By Nicole Rivard
Delta Airlines, in partnership with American Express and Hilton Hotels, has launched its own version of the
The contestants are sent to as many as four destinations over four-day weekends to film their travel adventures. The competing videos are posted at delta.com/challenge where the public votes on what video made them want to travel to the destination the most and who they think are the ultimate SiteSeers. The team with the fewest votes following each trip will be eliminated as the remaining teams prepare to travel to the next destination to complete a new video. The last team standing wins the challenge. The contest ends on Sept. 19 when the final two competing videos are posted for viewing. The winner will be announced in late September.
At-home viewers can receive 250 bonus miles for voting in each round and an additional 1,000 bonus miles if they vote in all four rounds, for a total of 2,000 bonus miles. Also, to celebrate Delta’s first SiteSeer Challenge video competition, American Express® Cardmembers can earn double flown miles on all American Express ticket purchases at delta.com between July 25 and Sept. 30.
In addition to getting bonus miles, armchair travelers can find out the inside dirt on the teams’ blogs that Delta has set up, offer up opinions in the forum section of the site, investigate the destinations further or even plan a flight to one of the international cities.
World Travelers The airline chose five teams from its frequent flyer members to compete in the new travel contest: Gwamnisum and Chiwuzo Okwumabua, Team O, from East Point, Ga.; Renee Sherbert and Jackie Kellet, Carolina Cops, from Mauldin, S.C.; John Crow and Stephanie Ryan, Steph and Crow On the Go, from Atlanta; Clarence and Margaret Waterfall, The Waterfalls, from Ogden, Utah; and, Joel and Stephen Levinson, Awesomest Brothers, Dayton, Ohio natives who now reside in Los Angeles and New York City, respectively.
All five teams departed for the first destination, Budapest, Hungary, on July 26. The participating teams completed and filmed various activities that highlight Budapest, such as cruising the Danube, exploring Roman ruins, traveling to underground fusion clubs and following the labyrinth beneath Castle Hill. The Carolina Cops were eliminated in that round.
Originally the agency was going to allow the contestants to film their own trips, but decided that might not be the best way to show off the locations. So they tapped Washington Square Films, NYC, to produce the around the world project. SHOOT caught up with Julie Merson, a freelance producer for Washington Square Films, as she headed out to the third destination, which could not be revealed at press time. She acts as the overall field producer for each team. The teams also have a camera operator, field producer and a local PA who acts as a translator.
“We prepared really carefully. Knock on wood, two of the four trips have all gone really well,” Merson said with a laugh. She added that one of the biggest challenges was figuring out how to efficiently post the videos. After everyone returns from a location, the production team only has a week to post them. Merson said five editors and five overnight assistants are working on the project, using a “giant” Avid Unity system.
She said the teams were going to shoot on MiniDV24p, but it would have taken too long to digitize the footage. Instead the camera operators all used the Panasonic HVX 200, recording to 16 GB P2 cards. (The Panasonic P2 series was primarily developed for the news gathering industry to acquire and distribute quickly and efficiently without the limitations associated with videotape and the video capture process.)
“It only takes approximately 15 minutes to download 69 minutes of footage. It cut our load time in half. And P2 is so cool too because every time you stop the camera, it creates a new clip. It transfers that so it’s much easier for assistants to log. I don’t know what we would have done without it,” Merson said.
Despite any challenges, the project seems to be well worth the effort already. Merson said 13,500 people voted in the first round. “They had to watch 11 minutes of online video because they had to watch all five to vote. For that many people to stay on the site that long is unheard of. People are also participating in the blogs. They are talking about this all the time.”
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More