Archive for November 10th, 2011

Global VFX and digital studio MPC is pleased to announce the recent appointment of Justin Lane as managing director to their New York office. Prior to joining MPC, Lane spent more than seven years as a partner/executive producer at internationally recognized brands Psyop and MassMarket.

“Justin’s appointment will complement the MPC NY team which is already brimming with creative and production talent.,” noted MPC Global MD Graham Bird. “Justin Lane adds another layer of thought leadership at the top of his game that will help push our New York studio to the next level.”

Lane’s hire follows a flurry of high-end MPC projects over the past several months. The studio teamed up with BBH and Stink Digital Director Sebastian Strasser for Internet fashion giant ASOS; with Grey, created a giant CG Panda for DirecTV’s latest spot ‘Whale’; sent cows crowd-surfing in ‘Electric Cattle’ for GE with BBDO New York and Traktor; and created a unique interactive sound installation for Kyocera with Mother New York at Virgin Mobile’s FreeFest.

“I’m excited about joining MPC and working with their buttoned-up crew,” stated Lane. “This is a major brand with a strong global footprint and rock-solid foundation. I’m humbled by the opportunity and thrilled to see where we can push the boundaries in this ever-changing market.”

Lane’s credits while at Psyop/MassMarket include: Allstate ‘Mr. Mayhem,’ Snickers ‘Betty White,’ Monster.com ‘Legs,’ Absolut ‘Dissection’ and Nike ‘Human Chain.’ Notable awards include three for AICP, two Clios and a Bronze Lion at Cannes.

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About MPC
MPC is an award winning VFX and Digital studio servicing the advertising, motion picture and television industries. From its London, New York, Santa Monica, Vancouver, and Bangalore offices, MPC’s dynamic and diverse team delivers industry-defining VFX, animation, motion graphics, color grading, production, projection mapping, social and mobile application development, online advertising, data management, software R&D and pipeline development.

With a trio of integrated divisions, MPC utilizes a unified approach that drives the use of existing or newly created assets across the whole range of today’s media landscape. MPC Creative handles client projects directly with top-notch directing, CG animation and character design. MPC FX Studio is a dedicated corps of graphic and digital designers who bring clients’ visions to life. MPC Data Lab processes the content and makes it available for editing on demand. MPC is a Technicolor Company.

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More info: TRUST 646 452 3388 (NY) 310 451 5153 (LA) trustcollective.com

“From Dark to Light,” a 1:45 experimental essay film directed by Benita Raphan, in collaboration with Johnnie Semerad of QuietMan, premiered at the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame Gala Thursday night. The short features Marshall Arisman, famed American artist and painter, commercial illustrator, as well as educator and SVA Chair for the past 44 years.

“Marshall Arisman was the first ‘real,’ Artist that I met in NYC,” Raphan explained. “So, in 2011, to be asked to make a film for his induction into the ADC Hall of Fame was a real honor. Anyone who knows anything about Marshall and his world-class reputation knows that everything he does, he does in an atypical fashion. This is as true a portrait of the Artist as I could have ever hoped to offer.”

Raphan’s work is well recognized for its groundbreaking nature. In a handwritten dedication to his book, “The Big Idea,” George Lois called Raphan “the Renaissance artist of our time.”

QuietMan’s Johnnie Semerad noted, “As a young artist I was inspired by Marshall’s work. Now, I’m inspired by Benita and her work, so this was the perfect project for me to work on. It was one of those dream jobs.”

Honorary Chairs for the evening included Jon Kamen, @radical.media, and George Lois, America’s Master Communicator and ADC past president. Also honored for lifetime achievement were John C. Jay, Partner/Executive Creative Director Worldwide for Wieden + Kennedy and veteran spot director Joe Pytka.

In describing Raphan’s work, Jay said, “Benita Raphan is a filmmaker with an unusual view of the world. Her ability to go deep into the creative mind and help her audience to understand intuitive ideas without literal explanations is an art form in and of itself.”

(“From Dark to Light” Trailer and stills © Pete the Dog Productions 2011)

Visit Benita Raphan
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Credits
Director: Benita Raphan
Production Company: Pete the Dog Productions
Director of Cinematography: David Morabito
Composer: Robert Miller
Director of Post Production: Rosemary Quigley

Editorial Company: Hooligan
Editor: Peter Mostert

Audio Post Production: Sound Lounge
Sound Design: Marshall Grupp
Sound Re-recording Mixer: Juan Acevez

Mix: Sound Lounge

Color Grading: Nice Shoes
Colorist: Gene Curley

Legal: Mike Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz, PC
About Benita Raphan
Benita Raphan is a Director and Designer for print and television. She was represented briefly by Joy Films, in London, and returned to NYC to open Pete the Dog Productions in 2000. SHOOT Magazine featured her in their “New Director’s Issue” in 2008. Another Sundance Channel film that she produced and directed, was featured in “Creativity Magazine’s No-Spot Short Film Festival.” Raphan has produced and directed a series of original content documentaries in collaboration with the following leaders in the post-production world; Nice Shoes; jumP; Manic; Crew Cuts; Hooligan; SUSPECT; Coda and Sound Lounge. Her films have been presented on HBO, The Sundance Channel, Channel Four Television, UK, PBS, and at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Benita has worked as a designer for clients as diverse as Yves Saint Laurent, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Wieden + Kennedy, Deutsch, Inc., Knopf, and The New York Times Op-Ed Page. She has received Gold medals from The Art Directors Club, Le Club Des Directeurs Artistiques, Paris and The Broadcast Designers’ Awards. Her work is in the permanent collection of The Cooper Hewitt, The Edwin R. Ruben Film and Video Study Center at the Walker Art Center, the British Artists’ Film & Video Study Collection, Harvard University, Stanford University, The British Arts Council, and at The Warsaw Poster Biennale. Her films have been presented in London at The ICA and The National Portrait Gallery, and in the United States at The Kennedy Center and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her films have also been shown at the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and London Film Festival.

More info: TRUST 646 452 3388 (NY) 310 451 5153 (LA) trustcollective.com

SAN DIEGO, California – Leading the transition for IEEE 802.1 Audio Video Bridging (AVB) networking in the professional audio space, President of Lab X Technologies and Marketing Work Chair of the AVnu Alliance, Lee Minich, is slated to discuss the latest in AVB and its importance in the recording and audio engineering industry during AES’s 44th Conference on Audio Networking. As a networking solution design resource for audio manufacturers, Minich will discuss network protocol, the design of AVB hardware and the future of AVB in the industry.

“AVB has emerged as one of the most important technologies in the professional audio industry, from recording studios to live sound applications, among many others,” stated Minich. “Working with my colleagues and peers at the AES conference, we will discuss the state of the art of networked audio, including the standards of AVB and how manufacturers are integrating the technology into products across the globe. AVB forms the cornerstone of converged networks, which leverage the benefits of the IT world with the manageability and simplicity that only intelligent media aware infrastructure provides.”

AVnu Alliance is a sponsor of the conference.

Friday, November 18, 4PM:
Demonstration and Panel Discussion: Network Control Protocols
Minich will introduce Lab X’s core concepts and demonstrate a setup of Lab X technology.

Saturday, November 19, 1:30PM:
Panel Discussion: Audio Network Product Design
Minich will present Lab X’s network and network interface with target systems. Full coverage of basic information of Lab X AVB, operating principles and advantages will be presented, as well as intellectual property considerations and the process of integrating Lab X hardware into audio projects and products around the globe. A brief Q&A session will take place after Minich’s presentation.

Sunday, November 20, 2:30PM:
Panel Discussion: Future Directions for Audio Networking
Minich, representing the AVnu Alliance, will discuss the future of AVB integration and its impact on the industry, the AVnu Alliance standards of AVB and the overall power and capabilities of the technology.

For more information and a complete list of events / presentations at the AES 44th Conference on Audio Networking, visit http://www.aes.org/conferences/44/.

For more information on Lab X Technologies and AVB, please visit http://www.labxtechnologies.com. For the AVnu alliance, visit http://www.avnu.org.

About Lab X Technologies

Founded in 1996, Lab X Technologies, LLC is a Rochester, New York-based engineering design firm and platform provider recognized as a global leader in digital A/V transport and network connectivity, with extensive experience in applying AVB (Audio Video Bridging).

Lab X partners with leading manufacturers to accelerate product development cycles and enable digital network interoperability by augmenting internal design teams, licensing IP platforms, providing pre-engineered connectivity modules, developing innovative product concepts, and producing complete turnkey custom solutions. Please visit http://www.labxtechnologies.com for more information.

About AVnu Alliance
AVnu Alliance is an industry forum dedicated to the advancement of professional-quality audio video by promoting the adoption of the IEEE 802.1 Audio Video Bridging (AVB), and the related IEEE 1722 and IEEE 1733, standards over various networking link-layers. The organization will is creating compliance test procedures and processes that ensure AVB interoperability of networked A/V devices, helping to provide the highest quality streaming A/V experience. The Alliance promotes awareness of the benefits of AVB technologies and collaborates with other organizations to provide a better end-user A/V experience.

New York City, Nov. 10, 2011 – For client Hasbro, Gravity has produced a stunning, action-packed, 30-second animated spot which brings the “Battleship Live” board game to life. Gravity produced the spot through agency UPROAR! Zviah Eldar, Gravity CEO/Chief Creative Director, and Bob Samuel, Gravity’s CMO/Executive Producer, made the announcement. The “Battleship LIVE” spot was part of a larger package that Gravity produced for Hasbro and UPROAR!, which also included spots promoting “Monopoly LIVE” and other products.

In the “Battleship LIVE” spot, we see a fast paced aerial view of a fleet of battleships as they come under attack by a squadron of fighter jets. Seamen onboard the ships retaliate to the attack by firing missiles against the invading air force. Explosions abound as an enormous tower suddenly emerges from the sea, shooting red lasers at the enemy aircraft. To view Gravity’s work on this project, please see:

http://gravity.wiredrive.com/l/p/?presentation=9244c934134e9acb23cd09a910f7d98a

Said Samuel, “Almost everyone here grew up playing the classic ‘Battleship’ game, and now, many of us play it with our kids! So the opportunity to work on this spot was exciting right from the start. The fact that this assignment allowed Gravity to create some really kick-ass photoreal military animation was more than enough for us to embrace this terrific project.”

Gravity’s Creative Directors Harry Dorrington and Yuval Levy led the team. Dorrington, also Director of the spot, said, “Our goal with this spot was to provide a visceral, highly realistic piece of animation that would serve as a ‘call to action’ so that viewers will visit the website to learn more about the modernized version of this classic game. Viewers will be intrigued and excited by this new twist on the traditional ‘Battleship’ — which is now electronic and features a massive control tower. We depicted one naval force challenging another in this piece, keeping the fun of the traditional game intact, while notching up the excitement to a new dynamic level. We initially provided our clients with start frames and treatments to help bring this spot to life, and we ultimately delivered a feature film-style reference to the animated battleships, jet fighters, and turbulent seascape within the narrative.”

Says Levy, “We wanted to make a strong visual connection for the viewer here, between the classic ‘Battleship’ board game and today’s modern era videogame play. To do so, we took a videogame cinematic style approach, depicting to our viewers that playing this famous game is still as exciting as it’s always been, but now that it’s been updated and modernized with an electronic tower, the imagination of the player is now even more heightened than in the past. Perhaps our biggest challenge in the spot was to create the CG water and water simulations, presenting the clash of these two massive naval forces in a hyper realistic way. To us, this spot is comparable to a movie trailer for an imaginary film – it presents the buildup to a dramatic war, with the viewer wanting to see how the action will ultimately play itself out in the end.”

UPROAR! Chief Creative Officer Erik Nelson said, “We enlisted the help of Gravity to deliver triple AAA video game quality animation for the newest innovation from Hasbro — the LIVE game tower. This new way to play face to face has been built into two of Hasbro’s biggest brands, Monopoly and Battleship. Our challenge was to get kids, tweens and teens to choose this new evolution of board gaming over the vast array of digital gaming options. To make the challenge even more difficult, we were burdened with a lean budget and a tight timeline. The concept was to bring the fantasy of each gaming experience (Monopoly & Battleship) to life in CG, and then introduce the new, all-powerful LIVE Tower to disrupt the action. The result would show the dynamic new
gameplay the LIVE Tower adds to each game.”

“Harry, Yuval, Russ and the entire team at Gravity delivered in spades,” Nelson continues. “The end product was truly beautiful animation with a very unique look. Our goal of appealing to our target by playing in the visual world of video games lent an authenticity to Monopoly and Battleship LIVE that I believe is sure to drive sales. We are looking forward to the holiday shopping season to see how LIVE performs at retail. Win or lose, UPROAR! will most definitely be
working with Gravity again in the near future.”

Adds UPROAR! Creative Director Dan Lombardi, “When we approached Gravity’s Bob Samuel about its this live gaming project, we had three issues…1) Timing, 2) Budget and 3 Quality for the Timing and Budget. The Gravity team took on the challenge and never looked back. UPROAR!’s goal was to create a new vision for classic board games like ‘Battleship’ and ‘Monopoly,’ and show how these games are evolving for the next generation of board gamers. Gravity brought an energy and enthusiasm to the project that matched our own.”

He adds, “From the first pitch materials to the final cut, Gravity went above and beyond, and never failed to impress. Plenty of obstacles were thrown in their path, yet the Gravity team kept its focus on moving forward and turning out the best commercials possible. When the project started out behind schedule, Gravity forged ahead and continued to churn out top quality animation. Without their commitment and focus on the big picture we would have never been able to have the success we’ve had.”

“Harry, Yuval, Bob and the Gravity team brought a ‘can do’ attitude to the project, and a sense of optimism that kept it moving ahead, on time, and on budget. And the results are stunning. We couldn’t be happier with the final output,” Lombardi concludes.

CREDITS FOR “BATTLESHIP LIVE” SPOT:
Client: Hasbro
Agency: UPROAR! Dallas & NY
Erik Nelson, Chief Creative Officer
Dan Lombardi, Creative Director
Mark Mazut, Creative Director
Mindy Miller Berg, Amy Shore, Agency Producers
Production, Visual Effects & Editorial Company: Gravity, New York
Zviah Eldar, CEO/Chief Creative Officer
Harry Dorrington, Director/Creative Director
Yuval Levy, Creative Director
Russ Dube, Producer
Karen Bianca Bisignano, Head of Production
Bob Samuel, Executive Producer
Music & Sound Design:
Amber Music
Sound Design: Andy Brannan
Composer: Eugene Cho
Music Supervision: Mike Perri
Executive Music Producer: Michelle Curran

ABOUT GRAVITY:

Gravity is an international visual effects, design and brand communications company with proven expertise in three integrated divisions: Features & Television, Commercials, and Digital. With 250 talented professionals across offices in New York, Los Angeles, Connecticut and Tel Aviv, the company is a widely renowned generator of high-end visual effects, creative content, motion graphics design, animation, branding, and digital strategy.

The company’s clients include Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Sony Pictures Entertainment, HBO, Paramount Pictures, The Weinstein Company, Dimension Films, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Mercedes Benz, Verizon, Pantene, MGA Entertainment, Carlsberg, Kmart, and Braun. Gravity’s recent feature film credits include “Tower Heist,” “Crazy, Stupid, Love”, “The Adjustment Bureau”, “Arthur”, “The Other Guys”, “Salt”, “The Reader”, and “Ghost Town.” The company’s television credits include HBO’s “Bored to Death”, “The Sopranos”, and “Sex and The City.”

Gravity’s New York office is located at 315 Madison Avenue, 3rd Floor, New York, NY, 10017. The phone is 212/986-1584. The company’s West Coast office is located in the Lantana Building, 3000 West Olympic Blvd., Santa Monica, CA, 90404. The phone is 310/264-3909. For more information, please visit www.gravityworld.com

ABOUT UPROAR!

UPROAR! is the kid and family centered marketing agency that ignites these markets with inspired creative fueled by passion and insight. UPROAR! is the only resource within the Omnicom system dedicated to the $100+billion market of kids, tweens, teens and their moms.

“Kids and families are the center of our universe. We uniquely connect to these markets by overturning conventional thought, kicking in the doors of common creative and believing nothing is impossible.” Make a change… start an UPROAR! For more info, please visit: www.uproar.us.com

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Burbank, CA – Vin Di Bona Productions, best known as the creator of “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” is now in its twenty-second year on ABC Television. Vin Di Bona Productions recently expanded its Avid Unity MediaNetwork™ for the third time with Archion Technologies’ Synergy high-performance storage system. Used by thousands of clients worldwide, Synergy integrates seamlessly with Unity and provides greater scalability and protection without compromising workflow and performance.

Last season, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” moved into High-Definition (HD) production, utilizing the 64 terabytes (TB) of Synergy storage to handle AFV as well as all of the content produced by FishBowl Worldwide Media, its new, next-generation studio founded in January 2010.

“We continue to add Archion’s Synergy storage to accomplish what we want without affecting our workflow,” said Sharon Arnett, Vice President of Post Production, Vin Di Bona Productions and FishBowl Worldwide Media. “Synergy has been a key part of our facility upgrade to HD and continues to be a cost-effective and highly efficient product for us, particularly as we expand into new shows with FishBowl.”

Arnett noted that FishBowl is now in production on a new TV series, “Treasure Chase,” for the Discovery Channel as well as new television shows for HGTV, MTV and truTV. FishBowl is also producing two hit web series, “Ultimate Proposal,” for Yahoo with 1.75 million views for the first webisode, and “Cute Win Fail,” currently in the YouTube Comedy Channel Top 20 with more than 10 million video views.

Key Code Media, an Archion reseller and one of Avid’s largest resellers, made the recommendation to Vin Di Bona Productions to continue to add Archion storage and then guided them through the purchase decision and installation.

“We have a strong relationship with Key Code Media and are also very happy with Archion’s very personal customer support,” Arnett added. “They’ve been great to work with; it’s wonderful to have them both working closely together as a team to satisfy our needs.”

“‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’ has been on the air for more than 20 years, and their library of content is constantly increasing in size, especially since they started broadcasting in HD last season,” said Zeke Margolis of Key Code Media. “Archion’s Synergy allows Vin Di Bona Productions to keep up with their growing storage needs by scaling their Unity in the most cost-effective manner possible. We have upgraded their Unity with Archion three times now, and each time the process has been seamless.”

“We are delighted that Vin Di Bona Productions continues to see that adding Synergy storage to their Unity MediaNetwork is their best option for improving their workflow,” said Daniel Stern, Archion’s Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Customers like these underscore our commitment to providing a compelling alternative to adding Avid storage or going through the expense and time of switching to a completely different shared storage platform.”

The Synergy Line
Archion’s line of RAID storage for Avid’s Unity MediaNetwork and Media Engine platforms has been proven with thousands of clients worldwide. The Synergy XTR™ extends the Synergy’s abilities to a full 800 MB/second and increases its capacity to an amazing 32TBs in a single chassis for Unity Media Engine (5.x). It is also certified for use with Unity MediaNetworks (v4.1x – 4.2x) and is fully compatible with other Archion-certified Unity add-on storage systems.

Synergy storage systems deliver 8-, 16- or 32 TB of storage in a compact three-rack unit design with a 16-drive chassis. With its built-in, highly intelligent hardware RAID controller to manage storage more efficiently, Synergy XTR automatically rebuilds a faulty drive so that the rest of the network is unaffected by the drive failure.

With the award winning and patent-pending Vdisk™ technology, Archion ensures compatibility between versions and that operation is transparent to the Unity system. Synergy XTR RAID controllers manage the disk drives, RAID sets and Vdisks in a more efficient manner, requiring far fewer drives than Avid storage subsystems to deliver higher capacities and resolutions.

White Paper on Hardware RAID Protection in Avid Unity Environment Available
To summarize the benefits of Synergy, Archion has published a whitepaper – “Uncovering the Full Potential of Avid Unity MediaNetworks: Realizing Greater Rewards without the Traditional Risks” – that is available on the Archion website (http://www.archion.com). In addition, a comparison of the two add-on storage chassis — Archion Synergy vs. Avid XT — is also available on the site.

About Vin Di Bona Productions
Vin Di Bona Productions (http://www.vdbp.com) is a television production company that was established by Vin Di Bona in 1986. The company’s first show was “Animal Crack-Ups,” which ran from 1987-1990. Its most popular show is “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” which premiered on ABC on November 26, 1989, and continues to air, now in its twenty-second year. In addition to “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” Vin Di Bona has been a television producer for many television shows, including “America’s Funniest People,” “MacGyver” and “Entertainment Tonight.” FishBowl Worldwide Media is an independent production company founded in 2010 by Di Bona and Bruce Gersh, with a creative team led by Susan Levison and a digital division led by David Beebe. This next-generation studio is a transmedia storyteller that creates content for distribution on multiple platforms from TV, the web, mobile, publishing, licensing and merchandising to DVD and games. http://www.fbwmedia.com

About Archion
Archion Technologies, based in Burbank, CA, is a leading provider of intelligent networked storage solutions specifically designed for post production and graphic professionals. Founded by a team of post production, technology and entertainment industry professionals in 1999, Archion set out to create a new standard of data protection and performance for those creating video, audio and graphical content. Since then, Archion’s high-performance storage technology has been critical to the success of hundreds of TV and feature film projects and is prominently used in Avid, Apple, Adobe, Autodesk and Pro Tools environments. Visit http://www.archion.com for details.

Contact:
Randy Savicky
Strategy+Communications
(203) 226-6156
randy@strategypluscommunications.com

Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 10, 2011 — Independent music publishing company pigFACTORY Music, whose roster includes recordings and songs recorded by artists such as Jordin Sparks, Fatboy Slim, Iggy Pop, and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, has just signed Phil Collen of Def Leppard to a worldwide publishing administration deal. The announcement was made today by Keatly Haldeman, CEO, pigFACTORY Music. (Please note: Photo Credit for Phil Collen photo Courtesy Helen L. Collen)

The new deal allows pigFACTORY to exclusively administer the publishing for all songs that Phil Collen writes with songwriting partner CJ Vanston. Earlier this year, pigFACTORY signed Vanston, a multi-Grammy Award nominated producer, film composer, keyboard player and songwriter. Among many accomplishments, Vanston produced the music for Spinal Tap and serves as the keyboardist in the band.

Together Collen and Vanston penned the song “It’s All About Believing” on Def Leppard’s recent release “Mirrorball’ and they have an upcoming cut on Risa Hirako’s new album on Avex Records. In addition, Vanston’s song “Telephone” has been released on Japanese superstar TVXQ’s new album “Tone,” which recently sold over 200,000 units in its first week of release.

Said Haldeman, “Phil Collen is a world-class superstar musician and songwriter in every sense of the word. His success with Def Leppard holds him in rarefied air. We are thrilled to be collaborating with him as he and CJ continue to co-write terrific material covered by a variety of artists around the world.”

** ABOUT PHIL COLLEN:

Influenced by such guitar players as Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix and Mick Ronson, Phil Collen developed a flashy, aggressive style of guitar playing at a young age. He joined Def Leppard in 1982, during the group’s “Pyromania” album recording sessions, playing guitar solos on the hits “Photograph,” “Foolin’,” and “Rock of Ages.” “Pyromania” was Def Leppard’s breakthrough album and turned the band into rock superstars virtually overnight. “Pyromania” sold in excess of 10 times platinum.

Def Leppard’s next album “Hysteria” was their best seller to date, with seven singles being released including “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Love Bites.” The album sold over 12-million copies in the U.S. alone, placing Def Leppard in the album sales category at the level as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Eagles and Van Halen. During 1992, the Def Leppard album “Adrenalize” was the top album in the U.S. for a time. Other ‘90s top sellers from the band were “Slang” and “Vault,” Def Leppard’s greatest hits album, which achieved quadruple platinum status.

Expanding their reach, Def Leppard later collaborated with two country superstars: Tim McGraw was featured on their “Sparkle Lounge” single “Nine Lives,” and Taylor Swift teamed with them on CMT’s “Crossroads.” Collen also performs as lead vocalist and lead guitarist with the band Manraze. That band’s debut album “Surreal” was released to rave critical reviews. Manraze has released its second album ‘Punkfunkrootsrock’ earlier this year and contains a Vanston produced track “I, Superbiker.” Collen was the only artist to play twice during 2009’s Download Festival, having performed with both Manraze and Def Leppard.

** ABOUT CJ VANSTON:

CJ Vanston is a multi-Grammy Award nominated producer, film composer, keyboard player and songwriter. He has written with songwriters such as Desmond Child, Paul Williams, Barry Mann, Bernie Taupin, Tony Jo White, Kool Kojak, Amy Powers, Michael Jay and Chesney Hawkes, along with a wide range of other co-writers. CJ has attended many writer camps around the world, including Miles Copeland’s Marouatte Castle and Icefusion in Iceland.

CJ has composed music for all four of Christopher Guest’s suite of movies; “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best In Show,” “A Mighty Wind,” and “For Your
Consideration,” in addition to scores for “Almost Heroes,” “Slingshot,” and songs for “Sweet Home Alabama,” and many others. He is also the producer and keyboard player in the legendary group Spinal Tap.

ABOUT PIGFACTORY MUSIC PUBLISHING:

pigFACTORY Music Publishing specializes in the international placement of music in film, television, film trailers, advertising, and videogames, and in the collection of publishing royalties, worldwide. To that end, the company leverages an advanced digital publishing system to proactively exploit its clients’ music catalogues and track music publishing royalties on a global scale. The company represents top songwriters, artists, record producers, labels, and publishers, with a roster of over 250,000 songs, including an extensive selection of classic hits.

pigFACTORY is one of the only highly proactive independent publishers in the international marketplace to affiliate directly with a large number of royalty societies throughout the world. Via its direct memberships and partnerships, and by using state-of-the-art royalty software, pigFACTORY quickly and accurately registers its clients’ song catalogues with the publishing rights societies, and collects ‘at source’ in most major international territories.

The U.S. headquarters of pigFACTORY is 8075 W. Third Street, Suite # 540, Los Angeles, CA, 90048. The phone is 323/653-1200, and the website is www.pigfactory.com

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Richards/Lerma tapped production company Directorz and PrimalScream Music & Sound as part of the key creative team on the new Hispanic and General Market campaign for RAM. The spots, directed by Jeff Bednarz, feature real RAM owners whose trucks are integral to their lives. The success stories are supported by the campaign’s music, creative directed by PrimalScream Music & Sound’s Nicole Dionne.

For PrimalScream Music, which just launched in Austin, the project provided the opportunity to draw upon impressive talent from the region including musicians Alex Marrero, Michael Ramos and Jake Owen who were recorded for original scores by Primal Scream composers Stuart Brawley and Billy West. These signature music tracks were styled as a pitch perfect match to the real people vignettes directed by Jeff Bednarz. Bednarz’ ability to connect with people, allowing them to tell their stories in an open and honest way, shines in this campaign.

“If something such as a human whisperer existed, Jeff would be it! I’m always amazed to watch people just open their hearts and souls when they talk to him,” says agency EP Gabriel Silva. “When you combine magic with a great eye for details and big devotion to the project, you just need to grab a seat, relax, and enjoy the ride…You know you’ll get an amazing spot.”

Commenting on PrimalScream Music & Sound’s contribution to the campaign, Silva continues: “There’s no real secret for success. If you let your passion to drive your creativity, you’ll always end up with amazing results. The passion Nicole and PrimalScream team poured into this job was off the charts.”

To view the campaign: http://bit.ly/RAMcampaign

Credits:
Client: RAM
Advertising Agency: Richards/Lerma
Chief Creative Officer: Stan Richards
Creative Director: Alex Campo
Art Director: Christian Sendra
Copywriter: Alex Campo
Executive Producer: Gabriel Silva
Agency Producer: Gabriel Silva
Director of Broadcast: Greg Gibson

Production Company: Directorz
Director: Jeff Bednarz
Director of Photography: Mark Thomas
Executive Producer: John Gilliland

Music Company: Primal Scream Music
Creative Director: Nicole Dionne

Postproduction Company: 3008 Editorial
Sound Design: Matt Cimino @ 3008 Editorial
Visual Effects: Mark Sullivan @ 3008 Editorial

Telecine: Ntropic
Colorist: Marshall Plante

For preferred Christie® dealer Digital Media Systems, Christie digital cinema projectors were the real “heroes” at the recent New York Comic Con convention and for a special preview of Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated “Hugo” at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. The company provided powerful Christie DLP Cinema® projectors exclusively to screen the latest films for some of the world’s most demanding moviegoers.
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The Jacob Javits Center hosted this year’s New York Comic Con, a convention dedicated to the die-hard fans of science fiction and super heroes. Attracting nearly 100,000 people every year, it is the second largest annual event held in the city. With so many sci-fi blockbuster films awaiting release, directors and movie companies are eager to screen their latest trailers and film clips to whet the appetites of thousands of enthusiastic fans. Digital Media Systems installed a Christie projector in the Javits event hall to light up the huge main screen located on stage, which dominated the room.
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“In such a large venue, with so many discerning fans in the audience, it’s important to use the best projector available to satisfy the speakers’ and audience’s demand for the sharpest and highest quality images,” said Gregg Paliotta, president and owner of Digital Media Systems. “I use Christie projectors exclusively because they are the brightest, most reliable in the industry.”
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On the other side of town that week, actors and directors flooded the city for the 2011 New York Film Festival. Digital Media Systems again “saved the day” with a Christie projector, transforming Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall from an opera hall to a cinema house in less than 48 hours. In addition to the Christie digital projector, they supplied a silver screen for optimal 3D images, draped the entire theater to improve acoustics, and built a special projection booth from scratch. Paramount Pictures financed the work in order to host a surprise preview of Academy-Award winning Director Martin Scorsese’s new film, “Hugo.” Although not yet completed, “Hugo” is Scorsese’s first 3D feature film.
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The success of the screening was crucial for Paramount Pictures and Scorsese because, “There is a big push this time of year to get lots of new movies screened and checked before the holiday season,” explained Paliotta. Paramount Pictures needed the brightest projector possible to ensure that the screening would meet client and audience needs. According to Paliotta, the Christie projector “blew everyone away,” by generating the sharpest, highest quality images ever seen for 3D – pleasing its sponsors and surpassing all expectations. The audience presented Scorsese with a standing ovation.
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“I have a long existing relationship with Paramount, which is distributing the film, and they asked me to set up the projection system for the movie preview. I know what Paramount likes, and I am always confident that Christie projectors will come through to satisfy my clients’ demands and even exceed their expectations. That’s why I choose Christie,” said Paliotta. “I trust Christie’s products and I believe they are the best in the industry.”
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Digital Media Systems provides complete equipment and engineering support for world premiere and preview screenings. It also provides multiplex and screening room installation service and maintenance.

Mobile production company rolls into Missouri to offer production services for special Veterans Day episode

NASHVILLE, November 10, 2011 – Emmy-award winning mobile production company TNDV is proud to announce its participation in a special one-hour episode of the popular ABC Series Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, airing Friday, November 11 at 8pm EST.

The Veterans Day fundraising special, featuring guest appearances from Jewel, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams, will salute military families and focus on issues faced by veterans. Additional celebrity guests will request donations to groups that support military veterans.

The special episode, titled “Rise and Honor,” was shot in Waynesville, Missouri. The multi-camera shoot captures the various celebrity appearances and other on-location footage from a local school. The footage will intersperse with a storyline surrounding new home construction for families in Joplin, Missouri, the site of a devastating EF5 tornado in May that caused extensive and catastrophic damage throughout the city.

TNDV arrived onsite for the shoot in late October, opening its 40-foot expanding side mobile production truck, Aspiration, to the cast and crew of the show. Nic Dugger, president of TNDV, noted that his company’s involvement in the project was extremely special on a professional level.

“To get a call from a major broadcast network let alone a successful and popular show is a huge honor,” said Dugger. “This is further accentuated by the fact that we are not local to the site location, and were selected because the show felt we were up to the task. Professionally, it is an incredible feeling to have that trust bestowed upon us.”

TNDV arrived with the task of building a temporary TV production system on a site with no existing infrastructure. TNDV established a multi-camera system with multi-track audio recording, intercom systems, signal routing and distribution, and playback systems for multiple LED screen and plasma monitors in the auditorium. Dugger and his team also quickly converted Aspiration’s HD 16×9 system to accommodate the show’s SD 4×3 broadcast format on short notice.

The comprehensive solution allowed the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition crew to record all cameras individually and leave the site with a live-switched, real-time line cut and a full audio mix with multi-track recording — enabling the team to easily incorporate footage from the new home builds around Joplin.

Dugger added that his company’s participation was also an honor on a personal level, and that he enjoyed working with Ty Pennington, Jewel and the entire technical crew of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

“It was nice to not only do the work we love to do and collaborate with outstanding professionals while doing it, but also impact the community and leave residual soundwaves that will last for years to come,” he said.

ABOUT Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
The Emmy award winning reality program “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” now in its 9th season, is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. It’s executive-produced by Brady Connell and George Verschoor. David Goldberg is Chairman, Endemol North America. Episodes air Friday nights from 8:00 – 9:00pm, ET on ABC.

ABOUT TNDV: Television
Formed in 2004, TNDV: Television represents the culmination of many years of broadcast and live production for Nic Dugger, owner and president; and his talented crew of freelancers throughout the country. TNDV is capable of producing events from small single-camera productions all the way up to multi-million dollar international TV events, and takes pride in building custom solutions for challenging productions of any size, in any situation. TNDV has recently provided production services for clients including BET, CMT, SPEED, and PBS. Look for upcoming projects such as “Celtic Women:Live”, PassTime on SPEED, and the American Music Awards. Call 615-585-6528 or visit www.tndv.com for more information.

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Cambridge, MA – iZotope, Inc., a leading innovator in digital audio signal processing, announces the release of Ozone 5 and Ozone 5 Advanced. Ozone 5 is an update to iZotope’s critically acclaimed software mastering suite. Ozone 5 Advanced is a professional mastering suite that expands Ozone’s feature set with individual component plug-ins, extended features, and the brand-new Ozone Meter Bridge.
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