While the global economy continues to struggle, there’s plenty of trickle when it comes to filming incentives and their impact. Consider the State of Michigan which has a refundable tax credit of up to 42 percent in place for qualifying feature and television projects (commercials are not eligible). The ripple effect of films and TV coming in as a result of the program has proven to be beneficial and far reaching.
For example, as feature films and various entertainment projects have made their way into Michigan, Hollywood production companies are utilizing the sound stages, film processing lab, and postproduction services at Grace & Wild Studios located within the communications complex known as Studio Center. Grace & Wild Inc. is headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich.
“Since the incentive package passed in 2008, we have completed film processing, dailies and sound design for numerous film and television projects,” noted Grace & Wild VP of sales Ginny Hart. “That’s really only been the beginning for Grace & Wild Studios. We are seeing an increase in film productions staying on in Michigan to complete postproduction and special effects, such as our involvement with Pirahna 3D, Restitution, and Harold & Kumar 3.”
Another high profile project is the Ben Stiller-produced comedy 30 Minutes or Less. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride and Aziz Ansari, the film is about two fledgling criminals who kidnap a pizza delivery driver and force him to rob a bank within 30 minutes. Filming is being completed in Grand Rapids, and 30 Minutes or Less has been the largest film project in Michigan to date. Upon completion, Grace & Wild’s film lab will have processed in excess of 500,000 feet of film for the feature.
Other recent projects favorably impacting Grace & Wild include:
• Machine Gun Preacher. Grace & Wild Studios provided film processing and dailies for the movie, which stars Gerard Butler and Michelle Monaghan. Machine Gun Preacher is the true story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing biker who found God and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children forced to become soldiers. The production completed filming at locations around metro Detroit in July 2010 before moving to South Africa.
• Salvation Boulevard. Grace & Wild completed processing and dailies for this comedy thriller, about a former Deadhead-turned-born-again-Christian who finds himself on the run from fundamentalist members of his mega-church. Salvation Boulevard stars Marisa Tomei, Jennifer Connelly, Greg Kinnear, and Pierce Brosnan, and production was completed on locations in Dearborn and around the metro Detroit area in May 2010.
• Jinn. Grace & Wild provided processing and dailies for Jinn Productions, in addition to completing editorial on site. Grace & Wild’s audio post department also provided sound design and completed the final 5.1 mix for the film trailer. The supernatural thriller stars Ray Park and Dominic Rains.
• MOOZ-Lum. Grace & Wild completed audio post and RED Camera file transfer and color correction for MOOZ-Lum, the story of a young Muslim and his struggle to find balance within his individual and collective identity once he moves away to college. MOOZ-Lum stars Evan Ross, Danny Glover and Nia Long, and was written and directed by Michigan native Qasim Basir. Editor Terry King of Griot Editorial (part of the Grace & Wild family of shops) served as a consultant on the cut of the film’s trailer.
Along the food chain As reflected in the Michigan Film Office’s 2009 annual report on the state of the film industry, the food chain benefiting from the incentives extends far and wide. For example, Scenic Design Group in Fraser, Mich., is a props, set design and fabrication company, which almost moved to Las Vegas after a major downturn in local business. Owner Jonathan Krueger nearly started over from scratch, working out of his home basement. After a referral led to work on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in ’08, he was hired for ABC’s obstacle course reality show Crash Course. Scenic Design Group first expanded into a 500 square foot shop, and then into a new 15,000 square foot building, filling its floor space gradually as work increased. The company went from two full-time staffers to six, and hired 35 part-timers for Crash Course (including many out-of-work auto workers, designers, carpenters).
A Shell gas station in Howell, Mich., saw its diesel fuel business double for four months in the fall of ’08. Fuel was sold for a variety of production uses, including trucks, generators, honey wagons, snow-melting machines and crew’s personal use.
Chow Catering in Grand Blanc, Mich., purchased a second catering truck, at $100,000, plus another $20,000 in support and storage vehicles. The company saw a 100 percent increase in its business from ’07 to ’08, bringing on board 10 full-time employees and five-part time workers.
Fifteen-year automobile industry vet Dan Phillips, having survived a previous layoff at Chrysler Corp., took a buyout from Mopar Auto Parts in May ’08, just after the film incentives passed. Having studied makeup for several years, He was able to land a makeup gig on two projects in ’08, and opened D.P. Makeup Studio in St. Clair Shores, Mich., in Nov. ’08 where he teaches makeup to classes of 10 students at a time.
And the Michigan Film Industry 2009 report added that L.A.-based video game developer Epicenter Studios is opening a second studio in the Detroit area and will add a projected 20 to 25 local hires within the next 12 to 18 months.
Illinois Before Michigan launched its incentives package, a Midwest pioneer in this arena was Illinois, with a program applying to features, TV, commercials and branded content.
The Illinois Film Tax Credit was increased from 20 to 30 percent in ’09. While last year was still feeling and reeling from the repercussions of a bad economy, activity has picked up considerably in 2010.
Pilot episodes for five TV series, for example, were shot in Chicago during the early part of the year.
On the feature front, the Windy City played host to Michael Bay’s Transformers 3 and Ron Howards’s Your Cheating Heart.
Estimates from the Chicago Mayor’s office are that Transformers 3 will generate some $20 million for the local economy as well as create around 200 jobs. Filming of Transformers 3 took place in Chicago from early July through August.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D-IL) said that since ’89, more than 900 film and television productions have pumped in excess of $1.6 billion into the local economy.
This was spurred on significantly in ’03 when Illinois’ first wage-based tax credit for the filming biz was enacted by the General Assembly.
Snowbate Also with significant filmmaking incentives in place is Minnesota, which maintains its Snowbate film jobs production program.
Snowbate is a reimbursement of 15 to 20 percent of Minnesota production expenditures. The incentive is available to theatrical feature films, national television or Internet programs, commercials, music videos and documentaries.
Among the Snowbate-certified projects in the current fiscal year span of ’09-’11 are features (Life of Riley, They Were Children of the Wind, Stuck Between Stations, The Convincer), TV series (Bizarre Foods, International Open House, Sweat Equity, I Hate My Kitchen), documentaries (Holy Grail in America, America B.C.), web fare (Ultimate How To) and commercials (Miracle Ear, Tempurpedic, 3M Cleaner Green/Nutridog, Grand Casino).
Varied work Indeed the mix of projects throughout the Midwest reflects a versatile industry and infrastructure with work ranging from short to long-form fare across multiple disciplines and platforms. SHOOT sought out some examples of unique jobs wrapped this year that might otherwise go unnoticed in the face of high-profile projects.
In that vein, consider accomplished editor Jonathan Del Gatto of Foundation Content, Chicago and Los Angeles, who both directed and cut a United Airlines project for his longstanding agency client, BDM in Minneapolis.
“United Airlines-Travel Options” was all about the power of new media. A mix of live-action and graphics all shot in a white seamless environment on Foundation Content’s stage, the piece involved the studio’s in-house production unit, editorial, in-house colorist and audio engineer, and required a great deal of technical expertise in working with web developers to provide the proper files.
The project itself is unique, but what makes it really interesting is the amount of energy and attention that was put into something that only a select group of people will see. It was created for United Airlines internal communications, but it was treated by the agency and Foundation with the same level of care that a national broadcast spot would receive.
When asked for a unique job done out of his shop this year, John Noble, managing partner and executive producer of ONE at Optimus, Chicago, noted, “As most of us have experienced, the requests for digital executions continue to be on the rise. At ONE at Optimus we’ve been certainly doing our fair share. However, while that work has its own unique and interesting set of challenges, one particular job we produced earlier in the year strikes me as being truly unique. The project was for AT&T through its agency DDB St. Louis.
“Their challenge was to communicate a Wi-Fi sales message to a very select group of decision makers–stadium owners throughout the United States,” continued Noble. “DDB St. Louis used an old school-new school twist in reaching their audience. Utilizing the pinpoint accuracy of direct mail as their ‘old school’ medium, they coupled that reliable delivery method with a high tech centerpiece iPhone-like screen which was imbedded into each and every customized mailer. ONE at Optimus director Mike Chaves tackled the small screen issue by embracing the challenge and choosing to shoot both the Canon 5D for principal photography (24fps) and the 7D for the slow mo (60fps) shots. The camera and lens choices were specifically made to create a shallow depth of field and thus create a dynamic foreground image that would accentuate the visuals and action on the small viewing screen. Editor Ruben Vela worked in concert with Chaves to design and create an authentic viewing experience worthy of the small (but powerful) little screen.”
Noble noted that the entire team at Optimus was involved from the very onset of the project with the DDB creative ensemble of Steve LaLiberte and Erik Mathre, and producer Kathy Goebel.
“The detailed upfront collaboration with DDB allowed our entire team here to seamlessly build the content in a unique customized way,” said Noble.
“That upfront communication enabled all our creative offerings (shoot, edit, graphics, color, sound) to each add their own special touches to the project from day one. DDB’s ROI for unique content driven mailings,” said Noble, “was an astounding 21.2 percent response rate.”
The job was shot on location in Los Angeles and posted in Chicago.
For production house Twist, with bases of operation in Minneapolis and New York, company president Jim Geib cited a unique ongoing relationship with 3M and Grey Advertising, facilitated by his and director Rich Michell’s presence in Minneapolis.
Geib said that the collaboration between Twist and 3M has resulted in the production of 15 commercials, featuring many of the very popular 3M home and office products.
This year, Twist had the opportunity to assist in the celebration of the 30th anniversary of 3M’s popular “Post-It” brand products, and produced a series of new commercials.
“Rich has developed a highly stylized look over the past few years, featuring a very clean, minimal aesthetic,” said Geib. “He has been able to bring this signature look to his work with clients such as 3M. With a background in fine arts that includes sculpture and photography, Rich has a fine-tuned eye towards composition. Also, as a director/DP, Rich is used to shooting tabletop, as well as performance. This has been a unique opportunity for Twist and for Rich. He has consistently defined the art direction and the choreography of each spot around the function and design of the product–and in the process, developed a graphic and playful style that highlights the individual products and create a cohesive design for the variety of 3M brands. Twist looks forward to our continued collaboration and success with 3M and the creative folks at Grey Advertising.”
Meanwhile CRASH+SUES, Minneapolis, gravitated toward the animation discipline for its unique project.
“The best thing about a campaign like Health Partners for Preston Kelly, Minneapolis, is the fact that I’m able to express my absolute passion, character animation,” related animation director Sean Hall of CRASH+SUES.
“I was incredibly pleased the client decided to continue with their lighthearted animation campaign for yet another year. It’s such an inimitable, playful approach given the rather somber subject of healthcare, and it definitely spoke to the success of our previous collaboration with the advertising agency.
“The campaign was particularly unconventional because it started out as print, so the characters and overall look were already established by illustrator Adrian Johnson. My main challenge was to continue Johnson’s established style while bringing his characters to life in an engaging and memorable way. The agency allowed me to bring my own flavor with the storyboards and animatics I created. I drew on their uniqueness of personality through movement, quirks, facial expressions and transitions. It’s a rare and appreciated treat when granted the creative freedom to develop individualism and by doing so, add one’s own artistic signature.”
Hall recalled that for the previous campaign, he had developed “a new workflow of animating directly in After Effects using masks as well as other tools and techniques. Though adapting was difficult at first, it proved highly effective as well as efficient.
So for this second round, the process was already in place furnishing the flexibility needed given the amount of spots and the tightness of the schedule. It also awarded more time to focus on the finer points and refine the little, in-between moments which make character animation especially appealing. Rarely do you get an additional pass at a creative initiative where you can utilize what’s already established and put your efforts into elevating your own bar. The desire is always there to top yourself, and I think this time we have.”
The TV commercial campaign for Health Partners is currently airing in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Rapids development As for the aforementioned Midwest infrastructure, another element has recently fallen into place with the launch of Digital Design Village, a visual effects, motion graphics, design, and technical media business located in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Under the aegis of CEO/founder Arnie Jones, Digital Design Village has additionally entered into an agreement with San Rafael, Calif.-based The Kerner Group, formerly the physical effects division of Industrial Light+Magic (ILM).
Digital Design Village and the Michigan marketplace will be able to access Kerner offerings in special effects talent and resources spanning such areas as 3D technologies, model creation, camera rigs and assorted other content creation tools.
The Kerner Group’s credentials include contributing its practical effects wherewithal to such notable theatrical feature films as Avatar, Jurassic Park, Transformers II, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the original Star Wars trilogy.
Digital Design Village will employ a core staff of digital and effects producers, based in Grand Rapids, to work directly with the Northern California-based collection of talent now at The Kerner Group.
In addition, Digital Design Village will collaborate with local businesses, universities, and colleges to teach and develop a local workforce and infrastructure that are critical to meeting the motion picture industry’s high creative standards.
“It has long been known that Michigan needed a more prominent film infrastructure,” said Jones. “Our formation, and our agreement with The Kerner Group, will set the stage not only for this helpful infrastructure for filmmakers, but also for our team to work with the legendary staff at Kerner.”
Eric Edmeades, CEO of The Kerner Group, related, “We are excited to expand our national presence and bring Kerner’s services and technologies to Michigan. With special practical effects, digital imaging, and new imaging technologies, such as 3D, continuing to play a critical role within overall film production everywhere, we felt being in the Michigan market would help give locally based producers and content creators better–and more cost effective–access to our company’s talent and filmmaking resources.”
Digital Design Village is housed in the historic electricity substation offices, located in downtown Grand Rapids.
