‘Port of Los Angeles’ Opens, with Help from AlphaDogs

BURBANK, CA, April 29, 2009 – Leading post house AlphaDogs provided post-production services on "PORT OF LOS ANGELES: A Four Part Documentary Series – The History of America’s Busiest Port (1542-2008)." The film had its premiere screening Sunday at The 6th Annual Los Angeles Harbor International Film Festival in San Pedro, CA.

Created by Jon and Nancy Wilkman, "PORT OF LOS ANGELES" combines photos, film clips, and oral accounts to tell the history of America’s busiest port. The Wilkmans interviewed more than 100 Port residents, workers, managers, and others, the oldest of whom "was 101 at the time of the interview and is still talking at 103." the director said.

The documentary is comprised of four parts: (1) Spanish discovery – 1920, (2) 1920-1940, (3) 1940-1960, (4) 1960-2008.

"The Port of Los Angeles series had a huge scope, covering several centuries of development," said Russell Frazier, who designed the main title for the series. "Fortunately the Wilkmans had done exhaustive research, finding hundreds of historic stills, illustrations and clips to choose from. About a hundred of them made it into the main title, along with pristine HD aerial shots, which conveyed the massive energy – and even some of the fun and personal sacrifice – which has gone into making our busiest port." 

"One challenge was to convey just how much the physical layout and scale of the port changed over the decades," said Sean Williams, VP of Design at AlphaDogs. "I worked closely with John and Nancy to create animated maps that would clearly illustrate the port’s growth, while using photographic backgrounds to subtly introduce a visual sense of the changing harbor. Accurately recreating maps for eras before aerial photography and modern surveying proved especially challenging, but the Wilkmans’ research and archival resources were invaluable in achieving the result we were looking for."

Additional members of the AlphaDogs team who contributed to the project were Terrence Curren, who served as online editor and colorist on two of the four segments, and Rosanne Tan, who was the online editor for the remaining two portions. Brian Hutchings was the colorist on those segments.