Company 3 Virtual Grading
Company 3 (CO3) is one of the world’s premier Telecine shops and Stefan Sonnenfeld is, for many top directors and agencies, the first call when looking for a colourist. CO3 is based in LA and has just relocated and upgraded its New York facility to a gorgeous new location in the heart of Chelsea. LBBOnline was interested to hear about the ‘Digital Outposts’ they have set up in post houses around the world to offer virtual grading. We set out to get the skinny on these collaborations from Stefan himself and spoke to some of the companies where these outposts are located. This set up is benefitting all the companies involved and providing a great service to the agencies and client marketers.
These outposts began five years ago using a Satellite system but have evolved and now employ VOIP technology combined with a robust bandwidth service. The set up requires a specific monitor that is calibrated by CO3’s engineer and specialized compression technology to stream the video signal. This allows the client to view and interact with the LA and NY offices of Company 3 from anywhere in the world. There is a couple of seconds’ delay, which is offset by the polycom conferencing. Sonnenfeld sums up the flow as “pretty simple…the outpost/client books the session with [CO3] the same way the locals do…and that’s it. There is no 3rd party scheduling and the clients go to the “virtual bay” in their markets and supervise a session the same way they would if they were in LA or NY.”
For CO3, the primary goal of the outposts is “to bring our strong brand to the local and regional markets that wouldn’t necessarily have access to the top tier services and artists we have in NY and LA” but leave the branding up to their local partner, believing that they are “better “equipped” to deliver that message to their clients.” Sonnenfeld went on to say that it is a completely collaborative arrangement with CO3 working together with their partners on everything from “discounted rates and packaging, to digital camera file renderings, to overall marketing and sales of digital and virtual services”.
The obvious benefits to the client are convenience, efficiency and travel cost savings, with the CO3 talent pool being available to clients worldwide. For Digital Garden Inc., a Japanese post company offering Online, Offline, MA and CG for mainly commercial work, the outpost has brought in serious star power. In 2009, Michael Bay was in Tokyo and needed to supervise some shots for his film “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”. He didn’t have time to return to the US prior to the release of the film and so he used the outpost at Digital Garden. He even included the virtual session in the film’s DVD extras.
Being the only outpost in Japan gives Digital Garden a competitive edge as they are able to offer more to the local agencies and production companies than anyone else in the country. They say that most Japanese productions can’t go overseas or bring in colourists for cost or scheduling reasons, so this provides a solution for the Japanese market. In addition to keeping work from leaving the country, they are also “contributing [to the level] of [the] creative in Tokyo”. They add that “since Stefan is highly respected [by] directors in Japan, [they] are able to build great relationships” selling the Company 3 brand to their clients.
For Dave Waller at Boston’s Brickyard VFX the virtual telecine has been more of “an enhancement to the business [they] already perform and a compliment mostly to jobs [they] are already booked on”, rather than helping to bring in new business. The work they do, on compositing and CG, happens after the telecine work has been completed. He agrees that the time and money saving aspects of the relationship are the biggest draws but quips that it has also paid off during winter snow storms. On more than one occasion they have had an agency team from Boston snowed in while the film was in LA and were able to put the two together using the virtual set up. He adds that “if being green matters, the carbon footprint of the job is significantly reduced as well. We're always looking for a greener way of doing business!”
These outposts are no doubt a great addition to any city. Access to the world’s top colourists raises the bar in any ad community but Waller also adds that it has “magically [turned] our competitors into clients!” in a city that wouldn’t be able to “support a world-class Telecine shop” of its own. He concludes that “since we're all judged by the quality of the people we associate with, we feel especially privileged to offer this service alongside the folks at CO3”.
Drive Thru in Minneapolis echoes the success of the other companies saying that it “enabled [them] to provide a great resource for [their local] Ad community and as a result [they] do see a bit of added business”. Bob George says that the turnaround times are the most noticeable positive to come out of the arrangement but that it is generally a more efficient way to work as all the files are digitized, adding that they can be made Avid ready. He feels that they are working faster with the digitized files and CO3 than they would be if working with a local company.
They have also seen most of their competitors come through the doors and have gone out of their way to accommodate them by putting the CO3 room at the front entrance so that competitors don’t feel weird roaming around Drive Thru’s space. It’s an easy sell, as George says: “If you have the opportunity to have your spot coloured by the world’s best colourist, wouldn’t you do that?!
CO3’s digital outposts could be the way of the future. After all, in an increasingly global world, two things are being universally cut: budgets and time. But for all their futuristic technology, the system has a feel good, friendly feel about it and is far from impersonal. The relationships involved in putting it all together were forged the old fashioned way and built on reputations. Asked if the programme had helped to push the Company 3 brand globally, Sonnenfeld’s response was: “Absolutely…I knew some international clients were aware of us but I had no idea we had such a huge following in Japan, Korea, India, etc…. I also think it’s important to point out that we were invited to be in those countries. Although we embrace the global strategy, it has only been possible due to the fact that these international partners want us there and that is what makes our outposts successful, a cultural and professional synergy.” As for the current hype surrounding 3D: “Virtual CO3-D….it’s coming soon to an outpost near you.”
CO3’s Digital Outposts are located in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Portland, Miami, Minneapolis, Richmond and San Francisco as well as in Japan, India and the UK with more opening soon in South Korea and France.
For more info on this go to http://www.ascentmedia.com/user_area/content_media/CO3_VirtualSvcsBooklet2010.pdf
These outposts began five years ago using a Satellite system but have evolved and now employ VOIP technology combined with a robust bandwidth service. The set up requires a specific monitor that is calibrated by CO3’s engineer and specialized compression technology to stream the video signal. This allows the client to view and interact with the LA and NY offices of Company 3 from anywhere in the world. There is a couple of seconds’ delay, which is offset by the polycom conferencing. Sonnenfeld sums up the flow as “pretty simple…the outpost/client books the session with [CO3] the same way the locals do…and that’s it. There is no 3rd party scheduling and the clients go to the “virtual bay” in their markets and supervise a session the same way they would if they were in LA or NY.”
For CO3, the primary goal of the outposts is “to bring our strong brand to the local and regional markets that wouldn’t necessarily have access to the top tier services and artists we have in NY and LA” but leave the branding up to their local partner, believing that they are “better “equipped” to deliver that message to their clients.” Sonnenfeld went on to say that it is a completely collaborative arrangement with CO3 working together with their partners on everything from “discounted rates and packaging, to digital camera file renderings, to overall marketing and sales of digital and virtual services”.
The obvious benefits to the client are convenience, efficiency and travel cost savings, with the CO3 talent pool being available to clients worldwide. For Digital Garden Inc., a Japanese post company offering Online, Offline, MA and CG for mainly commercial work, the outpost has brought in serious star power. In 2009, Michael Bay was in Tokyo and needed to supervise some shots for his film “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”. He didn’t have time to return to the US prior to the release of the film and so he used the outpost at Digital Garden. He even included the virtual session in the film’s DVD extras.
Being the only outpost in Japan gives Digital Garden a competitive edge as they are able to offer more to the local agencies and production companies than anyone else in the country. They say that most Japanese productions can’t go overseas or bring in colourists for cost or scheduling reasons, so this provides a solution for the Japanese market. In addition to keeping work from leaving the country, they are also “contributing [to the level] of [the] creative in Tokyo”. They add that “since Stefan is highly respected [by] directors in Japan, [they] are able to build great relationships” selling the Company 3 brand to their clients.
For Dave Waller at Boston’s Brickyard VFX the virtual telecine has been more of “an enhancement to the business [they] already perform and a compliment mostly to jobs [they] are already booked on”, rather than helping to bring in new business. The work they do, on compositing and CG, happens after the telecine work has been completed. He agrees that the time and money saving aspects of the relationship are the biggest draws but quips that it has also paid off during winter snow storms. On more than one occasion they have had an agency team from Boston snowed in while the film was in LA and were able to put the two together using the virtual set up. He adds that “if being green matters, the carbon footprint of the job is significantly reduced as well. We're always looking for a greener way of doing business!”
These outposts are no doubt a great addition to any city. Access to the world’s top colourists raises the bar in any ad community but Waller also adds that it has “magically [turned] our competitors into clients!” in a city that wouldn’t be able to “support a world-class Telecine shop” of its own. He concludes that “since we're all judged by the quality of the people we associate with, we feel especially privileged to offer this service alongside the folks at CO3”.
Drive Thru in Minneapolis echoes the success of the other companies saying that it “enabled [them] to provide a great resource for [their local] Ad community and as a result [they] do see a bit of added business”. Bob George says that the turnaround times are the most noticeable positive to come out of the arrangement but that it is generally a more efficient way to work as all the files are digitized, adding that they can be made Avid ready. He feels that they are working faster with the digitized files and CO3 than they would be if working with a local company.
They have also seen most of their competitors come through the doors and have gone out of their way to accommodate them by putting the CO3 room at the front entrance so that competitors don’t feel weird roaming around Drive Thru’s space. It’s an easy sell, as George says: “If you have the opportunity to have your spot coloured by the world’s best colourist, wouldn’t you do that?!
CO3’s digital outposts could be the way of the future. After all, in an increasingly global world, two things are being universally cut: budgets and time. But for all their futuristic technology, the system has a feel good, friendly feel about it and is far from impersonal. The relationships involved in putting it all together were forged the old fashioned way and built on reputations. Asked if the programme had helped to push the Company 3 brand globally, Sonnenfeld’s response was: “Absolutely…I knew some international clients were aware of us but I had no idea we had such a huge following in Japan, Korea, India, etc…. I also think it’s important to point out that we were invited to be in those countries. Although we embrace the global strategy, it has only been possible due to the fact that these international partners want us there and that is what makes our outposts successful, a cultural and professional synergy.” As for the current hype surrounding 3D: “Virtual CO3-D….it’s coming soon to an outpost near you.”
CO3’s Digital Outposts are located in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Portland, Miami, Minneapolis, Richmond and San Francisco as well as in Japan, India and the UK with more opening soon in South Korea and France.
For more info on this go to http://www.ascentmedia.com/user_area/content_media/CO3_VirtualSvcsBooklet2010.pdf
