Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/37786
FINDING & CLEARING FOOTAGE Richard Kroll found clips for an SM Global spot. FootageBank was one source he called on. cause there are talent (SAG) and music is- sues as well, presenting multi-level clear- ances. Kravitz is currently working on a film called Playing the Field, starring Gerard Butler as a professional soccer player in Europe. She’s been challenged with finding footage from European companies who own the rights to specific games.“We’ve gone to about four dif- ferent entities at this point and have still not been able to confirm ownership on some games.We are still working on it.” In terms of television, Cleared By Ashley does a good amount of work on reality programs. Kravitz is currently working on a new show for VH1 called Famous Food, which star ts this summer. “I am trying to get them clips of Jake Pavelka, who is fea- tured in the show. He was on The Bache- lorette and Dancing With the Stars,” she says. “I have been dealing with some of the news agencies like ABC VideoSource and NBC News archive.” Another show she worked on was Flying Wild Alaska for 3 Ball Productions and The Discovery Channel. “We did license a lot of different footage in Alaska and used stock agencies within the state for footage.We also went to the local news station, KTUU.” News stations typically don’t keep their ma- terial for long periods of time, so sometimes it’s quite difficult to get footage.“You really have to catch it within the first couple of months, to get the tape.” But these days there is less and less tape to be had.While HD is by far the most re- quested format, Kravitz reports that high resolution QuickTimes are becoming the norm for delivery from stock houses. Like Randa Cardwell, Kravitz says YouTube is becoming more prevalent in her business. “There are ways to contact people on YouTube and get permission to use their clip. Sometimes you find the per- son who posted the clip is the owner, other times they’ll give you a lead. Or oftentimes they’ll say they found and it posted it and are not the owner.” But still, she is very high on the Web. “Thank goodness we have the Internet; it makes our job easier by far.” RICHARD KROLL Richard Kroll of Upper Nyack, NY-based Richard Kroll Research (www.krollresearch. com) is a problem-solver, and in our indus- try that is a person in demand. For over 30 years Kroll has been called on for projects for film, opening titles, television, print, cor- porate, design and more recently the Web. “I am really good at finding information and images off the typical radar screen, so people come to me with mission impossi- ble, and I get to work,” he says. Kroll’s success weighs heav- ily on the information he is given by the client, so he be- gins each project by asking as many questions as needed until he feels he has a good enough understanding of what the client wants. He also footage@hboarchives.com 1-877-426-1121 hboarchives.com ©2010 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved. HBO® and related service marks are the property of Home Box Office, Inc. 34 Post • July 2011 www.postmagazine.com prefers to speak to the top creative person involved, not just the producer. “I like to get inside that person’s creative mind and get clear on what they are trying to achieve. I get them to articulate it by ei- ther showing me things like storyboards or discussing it, or both.” After understanding what the client needs, Kroll, who has long-standing relation- ships with many stock image companies, makes some calls and searches for images on the Web.“Footage.net, a sort of portal to a variety of image companies, is a good starting point because you can contact a lot of people with their Zap email request form, and it forces you to articulate your needs. It’s a great resource, and I use them on most projects.” Kroll recently worked on a couple of tel- evision spots for financial institution SM Global through LA agency Blind.The spot, which was shot greenscreen, features silhou- ettes of people, and inside their forms are images representing the different areas SM Global’s business touches. Kroll was tasked with finding those images representing agri- culture, shots of trading floors at stock ex- changes, fields of wheat, shipping and cargo, nature, and financial centers like New York, London,Tokyo, Singapore. “It was kind of like putting together a jig- saw puzzle,” he describes. “I went to a lot of places to find the footage.The way I work is I focus on finding the best shot to solve the problem. I provided them with a good selec- tion of material that I’ve found from a vari- ety of sources.” A key element was keeping the material organized, he explains.“I did my research and organized the material in a way that made sense to me and the client, and I uploaded it to their FTP site.Then I got feedback.” Kroll says that sometimes there are re- strictions he has to adhere to.“Sometimes it can only be royalty-free material, budgets or time and you have to work within those pa- rameters. In this case it had to be all high definition material, which is not as much of a restriction as it used be,” he says. “I love what I do, and have been able to do it for pretty much all of my adult life. I love working with really creative people and am fortunate enough to have had that opportunity to do that as well.”