Push This

Sports Video of the Year

2010-06-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

Since our last post in the beginning of February much has happened -- obviously since it's been four months. But the most recent noteworthy event has to do with the subject of our last post on Feb 9th, the 2009 Football Highlight Video.

As you know, our work with the University of Oregon Athletic department over the past few years has produced over twenty highlight videos, but our work this year was recognized as exceptional and nominated by the Athletic's Video Dpt for a College Sports Media Award.

The 2009 Football Highlight Video was nominated in the Collegiate 1 Category for Special Feature. The awards were announced at the College Sports Video Summit (sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics - NACDA and the Sports Video Group - SVG) on June 8th and our team was awarded first place. Jayson was in Atlanta to accept the award for the team - and rumor has it, his speech was short and sweet.

Shortly after the win for Special Feature, the award for Best Video Overall was announced...and our video took top honor again, winning over entries from national commercial television networks CBS and ESPN. Yes, we're proud. Very proud.

I can't show you a photo of the trophies yet cause they're sending them in the mail, they're a bit to pokey to take on an airplane.

If you haven't seen the video yet, scroll down to the previous post or watch it on vimeo here

www.pushplaypro.com

UO Football Recruit Video

2010-02-09T15:31:00.000-08:00

*note: If you're viewing this post via a blog reader, please click through to the website to view the video below.

As the year came to an end, our project schedule became more packed, so I'm playing catch up here on the blog.

One of the major projects we completed was the Football recruit video for the University of Oregon. Man, what a year to have this job! The excitement around Head Coach Chip Kelly's first year and the record-breaking team made our job that much more enjoyable.

Our production team worked closely with the UO Athletic department on potential concepts for the video and all season we had cameras on the field. We even had the rare opportunity to be in the locker room after the Pac-10 Championship was won.

During the post-production phase of the project, we combined footage from the 2009 Season that was shot on Film, with our Red Rock and prime lenses, and on the high definition Panasonic HPX500s. Our experienced editing team, including graphic and motion graphic designers, worked hour upon hour to create the final piece. Our in house composer created the opening music while working closely with our head editor on the fx and audio mix and finally adding in a little orchestral treatment to the closing music.

As with all of our clients, we are proud to have been given the opportunity to create this final video and we look forward to next season where we're sure Chip Kelly and the Ducks won't disappoint.

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Client Spotlight: Walsh Construction

2009-11-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

Walsh hired us to create a compelling 2-3 minute video highlighting specific key messages: Exceeding Expectations, Leading Innovations, and Creating Community

The first challenge we faced with this project was an accelerated time line which lead to an obviously tight production schedule. We had less than a month from the start of pre-production on October 21st to the final video delivery date on November 18th, 2009. Our pre-production time line was compacted into a few short days, which included the location scout, pre-interviews, and the creative collaboration with Walsh.

The following photos highlight one of the aspects of collaboration. Walsh showcases completed projects throughout their office building on large full color posters.

From Push This

We then took photographs of the projects we were going to feature in the video and created a photoshop mock up for their graphic designer to create overnight.

We filmed Walsh's client interviews in Portland on October 28th and had an early call time for our crew to accommodate the schedules, due to the short notice, of the interviewees. (Check out the photographs in the background of the first interviewee.)

In the final video we ended up blending two of the interviews we filmed with an interview Walsh provided for us (filmed by an independent contractor in Idaho). In addition to the backdrop photograph boards we utilized Walsh's vast photography archive, that are taken during all stages of their past projects, and employed a motion graphics environment to create movement in place of the lack of broll footage. There were also a few elements that took skill and collaboration from multiple members on our team that we'll leave for you to guess about, but that we'll feature on the blog in the future.

www.pushplaypro.com

Tim Burton at MOMA

2009-11-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is presenting the work of Tim Burton. MOMA posted this video interview with him about his work.

found via swissmiss
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It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2009-11-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

Just the other day I was looking back at the previous year's blog posts and realized that it's almost time for our second annual holiday card! If you missed last year's, here it is again for your viewing pleasure.

From Push This

"So what's the problem?" You ask. "Last year's was great!"

But you see, that's the trouble...all of us dressed in turtlenecks and big ugly holiday themed things pinned to our sweaters, all the while sitting with Mall Santa and behaving like children, that's a tough act to follow. But we're determined that this year's is going to be even better! We're tossing around some ideas right now, but if you have a hilarious scenario brewing that you want to share, why not go ahead and share with us?

And to help you get in the spirit of last year's theme, you can go here and make your own holiday sweater. It's (at least) minutes of fun!

www.pushplaypro.com

Autzen on Halloween: Motion Graphics Graveyard

2009-11-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

As the holiday season rounds the corner into Thanksgiving, take a moment and check out the Halloween themed animation we did for the opening of the UO football team's motivational for their 10/31/09 game against USC

Oregon Gridiron

Follow the link above and click on the video: UO 47, USC 20
Then let us know what you think.

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Beatles Flow Chart

2009-11-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

(via swissmiss / bobulate / coudal)

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Countdown to Halloween - The Blob (1955)

2009-10-29T14:21:00.001-07:00

Megamovies

2009-10-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

The Atlantic Monthly has a fascinating article about Mad Men, which it dubs a "mega-movie". Like the shows that paved the way (Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood, Big Love), Mad Men takes the medium of television and creates long-form dramatic narratives that ask a bit more of its audience. Film critic Vincent Canby wrote that a defining characteristic of the megamovie—a genre whose leisurely pace allows for an almost novelistic vividness and accretion of detail—was its commitment to observing its “time and place … with satiric exactitude.” Interesting piece.

(Hums the theme..."Duh-nuh, duh-nuh...duh-nuh, duh-nuh...", smokes a cigarette, asks his girl to take a letter and realizes you can't do that at the office anymore.)

Will this form last or simply plateau and then fade away? Will they, can they do a comedy this way? What do you think?

www.pushplaypro.com

Dellinger Invitational at the Springfield Country Club

2009-10-05T11:37:00.000-07:00

We headed out to the Springfield Country Club, on Friday October 2nd, for the Dellinger Invitational. The clouds threatened rain, but the course stayed clear through both the women's and the men's cross country races, there were even a few moments of sun breaks.

The women ran first on a 5,000 meter course and the Duck women finished as a team in second place, with Alexandra Kosinski finishing at 16:25.75 finishing on the heels of winner Sheila Reid (16:22.92), a Junior from Villanova.

The women catch their breath after the race.

The Oregon fans are amazing, not only were we racing back and forth along the course to catch the runners as they flew by, but so were all the fans. It was quite

Fans race across the course to catch a view of the runners

the sight to see everyone running across the golf course from one row of yellow flags to another, just in time to cheer as the pack raced by, before running back across the field to catch the pack again.

The Oregon Men prepare for the race

The men's 8,000 meter race thrilled the crowd with the field tightly packed for the first two loops, until Alabama's Tyson David (23:37.71) and Julius Bor (23:38.38) broke ahead to finish first and second, with Matthew Centrowitz of Oregon finishing fourth with 23:39.87. No.1 ranked Oregon took team third overall.

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UO Football vs. CAL

2009-09-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

One of our clients we haven't spoken about yet on the blog is the University of Oregon Athletic Department. Being that Pushplay is located in Eugene, and we have UO Alumni on staff, you would think our work with them would've previously hit these pages. There's no doubt if you're a Duck fan you've seen our work for the Athletic Department somewhere, whether it was online, a video purchased at the Duck Store, or on the Jumbo Tron at a UO game. But, unless you're a UO Student, or more specifically a UO player, our work may have slipped by unnoticed. Well, after the blowout Football game this past Saturday against CAL with a Duck win of 42-3, our lips have been officially unsealed. We've always been proud of the Ducks, and proud of the work we do for all the Athletic Teams, and it's time we shared our inside perspective with the fans.

We get more than up close and personal with the players. Our camera is in the huddle and on the field during the game, running with the team.

photos by Bryan Myss

Don't worry Duck fans, you don't have to wait until the end of the year to watch highlights produced by Pushplay Productions and our sibling company Thoroughfare Films.

Check back to the Push This blog each week throughout the year after home games for insights, teaser videos, or on the field/court coverage you'll only find here.

In August we began our third season partnering with Oregon Films and want to give props to Steve Pohl in the Athletic Video Department, check out the motivational videos each week at OregonGridiron.com

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Comic Illustration with the Copic Airbrush System

2009-09-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

As you've heard previously on the blog, Imagination International hired us to create a series of educational DVD's for their amazing Airbrush System, and we've reached another mile-marker in the project.

The Comic Book Illustration DVD featuring Travis and Jordan Kotzebue, Professional Comic Artists, has been shipped to stores and is available to purchase online. Check it out on the Copic Website or purchase it online at Amazon.

Copic describes the series on their website as:

This educational airbrushing series is made up of three separate DVD's. Get the complete lowdown on the in's and out's of the COPIC Airbrush system by viewing the entire series.

You will be introduced to the ABS system in its different forms and learn how to set it up, troubleshoot problems, maintain it and break it back down. In addition you will be taught basic airbrushing techniques. Comic Illustration featuring Jordan & Travis Kotzebue Professional Comic Artists show you how they use the ABS to bring comic illustrations to life.

Look for the content as on online download coming soon!

www.pushplaypro.com

Anime Motion Graphics Promo

2009-09-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

For those readers that were not at Anime Expo 2009 this past July, here is the animated promo Copic Marker had playing in their booth. We incorporated illustrations from their new ink pen point-of-sale display (by Courtney Stubbert) into a motion graphic explosion of awesome.

We hope you like it, we sure do.

Copic Anime Expo Booth from Pushplay Productions on Vimeo.

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Copic Markers & the Airbrush System

2009-08-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

This promo video for Imagination International focuses on their commitment to creating engaging, educational materials for the community of artists that utilize their products.

In other news, our project with Imagination International to create an educational DVD series for their amazing Airbrush System has reached a major mile-marker. The Papercrafting DVD featuring Ellen Hutson has been shipped to stores and is available to purchase from Ellen's store online here.

Check out the entire series HERE

www.pushplaypro.com

Krafting

2009-07-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

When preparing for a video, one of the first things discussed is what we’re going to shoot. In order to tell this story, what do we need to see? What are our locations? Who will we interview? Footage, footage, footage. Well…every once in a blue moon, the clients says, “Hi. We want a video, but don’t want you to film anything.”

(blink… blink) Seriously. It happens.

So what do we do now? It turns out that there are actually a number of options. This project came with a number of hurdles. One was the time crunch. The client needed the job finished within about a week. Second was the script. We had a rough script from the client that had to be trimmed down from ten pages to about two. Third was distance. Despite the ability for instant communication to anywhere on the planet, there’s something to be said for being in the same room with someone while trying to work things out. And in this case, we were working with a third party who was essentially a middleman between us and the client.

Our client was Kraft Foods. The project was a 2-4 minute video designed to play at a inter-company conference announcing a new direction for the 106-year old corporation. Our video was to help reinforce the message they were sending to all levels of their global company. You can read more about the conference and the mission here.

With a company as large and far reaching as Kraft, the kind change in direction they were going for required a great deal of information to be relayed. This can be done visually to a point, using video, photos, and on-screen text. But if no interviews are to be shot, voice-over narration is almost a must. Our starting script was really just a ten page long summary of the intended presentation. We worked with our writers to trim down and clean up the content script, trying to find the balance of concision and clarity in the form of narration. But for each revision, we also needed approval from the client. While necessary, it also takes time, which we didn’t have a lot of.

While the script was being finished, we worked on casting the voice. In this case, we needed an authoritative voice that also conveyed a sense of understanding and compassion. We hired a professional voice over artist who came to our studios to record.

Included in the script were quotes from everyday people about the different foods they love. We sent our audio guy out on the street with a microphone asking the question, “What was the best thing you’ve eaten recently?” Some of the actual quotes were perfect. Some needed to be “created” using professional voice talent from around the country. The goal being to make the genuine and the staged quotes indistinguishable.

Some clients have enough previously shot material that you can supplement it for location footage and the like. Fortunately for us, Kraft foods is a large company with a long history of promotional materials and commercials. Due to the physical distance between us and the company, and the quick turnaround for the project, we weren’t necessarily able to just walk into a giant vault and start picking out what we wanted. Some video footage was to be had, but we creativity was needed. This meant using some screen capture software and utilizing photo libraries to get images of all of the different foods that were being mentioned.

All of the visual elements were put together using After Effects (motion graphics software) which enables us to take existing footage and create a visual mini-universe. Utilizing our in-house composer, the custom music enabled us to hit an emotional tone more precisely.

It’s a very different form of storytelling than having the ability to shoot what you need. However, it can also be very effective when you create a universe that the viewer wants to be a part of. In the end, the client was very happy with our work which, of course, always makes us happy.

www.pushplaypro.com

The Sweet Spot

2009-02-09T14:37:00.000-08:00

This is the first of what I hope will be an ongoing series about the process of putting music to image. As Pushplay's in-house composer, I am responsible for finding the musical counterpoint to the visual storytelling we provide for our clients. When it comes to 2-4 minute promotional films, which are a lot of our projects, this can be kind of tricky, as each story requires a certain nuance to keep it from slipping into schmaltzy territory. So often, telling a story that intends to motivate or inspire can get heavy handed and end up drowning in sentiment.

So how do we find the nuance? How do we walk the thin line between touching and tacky? After taking the client through our creative process I work closely with our production team. We discuss the overall goal of the piece, listen to numerous tracks from other composers and then I experiment with a few sounds. Now traditionally, in film scoring, a composer will sit down with the director and watch a cut of the entire film and discuss when and where there should be music. Most often the film has already been cut together using temp music. (That is previously recorded music being used temporarily to help establish the tone and feel of scenes.) Other times call for the composer to write some music before anything is cut (or shot). I call this writing blind. While we have worked with temp tracks in the past (more on that in another post), I try to get started composing as early as possible. Also, since we’re not working with a traditionally narrative structure, it’s easier to decide if the piece will work just by listening to a sample track.

First, I create a (30-60 second) demo that attempts to capture the general feel of the story and send it to Jayson and Meg. They usually talk amongst themselves and then discus their thoughts with me on where it should go. Often enough, by the time they come back to me with comments, I have my own additional criticisms as well. At this point I write a longer version that hits the desired length of the finished piece. This allows Jayson to begin cutting. After the rough cut there are inevitably changes needed to emphasize the movement and emotion of the cut. So, we sit together with the timeline and make the necessary adjustments before presenting it to the client.

There can be hurdles that pop up from time to time, they can range from easy to fix mixing issues (e.g.: drums are too loud, spoken audio needs to be brought forward, etc)…to more difficult (“That melody is distracting.” “The tempo and feeling drags the momentum.” “It peaks too early.” "Those chords don't work...at all...at all!"). This back and forth is very collaborative and really only improve the quality of our projects, not to mention my own ability to find what works a lot faster. There have been occasions where I have had to do multiple rewrites. Other times I have managed to hit it out of the park on the first swing.

At the end of each project cycle, we’ve all learned quite a bit that we apply to our next project. I continue to find new ways to create a dynamic music that has enough texture and variance to give the editor something to engage with. And we all learn more about how to talk about music, which is a skill unto itself.

Next time, we’ll talk about what to do when the client (or editor) falls in love with the temp track.

pushplaypro.com

Glory at Sea

2009-02-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

I recently watched a film that I would like to share. (Maybe you should watch it first and then we can talk. It’s 25 minutes, I’ll wait…)

The story tells of a group of people that have been orphaned from their loved ones after Katrina. Being left in sorrow they grasp tightly to their religion and ritual. In the midst of their mourning a man is thrown from the sea. He and the people share the same goal, to find their loved ones. Together they build a vessel suited for the only passage back to them. This film is loosely based on Orpheus (a Greek hero known to wield the power of song), one of the few able to travel to Hades and return unscathed. This beautifully orchestrated story cascades and crescendos in harmony while adding another rich layer of folklore to New Orleans’ canon.

This film is one of the most recent shorts I have seen that falls into the category of Magical Realism. You’ve probably heard of this category in conjunction with the name Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who is the grandfather of the genre. When approaching film as both a viewer and a filmmaker I often find this genre to be one of the most rare and fascinating.

I find Magical Realism interesting because is uncovers the true struggles of our world while using magic to examine its characters. When you hear magic you might be thinking that sounds a lot like Science Fiction. The distinct difference of Magical Realism is that it is not a thought experiment. There is no speculation: what if there were magical unicorns or elves or goblins? Magical Realism is a part of our world but uses an alternate method to reveal our reality. These stories are a non-escape approach to conveying one or multiple worldviews while examining the human condition.

I want to applaud Benh Zeitlin and Court 13 for Glory At Sea. You and your crew did an amazing job. Thank you.

I hope you all enjoy the film as much as I did. I would welcome any discussion and comments.

www.pushplaypro.com

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2009-01-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas time has come and gone, and to all you faithful Push This blog readers, I must apologize for the amount of time it has taken me to post the follow up blog to the weather outside is frightful post. What can I say? It snowed. It was Christmas, and then New Years, and I got busy. I was neglectful. Forgive me...and feast your eyes on the glory that is the Pushplay Family Christmas Card

We hope your holidays were filled with joy, friends and family. Ours certainly were.

www.pushplaypro.com

The weather outside is frightful...

2008-12-18T11:25:00.000-08:00

Season's Greetings from all of us here at Pushplay. As 2008 winds down, we are busy with the end of the year things like everyone else, and we're gearing up for the new and exciting things 2009 will bring. More on that news at another time.

A couple of days ago McKenzie shared some music with me, Christmas music. I, sadly, had one album of Christmas music, whereas he owns record after record of Christmas music, from "A Sesame Street Christmas" to Bing Crosby. The sound of a record turning, mixed with the joyful songs of Christmas, let's just say, I'm a happy girl.

Our small crew has taken out time from the business of the end of the year to enjoy some of the joys of the holiday season. Last week we took a trip down to our local Goodwill, and found some delightful holiday attire that we donned for a trip to the local mall where Santa was scheduled to appear. Don't miss the blog next week, you'll be sad if you miss the glory that is the Pushplay Christmas greeting.

P.S. The photos sprinkled in this post are just a little taste of the goodness that is the holiday greeting. So get ready for it.

www.pushplaypro.com

A few from '08 - Films

2008-12-12T10:52:00.001-08:00

Of the new films I actually watched in 2008, I really enjoyed/admired the following in no particular order:

Wall-E – Wonderful use of silence and space.
The Dark Knight – Taking the genre beyond the desire to see to super-things fight. I never thought that I would be genuinely creeped out by a comic book villain.
Son of Rambow – Very tender celebration of youth.
Frost/Nixon – Somehow managed to get me to feel involved with a story that I already knew. Ron Howard gets a bad rap as a director.
Ghost Town – Ricky Gervais continues to be wonderful. Watch the BBC Office if you haven't.
Burn After Reading – Wonderfully strange. I need to see it again. The Cohens continue to make good films.
Be Kind Rewind – I don’t quite know why I loved this so much. I admire Michel Gondry (dir.) and his tireless invention. For every reference to a moment of pop culture, he presented many more new ideas.

The one thing I believe all of these films have in common is that they were made without trying to please everyone. I think that's why Indiana Jones is not on this list. They (Speilucas) seemed to make that film feeling that they had a responsibility to a fanbase. When they made Raiders, they made it for themselves. When you stick to your vision, it may not be liked by anyone. But when you do and it does somehow resonate with the masses...I think that's when classics are made.

Of the 2008 films that I have yet to see, the following are topping my list:
Rachel Getting Married, The Wrestler, Synechdoche, NY, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire

I will post my favorite music of 2008 soon.

www.pushplaypro.com

"I Take That Back..."

2008-12-10T10:01:00.000-08:00

In a followup to my previous post, the Motion Picture Academy has reversed its decision to disqualify Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard from Oscar eligibility for writing the score to the "The Dark Knight". According to the LA Times, the Academy's executive director Bruce Davis said in a statement that despite the change of mind, the Academy's music branch "sees this as an award, like cinematography or directing, where you want to award a single creator. This isn't like visual effects. Except for extraordinary circumstances, it's an award that should go to one person."

Apparently, Hans Zimmer protested the decision and not only wrote a letter, he showed up to the Academy's music branch committee meeting to make his case. He told the LA Times "My basic argument was--composers are honest human beings...If we're telling you that we, and we alone, wrote the score, why don't you believe us? We were very candid. We said, 'Why would we lie? And if you don't believe us, go ask Chris Nolan, the film's director. He saw who did the work.' "

I'm not saying that Mr. Zimmer is not being honest, but according to the cue sheet 30-40% of the score was written by other composers. They were working under the direction of the chief composers. Under their vision. But if I'm here at the office and Jayson says, "I want something that goes 'bum diddy bum bum doo dee bum bum swish'," and I write that, does that mean that he wrote it? Perhaps not. My guess is that these other composers worked really hard to assist Messrs. Zimmer and Newton Howard in realizing their vision for the work and they submitted their names on the cue sheets to, as they have said, reward them financially for their work by making them eligible for royalty payments. That is very cool, as I'm sure Zimmy isn't short of cash. Who knows, he may still get checks for his work on The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". That's him playing keyboard at 2:53.

But I digress...even if it did take eight composers to write the score, what's the big deal? Why does the Academy need to cling to the romantic notion of "one score-one composer" anyway? I imagine it's easier to have fewer cooks in the kitchen, but what's it to them?

I imagine Zimmer and Newton Howard will give thanks to the other three composers (music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson, and composer Lorne Balfe) from the podium. Although I think Alexandre Desplat should win for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. You can listen to the entire score here.

As for honesty being inherent in composers...

“Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky

Found at LA Times via The Playlist
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I'd like thirds please

2008-12-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

If only all rules were so simple.

When any of us grab a camera and snap a few pictures we compose the images in the viewfinder (or on the LCD screen) by intuition. We go for what just looks and feels right. When we look at images we instantly know whether we like them or not, and whether they resonate with us or not. But when we are tasked with making excellent images, sometimes for paying customers, then we need to know the rules, and those rules can be elusive. However, some rules are rather simple and tend to always work, at least as a starting point or fallback option. One of those rules is the Rule of Thirds.

I recently posted over at my own blog an examination of the Rule of Thirds as it applies to the film Chinatown (1974). Check it out and let me know what you think.

* * * * * * * * * * * *
Note: This is my first post on Push This. I have no idea what posting here will mean for me or Push This readers. My goal is that I can post some interesting things and contribute to the overall goals of the blog. My background is in film/television/video production and in the academic study of media/film aesthetics & history/art history blah, blah, etc. For me posting is always about whatever I find interesting and what I want to learn more about. I hope that doesn't bore Push This readers too much.

Holiday Post

2008-12-05T06:28:00.000-08:00

Did someone say, "turkey"?

Something happened between Halloween and Thanksgiving. The blog was silent. I think we all got caught up in finishing up projects so we could take the week off that November came and went and you didn't hear much from us, except for McKenzie's sweet post about composers and the Dark Knight uproar. Check it out here if you missed it.

What have we been up to? What have you been up to? Why you so curious? Geez.
Ok. Sorry, so, we've been busy.

We traveled to Seattle with Imagination International, the North American distributor for Copic Markers to shoot a portion of the DVD we're creating for their insanely amazing Airbrush System.

Here's the classic "establishing shot of Seattle" photo for your viewing pleasure, it was a cloudy, windy, dark morning in Seattle, I know what you're thinking, "WHAT?!! that's crazy!" (all photos taken from my iphone).

We traveled with Courtney from Imagination and brought along Phil, our stable sound/grip guy extraordinaire. Here's the guys outside of the hotel, hanging out before splitting up (Jayson was on his way to the airport to fly out to Missouri for another shoot). The stone wall behind them is actually a giant outdoor fireplace. It was a nice place, so nice that they help god heat up the outdoors.

Here's a photo of Courtney and Phil hanging out at sweet bar Courtney took us to our first night in town. It had a Coney Island theme and you can't see them here, but there were creepy marionette clowns hanging everywhere from the ceiling.

We were in Seattle to shoot a series of projects with Ellen Hutson a paper crafter who utilizes Copic Markers and the Airbrush System in her work.
Stay tuned for the info about the release of the finalized Airbrush DVD, but first stay tuned for the final episode in the Copic Airbrush shoot days...next up Graphic Novel/Comic Book artist.

pushplaypro.com

Announcment: Guest Contributor

2008-12-04T12:14:00.001-08:00

We are a small team here at Pushplay, and on this blog we hope to each offer a little insight into the part of making movies that we're involved in. But we're also huge fans of movies and television, and we're opinionated so you'd think we'd write more about that. But that's one thing we haven't had time for yet, dissecting movies we love and beginning a dialogue with our readers. Alas, we still haven't found the time, but we have asked one of our friends and fellow bloggers to post his thoughts, opinions, and insights on the Push This blog to get us going.

So please join us in welcoming Tucker as a contributor to the Push This blog. Look for his posts in the coming weeks, join in on the conversation, share your opinions, or just learn something from his vast knowledge, I know we will.

www.pushplaypro.com

How many composers does it take to change a light bulb?

2008-11-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

According to Variety, the score for the billion-dollar-grossing summer blockbuster “The Dark Knight” won’t be eligible for a Best Original Score Oscar. The Academy music branch decided that there were too many composers credited for writing music. Although the credits indicate Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard as the primary composers, the cue sheet (report submitted to music organizations like ASCAP, BMI, etc.) listed five different composers (including music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson and composer Lorne Balfe). They were credited on the cue sheet so they would be eligible for royalty payments. Although everyone on the team agreed that Zimmer and Howard composed the bulk of the music.

So…why does it take five people to write a film score anyway? Do they all actually write the music?

The crediting of multiple parties for contributing to the composition is a fairly new practice. Actually having multiple people composing the music, however, is not. It’s happened for years and years. There have been film scores almost entirely written by someone other than the person credited. (Which films you wonder? They know down there in Hollywood, but try to keep it fairly hushed.) In the credits, soon after “composer” you will see someone listed as “orchestrator”. The orchestrator does anything from taking the music and, using only notes the composer has written, arranging for the orchestra that they will be recording with. When and where the “arranging” becomes “composing” can become kind of gray. Sometimes it’s filling out some brass passages or extending a sequence at the last minute.

I once spoke with an orchestrator who works with Danny Elfman. He said that sometimes the composer will give an orchestrator some sketches and themes and say, “You know what I would do here.” The musical teams work so closely together that it becomes very easy for them write “in the style” of the lead composer. Danny Elfman, for instance, has a very distinct style that is easily mimicked.

Why wouldn’t he just do it all himself? Time. A composer usually has only 6-8 weeks to write the 90min+ of music needed. Sometimes less. After Michael Danna was fired from “Hulk”, Danny Elfman had about three weeks to compose two hours of music. Many film composers will tell you that a good day of composing produces about two minutes of music. You can do the math. Even under so-called “normal” circumstances, it takes quite a team moving as fast and efficient as possible to produce the quality and quantity of music needed.

20th Century artists Jeff Coons, Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst are all well known to have assistants working on their projects, sometimes even doing the painting, building, or sculpting themselves. All under the supervision and approval of the artists of course. So…should “The Dark Knight” be disqualified for actually crediting the work that usually gets ignored? They will award three or four visual effects artists working on the same film. Why not three or four composers? Although I love the idea of one film one composer, if I could hand sketches to someone who would help with some of the grunt work that is required to make music happen…that would be pretty sweet.

Read the full article at Variety.
Found via The Playlist
photo found online here
www.pushplaypro.com

A thought about Halloween

2008-10-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

We hope you're busy gathering costume paraphernalia, purchasing fair trade chocolate for trick-or-treaters, or playing hookie from some of your responsibilities cause it's-kind-of-a-holiday-also-it's-friday-and-that-means-less-work-and-more-play or something like that.

Image from UMCOR Reverse Trick or Treating Campaign

We have some exciting things coming up in the next few months, so stay tuned, comment on things you'd like to hear about, ideas or questions you may have and get ready for a relaunch of the updated Pushplay Website.

Happy Halloween, go shoot something...

www.pushplaypro.com

A good crew makes for a good shoot

2008-10-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

The room we shot in was on something like the 25th floor of a building (alright, so it was the 17th, but still impressive, no?) directly across the street from Grand Central Station. Breathtaking.

From the following photos, you'll see how easy and relaxed we all were the entire time...

In all seriousness, this crew worked harder than you can imagine. The first half of our shoot in New York consisted of two days and 13 interviews. Which meant the banners and lighting had to be switched, re-arranged, adjusted, tinkered, and re-designed in between each interview. It was a lot of hours and a lot of work.
Props to our amazing crew.

The New York crew included locals Marni Burton - Make-up Artist, John Moustakas - Gaffer, Andres Hernandez - Key Grip, and out of towners Phil Gerke - Location Sound, Jayson Bosteder - Director of Photography/Producer, Meg Weber - Director/Producer

www.pushplaypro.com

Take a deep breath, everything's going to work out just fine

2008-10-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Gamma Project: New York, Part III

#5 Freight Elevator Secured
George. Wherever he came from was somewhere kindda like hero-ville. All I know is whatever work speed is, he knows it, whatever work speed does to help us get to use the freight elevator, he did it, whatever sway George has, works, cause I frankly didn't have to do anything except answer his easy questions like, "what time are you arriving in the morning?" and "who's on your crew and how do you spell their names?" He did all the rest, he input things into the computer, made phone calls and said things like, "I know what time it is." "Yes it's important." "Yes I need you back here at 6." "That's all I'm askin'." And things like that. Seriously. Amazing hero-man.

#2 Background Fabric - By the time we'd semi-secured a courier, Leisah, an employee from the rental house where we were getting the curtain/backdrop fabric from, informed me that the rental house would be closing too soon for a courier today, and they wouldn't be open early enough for a courier to get it in the morning to have it delivered to us in time...

So in the end, without dragging in too many unnecessary details, it was 5:30 p.m., Leisah was meeting us in an hour at the corner of Spring and Broadway in SOHO, a 25 to 30 minute Subway and walk away from where we were, and J and I would pick up the bags and carry them (during New York's commuting hour) on the Subway .

We somehow made it there and back in time for our 7:30 p.m. dinner meeting with the client. I think I even had a little time to let the sweat dry, smooth down my hair and reapply lip stuff.

There was a moment when we knew we had done it, we still had a ton of work to do till it was done done, but we'd made it happen. We were insurance covered, set design ready, allowed to get back into the building with crew and equipment the next two days, food was ordered and scheduled to arrive, we had our sanity and we were on our game. I turned to J and with complete elation and conviction said, “I love my job, I really love my job!”

Dinner with the client went smashing and we marveled at our good fortune and good life as we walked back to the subway under the city lights. It was good to be in New York, and good to be me.

Ok Big Apple you may be a little big to bite off in one go

2008-10-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

Gamma Project: New York, Part II

I'm sorry for being dramatic, but, come on! I've got to keep ya'll in suspense.

The stress of the day all came down to the fact that everyone on the west coast was eating a late lunch and everyone on the east coast were gearing down for the end of the day…like it was a Friday and the weekend was only a few short hours away...but it's MONDAY PEOPLE!

#4 Building Insurance
We had to have insurance to shoot in the building, bring gear in, have crew members allowed through security...you know...the usual. (?!?!)

First let me preface this by saying one thing, George is amazing. He is a generous and insanely helpful man and this story should in no way reflect poorly on him. He's an exceptional human being and I have a huge amount of respect for him, he was continually a hero to us over the three days we were working for the client.

George did what we'd all like to do, he took a week off from work and went on vacation. The trouble came when he got back, it was today, our first full day in New York. You see, George is in charge of pretty much everything that comes in and out of the offices, I don't know his official title or what his job description is, but he seemed to either be in the know or in charge of any and everything that would arise. George would normally check all the insurance information the moment a new one arrives...but, again he was on vacation when we sent ours in.

Apparently the coverage was all correct but one of names that should have been listed on the insurance form was missing (the owner of the building I think it was). So, that had to be corrected, otherwise (back to #1) Entering the building in the morning wouldn't happen for any of us, much less our crew and gear.

Well, after numerous phone calls back to our insurance agency, multiple attempts with fax machines on 3 different floors, running up and down flights of stairs and calls again and again with the building owners we had our building insurance...and George was with me the entire time. In fact, he's the only reason we finally found a working fax machine.

...and then George said, “you’ll need the freight elevator then, right?”
I, with trepidation, replied, "Yes."
“You’ll need to be entered into work speed then…”
Oh sh*t. I have no idea what that means.

Welcome to the Big Apple

2008-10-24T10:55:00.000-07:00

Gamma Project: New York, Part I
Monday June 2nd, 2008

We arrived in New York technically on Sunday, but it was real close to being Monday. So upon waking from a bit of good sleep we set off for our first full day in New York, it was our one and only scout day.

Scouting a location is key to the success of your shoot day. But because we weren't going be able to scout the room in person until the day before the shoot, we asked the client to send us dimensions of the room, windows, the height of the ceilings and the location of the conference room in relation to the rest of the office (for noise consideration) to name a few things. This helped when we ordered lights, backdrop curtains, crew and the like.

Most people assume we'll just show up, set up a light or two, and turn on the camera. But, as you can see from the before and after photos of the conference room we set up in...a lot goes into changing the location before the camera can roll.

- BEFORE -

- AFTER -

We thought our first day in New York was going to be slow, relaxed, simple, kind of the calm before the storm kind of thing. And of course, I brought a mojo of bad luck with me or something because, it turned out to be anything but.

#1 Entrance into the client’s building
It wasn’t anything to write home about, or perhaps I should say, it wasn’t anything to blog about. We got there and in just fine.

We took the 7 train to Grand Central, exited the subway, walked across the street, and into the building, stood in line at the Security desk, showed ID and received our day passes. We headed up to the 17th floor and were shown to the Media/Conference room we had been scheduled to shoot in for the next two days.

We had no problems getting into the building (but it was after all, the day before the shoot.)

We figured out our plan of attack for set design & camera direction, the guys went to collect the packages we’d shipped from the mail room, and I sat down in the first quiet place I'd been in all day to make a few, what I was considering follow-up-and just-making-sure-zies-everything-was-ready-to-go, phone calls.

Balls began to drop, they fell out of the sky from every direction. There were balls falling that I didn’t even know we were juggling.

#2 Backdrop Fabric
In preparation for our shoot, we had secured the rental of a huge white curtain, something like 10 by 40 feet, and black velor curtains, four at 8 by 10 feet, from a theater product distribution company in New Jersey. That went completely smooth, the securing the curtain part, but we did that from Oregon.

But when I called to check on our back drop curtain rental, you know to check on arrival time, to make sure they knew to ask for me at the security desk, to make sure they had my cell number as a contact, I learned a little something of consequence, they didn’t deliver.

Why then did they ask for the address where we were shooting? Oh wait, I get it, is that what was meant by the line on the bill that states – delivery, no charge?
It’s not, no charge for them to deliver, it’s no charge because they don’t deliver.

Sweet. Raise your hand, who wants to secure a delivery service in New York when it's already 3 o’clock, for delivery to a first time client (me) that afternoon or early the next morning? No one? Really? Alright. I’ll do it, not a problem, consider it done.

#3 Craft service
“I need food.” It was true. We were all hungry. A bit stressed, but hungry on top of it, and hungry mixed with any other emotion is bad. We headed down the street to the Metro cafe.

After a delicious lunch we ordered breakfast and lunch for the crew for the next day. It was all working out. A little pricier than I had originally budgeted, but we were all arriving at the location at 6 AM and we thought it was only fair to keep 'em feed and keep 'em happy all day, not just at lunch.

So, back to #2, we had to secure a courier service to pick up the huge yellow bags, at 35 lbs a piece, from New Jersey and deliver them to the offices in Manhattan on 42 and Park. The rule in New York is, if you want to travel to or from Manhattan from anywhere it’s going to cost extra, a lot extra. But, this wasn’t the problem…I mean, when you have to have something, you have to have it, it doesn’t matter how much it’s going to cost (okay within reason, but this was an integral part of our “set” and we had to get it.)

No the trouble came in securing a courier service, and in collecting all the information we needed to be a “deliverable vendor”, which was all back in Oregon. Our faithful guy holding down the fort in Oregon was on the job, working on getting all the pieces together. I was on the phone with multiple courier services, trying to save a little money by calling around, comparing, you know, doing my job…when another brewing storm hit…

A Gamma beginning

2008-10-22T08:30:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, Reach Group’s CEO and marketing-to-women expert, Lisa Johnson, co-authored The Gamma Factor: Women and the New Social Currency. Commissioned and released by the Meredith Corporation, the report identifies a growing and influential segment of “Gamma women,” who are currently estimated to account for 55 million American women.

Check out Reach Group's Gamma Factor Blog HERE

For us, the Gamma Project began in the Fall of 2007 when the first three profiles, Family-focused, DIY-Creator, and Challenge Seeker, were shot on location in Oregon.

Then, in March of 2008 the Gamma Project took us to Portland and to the doorstep of Julie Duryea and SOUK. Julie easily fit into the Connector roll of the Gamma definition. Read all about the beginnings of that adventure HERE.

Then...in May of 2008 the Gamma Project flew us across the country to New York. We interviewed our final Gamma Woman, the Catalyst, Majora Carter founder of Sustainable South Bronx "a non-profit environmental justice solutions organization in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood."

And we spent 2 days on Park Avenue at the Meredith Corporation interviewing 13 Editors for the final piece of the Gamma Project.

We'll take you back through each piece of the project in the following blogs. Sharing a bit of what we learned, the journey the project took us on, and all the behind the camera photos you could ever want along with the final videos in all their glory. We hope you'll stick around, ask questions, and tell us what you think...we may even get a few of the featured Gamma Women to do a guest post (!)
For now. I'm out.

Client Spotlight: Reach Group

2008-10-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

I think it's high time we introduced you to one of our amazing clients, Lisa Johnson, CEO of Reach Group.

Throughout this blog, we're going to dedicate some time to the fantastic clients we're working with so you can get to know them and what they do before you see what we do for them. So, look for "Client Spotlight" posts and follow the links to see what they're up to on their sites.

So here we go.

Reach Group describes themselves as "a boutique consultancy that provides fresh insights and clear thinking about the Connected Generation—a powerful, technology-fluent group of change agents that are connected to their social and professional networks around the clock."

Throughout the past few years we've worked with Lisa and Reach Group on a variety of projects. The first video project we worked on was the Reach Women Series. Check out online snippits of the video HERE. Reach Women is a division of Reach Group and focuses on helping business' better market to women. Lisa co-authored a book

We then helped Reach Group establish the sound and design of the Connected Generation Podcast, a weekly podcast first launched with the 34 episode series on the 10 Cravings of a New Generation. Lisa's currently taking a break from the podcast, but there are over 80 Episodes available for free on the Reach Group website, HERE or you can download the current episodes from the "Connected Brands Come from Connected People" Series, and the "Free Agent DNA" Series for free on iTunes, just search: The Connected Generation

- Lisa on set shooting in front of a green screen -

We hope you check out what Reach Group is up to on their blog and stay tuned here for news and behind the scene photos from future collaborations.

Back in the swing of things

2008-10-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy summer here at Pushplay and we've got a ton of catching up to do. So. For the next couple of weeks, look for updates, behind the scenes photos, videos, and sneak peaks into new projects.

To get things started we have to go back to May when the Pushplay team traveled to New York with our favorite sound guy, Phil.

We enjoyed the city at night after long days on set, and had a few days off at the end of the week to do the tourist thing.

Stay tuned for behind the scenes photos of the shoot in Manhattan and in the Bronx.

Scout at SOUK

2008-07-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of meeting Julie Duryea, founder and owner of SOUK.

Alright. Before we get into this post, I'll let you know that I started this post a heck of a long time ago. But here goes...the conclusion post begins.

We first met Julie in April...on the 24th for a scout of her location, SOUK. We then returned on the 29th for our first shoot, and after that we invaded SOUK again May 24th.

Our scout was great. Seeing Julie's place was such a treat. She has created an environment for freelancers, entrepreneurs, or small teams to come to, work from, meet clients, or hang out with other like minded creatives...whatever they want. The space is theirs.

This location is not the street SOUK is on, but in our world, the street worked better for the shot we needed of Julie walking, so it became "the street she walks down to get to work". Isn't it just so picturesk?

This is the real street and the entrance to the building. It was just too busy with traffic and construction to work for the sequence. And, if that wasn't bad enough, they had also removed all of the trees from her sidewalk that week (don't worry they put them back.)

After the location scout, we headed back to SOUK for the first day of shooting the next week and with the help of some ready, willing, and able women, we got some great shots of the location, the working environment, and of course a fantastic interview with Julie.

Our fearless crew did a great job. We had super fun times with the jib and were able to get a ton of good shots, but that wasn't the end....

theeennnn...we went back again the next month. This time we had to include some men in the shoot, because due to the day we went, and there not being men around, it was sorta looking like SOUK was a girls only club...and it isn't, so to be fair, we returned. This time we also did some steady-cam work walking down the street. Check out these two.

We had an amazing time filming with Julie to profile her for the soon to be released series we created and produced for a company yet to be named.

I don't mean to be so secretive, oh, wait...yes I do. So. Just so we're clear. You should come back all the time and see what we're up to.

Track & Field Trials Come to Eugene

2008-07-10T16:10:00.000-07:00

We were honored to be a part of the Eugene '08 Festival and Track & Field Trials last week. For those of you that aren't Track fans, here's a little background info. The USATF chose Eugene to host their trials this year and in 2012, it's a pretty great thing for Eugene, a.k.a Tracktown, USA. But Eugene didn't want to just hold an Olympic Trials Event in historic Hayward Field, they also wanted to simultaneously host a free Festival right outside of the stadium.

We were asked by the steering committee to produce the official Eugene 08 Documentary that would, "capture the essence and effort of the volunteer, community support, and collaborative process that went in to hosting the 2008 Olympic Team Trials - Track & Field and hosting the Eugene 08 Festival."

We had some amazing volunteers participate in the filming and interviewing of everyone involved. Look for crew photos soon!

To get a sneak peak of some of the amazing photographs, check out Dave and Ben's shots taken during the 10 days of events at the Eugene '08 Website.

We were honored to be able to interview athletes and coaches, young and old, as a part of the documentary. Here are a few photo highlights from our adventures...

Crew with Rafer Johnson an all-American Decathlete
& Carl Lewis American Track & Field Star

Crew heading out to the location on Pre's Trail

Crew with Craig Virgin out on Pre's Trail

Heston's Long Take is Over

2008-04-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

In honor of Charton Heston's (1924-2008) recent passing , I thought I'd post the brilliant opening single-take tracking shot from Orson Welles' 1958 masterpiece Touch of Evil. Although one take, it wasn't the first take. This sequence also features the soon-to-be-stabbed-by-Norman-Bates-in-Psycho Janet Leigh. Beautiful black and white photography by Russel Metty. The original music designed to play like contemporary rock and roll coming out of car stereos is by Henry Mancini. Enjoy!

Rise Up, Inc Video

2008-04-10T16:27:00.000-07:00

In the summer of 2006 we embarked on our first documentary project and a partnership with the non-profit organization Rise Up. This is the promotional video that we've produced to show their work.

In August, Jayson led a crew of filmmakers on our first trip to Nicaragua. He spent two weeks scouting locations, meeting with government officials and building relationship with the people. Our hope is to expose the devastation, immense poverty, exploitation of children, and social injustices that is plaguing Nicaragua.

testing one, two, three

2008-04-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

this is a test, it is only a test, do not judge the content of this post in any way, shape, or form, it is only a test.
thank you.