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APRIL 2010

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Gear, says Arnao, was selected based on workflow. “We do a lot of digital acquisition now,” he notes.“We shoot with the Red camera, and we’ve shot with the Genesis. Because they are digital workflows, those workflows are constantly changing. It comes down to ‘What are we acquiring our production footage on?’ and,‘What do we need to finish with?’” Most of Precision’s work is for broadcast, commer- cial and integrated media clients.“Those guys tend to be soup to nuts,” he says.“We’ll concept the project and shoot on location, and bring it back for post. [We’ll] do all the mixing.That tends to be the case for a lot of our direct clients as well.” The ability to offer many services comes from the staff ’s diverse skill-set.“The core staff here is very well versed at doing more than one task,”Arnao says.“Spe- cialization is for insects.My core staff understands how to operate an online room. My assistants are well versed in the general capabilities and needs. [And] in terms of keeping a mixer busy, it’s like every other business.” Arnao says the biggest challenge in selling the full- service idea is getting the agencies on-board.“It’s not that it’s met with resistance — it’s just not something that is normally done. [But] as agencies get more and more lean, it really is beneficial to come in and take some of that burden from them and bring it into a workflow where they don’t have to hoof around town.They can just walk across the hall and look at sound design or graphics.” The studio recently worked with TaylorMade Golf on a package of seven spots promoting the manufac- turer’s golf equipment.“We concepted the boards with the creatives at the agency [Encinitas-based NYCA], did the production on location in Atlanta and San Diego, and did three months of CG and post here at the facility.[We] did all of the finishing here as well.” RUBICON STUDIOS Los Angeles’s Rubicon Studios is part of Rubicon Group Holding (www.rubicon.com.jo), which also has facilities in Dubai, Amman and Manila.The LA location serves as a one-stop production facility, offering every- thing from development, script and storyboarding, to voiceover recording, character and background design, animatics and 5.1 surround sound editing and mixing. David J. Corbett joined the animation-centric com- pany in 2007. He runs the 5,000-square-foot LA stu- dio and serves as executive producer. Rubicon, he says, is Mac-based, with iMacs and MacPros running Adobe tools, including Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects for design, along with Toon Boom Har- mony for animation. Designers use Wacom Cintiq tablets and 30-inch Apple Cinema dis- plays. A 50-inch Sony plasma is used as a master monitor. The studio’s audio suite includes a sound-proofed booth for dialogue record- ing — they use Neumann mics — and Digidesign Pro Tools|HD, which is paired with a Mackie digital mixer. Surround monitoring is via M-Audio speakers and an REL 12-inch powered subwoofer. “The only thing we go out to do is take our QuickTime files out to a post house to lay back to a Digi Beta or high definition master,” Corbett explains. And that’s the case for the studio’s lat- est project.At press time, Rubicon Studios was wrapping up production and post on 26 half-hour episodes of Pink Panther & Pals for Cartoon Network.The show pre- miered the first week of March and is the result of a co-production partnership with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), who owns the property.The new show marks the first animated Pink Panther se- ries in 17 years and portrays the familiar character as a bit younger, though just as cool and savvy as in past iterations. Each show consists of two seven-minute episodes, along with a third short featuring the classic Ant and Aardvark characters. “We do everything,” says Corbett of Rubicon’s SonicPool offers 40 offline suites that can be outfitted with either Avid or Apple editing systems. work on the show.“MGM is the co-financier and dis- tributor.They own the property… and it’s a core fran- chise for them.We developed concept for Cartoon Network and handled everything from soup to nuts.” The series is being delivered in 16x9 1080i HD and will air on every Cartoon Network affiliate around the world.“I’m so proud of the way the show has turned out,” says Corbett.“I come from a tradi- tional animation background and this series was classi- cally hand-animated by some of the finest animators in the Philippines.We never produced a paper story- board. Everything we produced was virtually, digitally uplinked and downlinked through high-speed lines.” The studio uses Digidelivery to collaborate with its operations in Jordan and the Philippines.“The quality is amazing,” he says of the digitally-created animation, and there’s “no waiting to clear customs.” Corbett is hoping a second season of Pink Panther & Pals is ordered by Cartoon Network, but the stu- dio has other jobs in the pipeline too, including a Webisode series, a Christmas special and a deal on another animated series.“Our mandate is to look at projects that have a preexisting IP,” says Corbett, “that may have a broadcast deal, or may have enough consumer awareness that we would develop it and bring financing or co-financing and develop- ment funding to the table.” TEAM Washington, DC’s Team opened in the early ‘90s Precision’s list of services includes 5.1 audio mixing. with two editorial suites in a three-story George- town townhouse.The studio later moved down the street to a 9,000-square-foot space, adding audio ca- pabilities, a small design department and a staff DP to handle production needs. In 2001,Team made yet another move, relocating to a 21,000-square-foot fa- cility in Northwest DC, growing its design depart- ment, increasing its editorial options and adding color correction services. According to Ernie Crow, one of Team’s principal partners, the moves and growth were all driven by client demand.“The studio came about because of a contract with one client,” he says of the move to Team’s current location.“We would have never got- ten into the studio business unless we had a reason to do it, because there were other studios in town that you could hire when you needed that service.” Today,Team is home to 18 editorial rooms — a num- ber that can grow to as many as 24 if needed.The studio has four main editing platforms:Avid Media Composer and DS, Quantel eQ and Apple’s Final Cut Pro. “We didn’t buy platforms for the sake of buying them,” says Crow.“At the time, they were the right tool for the job, or the best tool for the job.” The Quantel eQ is the studio’s highest-end finish- ing system.“You can put anything into it, operate with that material in realtime, and when you are done spit it out in whatever format you want it.The unique thing about the Quantel is how well it works with all the different formats and standards.” And the eQ’s qColor color correction system, Crow says, makes the studio as competitive as any house equipped with a da Vinci system. The design department is Mac-based and uses Adobe’s collection of tools — Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects — as well as Autodesk Maya and XSI for CG, and even Apple’s Motion. Audio post is per- formed in either of the facility’s two Digidesign Pro Tools suites, which incorporate integrated announce www.postmagazine.com April 2010 • Post 45

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