"I'm Lovin' It" - Shanghai, China Vol. 2

Following up on last month's still image post, we are excited to debut the motion edit "Smile."   Produced for McDonald's in Shanghai, China, "Smile" offers a glimpse into the broad palette of sights, sounds, people and places at the second of four international cities during last November's 2 1/2 week tour.

Our 6 day visit had us traveling to a wide variety of restaurants, both inner city or central to Shanghai as well as on the outskirts of what seemed like suburban settings.  The pace and schedule left little time to ponder feeling jet-lagged.  Our two bilingual production assistants kept us moving and were invaluable when negotiating transportation and more importantly, interacting with employees and customers.  We did our best to learn a few essential words and phrases such as thank-you "謝謝," pronounced 'sheh she."  When speaking, we found a fast mumbled approach proved more effective and easier for natives to understand than belaboring perfect enunciation.   This quick phrase method also seemed to match and keep pace with the energy of the people and our surroundings. 

With a population of over 23 million people and nearly three times the size of New York City, Shanghai proved time and again to be a metropolis of great depth, in which we only scratched the surface of during our short time there.  Even now, months after our visit we still talk about the experiences we had there and the lasting impression it has made upon us.  We welcome the opportunity to return and explore more of the city someday.

Edited by our close partners at Coelement, this project took a new turn at the final stage in terms of color correction.  The color / contrast treatment of all visuals, whether stills or motion is a big part of the final product we deliver.  Adobe recently launched Lightroom 4 and one of the more interesting upgrades is the ability to color correct motion clips in a fashion similar to our workflow when finessing the look and feel of the still images.  The ability to work on and affect specific colors, highlights and shadows, as well as provide a uniform, custom color palette is something we've grown to rely on from this software.  While there are still a few bugs to work out and the process needs some refining, having these color enhancing tools available for motion clips is really quite amazing.  Visit this link to see a side by side, before and after comparison.

Enjoy the final edit.  We've been keeping busy on several fronts with recent travel to Las Vegas as well as a few projects that could have us hitting several stops on the west coast in days ahead.

"I'm Lovin' It" - Shanghai, China Vol. 2

Genesis10 - The Next Level...

Design & branding agency Very Inc. reached out earlier this year to commission a custom library of imagery; a brand refresh they were working on for New York based Genesis10.  Established in 1999 and growing at a rate of over 30% each year, Genesis10 has established itself as one of the country's premiere management consulting companies. 

 Soon after the initial call, we began discussing the desired look and feel; how we could set our visuals apart from stock imagery that often accompanies the branding of businesses such as this.  The shoot comprised of talent taking the role of Genesis10 consultants interacting in a variety of office settings.

The creatives at Very were great to partner with at every step.  On the day of production they were collaborative and really trusted our instincts and suggestions to shape the look and feel of each scene.  It's always a refreshing challenge to build a library from scratch; an entirely different experience than shooting a few images to add to a preexisting body of work.  Having the freedom to roam amid a space with great lines, light, and talent that requires a subtle direction provided all the elements necessary to tie together another successful production.

Genesis10 - The Next Level...