Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/37786
FINDING & CLEARING FOOTAGE Caldwell also calls on Thought Equity, Ashley Kravitz: Her research begins on the Web. Getty, Footage Bank and Footage Library, among others. “I’ve worked with so many; it really depends on the project.” And depending on the project,YouTube is becoming a more common tool for re- search, which she says is a good and bad thing. “It’s very effective if you are trying to find something that you don’t know exists, especially if you are doing an animal show, because people love putting animal clips on YouTube. It’s also works for amateur videos, like when we worked on a sports show and needed people doing a Happy Gilmore golf swing. But it can also be a dan- gerous place because often people don’t have rights to those clips.And if you show a producer a clip, they want to know you can secure it, and with YouTube there is no guarantee you can actually get the clip. It just means it exists.” One thing that has definitely made things easier for people like Cardwell is that almost everything has gone digital. “It’s huge,” she says.“I have done different kinds of work in production and focused on clip clearance for three years, and even in those three years, the amount of tape you deal with has gone down considerably. Just a couple of years ago things were being sent on DVD because downloading high res HD was so time consuming. But it is fast becoming the only way people are dealing with things. It’s almost all downloadable or they’ll put it on your FTP site.” ASHLEY KRAVITZ After working at Dick Clark Productions and The Walt Disney Company, LA- based Ashley Kravitz started her own business in 2006, Cleared By Ashley clearing all third-party rights for a film — this includes footage, which generally comes during post,” she says.“Sometimes they will use it during playback while shooting, but for the most part it’s in post.” While some scripts will say exactly what they want in terms of footage, other times Kravitz works with a post production super- visor.“I usually get a description of what they are looking for and then go out and seek that footage for them.” Kravitz’s process begins on the Internet, which she calls “a great resource,” but she also uses her relationships with various stock companies. “I send them a description of what I am looking for and they will send me clip bins to review. I’ll send those over to production and post to review and they se- lect what they want.” While having these stock relationships is very helpful, at times Kravitz has to look at other companies, especially when clients ask for very specific shots, like they did on The Fighter. “They wanted Sugar Ray Leonard fights specifically, and there is only one owner of that footage.” often taps NASA’s resources for space imagery. (www.clearedbyashley.com). She specializes in clearance rights for film and television, and some of her film credits include The Fighter, The Ex- pendables, Bruno, Hanna,Twi- light and Ghost Writer. For TV, she has worked on Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew and Beauty and the Geek. Cleared by Ashley is hired onto productions when a projects is greenlit. “I will get the script to review and work closely with the producers, the art department, props department and others on 32 Post • July 2011 www.postmagazine.com The film featured many fights, and direc- tor, David O. Russell, was very specific on which fight clips he wanted, so Kravitz was tasked with finding out who owned the vari- ous fights he was interested in. HBO and ESPN were tapped for most of these clips. She enjoys working with HBO Archives. “They are extremely easy to work with, they respond in timely manner, get you what you need, and are nice. I know what to expect, what their fees are... it’s pretty cut and dry.” Finding clips from films is another chal- lenge.“Oftentimes a producer wants a clip from a certain movie.You have to find who has the copyrights to that film and you go to the studio for permission,” she explains. “Movie clips offer more of a challenge be- Kno wn Universe