Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/336911
34 Post • June 2014 www.postmagazine.com The smoke element from the ashtray in the background was created in Adobe After Effects, which was also the compositing tool. An existing font was manipulated in Adobe Illustrator to show wear and tear. Mecha- nism Digital also delivered lower-thirds for the show featuring a complementary font and fabric elements from the chair or cur- tains plus bumpers and transitions. Nate Mulliken was Mechanism Digital's creative director on the project. "We love stepping away from the com- puter and shooting some live elements spe- cifically for design projects," says Harriot. "Computer-generated images can be a bit exacting at times, but elements brought in from the real world incorporate the chaotic beauty of organic motion and encourage happy accidents to happen." Other recent show opens and packages from Mechanism Digital include the graphic Amish Haunting for Destination America and the live-action based Secret Eskimo Escape for TLC International. BRKLY In Los Angeles, design-based production company BRKLY (www.brkly.com) displays its skills in motion graphics, live action, design and animation with broadcast design pack- ages for the Top Chef franchise, Project Run- way, the Real Housewives and ABC's hit Scandal. Creative director/founder Neil Berkeley is a documentary filmmaker (Beauty is Embarrassing, Harmontown) so "we're sto- rytellers first and foremost," he explains. Although Berkeley says it's "hard to gener- alize" about trends in broadcast design he's seen "the Instagram look" come and go and thinks there will always be room for "the big, shining ESPN look." But he believes net- works and shows today are searching for "a voice" that will clearly brand them in a media-filled world. "The new Esquire network has done a good job with a very graphic, artistic, print- based look," he says. "They've stuck to what works in the magazine. And the Scripps' networks really know their audience and have a clear mantra for DIY and HGTV. As much as people might want to try to find the next big interesting thing, they ultimately want to speak to their brand and not get caught up in the flavor of the month." Live action plays a major part in branding today. "There may be VFX or graphic moments but they're living in the world of the show with the talent and their spaces," Berkeley observes. "What sets us apart is that we have the sensibilities to do big live- action production with greenscreen, motion capture, stunt work. We can shoot, design and animate." The daring-do athleticism of The Property Brothers, twins Drew and Jonathan Scott, who are HGTV superstars and fierce and fun competitors, is shown in BRKLY's live-action promo for the second season of Brother vs. Brother. "The promo last year was great, but they threw the script out the window this season," says Berkeley to achieve something that was described as "bigger, better, bad ass." The premise is simple: both brothers spot a ham- mer at a construction site and want it. But they have to go through six big, Marvel-style stunts to get it. Berkeley got Marvel stunt coordinators involved to combine the hammer gag with dynamic stunts that find Drew and Jonathan jumping off scaffolds, blowing up desks, sliding down ramps and under tables, spinning in the air, and landing in a three-point stance like Spider-Man. "They're very funny, very light — that's part of their charm, so we wanted everything to be very tongue in cheek," he says. "As much as the brothers are smashing around they do it with a smile and a giggle." The two-day shoot was helmed by award- winning director John Bonito and captured with two Arri Alexa cameras and a roaming Canon C300. The team faked the stop- motion freeze-time gimmick by building a 360-degree track and swinging the camera around as the brothers ran, then froze. "We added 3D particles and objects in space so it looks like a Matrix move," Berkeley says. BRKLY cut together the promo's stunt sequences, created graphics and performed VFX compositing in Maxon Cinema 4D and After Effects. No sooner did the company finish Brother vs. Brother than they began a documentary- style promo campaign for another new Property Brothers show on HGTV. Broadcast packages for Bravo and MSNBC round out recent projects. BIGSTAR Broadcast design is part of the staple of film, broadcast and advertising work at New York City's Bigstar (www.bigstr.com) where executive creative director Josh Norton is seeing a "more holistic branding for net- works that connect the dots" of on-air, print, social media and online components. "Every- thing is cut from the same cloth and very consistent," he reports. Also trending, as BRKLY observed, is a "focus on the individual" whether they are Evolve created six :30 on-air and ad sales pieces for Nat Geo's Wicked Tuna, shooting with a Red Epic camera and building a 3D text logo with Cinema 4D. Bigstar's Josh Norton. Broadcast Design HDMI to HDSDI Converter HDSDI to HDMI Converter EFFICIENTLY CONVERTED Scaling Genlock AES Audio Remote Control Frame Rate Conversion www.doremilabs.com