Avengers Assembled Creating Vfx for the Summer Blockbuster

MAY 2015 POST www.postmagazine.com

AVENGERS ASSEMBLED CREATING VFX FOR THE SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER

PLUS: NAB POST PICKS PRIMETIME: MAD MEN FOCUS ON CAMERAS NEW YORK STUDIOS

Post_May2015.indb 1 5/6/15 3:26 PM Napoleon Group has been a factor in New York's advertising scene since '85, when it was known for previs.

New York Post Market- On The Upswing Post for Movies and TV Benefits from Tax Incentives; Spot Post Remains Strong Through Advertising Transition

BY CHRISTINE ew York has played a key role in (www.postnewyork.org) was formed by its kind post-only tax credit: no matter BUNISH N the film industry since the dawn of 13 post houses and Local 700, IATSE Ed- where a project was shot, there would be motion pictures. With moving image pioneer itors in December 2009 for the purpose an incentive to finish it here.” Thomas Edison across the river in New Jer- of lobbying the statehouse to pass a PNYA was successful, and a 10 per- sey and early studios and distributors setting post-only tax incentive for film and tele- cent Empire State Post Production Credit up shop in New York City, business thrived. vision. “We’d all seen the benefits from debuted in 2010. “We quickly realized Until a little town across the country with the production tax incentive of 2004,” that wasn’t going to cut it, so we lobbied year-round sunny skies and endless open says Yana Collins Lehman, co-chair of for an increase to 30 percent, with an space launched an exodus to Hollywood. PNYA. Local 700 eastern executive additional five percent credit for upstate In subsequent years, the film industry director “Paul Moore had lobbied alone New York. And that passed in 2013,” ebbed and flowed in New York. But the for a post credit years before we formed. Lehman says. fledgling TV business took hold in post- Then PNYA came together to encourage The fully-refundable tax credit applies war New York and remained strong for the legislature to introduce the first of to projects that spend 75 percent of their decades. Madison Avenue has long ruled advertising, making the city the country’s The Post New York Alliance's (L-R) Clark Henderson (Technicolor-PostWorks NY), unrivaled commercial production center. Jennifer Lane, Yana Collins Lehman and Zak Tucker (Harbor Picture Company). The last decade has witnessed a resur- gence in film and TV production in the city thanks to generous tax incentives. Films and television series have returned to the unique locations, robust industry infrastructure and deep talent pool. Post is on the upswing, too. Here, Post speaks with some of the city’s top studios.

THE POST NEW YORK ALLIANCE LOBBIES FOR POST TAX INCENTIVES The Post New York Alliance, Inc. (PNYA)

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Post_May2015.indb 40 5/6/15 3:27 PM post production costs in New York. Almost all and, of course, New York. costs qualify for the credit: editing, post audio, “With the tax incentives, we’ve seen a big FUSEFX COMPLETES WORK music recording, VFX, titles and lab finishing. increase in scripted shows, but a ton of reality ON THE BLACKLIST & POWERS PNYA now counts 50 companies, 300 post content doesn’t qualify for incentives,” he professionals and one more union (AFM Local notes. “That’s a shame — it could really help NEW YORK — FuseFX New York (www.fusefx.com) 802) among its members. The collegial group them because their budgets aren’t growing recently wrapped up work on The Blacklist and Powers, hosts bi-monthly "Post Intelligence Gatherings" with the demand for new technology.” both for Sony Pictures Television. The studio is a satel- to share info on work coming to New York. “We Still, Morlano cites the large number of script- lite of FuseFX, Burbank, and launched last fall, initially all rise and fall together,” says Lehman about the ed pilots in town and the new deal between Dis- with a staff of six, but has since grown to a team of 27. collaborative nature of the organization. ney-Marvel and Netflix for four live-action series FuseFX produced a wide range of VFX for the two A significant amount of time also is dedicat- based in New York. “Shows used to shoot here shows, which included 22 episodes for The Blacklist and ed to educating the workforce of tomorrow via then go back to LA, but now they’re staying for 10 for Powers. Creative demands for the two series were helping to develop school curricula, offering post and keeping everyone busy.” markedly different. For The Blacklist, in which James professional internships, making financial do- Brooklyn-based post and finishing house Spader plays a former fugitive now assisting the FBI, nations to educational programs and creating WorleyWorks (www.worleyworks.com) believes the work was primarily supporting VFX and included a informational podcasts. “People tend to know the post tax incentives have “created a lot of lot of pyrotechnics — enhancing gun battles, explosions about jobs in production, but not know about energy” in town. Minah Worley, who co-owns and the like. The effects team also produced numerous all the jobs in post production,” notes Lehman. the facility with husband Greg, says, “Boutique matte paintings and set extensions to support the exot- And the post marketplace is “growing mas- companies like ours have really seen a differ- sively,” she reports. “We didn’t anticipate how ence in the quality of work coming through. FuseFX enhanced much TV would take advantage of the post tax Filmmakers from LA, London and even Korea explosions for credit. Eighty-seven pilots shot here last year are interested in the incentives — places that NBC's The Blacklist. and many remained to post.” have strong post markets of their own. It’s a Post houses are opening in New York or really good time to be in business here.” expanding their existing facilities. “Post Facto- WorleyWorks caters to indie features and ry is now leasing an entire building in TriBeCa,” feature-length documentaries. It grew into the Lehman says. “Harbor Picture Company is about post business in 2014 after offering motion to open a big mix stage that New York has long capture and stereoscopic 3D services. “Direc- needed. The music scoring company Fall On Your tor Ang Lee wanted to do a project requiring Sword has opened in Brooklyn.” Other power- 60fps 4K stereo and nobody was placed to do Powers required houses include Phosphene; Mr. X Inc., which has that in LA or New York,” says WorleyWorks’ digital characters and offices in Toronto and New York; and Buffa- director of post production, Jack Reynolds. super power VFX. lo-based Empire Visual Effects, which has ties to “Greg had some solutions, so Ang Lee became the academic program at Daemen College. our first post client.” “It’s a very vibrant, diverse, artistic communi- The company recently performed the DI for ty,” says Lehman. “We haven’t created an indus- the new feature doc, Song of Lahore, codi- try here, we’ve expanded it. Film commissions rected by Academy Award-winner Sharmeen from other states call us and ask how we did it.” Obaid-Chinoy. WorleyWorks also donated its motion-capture system to the filmmaker for her FILM AND TV POST GET INCENTIVIZED next project, Pakistan’s first animated feature. Film and television in New York “isn’t going to To meet the demand for 4K finishing, Wor- ic, international locations where the show takes place. slow down any time soon,” observes Rob Mor- leyWorks has invested in the city’s first Mistika Powers, in contrast, features a cast with super hero lano, senior vice president of post production color correction system, Barco 4K projector and abilities. The effects work here had a more fantastical at Prime Focus Technologies (www.primefo- Canon 4K monitor for its DI theater. “Everyone is bent, with FuseFX called on to create everything from custechnologies.com) in New York. Headquar- interested in finishing in 4K or higher for longev- super power simulations to full CG characters. Each tered in Mumbai, India, PFT has offices in LA, ity, if nothing else,” Reynolds notes. “Amazon is episode featured hundreds of effects shots. London, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Toronto talking about requiring 6K finishing.” “The work was interesting because the shows were so very different,” recalls VFX supervisor Greg Ander- son. “The Blacklist had a tight schedule and we had to get into a rhythm very quickly. With Powers, there were only 10 episodes, but they involved highly-com- plex CG effects.” FuseFX employs a proprietary pipeline capable of servicing 30 or more productions simultaneously. Anderson says the New York facility is optimistic about landing more television projects, thanks to the state’s generous state tax incentives. They are also looking at the area’s burgeoning independent film community, as Rob Morlano (left) says Prime Focus well as at commercials requiring major VFX components. could benefit from tax incentives for reality TV, such as Too Cute (shown).

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Post_May2015.indb 41 5/6/15 3:27 PM NEW YORK POST HOUSES

for New York post tax incentives so studios specializing in the spot market haven’t experienced the boom that facilities catering to film and television have seen. The 21st century ad business is healthy but changing. Traditional :30 broadcast spots still play a central role in many ad campaigns, but marketers are also creating online spots, messages for social media and longer-form online content. There’s a shift of budgets, too, as ad platforms broaden. This isn’t exclusive to New York: It’s happening nationwide. Greg and Minah Worley In the transition from broadcast to say they've seen a “We believe in futureproofing,” says presence in New York,” and to support its digital, commercial post houses are difference in the quality Worley. “We can do high frame rates and growth, the company had made addi- seeing a wider scope of clients than just of work coming through even 8K.” tional executive hires: Tris Baer as vice ad agencies: PR and branding compa- their Brooklyn-based Morlano likens the transition to 4K president of business solutions and Rick nies, small marketers direct and even studio, Worleyworks, to the industry’s migration from SD to Crosta as vice president of sales. production companies tasked with doing thanks to tax incentives. HD and says PFT is “already ahead of “After we get post humming we turnkey projects. the curve with expanded 4K post and want to integrate CLEAR, our Hybrid To facilitate efficiency and possibly cut finishing.” The company recently finished Cloud-enabled Media ERP Suite and costs across all platforms some of these its first 4K reality series: four parts of cloud media services, including Dax, our clients seek post houses with under- Animal Planet’s Too Cute franchise. The production workflow application and one-roof services, either from a single company worked closely with the client digital dailies service, into the facility,” company or a collective of specialist and equipment vendors to create a 4K says Morlano. “Eighty percent of scripted partners. They’re looking for more bang workflow that best suited the project. content in the US is delivered by Dax to for the buck: Campaigns may start with “True Entertainment cut the shows on networks; we could [increase] that if real- a :30 broadcast spot then add social Avid and brought them to us for the 4K ity programming also took advantage.” media pieces, a behind-the-scenes film, conform and color correction in Resolve,” WorleyWorks defines itself “as very and maybe longer-form content that says Morlano. “We went to Blackmagic niche” market and plans “to remain resides on a Website. From this “360” Design for some proprietary patches for small,” says Reynolds. The company also perspective, one shoot yields a host of Resolve; we also worked with Adobe Pre- offers creative production packages to deliverables. miere — it was the only system capable filmmakers and has an inventory of Sony Napoleon Group (www.napo of handling Discovery Networks’ specific F55 cameras, Steadicams, Cooke and leongroup.com) has been a factor on 4K codec. It was exciting to figure out.” Fujinon lenses, and lights. New York’s advertising scene since 1985, WorleyWorks has had inquiries about “We’re buying a pair of Arri Alexas,” when it was known for its previs work. virtual reality, “from a narrative story- says Worley. "We also have Briese and “We were a formidable force in previs for telling standpoint,” says Reynolds, but Arri flicker-free lights for high frame rates. high-end test commercials,” says director there’s been no direct VR work yet. We want to outfit filmmakers with the of business development, Paul Johnson. Stereo 3D projects, though, have come best technology for the highest quality “Then clients began coming to us with to a standstill. “We had two projects last production and post. New York’s produc- other problems to solve. We grew our year that cancelled, but there’s not even tion and post tax incentives both apply to services and pipeline, and now we have a sniff this year,” he reports. us, so it’s a real win-win situation.” a turnkey facility with all the bells and Morlano believes that PFT is well whistles. But we’re the only post house positioned to become “one of the big COMMERCIAL POST EVOLVES ON in New York with an in-house art studio; players” on the New York post scene. It’s MADISON AVENUE character development and storyboard- his job to ensure that PFT has “a bigger Commercial advertising does not qualify ing are in our DNA.”

Brooklyn-based audio post studio Fall On Your Sword (www. fallonyoursword.com) recently opened a new 700-square-foot mix room it calls “The Foundry.” The Dolby-certified studio can handle 5.1 and 7.1 projects, and is based around Avid’s Pro Tools 11 HD and an S6 M40 control surface. Since opening, the room has been used to mix Queen of Earth; It's Me, Hilary; Contra; Muckland; and Bodies at War.

POST MAY 2015 42 www.postmagazine.com

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