American Cinematographer - November 1992 - 99

Learn the trade secrets

by Brooke Comer
the

producers Stacy Kless and Jerry

Greenberg brothers reunite. Richard and
Robert Greenberg founded New York's
R/Greenberg Associates together in 1977.
In 1988, Robert left the company and New

Samuelson, working with copywriter

East meets West this month

as

York to direct Little Monsters and other

feature projects from an L.A. base. Now the
brothers are back in business to launch

RGA/LAInc,

a

creative boutique special¬

Alan Greenberg, creative director Homer
Wright and art director Mike Bifulco.
Jerry Shapiro of Jeff Dell Enterprises/
New York edited the piece and composer
Larry Nachsin of Manhattan's Mega
Music created the score. ♦ Broadway
Video's senior editor Ralph Scaglione

izing in the design and production of feature
projects, including titles, logos, trailers,
teasers, and special effects. RGA/LA will
also develop original entertainment proper¬

assisted Larkin Productions Inc. of New
York in developing a sexy, 2 l/2-minute ef-

ties for film and television. ♦ Post Per¬

and hosts Joan Lunden and Charlie Smith.

fect, which has been enhanced by the ap¬

Scaglione took footage shot by Larkin over
the past four years for Good Morning
America commercials, plus material from

pointment of operations manager Mark
Yang, created an efficient approach to
postproduction for the PBS Nova series
"Aerobatics," which will begin airing this
month. Colorist Kevin Harold transferred
dailies for the series, which incorporates
stock footage and contemporary scenery to
document the history of aerobatic aviation.
Harold transferred the 16mm footage into
video dailies, ensuring that all colors were
retained for tape-to-tape transfer of the fi¬
nal edit. ♦ Tape House VP/colorist John
Dowdell was ecstatic when the facility
became the first post house on the East
Coast to install Time Logic's new computer
flex software in an Ursa telecine suite. Now
Dowdell can transfer Nagra's EDL to a

floppy disk, which can then be fed directly
into any nonlinear edit system, such as Avid,
eliminating the need to search for cuts
made during the transfer process. This tech¬
nology drastically reduces the time needed
to edit logs. Flex also burns onto the tape
an "Information Window" which stores key
code, time code,

scene

numbers,

camera

rolls and more. Tape House graphics/ef¬
fects team Darleen Ruess and David
Berkner were busy on a Terminator 2 Ac¬
tion Figures commercial titled "He's Back"
for New York's Grey Advertising. Ruess
and Berkner created an animated lightning
effect which matches specific scenes from

fects-oriented

image presentation promot¬
ing and showcasing GoodMorning America

recent

shows, and combined them into

finished master. He used
era,

edit

a

handheld

a

cam¬

then shot the master directly from the
room monitor to create a low-tech,

gritty desktop-video look. The process was
repeated five times to develop different vi¬
sual effects, then footage was cut back into
the original master. Kaleidoscope moves,
quick cuts, and image treatments lent a
high-energy pizzazz. ♦ Broadway Video
Graphics designer Ada Whitney rose to
the occasion for Lifetime Television when

she created visual elements for

a

:60 spot

promoting the network's "Room for Im¬
provement Sweepstakes," offered $10,000
toward home improvements. Whitney and
BVG's creative team (VP/executive producer
Peter Ronick and producer Joanna
Tolkoff) devised a format using a square,
representing the network's logo style, in
center screen. Lifetime's budget precluded
location shooting, so images of blueprints
and other home renovation items were
shot on Broadway Video's rig to give them
movement, then tinted with sepia. Stills of
the script's various rooms were also incor¬

porated. Black & white graphic images of
hammers, couches, homes, paint cans, nuts
and bolts, and so on were shot from a sym¬
bol book to produce a

bed of icons that were

the live-action film and sets off the

product
logo in the open and closing of the actiondriven spot. Steve Dollinger of Film

used throughout the spot. The illustrations
were cut inside the square to keep the piece

Realite New York directed for agency

elements

moving. Dotted lines and squares, plus type
matching Lifetime's trademark

November 1992

Motion Picture and Video
Camera Filters and LabTechniques
Gerald Hirschfeld, A.S.C.
October 1992
cover

*

*

152pp. * Hard¬
* $39.95

240-80167-9

Learn how to manipulate the image in front
of the camera, within the camera, and in the lab
to

produce a desired effect. Unique, invalu¬
able information on filters, lenses, labs, testing
and evaluation procedures, plus insights from

Academy Award cinematographers make this
book

a

"must.1'

At fine bookstores

©

or

direct from

FOCAL PRESS

1-800-366-2665 M-F 8:30-4:30 E.T.
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American Cinematographer - November 1992

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - November 1992
