Consolidation Is Designed To Create A Major Chicago Television Center.
By KATHY DeSALVO
IPA, an 18-year-old Chicago-based graphics/post house specializing in corporate and independent productions, has merged its operations into Chicago facility Post Effects.
Per the arrangement, IPA president Scott Jacobs will join Post Effects as VP/special projects, and will focus upon developing and producing television, film and new media concepts. Among other key players coming over to Post Effects from IPA are 3-D animator/broadcast graphics artist Casey Stockton; offline/online editors Marilyn Wulff, Cyndi Moran and Eve Saxon; audio engineers Bryen Hensley and Tom Blakemore; multimedia producer Sarah Holman; DVD programmer Bob Brink; and DVD compressionist David Blum.
Post Effects is acquiring some of IPA’s equipment, including its audio and multimedia gear and an Avid. Construction is now underway at Post Effects on a Surround Sound audio suite for Hensley and Blakemore, which is slated to be completed in November; the company is in the process of competing the buildout of another audio room for O’Donnell/Salvatori Total Audio, Chicago (SHOOT, 9/17, p.8). By the end of October, Jacobs said, Post Effects hopes to integrate all of IPA’s editing, graphics and DVD authoring/ multimedia operations.
According to Jacobs, the merger offers several benefits. For one, it shifts IPA’s location from the Lincoln Park area to the downtown business district, a move clients had wanted for a long time. Additionally, linking with Post Effects diversifies IPA and helps it to address a trend that had been eroding a key pocket of business.
"Post houses are crossroads of knowledge and professionalism," said Jacobs. "I think for years IPA has provided that service to independent producers. But as more and more [producers] have bought their own Avids, they haven’t felt the need for the editing services. By getting together with Post Effects, we are going to be offering a whole new range of high-end services that, I think, are going to be the building blocks of better television."
Looking Ahead
The consolidation with Post Effects is forward-thinking, said Jacobs, who has been friends with Post Effects’ president Mike Fayette for 15 years. "We [now] face the new millennium," said Jacobs, "and I think television in the year 2000 is going to change a lot, very quickly. Mike has positioned Post Effects very well: He’s got the only really solid high definition [HD] shooting and editing package in Chicago, he has the only Cyberset between both coasts and [he] has great production facilities. Post Effects is going to be a television center where you can do better television. That requires the equipment and resources that Mike has, and a technical knowledge center, which I think [Post Effects’] engineering and our multimedia specialists have."
Fayette observed that Post Effects and IPA have taken complementary directions over the years, citing that IPA has focused upon DVD, whereas Post Effects has targeted CD-ROM projects. IPA’s creative editorial staff also complements Post Effects, which historically has been better known more for its effects-oriented fare. Fayette added that whereas 75 percent of IPA’s work is Avid-based, offline accounts for only 15 percent of Post Effects’ business.
"There’s a good fit between the two companies," said Fayette. "We’ve always noticed and kidded each other about that. But talk got more serious in the last six months or so. [Jacobs] was looking at the future and saw that Post Effects had been making moves in … HDTV, the Cyberset and other areas that were going to be physically difficult for IPA to [move into] because of where they were located and the spaces they were in. At Post Effects we had a lot of room, due to a construction project we finished three years ago that created extra space we’d never filled."
Post Effects recently became the first, and is currently the only, Chicago post facility to have acquired the Sony HD editing system: the HDS-7000. "Our feeling is that HD is going to happen sooner than most people think," said Fayette. "So we’ve built the first high-definition online bay in the Midwest, which is one of the things [Jacobs] is excited about." He added that one of Post Effects’ upcoming jobs is an independent feature for an undisclosed client that will be finished in HD.
"IPA has had a mix of work over the years, which is another reason why we’re a natural fit together," observed Fayette, who said that Post Effects’ business is evenly divided among commercials, high-end corporate jobs and programming. He added that corporate clients have proven to be the most enthusiastic about HD, followed by the programming industry.
"[Jacobs] has a lot of great ideas about where the future of interactive television is and where the future of programming is," said Fayette. "He’s going to work hard to get us all there." Jacobs will be joining a Post Effects management team comprised of Fayette, VP/general manager Fred Blurton and VP/executive producer Barbara Jones.
Jury Presidents Named For The One Show 2025
The One Club for Creativity has announced the global creatives from around the world who will serve as jury presidents for The One Show 2025.
These creatives will lead judging for each discipline, and have a vote on the work.
Confirmed One Show 2025 Jury presidents, by discipline, are as follows:
--Brand-Side/In-House: David Lee, CCO, Squarespace, New York
--Branded Entertainment: Malcolm Poynton, Global CCO, Cheil Worldwide, London
--Creative Use of Data, Creative Use of Technology: Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, CCO, FCB Canada, Toronto
--Cultural Driver: Bianca Guimaraes, partner, ECD, Mischief, New York
--Design: Liza Enebeis, creative director, partner, Studio Dumbar/DEPT®, Rotterdam
--Direct Marketing: Vicki Maguire, CCO, Havas London
--Film & Video: Javier Campopiano, global CCO, McCann Worldgroup & McCann Global, Madrid
--Gaming: Taj Reid, global chief experience officer, US CCO, Edelman, New York
--Integrated, Experiential & Immersive: Chris Beresford-Hill, worldwide CCO, BBDO New York
--Fusion Pencil: Walter T. Geer III, CCO, Innovation North America, VML, New York
--Green Pencil: Barbara Humphries, ECD, The Monkeys, Sydney
--Health & Wellness, Pharma: Wendy Lund, chief client officer, WPP, New York
--IP & Product Design: Ronald Ng, global CCO, MRM, New York
--Moving Image Craft & Production: Irene Kugelmann, chief creative officer, DDB Group of Companies Germany, Berlin
--Music & Sound Craft: Joel Simon, CCO, JSM Music, New York
--Out of Home, Print & Promotional: Kainaz Karmakar, CCO, Ogilvy India, Mumbai
--Public Relations: Patricia Ávila, regional director for Latin America, Ágora, São Paulo
--Radio... Read More