“Dear Business," the new :60 ad for SAP, created and executed by full-service creative boutique Kommune|NoSlate, serves as a thank you note to the business community writ large for their resilience and management of the unprecedented challenges Covid-19. The ad is airing internationally in the US, as well as in the U.K. and German markets, which is impressive for a project originally intended for an online audience only but that grew in audience thanks to SAP’s enthusiasm for it.
Towards the end of Summer 2020, agencies and studios around DFW started to feel a little better about creating video content again after the initial phase of Covid-19 had passed. It was then that I was approached by Mariana Lenox from Darren Hardy’s production team. She informed me Darren was launching a new series, the Hero's Journey, geared to help a person find the leader within themselves and needed an editor and co-producer to help bring a campaign of trailers and teasers to life. Consider my interest peaked.
HBO Documentary Films’ The Lady and The Dale, a four-part documentary series from Emmy®-winning producers Mark and Jay Duplass (HBO’s “Room 104”) and directed by Nick Cammilleri and Zackary Drucker, traces the audacious story of Elizabeth Carmichael, a larger-than-life entrepreneur who rose to prominence during the 1970s oil crisis with her promotion of a fuel-efficient, three-wheeled car known as The Dale. At a time when three big American automobile manufacturers ruled the road, Liz launched a futurist vehicle that promised to get 70 miles to the gallon. Her promotional zeal thrust her into fierce public and media scrutiny which uncovered a web of mystery and suspicion about the car’s technology and her own checkered past. The Lady and The Dale is a probing exploration of family and identity seen through the lens of the rise and fall of a fearless and wily innovator, an extraordinarily resilient woman and a dedicated parent.
Based in Sun Valley, Idaho between the Sawtooth and Smoky mountain ranges, production company Idarado Media is perfectly located to capture the thrill of the great outdoors against breathtaking views of the surrounding unspoiled landscape. Founder and DP Cory Smith founded the company after 15 years at performance sunglasses and goggles maker Smith Optics.
Lilly Singh is a comedian, talk show host, and actress, who rose to fame as a YouTube star in which she chronicled her thoughts and daily activities. In 2019, replacing Last Call with Carson Daly, NBC released A Little Late with Lilly Singh, which recently started its second season. Ditching the traditional television studio, the daily half-hour talk show is produced at a house in Los Angeles following production protocols and safety guidelines relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. The show is shot by Director of Photography Carissa Dorson (It’s a Party, CollegeHumor) with a mix of AU-EVA1, LUMIX GH5S, and GH5 cameras.
In June, Signiant highlighted the pandemic's effects on ENVY Post Production's workflows and Signiant's role in helping navigate them. Technical operations director, Jai Cave, explained, “We successfully moved an entire facility fully remote from offline to finishing post in a matter of weeks, so we have been able to deliver on our projects without disruption.”
As a filmmaker and storyteller, I strive to bring my ideas to the screen in a way that’s impactful and relatable to the viewer. Last year, I created a film with Cinecom exploring what it’s like to see the world through a character’s point of view. I enjoyed using this perspective so much that I decided I wanted to do it again. So, I started a side project and partnered with Adobe to create a sci-fi short film called ROUTINE, which takes audiences on a sensory experience of a daily routine through the eyes of the main character. I was able to shoot and edit the film in a couple of weeks and I played around with features and effects in the Creative Cloud apps to enhance the project. Using integrated workflows with Premiere Pro, Audition and After Effects helped me design how I wanted the film to look and sound. A few tools that were especially useful during the editing process were the Freeform Project Panel and Essential Sound Panel in Premiere Pro, Audition, as well as the 3D Camera Tracker in After Effects.
Located in Pleasantville, NY, the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) developed its Creative Culture fellowship program to help champion underrepresented voices and diverse storytelling. Now in its fourth year, Creative Culture has helped 35 filmmakers create projects that have been selected by top tier film festivals, such as Sundance, Berlinale, and SXSW, and acquired by Fox Searchlight, POV, NY Times Op Docs, and Staff Pick’d at Vimeo. This includes recent projects such as Adam Meeks’ “Union County” which premiered at this year’s Berlinale, and Crystal Kayiza’s “See You Next Time” which was selected at Sundance 2020 and recently acquired by The New Yorker.
With its debut on HBO Max, reality series Legendary combines modern dance, art, and fashion to bring underground ballroom culture to the masses. As eight teams of five dancers compete for the top prize over the course of the nine-episode series, viewers get a front-row view into an expressive and extravagant artform that’s existed since the early 20th century.
As Jai Cave, ENVY’s technical operations director put it, “in a way, we are the cloud to our customers and partners.” ENVY’s use of modern technology, including remote edit capabilities and their expansive use of Signiant Media Shuttle, enables them to collaborate with customers and partners around the world, and made the transition to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic any easy one. Although project files and media are stored securely on-premises at ENVY’s facilities in London, they are able to collaborate globally thanks to their forward-thinking approach to post production.