Fast Forward

Intelligentsia Series is ‘an ongoing series that documents our search for the ultimate tastemakers.’

After working at Imaginary Forces with Kurt Mattila on Spielberg’s “Minority Report,” Matt Checkowski started his own production/editorial/vfx firm, The Department of the 4^th Dimension. Between pitching against other ad agencies for work — and his own feature film projects, no less — he’s trying out a series of short-form content that feels right at home online. Listening to people who are passionate about what they do is engaging in its own right. Filming it with creative prowess and distinct visual style, now that’s something you’ve got to see, even if you’re not a coffee aficionado.

You came out of the gates from design school. How did that established your approach to filmmaking? Do you feel there’s a different process — say, considering things as form vs. function? With your film/tv partners, is it delivering pre-vis animatics/drawing and, with your brand/campaign clients, is it delivering modular options? Also, does it not matter where you start, but how you make it?

Matt Checkowski First off, thanks for even thinking about me for this chat. We connected through the Espresso short film and it’s amazing to me how the smallest things can open up connections online. It’s exciting.

There are a few things that are always in the front of my mind regardless of whether the project is “design” or “cinema,” and I imagine what’s left over after those similarities is what pushes a particular project into one category or the other.

Screenshots from the work done on ‘Minority Report’

The audience is up there on the list. Where are they sitting or standing? What will they be likely doing before and after they see what we’ve created? How are they going to engage with what we’ve done? In passing? Planted in a dark theater? Sitting at their computer? Why are they going to care? It’s really about contrast — in the service of grabbing attention and recalibrating our audiences point of view. This goes for the first 10 minutes of a film, television network branding, a website or an experience design project. I think a lot about the audience and how to reposition the context.

I read somewhere that someone said “Drama is more interesting than ideas,” and I like that. But I also like the ideas. They both serve different purposes at different moments. I’m stimulated by the concepts and the process and the possibility of ideas, but they’re meaningless to me if I can’t evolve them into something that inspires other people. I think the core motivation — be it an idea or a dramatic situation — is something that I sort out early on and needs to translate for the audience in order for the work to be successful.

I haven’t sorted out my final thesis on the overlap of design and cinema, but I know that my creative process is essentially the same for both. I will say that directing feature films has made me much more aware and appreciative of my audience and how they experience my work.

We pitch the hell out of projects and present as much as we can to sculpt this new world for our client and collaborators. Pre-viz, animatics, reference. Writing, concepts, stories. Each project is a multimedia extravaganza from the get-go.

You were at Imaginary Forces, then co-directed “Lies and Alibis,” and now do campaigns with ESPN Monday Night Football and Rock Band. How is your collaborative process on projects?

MC I collaborate like crazy. It seems that the key inspiration for each project tends to always come from an unexpected category. A branding project is built from a film excerpt. A virtual world starts with a photograph. That’s part of why I like working with really diverse teams at the beginning of projects. It opens the project up to new possibilities.

Sometimes the client doesn’t care about our crazy ideas, but that comes back to transforming those elements into something that is relevant for other people to spend some time with. More often than not, we’re sought out for this multidisciplinary process and thinking. It’s really how I think and thankfully it seems to be the way the world works now.

Where did the idea for the Intelligentsia Coffee short film series come from? Project on-the-side or clever commercial?

MC The short film series — the first three episodes of which are set at and about what they do at Intelligentsia — was just an original idea of mine whose time had come. Short, online episodes about beautifully designed objects or acts. I wanted to find people who were as obsessed about what they do as I am about what I do and hoped that passion would resonate with a broader audience. I’d been trying to get it off the ground for a while through a variety of different scenarios, brand or ad agency partnerships and nothing seemed to help it break through.

So we spoke with Kyle at Intelligentsia and just made it happen. It’s a crystal clear concept that just lets the star of the short do what they do best, without any logos or forced messaging getting between the story and you. We’ve got a ton of ideas for what to do next. I’m excited that people like it and hope that its early success will enable us to grow it wider and wider.

Two cameras, a Kino, color keying in After Effects and viola?

Yep. Super lightweight production process. Two Canon 5DMK2s. Tons of natural light and a small Kino. Then lots of love on the post side of things to really show-off the process and Kyle’s personality. The color treatment was tricky to execute but came from a simple spark: I loved the black and white footage but thought the coffee looked spectacular in color. It made so much sense with the story and I think that graphic treatment actually enhances the personality of our star. It’s the visual embodiment of his obsession.

The series feels right at home online, with viewers discussing it on Vimeo, Twitter, and city blogs like LAist.com. What do you think is going to be the next big step forward in user-centric film?

MC I think so, too. It was a natural fit. I love this series in an online format. I’d love it even more if I could easily blast it onto other kinds of screens in a more effective way. XBox and Playstation downloads. iTunes channels. We’re working on some ideas now that will help us generate revenue to create more episodes in an effort to stay away from heavy-handed brand partnerships. I’m not opposed to branding and frankly think that the idea of “selling out” is long dead, but everyone in our industry knows it’s harder and harder to find people or clients who are willing to financially support content creation. That goes from commercials to shorts to feature films.

I think the biggest challenge is not only finding the great content online, but also developing ways to help the audience enable those content creators to make more great stuff. The success of this series has been super encouraging and I’m grateful to everyone who clicked the link and took the time to watch it. It’s really amazing for a truly viral project that doesn’t have a huge marketing budget secretly blasting links into the ether.

I’m not sure what’s next, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the money trail. Why does an audience have to go buy soap or a new car in order for their money to find its way through to the person who makes the motion picture content that they enjoy? That’s not a new question, but we’re working on some ways to explore our relationship with our audience in the online arena.

Thanks so much for the great questions. I enjoyed thinking and chatting about all this.

#

Episode 1: Espresso

Episode 2: Syphon

Episode 3: Cappuccino is coming soon

After 9 months of very challenging and very rewarding work, my employment on “How To Train Your Dragon” has come to an end. I am officially off the show, and am now gearing up for my next DreamWorks endeavor. The experience has been indescribable, and as recently mentioned here, I’m sure I will attempt to pass along some of the artistic knowledge I have gained through this journey.

This was a privileged opportunity to work with some of the most talented feature animation artists working today in all departments. Personally in my department, I got to work with layout veterans James Ryan Peterson of Kung Fu Panda, JC Alvarez of Shark Tale and Bee Movie among others, and our head of layout, Gil Zimmerman. Learning from these three gents was always a simultaneously humbling and empowering experience, both making me realize my bad habits, and yet showing me how to utilize my strengths. You can find an interview here on the official How To Train Your Dragon blog with Gil, where he briefly answers some questions about himself and the movie. Also, a brief clip in which he discusses the challenges and process that went into Romantic Flight, the first sequence I worked on in this film.

Tomorrow, I get to meet with the director of the next project I am starting on, where we will discuss the set dressing for one of the large landscapes we’ll be using. Always new and challenging work to be done at DreamWorks! More to come!

(Originally published on badgerart.blogspot.com.)

I’m With COCO. Art by Mike Mitchell.

It all began with a late-night tweet — “what do y’all think of this?” — and the “I’m With COCO” movement was born. The tweet’s author and “Coco” artist is Mike Mitchell, a twenty-something Los Angeles resident who recently quit his job to work as a freelance artist.

Mitchell woke up the next morning to find it was literally an overnight internet sensation. “I do a lot of pop-culture based stuff,” he explains, “but nothing has gotten close to this. I got woken up by TMZ this morning,” noted the Village Voice.

In an interview with People, he added, “I finished the design and sent it off on Twitter, and I woke up the next day and it had started. It already had wheels and it just blew up from there.” Mitchell has now thrown himself into “I’m With Coco” full-time, not just to support O’Brien but to support charity. A dollar of every order at the online “I’m With Coco” shop goes toward Planting Peace, which is helping relief efforts in Haiti.

Support on Facebook alone extends between six pages, totaling over 590,000. Each uses Mitchell’s artwork as the icon of support.

Art as a creative force is increasingly common. We’ve seen popular images become a focal point in the media increasingly recently: Barack Obama in 2008 and now this in 2010. (See our guest post on Shepard Faireys’ artwork.)

Is this kind of movement a trend? Or has it always been there?

(Thanks to screenwriter Eric Szyszka for the topic.)

Mapping time travel

Part of a series of posts about awesome film, web or design artists and their work currently abuzz online and in-person.

Lucas Looks Back On Movie-Making
From a recent interview on NPR’s Fresh Air: “‘We loved movies, we loved making movies, and we cooperated with each other and were helping each other,’ Lucas says. ‘We were like, you know, rebels trying to work our way in somehow.’” Read the transcript, download the MP3, or listen on their site player.

DXG readies first 3D camcorder
“Believe it or not, that $400 isn’t just for the camera. You also get a 7-inch digital video viewer. The 3D in both the camcorder’s 3-inch 3D LCD viewfinder LCD and the frame look almost holographic.” As CES, the company promised an SD version under $200. However, in a comment on CNET.com by a 3D content provider, Simon Sieverts, “all these fixed inter-axial cameras are ultimately going to be a disappointment for their owners because the distance between the lenses should reflect the distance between the camera, the subject and the background.”

Time travel in popular films
Information Is Beautiful hosts a visualization from David McCandless, Dominic Busby, and Alice Cho, which was just published in the book, The Visual Miscellaneum. Also check out the blog post by McCandless about the process.

INST MSGS

One part Craigslist’s “Best Of.” One part quality production. INST MSGS is a new show from photographer Mathieu Young, collaborating with show creator Justin Simien and producer Ann Le.

The series got picked up by Revision3 (“Digg Nation”), made the front page of iTunes, and features an ensemble cast, including Abigail Spencer (“Mad Men”) and Josh Cooke (“Four Kings,” “I Love You Man”) in the 8^th episode, “R U THERE?”, released today.

You can subscribe to INST MSGS on iTunes or watch on Revision3.

What are you bringing to web series? Your latest episode is certainly more “artistic.” Where are you going with INST MSGS for the rest of your 13-episode season?

Justin Simien The internet tends to be pretty funny and so naturally the show sometimes goes for laughs. But with our pilot episode, and particularly our latest “R U There” we wanted to speak to the humanity behind these conversations. Not to get too heavy or anything, but what’s interesting to me about all of this “mass communication” and “social networking” is the vast amount of things you can’t say. There’s a lot to life and inter-human connection that doesn’t translate over AIM or on a Craigslist ad.

As far as where the season is going, there’s going to be less Craigslist, and a few adaptations of source material that we think will surprise you.

Mathieu Young Yes, it is a constant evolution. I have spent the past few years focused on photojournalism, so the shift to video has had a learning curve for me.

How much of the show is based on actual Craigslist personals or instant messages?

JS A lot of the early episodes are Craigslist heavy, simply because that was easier and less expensive to shoot. A series of MOS scenes with narration from a Craigslist ad was just more doable for us in the beginning, because we had to produce a lot of episodes very quickly at first. Now that we’ve kind of hit our stride production wise, we’re able to do the “talkies,” some of the instant message conversations that actually sparked the idea for the show in the first place.

The original short, ‘My Women,’ became the first episode.

I’ve seen the original short. How did you get Revision3 to buy the show?

JS Our producer Ann Le deserves the credit for the Revision 3 deal. My priority was to see if the concept would work and hopefully find a way to make more. Ann had the foresight to enter it into festivals, shop it around and specifically approach Revision 3 who were fortunately looking to get into more narrative shows.

What are the pros and cons of delivering the show via Revision3?

MY Revision3 has been a great partner. We have got over 250K eyeballs on our work through them. The only challenge is matching our show with their format, which is usually more host driven, but figuring out how to work within those parameters is just another challenge.

The show made the front page of iTunes. Did you set out to create a popular show? Or was the initial plan to take a good idea and see where it goes?

JS I wasn’t sure what the reception for the show would be because it so different. There’s no central cast, the genre and tone change each week, and unlike a lot of other web shows we often rely on subtly to get the story across. I knew it was a show I would watch, and I’m just glad to see there are more people out there like me.

MY Our only plan has been to make a good show, put it out there, and see what happens. Good press and getting featured like that has all been gravy.

Abigail Spencer

Josh Cooke

What are you most proud of with INST MSGS? What’s your favorite segment thus far?

MY I’m actually most proud of the visual variety that we’ve had in the season. One of the things that attracted me to the project was the challenge of shooting different styles. It’s been great fun to undertake what seems impossible on paper and to pull it off.

JS I’m proud of everything we’ve been able to accomplish with literally no money and even less time. Secret Tweets, where we used anonymous tweets from SecretTweet.com as the inner dialogue of a series of zoo animals still stands out for me as a favorite.

I’m also really happy with the newer episodes coming out that are actually based on people’s Instant Messages. Our current episode R U There starring Abigail Spencer from “Mad Men” and Josh Cooke from “Four Kings” and “I Love You Man” is one I’m very proud of.

What camera are you shooting on?

MY We are shooting the show on the [Canon] 5DMKII.

Generally speaking, what’s the budget? Since it’s low, how do you keep it bootstrapped?

MY We are also working on a shoestring budget; to put it in real numbers I try to keep the G&E budget to under $50 per episode. The constant challenge is to try to do a lot with a little (and even less time), but the footage that comes out of the camera is such great quality that it makes it achievable.

JS Ha. “Budget.” The budget is virtually non-existent. I owe so much to Ann Le and Mathieu Young who give their time, talents, and money when necessary to get the show made. Ann does keep a running budget going that’s incredibly streamlined, and we do what we can with what we have.

What do you think of the requirements from advertisers, such as shooting the ads with your episode’s cast?

JS It’s a bit of a challenge because our show doesn’t lend itself naturally to product call outs, like a hosted show might. But web shows are the wild wild west, and helping advertisers find a way to monetize it is just part of the work you have to do to be successful in this arena.

How is your collaboration with your team?

JS It’s really the best team I’ve ever worked with. From the beginning Ann Le has been everything I could hope for in a producer / director collaboration. She’s incredibly resourceful, relentless, brings so much creatively to the table, and on top of that she cooks for us at our production meetings. I also got really lucky having Mathieu Young on board. He’s a great director in his own right, a brilliant photographer, and his input has been so crucial to the success of the show. Mathieu and Ann are both great storyteller as well, and I feel really fortunate to have gotten to work with them.

Are there plans for a second season?

JS I love doing this show and I think if we can find a way to make it bigger and better then anything in the first season, we’ll be back for a second. We’re only half way through the first season though, and it all comes down to how well this one does, so keep watching, sharing and nominate us for the Streamys (Best experimental!)

Tom Ford on the set. Photo by DP Eduard Grau.

On KCRW’s radio program The Treatment, film critic Elvis Mitchell interviewed fashion designer Tom Ford, now a first-time filmmaker, writing/directing/producing the feature, “A Single Man.” Some keynotes included:

• “Make a silent film.”
• “Reinforce the beauty in life.”
• “This is the first thing I’ve done in my life that is purely expressive. … When I design clothes, I design them to sell. … You could make a film this way too.”
• “I want to make a film that I’m proud of.”
• “When you love it, usually you can feel that on the other end. … They end up speaking to people. … I had to find my voice as a filmmaker.”
• “‘This is going to take 6 weeks.’ It took me 5 months [to edit].”
• “I don’t think beauty has to necessarily be expensive. … Necessity is the mother of invention.”
• “A lot of people advised me against it, but I decided to finance the film myself.”
• “When I have a film that I’m proud of, I’ll release it and then I’ll talk about it.”
• “We’re going to just hold the camera on you. … I used 3000ft. of film on that. I couldn’t just yell ‘cut.’”

You can listen to the show or download an MP3 at KCRW.com.

Also check out Laura M. Holson’s article for The New York Times, “Tom Ford: Design Director,” and Variety’s interview with the 27-year old DP, Eduard Grau.

The director of ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ made #8

Of the 48 posts this year, here is a selection of favorite subjects covered on this blog.

10. Now Playing: “500 Days” Music Video
    Zooey Deschanel’s comment about collaboration is a great reminder of the joy of working with other like-minded creatives
9. Chris Milk’s Heartache
   Excellent commentary from the music video director, including “MTV, our birth mother, has abandoned us on the stairs of the internet like a shriveled up old man baby.”
8. Spike Jonze’s Authenticity
   “Everything we did, all the decisions that we made, were to try to capture the feeling of what it is to be 9.” Such a guiding mantra.
7. Jay-Z’s Rhapsody
   Ten album covers recreated in a seemingly seemless 60-second spot.
6. More than fair use of Shepard Fairey’s Obama HOPE poster
   In a guest post by director Mathieu Young, he suggests, “[i]f it wasn’t for Shepard, that photo would’ve been just like thousands of others, and fallen into obscurity.”
5. 4 Years Later: Making the Short Film “Paradise Regained“
   An exclusive interview with director Jaraad Virani about his ambitious 35mm sci-fi drama.
4. Making “Boom Boom Pow” Pop
   An exclusive interview with two visual effects designers and how they contributed to the Black Eyed Peas music video.
3. Leveraging Your Fan Club
   My theory on the future of profitable film distribution online. Variety contributor, author, and FWD:labs reader Scott Kirsner would agree.
2. Taking Guy Richie’s Nike Spot to Next Level
   Excerpted from the Cinematography Mailing List, various technicians weigh in on the helmet-camera commercial
1. iPhone Apps for Filmmakers
   Our most popular resource — by far — which now also includes apps for Google Android and Windows Mobile.

Other favorites not make the list? Browse the archive and comment below.

Also, check out our top list for 2008.

Halo 3: ODST’s Live Action Trailer

In the same vein as James Cameron’s immersive experience with the 3D filmmaking of “Avatar” are recent works by commercial director Rupert Sanders.

Whether it’s first-person point-of-view or simply focusing on one character, these spots take you right into their world with a simple, opinionated constraint. Take the “Halo 3: ODST” live action trailer as a perfect example of the viewer feeling the experience, even though it’s a video game trailer minus the video game.

Sanders is a name to keep watching. (The “Halo” film, slated for 2012, doesn’t yet have a director.) He’s already racked up a couple Grand Prix awards at Cannes 2008 and two best director nom’s at DGA 2006 and 2008, respectively.

Halo 3: ODST — “We Are ODST” Live Action Trailer

Agency: T.A.G., San Francisco
Executive Creative Director: Scott Duchon
Agency: T.A.G.
Client: Halo 3 ODST
Executive Creative Director: John Patroulis
Art Director: Aramis Israel
Copywriter: Rick Herrera
Agency Executive Producer: Hannah Murray
Agency Producer: Joyce Chen
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Rupert Sanders
Executive Producer: Eric Stern
Director of Photography: Greig Fraser
Editorial: Final Cut
Editor: Eric Zumbrunnen
Post Producer: Kelly Garcia
Executive Producer: Saima Awan
Visual Effects: Asylum
Visual Effects Supervisor: Rob Moggach
Executive Producer: Michael Pardee
Producer: Ryan Meredith
CG Supervisor: Jens Zalzala
Telecine: MPC
Colorist: Mark Gethin
Music: Human
Music Producer: Mike Jurasits
Sound Design: Brian Emrich
Mix: Loren Silber
Mix: Lime Studios

Watch an extended 2:38 version or launch the HD version at gametrailers.com.

For more immersive filmmaking from Sanders, check out his Wolverine “Captivity” spot.

(via director Mickey Finnegan and /Film)

Part of a series of posts about awesome film, web or design artists and their work currently abuzz online and in-person.

MakingOf.com has a behind-the-scenes featurette about “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and the technology for handling 20tb of data and streaming the shot to the director, who was overseeing part of the shoot from Paris and London.

(via producer Brooke Dooley)

FORA.tv has an interview with David Lynch and why he turned down “Return of the Jedi,” recorded from a conversation at The Hudson Union Society.

(via Digg)

Part of NBC’s fall campaign for “more colorful” programming included new branding work by Capacity, who posted a case study.

(via Computerlove — Contemporary Creative Culture)

“Brick” filmmaker Rian Johnson made “Evil Demon Golfball from Hell” as a student. He used a small prop and ran with it, making something out of nothing.

(via screenwriter Eric Szyszka)

30 Seconds to Mars

Filmmaker Tim Cruz is no stranger to working quickly. Currently the show runner for Discovery Channel’s upcoming series “Speed of Life,” Cruz has worked as a segment producer for reality shows including “The Apprentice” and “The Amazing Race.” He’s also directed commercials, music videos, and a Warner Bros. Creative Labs pilot, “Torte Reform.” Through a few connections, he met up with 30 Seconds to Mars.

For “Kings & Queens,” actor/musician Jared Leto and his band were no strangers to collaborating. For an experimental meet-up called “The Summit,” they invited fans to participate in the recording of the track’s chorus. 1,000 showed up with just a week’s notice from their web site. From an interview with MTV.com:

“There were some freakin things [we tried] that were left-field sound experiments — using the group, the collective, as a musical instrument,” he continued. “We did everything from percussive expression to whispering to things that were a little bit more familiar, like inviting the 1,000 people that were there to sing the chorus of a song. And those people who were a part of it all will be a part of the next 30 Seconds to Mars album. … It was quite simply one of the best things we’ve done as a band.”

For the video, Leto collaborated with Cruz — officially the second unit director — and, as a larger creative team, shot “The Ride” over six days:

Tim Cruz and Jared Leto. Photo by Adrian Sidney.

How did your team work with Jared for content as well as DP Jon Sela and 2^nd unit DP Rob Witt for a unified look?

Tim Cruz Jared and I discussed the overall pitch. The difficulty with having such compact, light cameras is the tendency to treat them like compact, light cameras as oppose to the heavy, cumbersome ones we’re accustomed to. The idea was simple. Cinematic and epic. Capturing life and making it larger. We used high speed cameras to push the limits of the technology.

I worked with Jon Sela before on a commercial and he’s a fantastic DP. I’m very familiar with his work and so was Rob Witt and coming from the same schools of thought, our synchronization was almost automatic.

I actually only worked with Rob on the last day of principle photog and the pick up shots. I was manning the cam on the first two days. I brought him on as I got overwhelmed with the workload. Rob is quite the talent. He was the cinematographer on a pilot I directed not too long ago. He’s fast and has a very unique eye.

What were some of your favorite contributions to the 2^nd unit filming? Anything not make the cut that you felt good about?

TC It’s safe to say 40 percent of that video were our shots. The closes-ups and the performance angles were Rob’s and mine. All the establishing except the LA fires were from our unit and all the close ups of the riders are from us. This was the most involved a secondary or simultaneous unit has ever been for me. Jared is a wonderful guy to work with and it was just easy helping make his vision come to screen.

There’s a lot of high speed stuff I wish made it to the cut. I also shot tons of profiles and closeups of the 200 unique riders. But that would be a totally different piece on its own.

Shot on RED and Phantom? What was on your unit?

TC The video was shot on the Canon 7D at 24fps and 60fps. All video at 48 fps was shot on Red. Anything over 100 fps was on the Phantom. My unit shot on the 7Ds on the ride and close ups of the riders. The Red [was] on the inserts.

What were some challenges that you overcame during the shoot?

TC Challenges? EVERYTHING. Shooting with the 7D without decent stabilization. Trying not to shoot past 1000 ASA. As fun as 18k bebes are, they don’t move very fast. Being extremely mobile, we just didn’t have time to be waiting around for lights that large to move.

How was it working with the Midnight Ridazz?

TC The Midnight Ridazz are simply amazing just as organized as a film crew. They stuck out two nights of 12-hour long bike rides. They’re pretty much my heroes on wheels.