Author Archive for Studio B Admin

11
Jan
12

New Year’s Resolutions

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Happy 2012 everyone! With the new year rolling around, we’re all brimming with New Year’s resolutions around here. Here’s a peek at the plans:

David (Owner/CEO/DP): “My New Year’s resolutions are to sponsor and run a half marathon with the studio b team, create a company retreat, to get my kids to put the dishes in the dishwasher, and to take more creative risks.”

Jane (Producer/Director): “My New Year’s resolution is to do yoga and meditate every day. Stress management all the way, baby!”

Aaron (Creative Director / Post Sup.): “My New Year’s resolution is to make a piece of furniture by hand, and forage for seafood with the crab net that I got from my wife for Christmas.”

Rebecca (Editor): “This year, I’m going to sit down and write creatively in my journal every night. I used to write a lot, but I haven’t in a while. It will be fun to see what comes out!”

Kevin (Editor): “Uh, I’ll get back to you.”

Tim (Post Production): “I’m going to be a better husband. I don’t know how I’m going to quantify that one. I guess I’ll have to ask my wife. I think I have to listen better.”

Devin (Motion Graphics / Post Production): “Half Marathon!”

Rachel (Production Coordinator): “This year, I’ll tackle the backyard garden. Hopefully, I don’t kill everything in my path!”

Alrik (Rentals Manager): “To be able to do reps of 20 pull ups! Currently, I do three reps of 4. I gotta get that number up!”

In the sprit of getting carried away with things, we set some goals as a studio too!

We resolve to:

  1. Do a mini-makeover of our website
  2. Establish an annual company retreat
  3. Get organized with basecamp
  4. Run a half marathon together!
  5. Not loose or break any rental gear in the year 2012!

There it is all in writing. Now we’ve got to stick to it!
What are your new year’s resolutions? What’s the likelihood you’ll follow through?

14
Dec
10

Studio B Produces Videos for SF Symphony’s 100 Year Gala

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One of our beloved city’s proudest institutions, the San Francisco Symphony, hired Studio B to produce a series of videos for its “Second Century Campaign” and gala event. We were honored to work on this landmark occasion.  One of the projects was a 4-minute highly graphical sizzle video that would set the celebratory tone, honoring the orchestra’s past 100 years while looking forward to the next 100. The other project was a series of three documentary-style vignettes of people whose lives had been affected by the SFS and its impressive musical repertoire.  For this series, Studio B Films joined forces with Kate Stilley Steiner of Citizen Film  All of these videos were screened at the Symphony’s Second Century gala dinner at Davies Zellerbach Hall.

The graphic piece is a dense package, highlighting the Symphony’s greatest achievements to date and the possibilities yet to come, while the documentaries strike a more personal chord featuring interviews with concertmaster Sasha Barantschik and Youth Orchestra talent Nathan Chan. On a side note, Nathan was a thrill to interview, an inspiring young man with such drive and passion for music. He’s an excellent example of what the Symphony can do for a kid and of what lies ahead for classical music.

13
Dec
10

Studio B Goes Mobile: Producing Video for Mobile Apps

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With so many great new mobile apps and digital publications hitting the market, the calls have been pouring in to Studio B from developers looking to produce dynamic product demo videos for their new applications. Our first adventure in mobile app publishing was a video we produced with Adobe for WIRED Magazine. This snappy, fast-paced 60-sec video allowed WIRED to illustrate how the digital edition of their magazine (as seen on the Ipad) has all the visual impact of its paper version, enhanced by interactive video and animated infographics.

Here’s what WIRED magazine had to say about the opportunity digital publishing has offered them. ”We can now offer you a history of Mars landings that lets you explore the red planet yourself. We can take you inside Trent Reznor’s recording studio and let you listen to snippets of his work in progress. And we can show you exactly how Pixar crafted each frame of its new movie, Toy Story 3”. Studio B’s job was to capture all of that in a video…

We then produced a short documentary video for Adobe and WIRED that delved deeper into the future of digital publishing and helped WIRED launch their first digital reader application. Take a look and see what we came up with:

We have been told that, a well produced video not only works to market your app to consumers, but helps app developers get reviewed and can generate reader’s excitement and interest in those reviews…something to consider for all you starter-uppers looking for a little exposure.
Digital publications are the future of magazines. WIRED is leading the way (of course) with book publishers and distributors (Amazon.com, Atria Books) following suit. There have been a lot of exciting recent developments in this arena and Studio B is poised and ready to support the digital publishing revolution.

13
Oct
10

STUDIO B VIDEO FOR BERKELEY BIONICS GOES VIRAL

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Studio B Films goes bionic! Our recent video for Berkeley Bionics’ product launch of ELegs has gone viral — reaching over 320,000 viewers on YouTube in five days.

ELegs is a bionic exoskeleton for people paralyzed from the waste down, that when worn, gives them the power to stand and walk on their own. We are pleased as punch here at Studio B, not only to have been a part of introducing this revolutionary product to the world, but also to have successfully infiltrated the Internet with a hopeful and optimistic piece of news media. Wired Magazine, CNET, Current.com, and dozens of techie blogs are spreading the word with the help of our video which Berkeley Bionics posted on YouTube last Thursday.

Our video features testimonials from three individuals who sustained paraplegic injuries, taking their first steps after only a few hours in the ELegs. It was a moving experience to witness and document, Amanda’s joy and enthusiasm was infectious…probably one of the reasons our video went viral.

Eythor Bendor, Berkley Bionics’ new CEO, will speak and show the video at the TEDx conference in San Antonio where Amanda Boxtel will show off her ELegs in a live demo. In the meantime, check out our video below and have your mind blown by what science is capable of today.

16
Sep
10

Clif Bar & Studio B Films Lovin’ the Ladies: Film Festival Trailer for Lunafest

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What do all-natural, organic energy bars and Studio B Films have in common?

We both support women in film! Clif Bar, makers of Luna, the whole-grain power bars for women, premieres LunaFest this fall in San Francisco. Lunafest is a traveling film festival by, for and about women that raises money for the Breast Cancer Fund. We were honored when Clif asked us to produce the trailer and teaser for this inspirational event.

The concept was to hear various LunaFest participants tell their stories – since that’s the essence of the film festival – storytelling. We wanted a beautiful but relevant setting and settled on Alameda’s vacant Art Deco theater. The strong and striking aesthetic of the building perfectly framed our subjects who were lit with flares to give them an ethereal, rock star quality. We then incorporated hand-written text to give the video an intimate touch that sparks an added element of intrigue.

We’re proud of the outcome, and even prouder to participate in such a great cause. Visit the Lunafest website for tickets and theater location information. But first, take a look at our trailer for a bit of inspiration.

27
Aug
10

Studio B and Recology Produce Engaging Instructional Video to Save the Planet…one bin at a time

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Waste not, want not. For the last few weeks, it’s been nothing but paper, plastic, aluminum and glass here at Studio B with our latest instructional video project for Recology, (previously NorCal Waste Systems), Northern California’s refuse and waste management system. These guys are industry leaders and were one of the first urban recycling centers in the nation. They recently implemented composting and single-stream recycling, and needed a series of training videos to effectively educate the public and prospective clients on how it all works – What goes in which color bin? What is recyclable and what is compostable? How do you get rid of old cell phones and dead batteries? Where does that greasy pizza box go?

As with most instructional videos, the subject matter had real potential for a snooze-fest, so the challenge was to maintain viewers’ interest while effectively training them. We thought it was a perfect opportunity to employ a playful first person POV visual style using hands on a green screen, paper cutouts (arts and crafts style), lots of graphics and animation. We let the VO light and conversational to keep the audience engaged without diminishing the importance of each instruction. In the end we produced five entertaining and educational training videos without getting too complicated. Keep it simple stupid.

P.S. All paper cutouts and plastics used in the making of these videos were properly disposed of.



19
Feb
10

Studio B shoots Meat!

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Would you believe me if I told you we shot meat for two days? Well, we did. We spent two days in a studio shooting artisan deli meats: salamis, prosciuttos… for Columbus. As you can imagine, we sampled the delicious fare.

This is an example of one of the many point of purchase videos we have produced.  This one in particular is all about appetite appeal and will show on a large screen at your local deli counter.

Did I say we love food shoots!

meat

19
Feb
10

Studio B produces video to celebrate Sierra Nevada’s 30th Anniversary

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To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Sierra Nevada Brewery is releasing a series of specialty beers made by and honoring pioneers from the craft beer movement. A percentage of the proceeds go to charity.

Studio B shot the video commemorating the project and the luminaries of the movement. We spent a day at Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco with Fred Grossman, Founder of Sierra Nevada, Fritz Maytag, Founder, Anchor Brewing Company, Charlie Papazian, President of the Brewers Association and Fred Eckhardt, Author, “A Treatise on Lager Beers.” We learned about the history of craft beer and tasted some too!

Check out the video:

19
Feb
10

Studio B does Science

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Recently, Studio B has been shooting science and we’re getting smarter by the day. The Chabot Science Center contacted us about making a DVD for their science afterschool program for girls, Techbridge. Studio B shot a series of three curriculum DVDs that teach circuitry, environmental science and the science of design for girls. We played with catapults, blinking robots and learned about green building materials.

make-it-green_c4

Also, we recently shot a video with renowned Neuroscientist, Robert Knight. Dr. Knight presented an overview of the field of neuroscience for a general audience. The video lecture is informative and answers many common questions about memory, brain scans and neurological disorders.

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16
Feb
10

Studio B partners with Adobe and Wired Magazine to showcase the new possibilities of a tablet magazine

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wired_screenshot1The iPad was announced.  What next?  We are all thinking about applications for the tablet computer and new ways to consume media.  Well, that is exactly what Wired Magazine in partnership with Adobe has been working on in the last year.  A magazine created for the tablet computer.

Studio B had the good fortune to shoot the video announcement of the March edition of Wired magazine, designed specifically for the tablet computer.  The digital magazine uses Adobe AIR as its platform.  And it is striking!

Unlike much web content, the March issue is designed by Wired’s talented print design team, and it shows.  It’s beautiful.  The design is easy to navigate, intuitive in terms of use of UI and filled with promised 360 views, video and audio.

It’s amazing to look at the same car add in the print and tablet versions.  In the print version, the fold of the magazine hits in the middle of the car.  On the tablet version, you can spin the car around with a swipe of your finger.

Studio B had a chance to read through the magazine during the filming.  The idea behind the tablet magazine is to offer an experience as rich as viewing content on the iPhone, and judging on the prototype issue, they have delivered.  Studio B worked with Adobe’s Dan Cowles to shoot this project.  We interviewed  Scott Dadich, the Creative Director of Wired and Jeremy Clark from the Adobe Experience Design team.

Wired is one of Condé Nast’s 18 publications, so the growth potential for a tablet magazine is grand.  That is not to say that the tablet will replace the magazine, it surely will not, but as media makers, we are thrilled about the video potential of new tablet magazines.

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