“We immersed ourselves in standup as a writing exercise, and fell in love with the medium,” said Juicy, who has poured audiences a “hot cup of truth” about race, religion, and family in multiple shows at The Ice House, Flappers, and HaHa Cafe, among other venues.  “We also realized that as we have a unique perspective on standup, the creative process, and the comedy business. We wanted to share that via a Web series.” “A rebellious Web series,” added Ernie, who’s appeared in West Coast comedy spots from LA to San Diego and Oakland; he shares anecdotes and insights as a member of the Korean community — and is candid about his Asian member.

(Hursh appears 1st, Press 4 for Ernie, 7 for Juicy)

The February 7 show marks the 6-month anniversary of the Raging Artists standup journey. “Part of this experience has been meeting young comics with unique voices,” said Hersh, who has brought his own way with voices and characters to shows on both coasts, at The Comedy Store, Stand-Up NY, Comedy Cellar, and more. “We’ve known these people for many months now and watched them grow. At this point, all are taller than I am.”

In the case of Praveen Angyan – known as “Genie” (genius) – who is also doing standup, the RA team has done more than watch and support: “Genie was not a comic two weeks ago, he was an Internet guru,” Juicy explained. “As Phase 2 of our writing adventure, we took someone who would never otherwise talk to people, let alone be on stage, and collectively crafted and work-shopped his set – as we do all of our own.” Genie killed in an audition at Flappers Comedy Club Burbank and has made the first round of the Uncle Clyde’s Comedy Contest. “Superhuman Courage + Flawless Material = Hit Comedy. Easy peezy, right?” Genie will make a guest appearance at the Saba Sushi show.

As a series, “Beyond the Brick Wall” will feature shows produced in venues outside the comedy club circuit. Last week, the team attended the Sundance Film Festival, where Hersh performed before a crowd on Park City’s Main Street. “Somehow, I felt there was more at stake in front of those 35 people than onstage,” he said. “We were giving comedy to those people, and they didn’t even have it coming.”

Featured recently in ComedyBeat, Raging Artists is holding true to its mantra, “Courage. Commitment. Comedy.” The firm’s objective when they initiated the standup project was twofold: to challenge themselves as writers and to bridge the gap between advertising and comedy. “Products for men are something we can market that we couldn’t market before, because we didn’t have the reputation for tapping into the male psyche as we now have with standup,” Juicy stated in the article. “We also talk about our wives and women in general, and we’ve been able to incorporate that with some of our clients like one that sells women’s shoes.” “We’ve been bold just by engaging in comedy,” concluded Ernie, “and it’s our hope that brands will be inspired to match – and top – that bravery in the content they ask us to create.”

About Saba Sushi
Whoever came up with the phrase “bursting with fruit flavor” never tasted kosher sushi.  That’s right, kosher sushi.  As in yummy, seaweed wrapped fish, rice and vegetables, now approved by the Almighty.  It’s sushi with a higher calling.  Luckily for foodies everywhere, the higher calling doesn’t translate into higher cost. The brainchild of Carmela and Asher Fadlon, the retail giants behind top indie sneaker boutique Sportie LA, Saba Sushi was borne out of Carmela’s love of family and cooking.  “I love to cook, and I wanted to create something for my children.  It’s an extension of my passion,” says Carmela.  And anyone who has tasted her exquisite Israeli cuisine can attest to the passion behind the talent.

Saba Sushi is located at 7160 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046. The Raging Artists “Beyond the Brick Wall” show takes place Tuesday, February 7, 2012, at 9pm.

Contact info@RagingArtists.com for more info.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Damon, who directed and shot the piece, has been working in the ad industry since he was a teenager, when his love of photography – combined with a fresh perspective on shooting cars – earned him assignments for major brands. He has evolved into a prolific spot helmer whose credits include recent projects for Cadillac, Audi, Goodyear, and Toyota, Damon is ranked as one of the top three still shooters in the U.S. automotive market as a result of his work with Chevy, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz. His live action and still imagery of cars, planes, and virtually every other mode of transportation offer ample evidence of his keen eye and genuine enthusiasm for the subject matter.

“Finding the right production partner is critical to the success of any broadcast or Web campaign,” said Hesh Rephun, owner of Raging Artists. “To realize our vision for Honda, we partnered with Tim Damon because of his distinctive talent and experience within the automobile industry.” Rephun added that the Odyssey project was more conceptual than visual in nature, and aimed to convey a sense of fun and spontaneity rather than focusing overtly on the features of the car itself. “This allowed Tim to have fun with the story and the characters,” Rephun said. “Since it was created on spec and we didn’t have the usual constraints, we were able to cut loose.”

“The ‘Family Man’ project was approached from a different perspective,” said Damon. “It was a chance to collaborate with the creative team on the development of the piece, and we all just clicked as a team.”

Damon likes to shift perspective, and he has always been a proponent of new approaches. His Square Planet moniker is derived from an understanding of today’s marketplace: whether it is TV, Web, or Mobile, it’s a four-cornered window and the company brings tremendous resources to the integrated production of content for every screen. Damon began exploring the multi-platform arena a decade ago, shooting print, broadcast and web content for clients such as Boeing, Goodyear, Toyota, GM, Nissan and Honda. With his legendary eye for framing, lensing and lighting, and a staggering collection of customized gear, Damon pioneered this approach with clients long before it became the common practice it is today. “It took a while for the multi-platform process to catch on and become harmonious,” Damon noted. “Now, everyone from production to agency and client have adjusted to the new normal.  We’re all on the same team on the same field. That’s an ideal way to work.”

1.  It better be a good spot.  If there is little money then you are probably under staffed and under-paying what staff you have.  There might not be a credit roll at the end, but your crew wants to work on good stuff.  They have feelings (and egos) too.

2.  Make it fun.  Again, if you pay people a lot you can arguably be a dick.  If you have a low production budget, you better have 20 minutes of a stand up routine ready to go at any take 5 to inspire whatever shrapnel of passion you crew has for their job.

3.  If the spot sucks, it better be a short day.  You can make up for crappy creative by making it a 6 hour day.  Twilight golf and happy hour is a big sell.

4.  Only work with people you like.  Your vendors and your crew are the only reason you can hope to deliver a quality spot.  If you like them, chances are they like you.  These relationships are paramount.

5.  Bake a humble pie.  You are going to have to ask a lot of your network for a lot of (free) help and (free) advice, in finding (free) locations, (cheap) gear and supremely talented undiscovered non-union talent.

6.  Don’t acknowledge that your rates are ridiculously low.  Especially with actors. You want to sustain the idea that they should be happy to work for you, not that they’re giving YOU a deal. Your people don’t need to know every last sad detail about commercial production!

7.  Learn to love a handheld camera. It’s hip, it’s cool, it’s relevant… and dollies and cranes are expensive.

8.  Get ready for multiple personality disorder.  You’ll likely be playing twenty-six different rolls and need to remember which of yourselves you need to follow up with. Deodorant will help.

9.  Pay people on set.  It’s just a classy thing to do when you’re faced with a small production budget.  It also saves on postage.

10.  Say thank you.  Your appreciation for paying someone to work for you goes a long way.  Thank them on the day, after the day, buy gifts for those who went above and beyond, and make GDFing sure they get a final copy for their reel.

ContagiousLA is a creative production collective based in, you got it, LA. They have too much experience dealing with, you got it again, low budget spot production.

For the Grammy’s campaign, Little Red Robot created a custom car camera mount for the Canon mkII 5d from industrial suction cups and grip gear, after the now-ubiquitous camera had just been released. While LRR did an amazing production for their Spot for Project Rising Stars, “We wanted to revisit the MKS but completely in CG,” says Shukovsky (pictured),  “and do a piece that ties together the best of CGI, VFX with Motion Graphics. We wanted to see how close a young artist could come to level Digital Domain and other shops responsible for Lincoln’s TV advertising had achieved both aesthetically and technically, without the benefit of the bells and whistles of a large shop and utilizing 1 intern over 3 weeks. I’m very proud of this, given the fact that we created this spot with just an intern, not our regular professional staff, and it almost stands up to Digital Domain quality. For the bigger shops like DD, the threat of being rivaled by smaller shops with similar capabilities is real. Agencies are going to smaller, elite teams to use the same tools, to do what was once possible only under the auspices of huge studios with expensive equipment.”

Little Red Robot is an active member of the creative community, and schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area send their graduating classes to the shop to vie for spots in LRR’s highly coveted internship program. “Usually we have them pitch and learn the ropes from our Senior artists and lend a hand on our active projects,” Shukovsky says, “but when Daniel’s internship started up, the project we were currently engaged in was really demanding and we had a full staff just cranking on it, with no real time to evoke our customary internship routines.”

The MKS 2010 spot was created by “Daniel” Diandian Mao, LRR’s Spring intern from The Academy of Art University. LRR asked him to study the Lincoln ads that Y+R Team Detroit had done and create a :30 that drew off on some of same principals, lighting, camera moves, car details and art direction. Within a few weeks, and with a little bit of supervision and assistance from LRR CG Supervisor Buddy Giguere, Daniel had created the 100% CGI spot; even the hand switching gears was done completely in 3D. The main technical support Daniel received from LRR’s CG  Supervisor was in developing a customized animation rig for the car that would allow the tires and the body of the car move naturally according to real world conditions, so when the car banks, all the movement that would ensue in a real-world scenario car would reproduce in the CGI model.

LRR’s “2010 MKS” piece features a French Electro cover of Duran Duran’s “The Chauffeur” created by David Della Santa of Volume Music + Sound. “Once we had the spot rendered, I immediately contacted David, who’s done standout work on LRR campaigns for Suzuki, Ubisoft, and others,” says Shukovsky. “I knew that Volume would pull off something amazing. Man, They KILLED IT! The track and sfx (expertly mixed by MSquared) is an ideal marriage to the high octane graphics we cranked out. It’s a perfect fit for the Lincoln vibe. ”

“It’s easy to get pigeon-holed in this business,” he says. “We’re very proud of the live-action directing and the motion graphics and 3D projects we’ve done. Everyone that’s worked with us knows we’re constantly looking to come up with new innovative techniques and convey the full range of our capabilities in bringing an idea to life. ’2010 MKS’ was an opportunity to just scratch the surface in demonstrating that yes, we can do an all CGI automotive spot in house. We have all the artistry, tools, producers, and specialists right here, and we’re seeking challenges on a daily basis.”

Credits:

Spot Title: “2010 MKS” (spec)

Production Company: Little Red Robot
Director: Little Red Robot
Producer: Joseph Segrove
CG Artists: ‘Daniel’ Diandian Mao, Buddy Giguere
Editor/Online: Seth Shukovsky

Music/Sound Design: Volume Music + Sound, San Francisco
Song: “The Chauffeur,” by Duran Duran
Track created by: David Della Santa
Sound Designer: Jeff Dodson
Vocalist: Kelly Atkins (from the band 20MinuteLoop)
Mix: Mark Pitchford, M Squared San Francisco

View the end result and read the story behind it on Moonrap.com:

Vespa: ADDigital’s Alex Engel Builds Relationships Across the Globe

Best isn’t angry – in fact, he’s laughing. “This is great, right?”

Most likely, Best – Partner/COO of Best/Spectacular, a Culver City-based firm that provides grass-roots Web marketing – is referring to the huge, bustling office, presently bustling not only with staff but with cameramen, sound people, grips, and PA’s.    

“I mean, we wouldn’t be documenting what we do if it wasn’t entertaining,” Best asserts, “and Justo thinks it’s entertaining, and we put our faith in him every day.”

‘We’ is the firm, launched this year by Best and Partner/CCO Nicholas Speck (pict., r.).

‘Justo’ is Justo A. Diaz (pict., below), Director of Marketing for B/S and the driving force behind the Web series. “Nobody works the way Steven and Nicky do,” explains Diaz, himself an entrepreneur and Web marketing guru to a host of brands. “They make magic first and ask questions later.”

Today, Best and Speck are entertaining a pair of new clients whose profiles could not be more different from one another (and whose identities we’ve been asked to withhold). According to Speck, this diversity is, in part, what fuels the dynamic duo. “We’re engaged in a civil war,” he says of his relationship with Best, “one that’s lacking in civility but one we both win.”

A charming Brit with a frenetic energy off-set by an easy smile, Speck stresses that the documentary series is in its infancy, and frets that his partner has probably said too much. In his defense, this was an unscheduled visit; Best chatted us up in the diner down the block and invited us over. “I promise we’ll have you back,” says Speck as we’re whisked to the door. “We can give you an exclusive…Or you can be in the next episode!”

Best and Speck see us off with a case of Function drinks (a sponsor of the show) – in exchange for a signed release permitting them to use any video of us in the series. Looking over our shoulders as we go, we’re excited about the impending exclusive – but we can’t help wondering if the latter option might be even more fun.

This vision for Raging Artists was suggested at an industry conference by our brilliant CEO, Justo Diaz. “In today’s competitive marketplace it’s imperative that we take a fresh approach to how branding works,” he said to an audience impressed in equal parts by his passion and his track record on Search Engines. “People Google each other while dating, certainly you Google a company you are working with or for…Think about how the environment is changing. We must make the leap so that others follow. Our model must reflect a new paradigm in PR, Advertising, Marketing and Brand Building.” It was only later, over drinks, when the crowd was long gone, that the Creative Marketing term poured out of his mouth (I said he was brilliant, I didn’t say he had killer timing). Anyway, he nailed it.

Our stated objective for clients is to communicate their brand, their message, and their work to the trade and extended media. This spans the full spectrum of branded creative content, spanning traditional and alternative media.

We make your work and news available to the “audience at large” – that vast readership comprised of trade reporters and editors, bloggers, prospective customers, and more. In addition, we provide expert Internet technology and a full menu of Web marketing services to clients seeking to heighten their visibility – and their Google-ability. Developing a client’s image, and raising their profile, not just via trade exposure, but on search engines as well…often creating a platform with SEO* – their own online magazine – from which to launch their content – all of this this is Creative Marketing.

Request a Quote

*Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via natural (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results for targeted keywords.

“Mouse got excited about shooting video with DSLR cameras about a year ago, however the technology wasn’t quite there. Ever since we made Dust to Glory together we haven’t been too intimidated by fixing or solving problems in post. When the 5D finally hit, we saw it as a game changer, specifically for the immersive feel that we wanted to capture in the Navy SEAL feature film we were developing and about to start shooting. The DP who is now shooting our SEALs film, Shane Hurlbut, collided with Bandito to do a viral campaign for Terminator Salvation which we shot entirely on the 5D and posted at Bandito. Shane has been pretty fearless about using the 5D and worked with Panavision to develop some awesome rigs to shoot unique shots. This initial project showed us what could be done and as we started to look at the material, its quality and our process… it started opening our eyes wider.

We had done a small commercial for BMW out at a test track and Mouse subsequently got inspired to shoot a short film about his own BMW M3 using only DSLR cameras. He wanted to do it quickly and efficiently, which the body of a still photography accommodates. Mouse was getting busy on the Navy film, however we worked with Sumer Friedrich (Producer) and Vic Huber (Photographer) and set the shoot up so that Mouse came back for a weekend and knocked it out. Given the mobility and flexibility of the cameras, we did do a few pick up shoots to grab some other angles, but the gist of the piece was shot in that first weekend. The spot and short film were edited by Steve Prestemon who is a good friend of Mouse’s and an accomplished tier one car editor, Steve would cut from home and our Assistant Editor Siobhan Prior would relink his cut to media at Bandito.

From a shooting stand point we had the clear realization that we could actually do this in available light and process everything here at Bandito. We were shooting 5K stills and 1080p (30) HD, so our job in post was to combine those and make the pieces as dynamic as possible. I don’t want to give away too much about how we shot each of the shots, but suffice to say the only effects or cg work that was done, was paint clear up and some image pan/zooms. Having the 5K still image sequence canvas was great because it gave us room and resolution to move. Mike McCarthy who has his own site, hd4pc.com started as my intern and turned into a post architect for us to help us solve technical problems and typical obstacles within complicated workflows, so we all put our heads together and figured the most efficient way to get the project done.

I have been a consultant for Adobe’s video products for years and we used CS4 tools like After Effects and Premiere Pro to conform and finish the project.

Our process went something like this:

Shoot 1080p (30) Canon video and import the MOV files into the Avid at 23.976 (removing frames).

Shoot 5K stills and process as 1080p (23.976) video and import them into the Avid at 23.976.

[We used CineForm as our intermediate codec]

Once the edit was completed and we knew the shots that were in the edit with Twixtor’d (RE:VisionFX Plug-In for After Effects) the Canon files from 30P to 23.976 and assembled them into the online for color correction.

As for the 5K stills, we opened the source compositions of the sequences used in the edit and started to work on clean-up and the moves, this was a ton of heavy lifting done by Lance Holte and Brett Novak at Bandito. These moves and compositions were then exported into CineForm files and integrated into the same online as the other material.

We then took the cut and Andrew Huebscher colored it in SpeedGrade DI on our color correction system here at Bandito.

From start to finish it is an all digital project and workflow that takes advantage of where technology has led us and along the way we solved some problems and gained some insight into how to better deal with the Canon files and maximize using new cameras and technology to achieve a new vision.

Mouse told me that he saw this project and his short film as a 21st century pin-up poster. He had nine of those “hot babe in front of a hot car” posters in his room as a kid and using a DSLR camera and all the post tool that we have, he created a “poster” that he thought other kids would want to have on their wall, or in this case, watch on their computer.

Having gotten through a few of these projects now and being neck deep in 5D footage for our Navy film, I ended up directing a commercial with a meager budget that required high quality. I quickly grabbed a 5D with some excellent glass (swing/tilt) and shot a commercial for a client in Dubai that looked gorgeous, so the proof is always in the pudding and hopefully the pudding tastes good.”

Related Links:

Kaya

Terminator

BMW M3 Film from BanditoBrothers on Vimeo.

BMW "Living in the Lights"
Production: Bandito’s Garage
Creator/Director: Mouse McCoy
Director of Photography: Vic Huber
Editor: Steve Prestemon
Producer: Sumer Friedrichs

The Car: BMW M3
The Driver: Greg Tracy
The Girl: Niki Huey