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Smoke & Mirrors grades VMA job bits & pieces N EW YORK — Smoke & Mirrors (www.smoke- mirrors.com) colorist Ben Eagleton color graded a five-spot campaign promoting MTV’s annual Video Music Awards. The campaign mimics the look of past eras, with a funky mix of black & white, full color and mixed footage.VMA nominees, presenters and perform- ers are featured, includ- ing Nicki Minaj, Drake, Ke$ha, Eminem and Justin Bieber. The Nicki Minaj :60 stars the “Best New Artist” nominee and award presenter in an eclectic series of four vi- For the spots’ B&W sections, Resolve was used to remove the color from the footage. gnettes. Drake, a VMA performer and award nomi- nee, relaxes in cool Frank Sinatra-style in 1950’s black & white. Footage shot in color was graded to be black & white. Eagleton used various filters in the Resolve to create an authentic look for the spot. Nominee/presenter Ke$ha stars in a blend of deep black & white and vivid color. She leaps from the window of her gothic-style, black & white bed- The final spot is a stylish blend of color contrasted with a deep black & white world shot on a Red cam- era. Bieber sings into a flatscreen computer monitor, sending a trio of admiring girls into a swoon on the receiving end. MTV produced the package, which was directed by Jahai Brightly. Final Cut’s JD Smyth edited the project. Chop Shopaudio posts ESPN doc N EW YORK — Gary’s Chop Shop (www. garyschopshop.com) finished audio post on an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary film by di- rector Al Szymanski of Red Line Films. Little Big Men looks at the 1982 Little League World Series, and in- corporates 8mm home movies, along with footage from ABC Sports’ broadcast with Jim McKay. Gary Arnold handled all of the audio post for the project, including narration recording, Foley, sound edi- torial, sound design and 5.1 mixing. He also composed the original score,working with artist Dave Schramm. “The concept was to create an evolving tone — a somewhat dark vibe,” says Arnold. “Schramm and I used only acoustic instruments and lots of guitars.” The 52-minute documentary was edited by Erik McMicheal at Red Line Films in New York City on an Avid and was finished and color corrected in Apple Final Cut Pro. 4 Post • October 2010 Peter Franchella shot the project, which was di- rected, written and narrated by Szymanski. Arnold and Schramm created 25 music cues, working from a pallet that included mainly acoustic in- struments, along with some electric guitars and vin- tage amps. Arnold reports that no samples, plug-ins or MIDI was used.“The new studio has a sweet live room,” he notes.“I really didn’t use any reverb.” Tracks were recorded at 24-bit on a Fairlight QDC/Satellite system.All the mixing was done on a Soundtracs DPC console, with outboard gear from Neve, Pultec, Summit, UA, Bellari, RCA,Tubetech and Lexicon. “I had a day over four weeks from start to finish for all the audio work,” says Arnold,“a tight schedule for a project of this depth, right down to doing a piano part overdub to a cue the day I was laying back the final LT/RT printmaster!” By Marc Loftus www.postmagazine.com Absolut offers Web short N EW YORK — TBWA\Chiat\Day New York conceived a short film for client Absolut that uses a Kill Bill-style to subtly promote its product while enter- taining audiences. The short centers around Lemon Drop, a crime fighter who uses the differ- ent attributes of her personality to solve a caper involving missing kittens. The Lemon Drop cocktail also has two sides, coming off as both sweet and sour. Lemon Drop stars Ali Larter of NBC’s Heroes and the movie series Resident Evil. Traktor directed the 10-plus-minute short, which can be viewed at www.lemondrop- movie.com. Visitors to the site can also download a movie poster and wallpaper. Christopher Doyle was director of photography on the project, which was edited by Rick Russell. Final Cut served as the project’s editorial studio. Music was created by Jesper Gade- berg, and T Terressa Tate handled sound design. Motion Picture Company created the visual effects, and Kalimera provided motion graphics. room, through a kaleidoscopic, colorful array of bill- boards, marquees and VMAs.Throughout the fall, the performer maintains her ivory complexion. Eminem, a VMA performer honored with eight award nominations, stars in a gritty black-and-white spot, his scarlet jacket the sole color element.