For those that can’t get enough of the YouTube playback on our homepage, please feel free to click on, and forward the link below!
Our creative director, Toshi Onuki designed the HTML layout - and if you look close, you can see glimpses of each character.
We had a fun time putting this together, and everyone in the facility had a hand in a part of the project. We hope you enjoy it!
- Adam Sturgeon
One challenge that we always encounter is the crossover between the newer digital technology and the older but still popular analog technology.
We take pride in our abilities to work with most formats, whether it is for a simple tape duplication or for a large event production where we provide project management and design, produce, edit projects for our clients to use on a national stage. Because today’s media technology is rapidly evolving and our clients are interested in using this new technology, we are continually transforming our media capabilities to handle more High Definition media production and editorial within our facility.
As Total Media Group shifts gears to prepare our clients for the future of media technology, we still have requests that are from an analog source such as Beta SP, VHS, 3/4 “ and hi-8. As a technician here at TMG, it is my job to take these variable sources and complete the job with the highest quality possible. Usually the types of requests that go along with these sources are DVD dubs, conversions to WMV or QT files, or digitizing. There is a little more work involved to get these older analog sources prepped and ready to be used for our digital machines. Although it is a challenge to integrate much older media technology with the latest and greatest technology, Total Media Group has continued to own and operate equipment old and new in order to give our clients the best variety of work possible.
- Aldo Panattoni
Life is a Banquet: The Rosalind Russell Story had it’s world premier on Sunday, July 26 at the Stony Brook Film Festival. The house was packed and anticipaton was high as the lights dimmed. The film looked and sounded amazing on the Staller Center’s huge screen. The audience laughed and cried at all the right times and erupted into thunderous applause as the credits rolled.
In attendance beside myself were writer and director Jonathan Gruber and Rosalee Russell Renfrow, Rosalind’s niece who was also interviewed in the film. Rosalee viewed the film for the very first time and she was quite moved by it.
After the film the 3 of us took questions from the audience. Jonathan was asked about his decision to have Russell herself narrate the film, as portrayed by Academy Award winner Kathleen Turner. Jonathan replied that he dislikes the traditional narration usually used in documentaries, so he decided he would have Russell tell her story in her own words.
After nearly 3 years in production, it was very gratifying to finally screen the film before a live audience. By their experience their response, I think we have a winner! Look for it on PBS in the fall!
- Patrick Roche
I just returned from Cisco Live 2009, Cisco’s premiere user conference at Moscone Center in San Francisco.
For the last four days, we had 2 camera crews shooting HD footage and covering all aspects of the event, including a concert by Devo and The B-52s.
We delivered daily montages that were displayed on a 20 x 40 foot video wall as well as shoot and edit a candids module that opened today’s General Session.
For post, we had 2 complete Final Cut Pro HD systems.
This year we were shooting tapeless, which was great but did pose it’s own set of challenges. We had to come up with a system to track and log the large amounts of footage that the crews were bringing us.
We had some really long days and I got very little sleep last night but at the end of the day, we had a very happy client, which made it all worth wile.
Now, it’s time for me to take a nap!
- Kris Kunz
Most design workflows would insist on designing the Blu-ray (HD) version first and then simplify what you have to create the DVD (SD) version, but when design for the Blu-ray version of the Neil Young Archives Vol.1 began, the DVD version was almost complete.
The reason why it had been done in the reverse order was out of necessity not negligence. We were pioneers often operating in the dark working to create something that had no precedent.
From the beginning of the Archive’s design Neil Young and Shakey Pictures had always intended on releasing the set on an HD optical disc format. When design began, both Blu-Ray and HD DVD had already completed and released their respective specifications and both claimed playback ability of two channel 24-bit/192 kHz audio. All of the other benefits of the two formats were of course beneficial in their various ways, but audio was the primary concern for Neil Young. Once the possibility of having such high quality audio accessibel from a disc looked to be near, the choice was obvious for them.
But it was yet unknown which format, HD DVD or Blu-ray would be accepted as the consumer standard.
(Part 1 can be found here)
