By KRISTIN WILCHA
SHOOT looks at editorial boutiques.
Mention of the term "editorial boutique" used to evoke images of a couple of guys with a flatbed doing offline work out of a small space. Today, that definition has changed dramatically-well beyond substituting Avids for Moviolas. Boutiques are no longer confined to offline editing, and they often embody a progressive creative feeling, mindset and image.
But there are still some perennial constants. For example, boutiques continue to be associated with providing a personal touch in terms of service and attention. So with this mix of the old and new in mind, SHOOT highlights in this Special Report editorial boutiques that offer traditional comforts to clientele as well as services in addition to offline.
It’s not even a prerequisite that the boutique be in but one city, as exemplified by Red Car, which maintains offices in Santa Monica, New York, Chicago and Dallas, while offering a variety of post services, including offline and online editing, effects work and audio post. Recently, Red Car put its start-to-finish post capabilities to work on a campaign for Fresh Samantha Juices out of Dweck!, New York. Even with multiple sites, a company such as Red Car can still retain boutique status due to a small shop atmosphere. "We are a big company, but what’s key to maintaining a boutique feeling is making sure that all the individual units are big enough to provide good service, but not too big that they become facility block houses," explains Larry Bridges, editor/owner of Red Car.
Post:Op, a Dallas-based editorial boutique headed up by senior editor Michael Van de Kamer, has also expanded beyond offline. The company, which counts among its credits spots for Wyndham Hotels and Nintendo, offers capabilities such as compositing and audio. In addition to mixing, the audio division also does sound design and original music. Being able to compose is of special interest to Post:Op senior editor Doug Bryan, who once played in regional bands. Beyond the diversification of services, Van de Kamer also believes his shop offers a good variety of styles-everything from humor to visual imagery.
Brass Knuckles, Venice, Calif., has diversified from its music video base to spot editing, merging with X-Stream Post in ’98. Having cut clips for the likes of Marilyn Manson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and R.E.M., Brass Knuckles now counts among its ad clients the Gap, Philip Morris and Toyota. Since the merger, there is a 50/50 split between spots and videos, and the editorial boutique is looking to further expand this year. According to company principals Chris Hafner and Greg Laube, that means the possible signing of new editors and the launch of an outpost in New York, where a number of Brass Knuckles editors currently have to travel for projects. "A lot of our clients are like, ‘Please open a Brass Knuckles, New York,’" Hafner relates. And if a second office does come to fruition, Hafner hopes to maintain a boutique feel to the bicoastal operation. "It’s still small enough where every single thing can get that attention to detail, and we can keep an eye on everything," he explains. "None of our projects gets lost in the shuffle; there’s no machine or factory [atmosphere]."
Tim Burton Discusses His Dread Of AI As An Exhibition of His Work Opens In London
The imagination of Tim Burton has produced ghosts and ghouls, Martians, monsters and misfits — all on display at an exhibition that is opening in London just in time for Halloween.
But you know what really scares him? Artificial intelligence.
Burton said Wednesday that seeing a website that had used AI to blend his drawings with Disney characters "really disturbed me."
"It wasn't an intellectual thought — it was just an internal, visceral feeling," Burton told reporters during a preview of "The World of Tim Burton" exhibition at London's Design Museum. "I looked at those things and I thought, 'Some of these are pretty good.' … (But) it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside."
Burton said he thinks AI is unstoppable, because "once you can do it, people will do it." But he scoffed when asked if he'd use the technology in this work.
"To take over the world?" he laughed.
The exhibition reveals Burton to be an analogue artist, who started off as a child in the 1960s experimenting with paints and colored pencils in his suburban Californian home.
"I wasn't, early on, a very verbal person," Burton said. "Drawing was a way of expressing myself."
Decades later, after films including "Edward Scissorhands," "Batman," "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Beetlejuice," his ideas still begin with drawing. The exhibition includes 600 items from movie studio collections and Burton's personal archive, and traces those ideas as they advance from sketches through collaboration with set, production and costume designers on the way to the big screen.
London is the exhibition's final stop on a decade-long tour of 14 cities in 11 countries. It has been reconfigured and expanded with 90 new objects for its run in... Read More