Advertising Agency: TBWA\Media Arts Lab, USA
CCO/ECD: Duncan Milner, Eric Grunbaum, Scott Trattner
ACDs: Jamie Reilly, Kevin Tenglin
Sr. CW: Pete Figel
Agency Producers: Hank Zakroff, Ben Bragg
Production Co: Epoch Films
DP: Harris Savides
Editorial Co: Nomad Editing Company, Inc.
Editor: Glenn Martin, Jared Coller
Post Co: Company 3
Artist: Brian Robinson, Stefan Sonnenfeld

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Big City and Momentum World Wide

St. Ives Rip

St. Ives

Momentum Worldwide

Some of BCP's Work for IPG

Curious George Tub Time Toy Commercial

VTech VFlash Toy Commercials

We Did It: St. Ives Rip for Momentum Agency

DP Rob Featherstone breaks down the shoot…

For our recent Big City Pictures shoot we were presented with a little challenge. The assignment was simply to shoot several “screen test” interviews of potential representatives who would appear on screen on behalf of Chevron. However, we simply felt that setting the subject against the standard out of focus plant or blurry window would do neither the subject nor our film making interests any justice. For example, this shot on the right which someone did for another Chevron project in the very same room with the subject in front of the window.

On the day of the scout we looked at several locations on the corporate campus. We were met once more with the disparity between what seems like a great location to shoot an interview and the reality of the demands of video shooting; namely the depth and breadth of the location that is required for interesting composition and lighting.

Today’s conference room has an enormous table that is hard wired for communications and cannot be moved. In addition, these particular conference rooms had windows but the windows had seams in them so they did not provide an unobstructed view of the outside. While these affects are perfect for a conference they are an obstruction to composing a frame for an interview.

So wondering what to do we noticed there was one wall that was translucent in nature and took on an unusual appearance when we put lights upon it. We determined that shooting into this glass wall would provide a more compelling backdrop than either the potted plant option or the outside view.

The frosted, glass wall from the outside looking in.

As the final project is to be projected on an enormous screen, we wanted high definition video. George loves slow motion so also wanted a camera that could shoot at variable frame rates. The camera that met our demands and was available was the Panasonic HPX 500. We also wanted to work with selective focus so the standard zoom onto the 2/3 inch chip was out of the question. We added the PS Technik Pro 35 adapter and a set of Arri ultra primes to the order. We rented this equipment from Chater Camera in Berkeley, California.

Here’s the 85mm Arri Zeiss Ultra Prime:

And this is the 135mm Arri Zeiss Ultra Prime:

Achieving the look of the background proved a little tricky as the key light was highlighting the seals between pieces of glass in the wall creating two, bright white vertical lines on either side of the subject’s head. We needed to blend the values of the background and key so that they would match and blow out into white. Also, we needed to carefully position the camera and set our stop to create just the right amount of shallow depth of field so that the vertical lines would disappear into blur.
___________________________________________________________________________
Our lighting package consisted of small hmi’s that can be plugged into house power and a couple of kino flos. We left the lights and camera day light balanced as there was a fair amount of ambient light (especially with regards to the translucent wall).

The key light was a joker bug 800 with a medium chimera with 2 layers of diffusion and an egg crate. We supplemented this with a 2 foot four bank kino flo from below the lens. For fill we used a 4 x 4 bead board and the back edge was a 4 foot four bank kino flo.

To create the effect on the back ground wall our gaffer, Darrel Flowers did an amazing job of finding the prefect spot for the Arri 1200 watt par plus and cutting the light down to just the right shape.

The Joker Bug 800 on the opposite side of the conference table.

Key Grip Jimmy Stewart rigs the showcard gag.

Camera Tech & Sound Jay Farrington sits in as the background effect is tweaked for camera.

For a little motion on the b-roll shots, we used our Hollywood Microdolly with straight track. Here’s a little push in shot at 60 fps:

Chevron Shanghai Expo Team BCP

McGarryBowen Agency

George Spyros, Executive Producer / Director

Rob Featherstone, Director of Photography

Darrel Flowers, Gaffer

Jay Farrington, Camera Tech

Jimmy Stewart, Key Grip

Jenny Zielon, Hair & Make-up

Ryan Velasquez, Editor

Chevron at Shanghai Expo 2010

We Did It: Chevron Headquarters Shoot

BCP Tapped: Chevron Screentest Shoot

Clients & Partners: Chevron

Big City's Work for McGarryBowen Agency

Lobster Roll Wins Guinness World Record with Kraft Miracle Whip

Kraft Miracle Whip Lobster Roll Spot :60

Kraft Miracle Whip Lobster Roll Spot :15

Maya Angelou 2008 Olympic Poem "Amazement Awaits"

Marriott In-Room Video

Reebok Fit - Inspirational Video

Reebok Fit - Follow-Up Inspirational Video

Reebok Sports Brand: The Sport of Lifestyle

Maya Angelou Libraries Greeting

Marriott: Driven Campaign Behind The Scenes

Chevron Shanghai Expo 2010

Chevron Shanghai Expo 2010 Gear

Panasonic HPX 500 Digital P2 Card HD Video Camera

PS Technik Pro 35 Adapter

Zeiss T1.9 Ultra Primes by Arri

Panasonic P2 Card

Duel Adapter PCMCIA Card to ExpressCard

Microdolly Hollywood: Basic Dolly Kit (Video)

G-Technology G-Drive 2TB/7200RPM

Joker Bug 800

Kino Flo 2ft. 4 Bank 4 Tube Fluorescent Light

Marshall 7-inch HD Component / Composite LCD on-board monitor

Final Cut Pro Non-Linear Editing System

A red hot and red-blooded phenom recently came to a mall near you in the personages of Vampire Diaries stars Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder. We were tasked with capturing the rock-stadium feel of the cast’s entrance, so we slapped the Century Pro Series HD Fisheye onto the Panasonic HVX and shot 48 frames-per-second slow-motion. The final result is very “Hello, Cleveland!” if we do say so ourselves…

Vampire Diaries: Hot Topic Mall Tour

We Did It: Vampire Diaries Hot Topic Mall Tour

Vampire Diaries

The CW Television Network