The Return of Corporate Video?

We started our business in 1981, serving the Corporate Video market, providing major corporations with custom and rental scenery for their internal video projects. We witnessed changes in technologies that eliminated categories of services that we offered, and opened new opportunities simultaneously.

Around 2000, the internet began to replace the distribution of corporate video messages by snail-mailed VHS or DVD, we saw a pull back in production values. I suspect this was a result of limited bandwiths. Most corporate desktops played videos in small post card sized windows. (Why bother with a opening establishing shot for a simple Power Point presentation?).

Today full screen HD video is delivered to many corporate desktops, and perhaps this is why we have been fielding many inquiries for our services from the formerly moribund sector. Or perhaps it's simply an indication that things are picking up.

HDTV and Make-up

Just as we were preparing our thoughts on the increased importance of make-up in an HD world,

MSNBC contributor Michael Ventre published this article on the subject.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24581670/from/ET/

As helpful as that article is, I always love a contrarian. The airbrush system might not be all it's cracked up to be. This is from the website of Ryder Make-up labs.

"One of the biggest new gimmicks is airbrush make-up for digital and HDTV. Clever marketing is successfully convincing television executives and inexperienced make-up artists that airbrush make-up is needed for HDTV. The only people benefiting from this practice are the companies who profit from airbrush tools, make-up, and training classes.

The notion that because you see more skin texture, you should spray paint the face is absurd. One website claims, "The tiny pixels of foundation give the same effect as what the digital camera sees." Huh? "... shadows and puffiness disappear." Don't fire your Gaffer. The best airbrush make-up companies have changed their formulas to be blendable so beauty and men's make-up will look more natural. They recommend blending with a sponge, brush or the fingers. What this means is that the airbrush is only a vehicle for getting the product on the face.

Airbrush beauty and men's make-up tends to look artificial. Because of that, we recommend airbrushing only for fantasy and appliance make-ups or covering large tattoos. Airbrushing is an important tool for special effects make-up artists and its proper use will continue to grow.

It is impossible to avoid breathing the particulates created by an airbrush without protection. Airbrushing should be done in a booth with a good exhaust fan. Eye and respiratory protection should be used when possible. No amount of ventilation can prevent particulates from settling in the nose and lungs of talent who are having their faces airbrushed. If an artist plans to use an airbrush everyday, ask them to obtain an insurance certificate from the product manufacturer. The properties in airbrush make-ups are FDA approved for application to the skin, not the nasal cavity and lungs. Since this is a relatively new practice, the repercussions of breathing these particulates will not be fully known for some time.

Remember all of the new technologies require less product, more detail and perfect color match. Don't be fooled by gimmicks."

Here' a link http://www.rydermakeuplabs.com/pages/Filmmakers/FilmMakers.html

I would immediately ban the machines from my facility.

Bravo's " Inside the Actor's Studio" - More than meets the eye.

On completion of its 10th season “Inside the Actor’s Studio” contacted us to “provide a design that would enhance the program without robbing it of its intimacy". The challenge was that "intimacy" was to be achieved on a 50 foot wide stage at Pace University.

We developed a concept of being backstage and then designed a set that doesn’t look like a set at all. It's hard for the live audience members to detect, but everything that you see in the pictures is actually "the set", including the 20 foot tall brick walls.

It's a Jungle !

For Animal Planet's first original series, Animal Planet Report, everything was tight.

Tight studio space. Tight schedule. Tight budget.

We quickly turned out two concepts and hit paydirt. Foam stones and aluminum bamboo. A green canopy that was a bear to hang.

From first phone call to first taping in four weeks. The results speak for themselves.

The Case of the Floating News Desk

Grand Cayman was hit hard by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. A three foot tidal surge washed over the entire island, leaving devastation throughout. Cayman Island Television was not spared; its transmitter tower was destroyed and the station’s News Desk was actually floating around the studio. We received a call in November after the insurance settlement had been reached - could we design, build, ship and install two sets in their shoe-box sized studio ASAP? We had to fit everything into a 10 X 20 shipping container. No phones and no hot water for the installation crew, but it was January in the Caribbean. Another adventure in Television.

HDTV Studio UPDATE- Lighting

I asked my friend and colleague, Dan McKenrick, Lighting Designer extraordinare of TVLD (www.tvld.com), for his comments on what you need to know about studio lighting in HD. Dan's comments appear below:

"

With High Def the viewer see more detail (duhhh)

What could have been left only half lit because it fell

off into the darker areas now can be seen.

Excellent lighting works in both sd and hd.

Often in SD lights are put up in a general fashion with

no effort made for each specific location that the talent

will occupy. (General Lighting)

Depending on the lighting method the generalist approach

can look too soft because there is light everywhere and the

contrast between the face and foreground background in

not appropriate.

Or

there is not enough light in the various visual foreground

and background elements.

In HD it is critical to have proper balance in the lighting ratios

Key, Back foreground and background.

The transition to HD has exposed many lighting plots that worked "OK" in SD.
In the HD enviorn these basic general lighting schemes just do not
meet the more demanding needs of HD production.

But, take a well crafted lighting design for SD and it will easily

translate into an excellent HD design with just a few modifications.

So in HD . . .

Proper fixture selection and placement

Correct balance of lighting ratios.

Correct balance of light source color temperatures

Attention to shadows and highlight.

Those are the key elements

Hope that is of some help"

Dan McKenrick

TVLD, Inc.

877-222-8853

Thanks Dan - A great distallation .