Riot, Digital Magic and POP’s film and animation divisions—three Santa Monica houses owned by publicly held Four Media Company (4MC)—are merging their operations to form a full service studio, R!OT. The convergence of these facilities is prompted in large part by convergent media, the rationale being that in pooling creative staffs, technological resources and expertise in different markets (i.e.—commercials, music videos, TV and features), the newly formed R!OT will be well positioned to serve a changing landscape in which television and the Internet, as well as advertising and entertainment, are coming together. Not part of the merger is POP Sound, which continues to operate independently as a 4MC holding.
R!OT will be housed in the current POP and Riot buildings, two contiguous complexes which are in the midst of being renovated. R!OT will operate as part of The Encore Group, the 4MC division headed by Larry Chernoff. Reporting to Chernoff will be R!OT’s management team which consists of Jeff Ross, Mark Miller and Richard Cormier. Ross, managing director of POP Film and POP Animation, will head R!OT’s film services department. Digital Magic’s managing director Miller will become head of R!OT’s entertainment television department. Current Riot managing director Cormier will take the helm of R!OT’s animation, commercial and music video postproduction departments. Additionally, Riot’s noted spot senior colorist, Bob Festa, will become managing director of R!OT’s imaging department, which includes telecine operations.
4MC acquired the Encore companies—including Encore Santa Monica (which became Riot in ’99) and Encore Hollywood—and named Encore CEO/ founder Chernoff as president of The Encore Group in September ’98 (SHOOT, 10/2/98, p. 1). At that time, a primary reason cited for the deal had to do with synergies that could be realized by sister facilities under the 4MC umbrella. One obvious advantage had to do with 4MC’s financial clout and the collective buying power of different shops, enabling them to afford the latest emerging technology, particularly in such arenas as DTV (including HDTV). Both Encore Hollywood and Riot, for example, have extensive hi-def post operations in place, serving entertainment and advertising clientele.
But having deep pockets and financial leverage weren’t the only synergistic benefits discussed. The teaming of artists and sensibilities to attain a sum greater than its parts was also envisioned. What form that would take wasn’t known at the outset. "It certainly wasn’t part of the master plan then that we would merge POP, Digital Magic and Riot," recalled Chernoff. "But through our experience since then, seeing our services dovetail, we formed the conclusion that the best type of company for the evolving marketplace could be created by combining these houses."
That experience included collaborations that made the advantages of integration readily apparent. For example, artists from each of the shops recently teamed on visual effects-intensive commercials for Intel and Chevrolet.
"Digital Magic began working with POP Film a year and a half ago," related Miller. "At the time, demand for 3-D was growing, and rather than create our own 3-D department, we began collaborating with theirs. It worked so well, we relocated some of our artists to the POP Film facility. An incredible synergy developed and that got the ball rolling. More recently, we’ve begun to work with Riot’s team as well, and that added another dimension. We had access to even more talented artists allowing us to produce stellar visual effects."
R!OT plans to add to that coterie. As SHOOT went to press, the signing of a CG character animation team was pending. Chernoff said that expanding the house’s animation capabilities was pivotal, since this discipline figures prominently in the design of Web sites and other interactive media. Bringing interactivity to advertising, TV entertainment and features, said Chernoff, is a charter priority for R!OT.
He cited the "whatevernike. com"-tagged campaign, in which spots started on TV and ended on the Internet (SHOOT, 1/28, p. 10, and 2/25, p. 1), as a prime example of the kind of new interactive applications he would like R!OT to facilitate. Those three Nike commercials were directed by Johan Renck of bicoastal HSI Productions and Stockholm-based Pettersson Ackerlund Renck for Wieden + Kennedy (W + K), Portland, Ore. W + K’s interactive producers worked in tandem with several collaborators, including design studio one9ine, New York, and Stockholm-based post/visual effects shop The Chimney Pot.
Chernoff added that R!OT is educating its staffers and client base about interactive integration. The company intends to bring additional experts on staff to address such markets as convergent media, broadband and interactive television.
The newly created R!OT will offer telecine, editing, compositing, 3-D animation, duplication, distribution and related support services. Merging Riot, POP Film, POP Animation and Digital Magic, continued Chernoff, will create "a critical mass" of capabilities that can handle varied high-level, high-resolution projects under one roof. POP Film and POP Animation have been involved in the creation of visual effects for more than 40 feature movies since ’95, including What Dreams May Come, Titanic and Independence Day, each an Oscar winner for best visual effects. Digital Magic’s staff has earned several Emmy Awards for its work in creating visual effects for the TV series Star Trek: Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. Riot’s staff has turned out commercials for numerous major national advertisers, and music videos for leading artists.
Expansion and renovation of R!OT’s quarters are slated for completion this summer. The current POP building will be home to compositing, 3-D animation, editing, duplication and distribution operations. The current Riot site will house the telecine department, with multiple hi-def, standard-def and data-capable telecine suites, as well as tape-to-tape color correction services.
Besides heading The Encore Group, Chernoff is president of 4MC Television, which encompasses other 4MC holdings. The collection of companies figures to continue growing in that last November, publicly traded cable and communications conglomerate Liberty Media Corporation entered into a letter of intent to purchase 4MC (SHOOT, 11/12/99, p. 1). That deal came just three months after Liberty Media agreed to acquire controlling interests in Todd-AO Corp. and Soundelux Entertainment Group (SHOOT, 8/13/99, p. 1). Todd-AO maintains post facilities in Hollywood, Santa Monica, New York, Atlanta and London. Audio post operation Soundelux is headquartered in Hollywood.
