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Bits & Pieces Wexler specializing in reality TV B URBANK — Rental house Wexler (www.wexler.tv), along with the latest cameras, audio gear and post technology, offers film and television pro- ductions workflow design assistance, cus- tom-built fly-packs and camera rigs, R&D and round-the-clock, seven-day-a-week technical support. "Anyone can rent cameras, Avids and other gear, " says Wexler VP of production Ken Marangell, "but it's the service that we pro- vide that ensures the client is taken care of." Wexler currently supplies gear for dozens of television shows, independent films and other productions, providing many of them with complete, integrated workflows extend- ing from the camera through delivery. One of Wexler's specialties is reality TV. It services many unscripted shows, including Jer- sey Shore, Kitchen Nightmares and Duets. Reality TV productions place a premium on service, as their needs are great while budgets and schedules are tight. It's not uncommon for a single production to employ several dozen cameramen, each of whom requires a camera, audio gear and communications systems. Wexler engineers typically work with producers in prepro to design a workflow suited to their practical, creative and budget- ary needs, and once production begins will often travel to the shooting location to iron out any problem areas and ensure it's all running smoothly. The company's audio department assists with communications systems that can function wherever the show happens to shoot. Post requires an equal amount of TLC. Reality shows need large teams of editors who work in close collaboration. As a result, they need reliable networking and, with shows employing shooting ratios as high as 100:1, plenty of storage. Wexler is currently in its 21st season of outfitting CBS's The Amazing Race (pictured). Equipping a show that travels the globe pres- ents a number of challenges. The production is every bit as much of a race for the show's crew as for the contestants. Crews have to get from location to location in tandem with their subjects, but they do so lugging camer- as, lighting and audio gear on their backs. See page 38 for more on Rental Houses. Olympic spirit International News Goldcrest shows L ONDON — Goldcrest Post (www.goldcrest- post.co.uk) has worked on a number of Olympic-relat- ed projects recently. The studio provided the mix for Personal Best, a fea- ture doc directed by Sam Blair and made in partner- ship with Adidas. The film follows the journeys of four British sprinters over the last six years in the run-up to the Olympics. crest's Mark Paterson did the mix, working closely with Blair, who recorded the audio. The project was mixed in Goldcrest's The- atre 1 using a Neve DFC Gemini, Lexicon 960, TC Electronic 6000, Cedar and Waves gear. Goldcrest sound design- Plug In Sonnet Thunderbolt Expansion Products for the Creative Workflow ™ Accelerate your workflow with Sonnet's Thunderbolt expansion products for PCIe Cards and ExpressCard® adapters. Harness the power of Thunderbolt technology to use high-performance PCIe cards, originally designed for use in a Mac® Pro, with any Thunderbolt Technology enabled computer. Ingest, transcode, edit, render, stream, and serve in places you previously couldn't with computers you wouldn't have thought possible. Learn how you can expand your capabilities at sonnettech.com/thunderbolt 8 Post • August 2012 www.postmagazine.com er/mixer Adrian Rhodes worked on Boy, a short film inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Para- lympic Games. Directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah and produced by Barnaby Spur- rier, Boy captures the story and extinguished hopes of a grieving father — a car- penter at the Olympic Velodrome — of a promis- ing cyclist and his dreams of seeing his boy cross the finish line. The film uses no dialogue, instead relying on music, sound and picture to carry the story. Rhodes also worked with Barnaby Spurrier on four Olympic Mascot shorts that introduce the nation's children to the Olympic and Paralympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville. The films were written by children's author Michael Morpurgo. Gold- SHIPPING! NOW