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JUNE 2011

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Those first few seconds of a television show when the producers establish their identity with graphics, are extremely important.The same goes for networks, which try to set themselves apart and create a brand with design. This month, Post spoke with a number of different studios whose job it is to set a tone.While their work differs, all agree that the com- petition is fierce and the budgets are tight. Here’s what they had to say about the pitch process, competition and trends. REALITY & AWARDS Toronto’s The Studio Upstairs (www. thestudioupstairs.com), which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, is a division of Creative Post and provides broadcast design services, as well as post services for episodic series, films and commercials. Executive producer Tania Smunchilla says as much as 80 percent of the past year’s broadcast design work has come from Canadian clients, most of it from high-end networks, but that percentage varies from year to year.The fact that the studio has a few years of stereo 3D production experience under its belt is helping to bring in business from the United States as well. The Studio Upstairs is home to Quantel and Autodesk Flame sys- tems, along with NLEs from Apple and Avid. Creative Post has also pur- chased SGO Mistika systems, which are located on the building’s main floor and available to The Studio Upstairs. The studio recently completed design work for Dinner Party Wars,a new comedy/reality series that needed to establish a unique identity.Ac- cording to art director Ian Tucker, the challenge was to introduce view- ers to the format of the show before it even starts. And since the con- testants change from week to week, the open couldn’t show the differ- ent participants. “They wanted to show that there are a couple of couples competing with their dinner parties, and there is one winner,” explains Tucker.“They wanted that to play out in the opening titles, but they also didn’t want to have any sort of specific contestant shown.We presented them with the illustrated work that they ultimately ended up going for, which solved a lot of their problems because they weren’t having to show any- one specific, but yet they were able to get the concept of the show across within the first :20 of that opening. “Because the producers didn’t have a clear identity in mind, even down to the logo,we had to come up with an identity for the show. In terms of the look, color, design, the logo and the fonts, all of that was presented from us, which was nice because a lot of times clients will come in with very specific ideas. On this one we were able to flex our muscles a bit.” The look they created carried over to the on-set look of the show, which made used of the logo on posters and other set pieces. For the Gemini Awards, which is Canada’s equivalent to the US- based Emmys, the studio created a full package that included the show open, nominations, bumps and stingers. “They wanted to change their look every year, just like any awards show,” notes Tucker.“It was kind of a blank page.They didn’t have any clear ideas.They wanted something fresh, which is actually like saying,‘We don’t really know.’ Luckily we were able to work with the stage designers to be able to come up with a look that marries the entire awards show. One thing we didn’t want to do was have our broadcast design look completely different than the stage and the environment in the auditorium.” On the 3D stereo side,The Studio Upstairs just finished work on a television pilot called Over The Edge, which explores the coastlines of North America.The goal was to create something simple and clean to open the show, which debuts this fall. Both Smunchilla and Tucker agree that there is a trend for the net- works to have more of a say in the look of an individual show’s graphics. “The networks really do get a lot more into the decision making, which sometimes works against the design because they are trying to flatten it more for the style of their network rather than identifying the show,” says Smunchilla.“The production company will get really excited about one of our designs…and the network comes along and says, ‘That’s just too fantastic. [You’ve] got to bring it down a bit.’ Sometimes it’s a shame because it jeopardizes the creative in some sense.” “It could just be the idea that there is a little more concern as to how their network is shown,” adds Tucker.“The producers for the individual show are only concerned with their show.They don’t care about the full network.That can create a butting of heads because you have two very separate priorities.” www.postmagazine.com June 2011 • Post 17

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