Hummingbird Productions, a film and music production company which has built its reputation as one of America's leading producers of original music and sound design, is spearheading a new approach the company calls "FUSIC" – the exceptional blend of film and music. Hummingbird Productions, now in business to produce entire projects, including commercials, web content and corporate communications, will produce those projects by integrating its team of commercial directors with its music group, using the FUSIC production process. FUSIC will integrate the sound and music for these commercials from the very inception of an idea through to the end. The announcement was made by Hummingbird Executive Producer Bob Farnsworth.
Farnsworth is introducing his company's new FUSIC process this week in-person while in Chicago, as he delivers a condensed version of his recent TedX Talk, "Hearing is Believing." He is also presenting the idea behind FUSIC to executives from Y&R, Tris3ct, Cavalry, Eicoff and Commonground, among others.
The first project for which Hummingbird is officially launching the term FUSIC is for Dolby to promote Dolby Atmos, the newest technology of speakers for movie theaters. Hummingbird was chosen to carefully integrate – or "Fuse" – sound with a Dolby promotional video, which was directed by Garrett Nantz. Dolby will be taking this promotional video all over the world to demonstrate the best audio visual movie theater experience possible.
To view this work please see http://vimeo.com/113644700 (Note: This is merely the stereo image, not the 360-degree cinema experience.)
Hummingbird created a FUSIC piece that would blend multi-directional sound and top quality video. Written by Bob Farnsworth, the music for the Dolby FUSIC promotional piece was produced, mixed and edited by Hummingbird's Aaron Howard, who also played the drums. Fellow Hummingbird member Matt Thompson was heavily involved in the process and also played guitar.
The incredible footage for the Dolby promotional video was presented to Hummingbird with a temp track at first. The agency for this project, Luxurious Animals out of New York, contacted Hummingbird to work directly with them to form a piece that would encapsulate the listener/viewer within a sonic/visual FUSIC bubble.
Explains Farnsworth, "Basically, we are asking ad agencies to send us the scripts and storyboards for their projects so that we can then take a team approach to each by bringing together directors and composers to work in tandem throughout the production process. Historically, everyone has tended to be compartmentalized. With our FUSIC process, we're talking about bringing everyone around the same table – and that table is at Hummingbird Productions!"
He adds, "There was a time when film was made and music was laid on top, or vice versa. Today, with computer technology, we are able to constantly go back and forth between the film and the sound, literally fusing the two together. Thus, we are using a new term, 'FUSIC,' which stands for this modern fusion of film and music, to best describe our approach to our work on TV commercials. With this FUSIC approach, music and sound ideas are brought in together from the very beginning of each project, so that both the film and the sound will profoundly influence each other right from the inception. This just makes sense because most of the time the sound is going to be what the viewer actually believes about the visuals. In simple terms, FUSIC is "The Exceptional blend, or fusion, of Film and Music – and this happens best through this very intentional 'integration from start to finish.'"
Hummingbird's goal for future TV and web advertising campaigns the company works on is to create true moments of FUSIC: to strive for at least one such moment in every piece of film and music work they do – a moment where the whole (sound and video) is far more than the sum of its parts. Hummingbird plans to demonstrate this, dramatically, with composers who think visually and with directors who think audio, and who always start a project with the sound in mind.
Over the past few years, Hummingbird Productions has identified six film directors from New York City to Los Angeles with whom the company has had extensive history who consider music and sound to be extremely important. These directors are currently working with Hummingbird Productions to produce new commercials, web content and corporate communications. These directors think about their approach to music right from the start of each campaign. Here below are some of their thoughts about FUSIC:
IMAX film director Jeff Berry, for whom Hummingbird Productions composed FUSIC for his full length films "Philadelphia Anthem," "Home of Freedom," "Imagine Indiana," "Spirit of Silicon Valley" and "Symphony Philadelphia," said, "The miracles of computer technology have enabled us to increasingly take advantage of the creation of true FUSIC. Instead of integrating sound at the end of a project, we are now more able to fuse it into the picture from the very beginning. Through Hummingbird's FUSIC process, we won a Paris Film Festival Award on the very first IMAX project that we did together, 'Philadelphia Anthem.'"
Documentary film director David Kiern said, "Advertising, at its best, is storytelling. Our aim at Hummingbird is to create short commercial stories that blend visual storytelling with rich sound perfectly. With FUSIC, the ratio between picture and sound is not 50/50. The FUSIC approach represents 100/100."
"Too often our imagined 'cinematic moments' discussed in a conference call get the wind knocked out of them, because a project is purchased 'a la carte,' and none of the artists and craftspeople have an opportunity to communicate and collaborate along the way," says Director Michael Ivey. "FUSIC is exciting because it ensures that the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts. We don't set out to simply tell our part of the story… we all work together to create the most powerful and engaging experience possible. That's FUSIC in a nutshell."
"In my experience as a director, I can't imagine making a film and/or commercial without the perfect type of music," adds Director Casey Cornett. "Music sets the emotion for what you see, hear, taste and smell. At the heart of it, FUSIC is a new way for advertising to connect with its audiences. I believe when you start applying FUSIC to your creative, you will never want to have anything else on your commercial or film project."
"The traditional way of bolting sound and music on at the end of a project never felt right for us," says Director Garrett Nantz." At Luxurious Animals, we find introducing the concepts of FUSIC early in pre-production better shapes our video and interactive projects with stronger emotion, time, place, and rhythm."
"Even if others begin to use our term 'FUSIC,' we figure that we will be referred to as the 'Original FUSIC Shop.' 'FUSIC' is an actual process that others may have done in the past, but never gave a name to. With us today, our entire focus is on the FUSIC process and approach to each of our current and future projects," Farnsworth concludes.
About HUMMINGBIRD PRODUCTIONS
Founded in Nashville, TN, in 1976 by Bob Farnsworth, Hummingbird Productions brands itself as a "One Stop FUSIC Shop." The company, historically one of the longest standing providers in the United States of original music for the entertainment and advertising industries, also includes a team of film directors who have committed their future films to incorporating the FUSIC concept.
While Hummingbird is perhaps best known for its music in such advertising campaigns as "Always Coca-Cola" and Wrigley's "Double Double Your Refreshment," Hummingbird's composers also create original music for feature films/short films/documentaries, TV programs, soundtracks, web videos, radio commercials, video games, and more.
Touting the slogan "Hearing is Believing," the company is renown for its talent and collaboration with artists and producers including: Grammy Award-winning producer/songwriter Keith Thomas; Byron House, bass player for Robert Plant's "Band of Joy"; Dennis Holt, session drummer on Taylor Swift's "Beautiful Eyes" EP; Swan Dive vocalist Molly Felder, whose commercial credits include national advertisers Pepsi, Michelob, and Chevrolet; as well as many others.
Hummingbird is the winner of numerous Clio and Lions Awards, including the Clio Hall of Fame Award for the sound design on "Budweiser Frogs" – considered one of the Top Ten Best TV Commercials of all time. Hummingbird Productions has been an acknowledged leader in the field of audio and sonic branding for close to 40 years. The company also offers music publishing, music licensing and music search services, all while actively working with artists from around the world.
In April, 2014, Bob Farnsworth delivered a well-received TedX Talk entitled "Hearing is Believing" in Colorado. He has been invited to deliver another TedX Talk in June 2015 in South Carolina.
Hummingbird Productions is located at 1521 Graybar, Nashville, TN, 37215. The phone is 615-385-3729 and the website is: www.hummingbirdproductions.com
