NEWS & INFO

January 2010



NEW YEAR'S UPDATE

It’s been a while since you have heard from us. The fourth quarter of 2009 was full of activity here at Post Factory. We have been diligently cranking out numerous episodes of an ongoing project for Mick Victor of I-MOBIUS and his client Pioneer, along with a myriad of commercials, training videos and marketing projects for clients like G&M Plumbing, Marshall Advertising and SVC International, just to name a few. Be sure to visit our website to check some of them out.

POST FACTORY GOES TO THE MOVIES

Post Factory and editor dB Bracamontes recently completed six months of editorial and finishing on the feature film “The Bleeding” for Crush Films starring Michael Madsen, Armand Assante and Michael Matthias. Crush Films chose to work with Post Factory to get the phenomenal talents of dB in a one-stop shop facility that could handle the entire project from start to finish and meet the strict deadline. dB and motion design genius Patrick Martinez also crafted the super cool title sequence. Watch the trailer here and look for more feature projects coming out of Post Factory.

POST FACTORY WELCOMES DAN SWIERENGA

After a nationwide search, Post Factory is pleased to announce the addition of Dan Swierenga to its growing team of talent. Sneaking Dan away from industry leader OPT1MUS in Chicago was no small feat, but once Dan flew out and saw the lush boutique setting that he would be working in, the choice was easy. "Post Factory is like OPT1MUS on a boutique scale," said Dan after his initial visit. "They have every facet of an upper echelon post facility and a great staff to back it up." As you see Dan working in our Edit and Smoke bays, be sure to stop by and remind him how warm it is here in January compared to Chicago.

POST FACTORY SAYS FAREWELL TO A FRIEND

Eight years of sonic bliss have come to an end with Chris Potter departing Post Factory to pursue other interests. We will miss Chris greatly and wish him all the best in his future endeavors. In the interim, Joe Pileggi and Zack Dingman from Audio By The Bay will be covering Post Factory's audio needs, so for a short time you'll be able to enjoy their talented company on your projects. However, with a large slate of movies, TV shows and commercial projects launching this month we are furiously looking for Post Factory’s next Sound Designer. If you know of a talented individual that you think would fit the bill, have them contact us at jobs@postfactory.com immediately.

March 2009



DB BRACAMONTES REJOINS POST FACTORY!

Award winning commercial, feature trailer editor and Orange County resident “dB” Bracamontes has edited with some of the most sought after Directors and Advertising Agencies in the industry. The short list includes Michael Bay, Tony Scott, Tarsem Singh, and Ridley Scott. On the agency side he has worked closely with BBDO, J. Walter Thompson, Saatchi & Saatchi, Dailey & Associates and Foote, Cone & Belding.

dB recently edited BBDO and Tony's Scott's "Dodge Ram Challenge" campaign. This campaign has become famous as being the defining point in the intersection of broadcast advertising and web entertainment. The campaign includes a number of TV spots along with 8 to 10 minute webisodes which can be viewed online at www.ramchallenge.com. The interesting thing about working with Tony, dB explains, “…is that Tony shoots tons and tons of footage but he gives you a lot of creative autonomy to come up with something that's just gonna blow him away. It’s my job to create the experience, and add magic to it.”

dB goes on to say that cutting with Michael Bay is a whole different experience. “It's like taking a shot of adrenalin every day and you better bring your A-game. I remember after Christmas that Bay wanted me to cut something kick-ass on Transformers 2 but he didn't give me any direction. I overheard him say to his assistant, ‘I don't have time to deal with it right now - dB will just have to figure it out!’ So after hearing that I felt energized and cut what I feel is the best sequence of my life and Bay keeps calling, which is the ultimate test of anyone’s work.”

The bottom line from dB? “Don’t compromise on creative …ever. There’s always a way around any obstacle - a shot that you don’t have or a post budget that’s not quite what you want it to be. I’ve walked into situations where an agency had half the footage they needed and we still crafted an award winning spot and Post Factory’s got my back on this, that’s why I’m here.”

Today, we at Post Factory are proud to announce our exclusive Orange County representation of editor dB Bracamontes. When dB is not schlepping his way to Santa Monica or Hollywood, you can find him in one of our HD Avid Suites creating magic and having a grande non-fat cappuccino in hand. Come visit Post Factory and experience what it’s like to work with one of the best in the business.

FOCUS ON AUDIO - SOUND FOR PICTURE

Sound for Picture - "The Glue Factory"

There’s an old adage in the sound business that says, “See a bird; hear a bird”. While this would seem a simple and obvious bit of instruction, it only hints at the detail, relatively subliminal at times, with which audio people approach sound for picture projects.

Post-production sound editors and mixers provide often overlooked but vital behind-the-scenes contributions to visual media. So much that another old adage states, “a good soundtrack is one that nobody notices”. And there’s the rub. Even the briefest edited dialog scene in its raw state usually contains so many mismatched levels and tonal quality differences that these discrepancies themselves become a distraction to the viewer. Toss in the complications of a low budget shoot, or an unfriendly sound location and the disturbances multiply exponentially.

Equal parts utility mechanic, paramedic and creative artist, post-production sound people wield an unwavering focus to first, serve the king – and dialog is usually king. At the same time they conduct innumerable hidden details to balance emotion and intention, to reveal the experiences of on-screen characters, or communicate the changes of mood and energy for an entire story as it unfolds. Doubters need only watch a movie with the sound off to feel the loss of connection or interest with the material.

If you’d like to see the difference the work of our post sound editor/mixer Chris Potter can make to your production, visit the talent page to listen and watch.

December 2008



Calling All Editors!

Post Factory, Orange County’s premier post-production company, is looking for talented editors and assistant editors for a large slate of new projects beginning in January 2009. Respondents should have at least three years experience in the broadcast television arena and be familiar with both Avid Media Composer and Final Cut Pro. The ideal candidate will also have experience in HD tape formats like DVCPro HD, HDCAM and HDCAMSR, as well as experience with tapeless workflows like P2 and RED.

Full time and part time positions are available for both editors and assistant editors. Please email resume and salary history to jobs@postfactory.com.

Calimax Crosses the Border

Post Factory was recently called on by G-Force Productions to create a series of Christmas commercials for agency Trevino Creativo and client Calimax, a Baja California based grocery chain. The spots involved extensive 3D animation and compositing and a quick turn around.

G-Force producer Kimberly DuBois noted, “Jonathan and Patrick did an outstanding job achieving the vision of Calimax and worked tirelessly to meet our deadline. I greatly appreciated Chris' foresight in bringing in Arturo to make the client feel comfortable and of course, Jeremy who hustled in the first place to get me a budget that worked. We delivered more than they expected despite the very challenging time constraints. The spots look awesome. It was an ambitious project and I could not have accomplished it without the incredible teamwork that Post Factory displayed during pre-production, shooting and post-production.”

When you need great creative, on time and on budget, make Post Factory your first and only call.

Focus On Audio - Radio Spots

“Theater of the Mind” - Flying through exploding flak in a vintage bomber somewhere over London… Confronting a tribe of blood-thirsty cannibals in the jungles of New Guinea… Trying to keep ahead of charging bulls in the streets of Pamplona… Expensive to shoot? You better believe it! But not so tough to realize through the medium of radio.

Whether your setting is an old west shoot-out, a locker room before the big game, or a spaceport drive-thru window, our genius mixer Chris Potter has the resources and chops to bring your ideas to the airwaves. He’s been at it for decades. “When I started recording in L.A., a lot of the real giants in radio advertising were in their prime. I cut my teeth with luminaries like Paul Frees, June Foray, Bob Ridgely and Percy Rodrigues, just to name a few. I’d always loved radio because of its unlimited potential for imaginative storytelling. Getting to capture hilarious performances from the best talent and help create crazy, high concept scenarios for freewheeling writers and producers was all in a day’s work. It was really a playground, and an education I couldn’t buy anywhere,” says Chris.

That experience comes into play in every session Chris does at Post Factory, from gathering voice casting demos and recording talent, to researching and tailoring just the right music. “Over the years I’ve had the great fortune to work with new generations of talented voice artists, writers and producers, and I’ve learned something new from every one of them. In this type of work, your apprenticeship is for life.” In today’s lean economy, the relative cost efficiencies of radio advertising make it an attractive alternative, or supplement, to traditional TV spots. “Not too long ago, a client had the goal of condensing a reading of Moby Dick into a 30-second radio spot. Great idea and great fun to produce!” The result can be heard as the last spot on Chris’ radio reel. Just take a listen.


October 2008



HD Switch Approaches!

All DTV, All the Time - On February 17, 2009 all full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting on analog airwaves and begin broadcasting only in digital. Digital broadcasting will allow stations to offer high definition picture and sound quality as well as additional channels. According to Reuters, 30 percent of all U.S. households already own HDTV's. That number is projected to rise to 45 percent by the end of this year. The February conversion to digital is likely to make that percentage accelerate in early 2009. According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies, TV networks and most TV stations are likely to start requiring new commercials to be delivered in HD format by mid-2009. This combined with the fact that 90 percent of the source footage we currently see here at Post Factory is already HD or film transferred to HD gives a strong indication of where things are headed. If you’re not shooting and finishing in HD, you really need to make the switch today. Give us a call and ask us how you can finish in HD for virtually the same cost as finishing in SD!

Beard Boy Productions - Brings Hollywood to the Midwest.

The only way to fly! - Zeis Group flys in from St. Louis MO to shoot and edit in Hollywood, but found Hollywood just too cost prohibitive. Enter Beard Boy Productions to the rescue; a three spot package for Southwest Bank was shot, edited and delivered in a blistering fast three days. Shot on HDCAM on day one. Editorial, graphics and sweetening on day two. Client revisions and tapeless delivery to the stations in St. Louis on day three! This impressive time frame was only possible with the capabilities of the Post Factory team. Producer Mike Smith says, "I brought this project to Post Factory because I needed to impress my client with both the facility and hospitality, but more importantly I knew that Post Factory would deliver uptown quality spots on time and under budget." With editorial, graphics and audio all under one roof and all connected to AVID’s Unity shared storage, Beard Boy was working with the same footage in all three bays at the same time. "We planned to work in L.A., but the costs were just out of reach, working with Beard Boy Productions and Post Factory was half the cost of any of the L.A. shops." said Creative Director Charley Craig. If you’re looking to take your post "first class" look no further than the team at Post Factory.

Caudill & Associates - Big Finish for Web Spot

High Def taken to the next level – Post Factory was called on by Caudill & Associates to put some polish on several direct response spots. Editorial was done in house at Caudill on the Avid Media Composer and then moved over to Post Factory’s Smoke for the digital makeup and finishing magic. Shot on HDCAM and DVCPro 50 Post Factory mixed HD and SD footage in the Smoke with no issues, in fact the HDCAM allowed us to go in and de-focus the backgrounds and brighten the eyes on the main talent Katharine McPhee. Audio engineer Chris Potter put his talents to work to smooth out the audio wrinkles and spin up a superb mix. The final versioning and mastering was then output to Digital Betacam. The spots are currently running on the SkiniD web site at skinid.com. You too can benefit from the talented finishing artists here at Post Factory. Give us a call today to put a big finish on your next project!


September 2008



Post Factory is proud to announce the launch of its new web site! The new site makes many significant improvements over the previous site including our new Client Resource area for the easy exchange of files in a secure environment.

Post Factory would also like to announce that Jeremy Kientz has joined Post Factory as Executive Producer. Prior to joining Post Factory, Jeremy worked in both the corporate sales and broadcast media fields. He holds a degree from California State University Fullerton in Radio, Television & Film. Jeremy will be taking what we have heard from our clients over the past few years and improving our service. Look forward to hearing from him soon.

Post Factory is here to help you with all your media needs from TV commercials and radio spots to web video and DVDs. Give us a call and we will help you address the new file based workflows and the new high definition formats.

Enjoy the new site!

Sincerely,
Post Factory