, this month finds me at the Tour de France producing the French component of a daily Tour highlight and analysis show we’re doing for VeloNews.tv. Today is the “rest day” which isn’t really a rest day at all for us, but rather a day to catch up on feature segments we have in progress and try and get to the myriad press conferences and interviews that the key riders are doing today.
What can I say about the Tour at this point? It is the world’s grandest movable feast. The sheer scale of it harkens back to some Pharaohesque after-life vanity project, except it gets set-up, taken-down, moved at least 100 miles, and set-up again…every day. And somewhere in the middle of it, there is this bike race that happens. Which honestly ranges between mildly interesting and heart-stoppingly dramatic. I don’t care who you are, or whether or not your a cycling fan, but the “wisdom versus youth” drama between Lance Armstrong and the young, brilliant Spaniard, Alberto Contador transcends sport. No matter who eventually triumphs the story will be fascinating.
For Futuristic Films, this project has been an exercise in pushing the limits of Internet broadcasting, taking our expertise in branded entertainment to an entirely new level.
Pesonally, this project has been a complete mixed bag. One moment it is absolutely nightmarish, a sleepless Groundhog Day scenario, constantly racing the clock and struggling against a never-ending stream of logistical, technical, and creative issues. The next moment it is pure magic — gazing across a breathtaking Pyranean landscape or walking the narrow cobble streets of Barcelona into the wee hours of the morning.
The crazy thing is…this thing isn’t even HALF over.
Stage 7 Finish
A “Full-House” in Fortune Valley
Posted by Richie | Filed under Uncategorized, new work
The most depressing thing about commercial work is watching 15 hours of impeccably orchestrated set direction, light and sound crafting, and countless hours of talent selection and prop design, turned into a broadcast spot that you will most assuredly miss while dipping your chip in a couch marathon of TV worshipping. In fact, while watching the Rockies game two days ago I almost missed my cameo as an extra in one of the spots. The ads have been airing very regularly on FSN and other regional broadcast networks. I am the hardly discernible black-shirted, clapping blob who appears at the tail end of the 3rd spot. I am so cool.
The BEST thing about commercial work is watching the magic of talent, vision, and experience unfold in concert to yield a product that is on budget and effectively developed.
Here are the 3 thirty-second spots Futuristic Films produced alongside Juice Communications for Fortune Valley Casino. All three spots were filmed in one long and fruit-bearing day.
Wallah…
Director: Jasper Gray
Production Company: Futuristic Films
Agency: Juice Communications
Client: Fortune Valley Casino
WARNING: May cause electrocution
Posted by Richie | Filed under Uncategorized, new work
Check out the newly developed “Intro to Futuristic Films” presentation. Watch out World!
Props to John Brisnehan for the motion graphics and to Jasper Gray for direction.
Tags: new work
Chronicles of a Futuristic Intern
Posted by Richie | Filed under behind-the-scenes, musings and humor, new work
My name is Richie Kendall, and I am an intern.
As a 22 year old, I am a spring chicken in the land of post-grad career building. Two months ago I was brought on as an intern with Futuristic Films.
Without completely spilling the beans, let me tell you a little bit about my experience thus far, how I’ve been contributing, and a little more about the company that is courting my karma.
For me, the sole “handy man” intern, every day is different. I go home at the end of the day with a feeling of exhilaration. Similar to the that of a newborn giraffe after a long day of gravity combat. Speaking of which, as an intern, I do a lot of legwork: digitizing footage (transferring tapes into our archives), exporting and compressing projects for different applications (web, DVD, iPhone), running mundane errands, but the glimmers of creative input on projects and the exaltation of a project completed make the whole experience worth writing home about.
Last month, I was on my first commercial set as a P.A., producing 3 broadcast spots for Fortune Valley Casino. We were on set for 14 hours. (I know what you’re thinking) Surprisingly, the whole day flew by. I was an extra in a few of the scenes, and having had a glance in post-production, have discovered that my right shoulder and the back of my head made it into the final project. Someday, they will be famous. (still looking for an agent) Anyways, overall I was very impressed by the talent that was casted for the spots and had a great time getting to know the production crew and agency creatives over the two “on the house” meals. The most home-hitting takeaway from the experience was that this is an extraordinarily exciting industry to work in. Another notable takeaway; I look like a glorified idiot in a headset…
Two weeks ago, I helped shoot interviews for a short documentary on Sean Swarner (two-time terminal cancer survivor who has gone on to crest all seven summits of the earth with only one lung). Holy Mother! Sean is an inspiration. It was cool to meet him and his family and be a part of transmitting his story on a more massive scale.
When I am not immersed in a task or project of extreme emergency, I work on the initial editing for a potential feature-length documentary that we shot for E-town - a diverse musical segment on (NPR). The film is focused around a concert they organized at the Buell Theatre for the Democratic National Convention with legendary artists James Taylor, Ani Difranco, Crosby and Nash, Irma Thomas, and Tom Morello among others. It is my job to find and pull out the footage that could potentially be used for the final documentary. There is a lot of footage (days worth) here and the task becomes monotonous at times, but I have just finished pulling what I have deemed the *select footage and am ready for the next phase of this process.
Last week, I authored the reels of all of Futuristic’s directors to be mailed and given to agencies all over the country. This makes me feel important…a rare feeling. So, I am now a DVD authoring pro and have had a wonderful time familiarizing myself with the work of all of our uber-talented directors. Check out the work of two of our newest directors; Jamin Winans (Director of Ink) and Nick Goossen (Director of Grandma’s Boy)
Ink Trailer by Director Jamin Winans
IFHM Viral Video by Director Nick Goossen
Well, I should get back to work before the crack of the whip. Gotta get back to “trying not to break or mess anything up.”
My next post will undoubtedly yield more excitement, and equally, more dread from the lonesome life of a self-prescribed slave.
Intern Out.
How to Make a Baby Fly (without a Sky’s the Limit Budget)
Posted by Jasper | Filed under behind-the-scenes, new work
PRE-VIZ
I have always found that when you are working with a complicated effect it is important to balance the technical needs of the effect without letting them get in the way of the personality of the spot. We wanted both the camera and the baby to feel as free as possible, but in order to do that we had to meticulously plan out every shot. Working in conjunction with motion-graphics wiz Adam Singer and O’Brien art director Dwane Cohen, the three of us ‘shot’ the spot in 3-d graphics using a combination of Cinema 4D and After Effects. This allowed us to play with the edit and shot selection until we found the right pace and feel before we had to nail down specific takes with a baby in the limited time frame of a shoot day.
Screen shots from the pre-viz
SHOOT DAY
Taking nothing for granted, we cast four similar looking babies for our hero talent and set out our shot list against a complicated schedule of nap times and feedings. On the shoot day we were able to shoot all of the scenes with one of the babies, Bryson, who really emerged as the star of the day.
Acme Prop Work’s John Perry designed and built a scale model paper airplane, which matched the one in our pre-viz. The model was made from stainless steel and skinned with paper and was able to move up, down and side-to-side – all controlled on-set by John. Not only did our (very young) stars enjoy the rocking sensation, it also got the babies to interact with the motion of the plane, enhancing the effect.
John Perry and his doll working on the prototype plane
To really capture the feel of flying – and to recreate the swooping motions from the pre-viz – I shot the entire spot with the camera on a crane arm. While traditionally the floating motion of a crane has been a nightmare for compositing, using the new tracking software SynthEyes and a bunch of well placed tennis balls as markers we were able to track the crane’s motion and seamlessly bring the shots into the computer generated 3D world.
First AD Tom Farnsworth and one of our stars talk over the next scene
Futuristic Films Director/DP Jasper Gray capturing the action
POST
The best reactions were selected and the spot was created in high definition with the real baby in the practical plane and using the pre-viz as a guide. We shot cloud plates from the roof of our office and used them in the backgrounds adding computer-generated clouds only when necessary in the foregrounds for the plane to move through.
Tags: behind-the-scenes, new work
Britney & FF (well, sort of)
Posted by Sarah | Filed under behind-the-scenes, new work
Britney Spears press has definitely been a hot topic recently as Futuristic regular Iconix Brands brought Britney in as the new “Candies girl” and Futuristic was there to bring the news to the Jumbotron! We dashed out to LA with Adam Espinoza (motion graphics guru) in tow for a quick edit and then back to Denver so that Frank could work his editorial magic and the graphics team(Adam Espinoza & Jeremy Lindenmier) could produce a ridiculously cool/fun/effective :30 on an incredibly tight schedule. A midnight courier to New Orleans for the opening of the “Circus Starring Britney Spears Tour” brought an end to a wild ride of a weekend! But the JumboTron lives on!
Pilar Diaz
Posted by Brendan | Filed under inspirational, new work
So, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting Pilar Diaz, a Chilean singer/songwriter who recently produced an album through the siteLA program in Los Angeles. I discovered her music through a friend and was immediately captivated by the orginality, quirky funkiness, sensuality, and effortless mix of english and spanish lyrics. I thought she would be a perfect fit to do some scoring and possibly some original music for our upcoming feature documentary, Las Chulas. The story focuses on three El Salvadorean girls and takes place in El Salvador and California. The film is bilingual and spans the gamut in these girls’ lives from early teens innocence to the joys and hard choices of adulthood.
Pilar and I spent an hour talking music, film, and inspiration. At the end of our meeting I was even more convinced that she would be a great fit. The film is still a long way from being finished and there are many steps, both creative and logistical, still to come in terms of getting Pilar on board, but I’m hopeful we’ll make it happen.
Do yourself a favor and check out her music:
http://www.myspace.com/pilardiaz
And here is a live performance from SiteSTAGE:
Spring Training: A Whirlwind Tour
Posted by Brendan | Filed under behind-the-scenes, new work, traveling
We recently returned from a week long, whirlwind shoot in Florida where we shot major league baseball spring training. The project was a series of short player profiles focusing on the best up-and-coming and emerging superstars in baseball. The client was Rawlings, the official ball sponsor of the MLB and a company that quite literally has helped define the game for over 100 years.
Here are some observations from the shoot:
1. Joe Mauer is arguably the best catcher in baseball. But what there should be no argument about is what a genuinely nice guy he is - gracious, courteous, and clearly someone who loves the game and plays it for the right reasons.
2. Shooting with the Minnesota Twins is a pleasure - we were even able to get the media director to turn off the pre-game music so we get good audio quality with Joe Mauer. Shooting with the New York Yankees is a…heavy circuity circus! And, even though I’m a Red Sox fan, it is hard not to like Jaba Chamberlain. I guess you have to have a big personality to play for the Yanks.
3. Jose Reyes is absolutely as charismatic and energetic in person as seems to be on TV. The Mets are lucky to have a superstar you can actually like liking!
4. Apparently, Mets fans are belligerent ALL THE TIME even during meaningless spring training games!
5. After four days in four different cities with four different teams it all seemed to blur together a bit, but I will say this, even under its cloud of controversy, baseball during spring training has an innocence and festivity about it that I’m not sure can be matched by any other major sport.
We’re getting rolling on the post for the series this week. We’re looking to launch the series in April. Stay tuned!
The Ripple Effect and an Old Friend
Posted by Brendan | Filed under behind-the-scenes, musings and humor, new work
The Ripple Effect plays to a sold out premiere crowd
After premiering on January 2nd, our new feature documentary, The Ripple Effect, had two encore showings in Aspen, Colorado at the historic Wheeler Opera House this past weekend. The action sports film focuses on the various ways people pass on inspiration, from generation to generation, from sibling to sibling, and between friends. The film received and incredible reception, with both two packed shows.
For the FF crew, it was a great opporutnity to spend some time in the mountains, visit with old friends, and experience one of the great joys of filmmaking — actually getting to show your work to people who appreciate it.
One old friend we visted with was the artist Gino Hollander, one of the stars of a film we did a few years back called Mountain Town. Gino is in his mid-80s and has an incredible perspective on life and what makes it meaningful. After 20+ years in the Aspen valley, Gino and his incredibly charming wife Barbara are picking up sticks and heading to Ojai, California to start over. Apparently, the altitude and cold winters at 8,000 feet are just getting to be a bit too much for Gino.
Here is a man that fought and was wounded in World War II, had a successful career as a filmmaker, gave everything up to become an artist at 38, moved to Spain and lived abroad for 30 years, and then, at age 60+ moved back to Aspen and took up backcountry snowmobiling. And now, when most people are picking out grave plots, he’s at it again, reinventing his life and wringing every second out of the unforgiving minute.
A friend of mine, who met Gino this past weekend for the first time, remarked that Gino had, in the words of Paulo Coehlo an “elemental faith for life”. Read more of Berto’s deep thoughts here at his Joy Engine blog post.
An elemental faith for life…I like that. I like that, alot.
summer of music or winter of wind?
Posted by Brendan | Filed under behind-the-scenes, new work, traveling
FF just returned from Malibu where it was shooting an online commercial for Ocean Pacific’s 2009 Spring/Summer campaign. Along with the usual craziness that is inevitable with seven talent, a band, and a print photo shoot, the whole thing happened in the midst of 30 mph winds buffetting the set at Westward Beach.