Post Magazine

November 2012

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"Ten percent is not enough to relocate for post," she says of the previous incentive, "which is why we wanted to triple it to 30 percent. It's a very big number and very com- petitive. It competes with visual effects cred- its in Canada and the UK tax credits." And the credit is good for all post work taking place in New York, regardless of whether it's in Manhattan or upstate. Addi- tionally, one doesn't have to be a member of the Alliance to take advantage of it. In fact, independent New York artists, who are not affiliated with post studios, can take advan- tage of the incentive too. NAB's Dennis Wharton: "Broadcast issues are generally not partisan." WEB CAMPAIGNS Portal-A (Portal-A.com), with locations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, regularly works on political projects that see distribu- tion on the Web. Zach Blume, who is a partner in the four-year-old company, says Portal-A EP Nate Houghteling, CD Kai Hasson, and MD Zach Blume, and their Prop 39 work. that during the election cycle, political work represents approximately one quarter of the company's business. They also create online videos for brands such as Google, Gap and Banana Republic. Using the Web as a distribution outlet CHICAGO — Ad/marketing specialists Third Street Advertising (www.takethirdstreet.com) conceived the idea of launching a national, multimedia campaign (www.realcomplainersvote.com) designed to encourage young registered voters to embrace their rights — to vote, and to complain. The agency teamed up with Foundation Content (www.founda- tioncontent.com) on the project, which uses the tagline: "In Ameri- ca, only voters can complain. And real complainers, vote! The cam- paign includes a two-minute-long online video that features the voice talent of TJ Miller, along with the style of street artist Ray Noland. Real Complainers Vote takes a humorous look at why Americans should vote on November 6 and how doing so fur- thers their right to complain. Foundation Content incorporated visuals that coincide with grass roots, DIY movements. The company explored making ele- ments out of paper and cardboard, as well as using a stop-motion style for some of the animation. Kyle Shoup was creative director/ motion designer for Foundation Content. Noland spent two weeks in the Chicago studio creating imagery to be incorporated into the video. Steve Morrison edited the project; Dave Kresl mixed it. Elements were shot using a Canon 5D camera. Graphics tools included Maxon Cinema4D and Adobe's After Effects, Pho- toshop and Illustrator. 32 Post฀•฀November฀2012฀ allows Portal-A to break free from typical broadcast time constraints. Much of their political work, for example, runs more than one or two minutes in length. Blume notes that while broadcast spots may spend a majority of their budget on distribution and less on production value, Web spots can do the opposite. In Portal-A's case, much of the budget goes into production and post, with savings coming in the distribution model of using the Web. The studio's political work includes creat- ing a music video-inspired piece for San Franciscans for Good Jobs and Government, which features local athletes and officials touting Mayor Ed Lee as "2 Legit 2 Quit." MC Hammer makes a cameo and his music serves as the soundtrack. The video was shot using a Canon 5D DSLR camera. The company also created a satirical live- action video for Proposotions 29 in Califor- nia with the theme "California Supports Big Tobacco." In it, different characters tout how "great" Big Tobacco is for the State, causing billions in healthcare costs, and destroying dreams of promising young children. Portal-A used a Sony F3 to produce the spot. Most recently, Portal-A completed work on a Prop 39 spot called The Fattest Cat in California. The video is set in a carnival freak show, where the MC introduces the fattest cat in California. The "fat cat" (really, it's just a guy in a cat costume) gobbles up loose money that's been made available thanks to out-of-state corporate loopholes in the tax www.postmagazine.com codes. He notes that the cat has been get- ting fat off the state for years and doesn't care where the money comes from. It closes with a statement that asks the viewer to "end the special interest freak show." Blume says the studio will produce two additional videos as part of the campaign. The first was shot on Red and edited in Final Cut Pro. "You have to create content that people actually care about," says Blume. "You can't just do a talking head in front of a camera, which is what most political ads are." He also sees Web distribution as a para- digm shift that more clients are receptive to. "It's much more cost effective," he says of the distribution model. "It's taking time for peo- ple to realize you can distribute video on the Web just as effectively as you can on TV, if not more so." The Web puts much of the power into the viewers' hands, allowing them to take content and share it through email or posting to Facebook or Twitter, he adds. "We want to make content that is unique. If you look at the normal political ad, it kind of interrupts your TV viewing. It's very mes- sage heavy, and not much value is placed on production. [Our] ultimate goal is to create stuff that people are going to share." AMERICAN VOICES Robert Feist of Venice, CA's Ravenswork (www.ravenswork.com) recently completed audio post on a campaign spot for President Barack Obama. The :60 spot was edited at LA's Lost Planet (www.lostplanet.com) by Jay Rabinowitz and Hank Corwin. The political spot begins with different

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