- BEHIND-THE-SCENES STILLS: HECHO A MANO SHOOT
We at Common Machine have been busy filming our PBS documentary Hecho A Mano, featuring four expat Cuban artists who work with their hands (a pianist, a sculptor and twin brother mosaic-makers). The film will hit the festival circuit and a TV near you this fall. In the meantime, check out how good we look doing it.
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
- THE MAKING OF COLTS 1
Indy is headed to Miami for the Super Bowl. We’re guessing AirTran will have Colts 1 in South Florida quite a bit over the coming weeks.
Check out the making-of video we made for the airline a while back, its one of series of NFL and NBA-themed paint jobs AirTran is tricking-out its planes with.
- La Poursuite (The Chase)
Santa brought us a steadicam for Christmas (there must have been some clerical error on the naughty/nice list). So, we ran downstairs from our office and played with the new toy for a minute. Lots more to come.
Crew:
Le Lapin (The Rabbit): Brett O’Bourke
Man with Mannequin: Jorge Rubiera
Man on sidewalk: Castor Fernandez
Camera operator: Richard Patterson
Music:
Riot in Thunder Alley, Eddie Beram
Kit:
Sony EX-3
Glidecam X-22
Adidas ‘ADI’
- THE MAKING OF MAGIC 1
We’ve been so slammed with work the past few months that we’ve neglected the blog. That’ll all change in 2010 when the office gets reorganized a bit and we have a couple crack interns on board to help out. Meanwhile, we’ve been busy cranking out video for AirTran Airways and we’re glad to see the company’s partnership with the Orlando Magic getting good press, as is the video we made for the making of the new AirTran plane Magic 1. Stay tuned for lots to come in 2010 (including details on our film now in production for PBS).
- AIRTRAN AND DSM DISNEY TRIP
AirTran Airways took 40 disadvantaged kids from Atlanta to Magic Kingdom for the day. Most of them had never been out of the ATL city limits. AirTran commissioned Common Machine to document the day.
AirTran and DSM Disney Trip from Common Machine Prod. on Vimeo.
- NICHE ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE WEB
This fall, expect to see channels full of Amercanized versions of Japanese game shows and even more reality TV. Cheap and easy to produce, the networks are producing heavy slates of that drivel as a busted economy has made advertising dollars disappear - dollars that were already headed for the web, now even faster. On the advertiser’s side, where marketing budgets have been slashed, an increasing number of forward thinking companies are embracing the opportunities the web provides to attract eyeballs on the cheap: thinking (quite literally) outside the box, and commissioning their own branded entertainment. From Dior’s Lady Dior Films - staring our favorite French actress Marion Cotillard - to Honda’s Dreams documentary series, and Oliver Peoples’ precious romp with Zooey Deschanel, it’s exciting to see corporates beginning to understand that subtlety and craft can be much more effective than heavy-handed 30 second spots. We especially like Hutchinson Tires It’s Your Ride: simple, elegant and to the point.
It’s Your Ride from Cinecycle on Vimeo.
- HOT ON/OFF THE PRESS
* We’re producing a short documentary for Pacha Nightclub (NYC), featuring all the sex and sweat and behind-the-scenes action of their events during winter music conference week. The three-part series is in post-production now. Look for it within the next two weeks.
* The long-awaited next episode of our video series for Lost at E Minor is set to film in early June. We can’t divulge the subject but let’s just say there will be ukuleles involved.
* Gaspar is finishing up the Nixon film for WLRN and Tripp and RJ are deep, deep, deep into the WMNF web project.
* Meanwhile, our own Richard Patterson (rumored to be summering in Miami for ‘09) knocked out this little ditty on Brooklyn Band Flying Machines, winner of Converse and Journeys first ever “Get Out of the Garage Music Contest.”
Flying Machines - “Get Out of the Garage Music Contest” video - CONVERSE by Richard Patterson from Richard Patterson on Vimeo.
- STAFF UPDATE _ WHAT WE’RE WORKING ON
Things have been pretty quiet (as in hush-hush) around the Common Machine studio for the past few months as we’ve been working on some big deals we’re not quite ready to divulge. More on those to come.
Meanwhile, Common Machine has begun work on a web-based documentary series for WMNF 88.5 FM, one of the most respected independent radio stations in the country, celebrating its 30th year on-air. Released over the course of the year, each episode will be crammed full of interviews, archival footage and interactive features, allowing users to explore the station, past, present and future.
Also, the next installment of the Lost at E Minor video series should get into production next week. Details to come.
And here’s what we’ve been working on individually for other clients:
Brett O’Bourke field produced and is finishing the script for another episode of Oxygen Channel true crime thriller Snapped for Jupiter Entertainment. He recently wrote the script for a Biography Channel profile of black magic serial killer Adolfo Constanzo.
Gaspar González is currently working on Nixon’s the One: How Tricky Dick Stole the Sixties, a one-hour documentary for PBS. His previous film, Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami, was recently named a 2008 pick of the year in Sports Illustrated’s “Brow Beat” column.
Richard Patterson recently spent two weeks in Sydney, Australia as the director of photography for a music video shot on location in the deserts of New South Wales. This followed a three week documentary project as the steadicam/B camera operator focused on the American pro surfer Jamie O’Brien on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Before leaving the mainland, Richard shot a portrait campaign for HSBC Private Bank during Art Basel/Design Miami, showcasing the work of the Designers of the Year, Brazil’s Campana Brothers.
- LAEM_Pablo Cano, The Blue Ribbon
We’re pretty thrilled to have partnered with the smokin’ hot, New York-via-Sidney-based culture website Lost At E Minor. Common Machine will be producing a bimonthly video series, focusing on artists of all kinds and how/why they do what they do. We’re equally thrilled to kick the series off with Miami marionette maker Pablo Cano, who uses mundane objects to create magic on a string. Check the MOCA site for performance times (selling out fast) of Cano’s current show, The Blue Ribbon, on view through Novemeber 9. And look for the next installment of our LAEM video series in December for Art Basel Miami Beach.
Pablo Cano, The Blue Ribbon from Common Machine Prod. on Vimeo.
- SHORT FILM_KEITH LOUTIT
We have been as enamored as anyone with the increased use of the tilt-shift lens, which utilizes a limited depth of field to turn big vistas into toy-like topos. Indeed, our own Richard Patterson used one with some success for a recent Flavorpill/BMW campaign, shot on Miami’s mean streets.
We’re loving Aussie photographer Keith Loutit’s time-lapse project in his home town of Sydney using the lens.
Dig it:
Bathtub II from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
