Monday Vide: The Ant & The Grasshopper

In case you missed it this weekend, here's the piece we did for Need to Know on PBS with the great cartoonist Roz Chast.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

So, I'm a little miffed they did that bizarre letterboxing.  We're usually pretty diligent about PBS deliverables.  In the rush of the production we worked to HD 1920x1080 standards -forgetting that PBS sometimes requires titles be 4:3 NTSC safe (which is about 1/4 of the screen tighter on all sides).

When we got the specs -on the day of delivery -it asked for "all animation" within NTSC 4:3 action safe.  I'm hoping that they just meant type within NTSC title safety and reduced the piece to meet those standards.  That's a drag, but at least makes sense.

Here's the proper full frame.




Anyway, other than the tech issue, the gang at PBS was exceeding receptive and upbeat about this piece. The writing and voice are great, but I see it and just think about how good it could be with adequate resources.

Programming Alert

We're scheduled to have bit on "Need To Know" on PBS tonight.

This one is with the great Roz Chast.  It's 1:45 and we made in less than a week.

Don't expect great animation -though there are some nice bits of AfterEffects/cut out animation -but the story is funny and Roz' voice is terrific.

Obama Where Art Thou?

Here's our piece for Friday's "Need to Know."

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

I actually think we could've been a little harder.

Black Hole

Here's the latest of our pieces with Steve Brodner for PBS' "Need To Know".

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

This one was pretty simple in concept and execution -except for Steve's hand never clearing frame! -We need clear frames in order to present the illusion of seamlessness. To make up for it, we used a lot of cross-dissolves.

Typically, I don't like to cut with dissolves but for these pieces it's a necessity.

The conceit behind the single camera, single point of view shoot is that you're in real time conversation with the subject. Since we're constantly speeding up and slowing down actions through time remaps and animation it's necessary to preserve a visual seamlessness. That's the number one editorial priority.

In any event, this was a pretty simple concept. Steve and Gail got an approval on the concept Monday after a couple days of quick research. We shot it on Tuesday. Loaded in the footage from the P2 cards and had an audio cut by early evening. Wednesday we fixed up the picture and we delivered Thursday at noon.

The broadcast version, again, is much superior because of the soundtrack. PBS has carte blanche to use any music royalty free for broadcast and we take advantage of that. That right doesn't extend to the web so we deliver a music free version. Another day and another few grand in the budget we could do a royalty free stock online delivery -but that's the news business. No time, no money.

Sounds like all production these days.

In any event, click through to the PBS site: HERE and leave them a comment.

Outtake

This is an outtake from our PBS segment which aired on Friday.



Ben Shapiro shot it, Steve Brodner did the drawings.

The graphic idea here was very cool -MMS employees in a revolving door with oil companies (now on a spinning jenny layered in crude).  As sometimes happens in these pieces it was just too much stuff, one idea too many.

The final piece is here.  It's not exactly the final piece as broadcast.  PBS has "fair use" to any and all music whether public domain or controlled rights.  This doesn't extend to the web, so our music track -Fred Neil's "Dolphins" isn't online.  As is the case in most films, it's much better with the music but we're still proud of the online piece.

In the future, you'll have to watch the broadcasts for the full effect.

Leaving feedback on the PBS page is appreciated.

Keeping the Dogs at Bay

Long day (too long) shooting a segment for PBS.

The piece needs to be delivered for presentation on Friday (tomorrow).  Three hours of footage at 7:00 is two hours too many and five hours too late.

But we're in the business of making pictures, not complaining.  So we'll grind this out in the next few hours and hopefully come up with something decent.

It's essentially editorial illustration as short film.  The deadlines are similar, and the obstacles are the same.

Madison from down the thought something interesting was happening, so she came to visit.  She was mostly interested in smelling the floor.