Saturday, December 18, 2010
Upon leaving Chello Creative
Thank you to everyone who's read this blog over the last couple of years. The moderator is moving on the a new company, but wishes Chello Creative all the best. Hopefully a new moderator will take over and share all the exciting developments at Chello Creative.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Freelance Friday: Troika
Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting with Robert Blatchford, Director Of Business Development at Troika Design Group.
BRIEF PLUS: J.J. Abrams—The Art of the Franchise
As the broadcast industry struggles for viewers, the emergence of J.J. Abrams has given new life to the
term “television franchise.” From early shows such as “Felicity” and “Alias” to the much-heralded arrival of
“Lost” and “Fringe,” the executive producer and composer has not only received multiple Emmys for the
quality of his work, he has also delivered the coveted hype and anticipation to the launch of his shows.
One of a handful of producers who are now household names, Abrams now boasts a six-year television
production deal with Warner Bros., the first result of which is “Fringe,” as well as a five year film deal with
Paramount worth a reported $55 million.
He recently took time from his work on ABC’s “Lost” and Fox’s “Fringe,” as well as one of entertainment’s
greatest franchises in the upcoming “Star Trek” movie, to talk about the art of branding with brief editor
Chris Pursell. In the interview, Abrams discussed the future of big-budget television shows, his approach
to marketing, why he would happily take a job in music and his role juggling both the business and
creative elements that go into a tentpole series.
How involved are you in marketing and is marketing more or less important now than ten years
ago?
J.J. ABRAMS: I think ten years ago it was a real anomaly to see shows advertised using outdoor
medium as you do now. You never saw TV shows have previews in the movie theater; there really was
no online advertising at all. Promotion of TV shows used to be: you watched that network; you are going
to see an ad for an upcoming season or week, but now it’s become with magazines and outdoor and
Internet, the promotion of TV shows has become a multi-billion dollar ordeal every year and marketing is
definitely more important just because it’s in use in a way it wasn’t ten years ago.
But my involvement on “Fringe” for example, I could not be more grateful or impressed by what Fox did
on that show. They really came up with wonderful creative that reflected what we were doing in the show
and then we were collaborating with them where it was a real dialogue at the very beginning where we
would be responding to one another in a wonderful way that was an example of incredible and inspired
creative working to sell something they were genuinely enthused about and I think you can see it in what
they did.
ABC, meanwhile, on both “Lost” and “Alias,” did an incredible job. The ratings for “Lost” were as good as
they were not because everyone had seen the show and knew about it and liked it, and not because the
reviews had been out there. It was because ABC made the show look compelling, they did an amazing
job with a great outdoor campaign that had pathos and emotion and it looked like an event. My
involvement with these things varies but I am deeply involved in how things get sold, especially on the
film side.
The sale of the idea, which is not just about the poster or the advertisements, but it’s also about the timing
of the release of information. All of that is something I think is critical, and I’m involved in that as I can be.
At what point in the process do you think about marketing?
J.J. ABRAMS: I tend to work from the inside out, trying to figure out what it is that gets me genuinely
excited because whenever there is something that is honestly and purely thrilling from the inside, there is
invariably a way to externalize that, to create a message and deliver it. People just feel that there is
something interesting there because there was something interesting to the people who created it.
Rather than looking at it from the outside in, thinking “Ok, what would be a cool commercial?” or “What
would be an interesting image that would be compelling?” I think that for better or worse, try to look on the
thing that grabs you at the onset at its essence. In a way, the marketing of that thing ended up being an
outgrowth of that.
Where do you see the future of big budget dramas either on the air or online?
J.J. ABRAMS: I think obviously, especially with the economics of today, big budget anything is making it
less and less possible for people to take those risks for those kinds of projects. That’s not to say there
aren’t models of it, there are people who say that when times get tough, people turn to TV for comfort. But
in terms of big budget shows like “Heroes” (and) “Lost” certainly where enormous budgets are spent, I
think it’s true with some shows that don’t even look like they would be that expensive, but we are still
spending three, four, five, sometimes even six million dollars to do an episode of a television show that’s
an hour.
Now if you factor in the amortization of that and you double it to be a two-hour movie, you could be talking
about easily a $50 million dollar movie every week. That’s lunacy. Meaning that you can’t do too many
shows like that, and if you do a show like that, it had better work, otherwise it’s a big expense. I think the
challenge of shows like that are numerous, including making a pilot that is so elaborate that the series
can’t live up to that and then (what) you end up doing (is) basically you are cheating the audience out of
something. You can’t have the famous action director, like McG, direct every episode of the show. So you
do the pilot and you marvel at all that amazing energy and then week to week you realize it is really a
whole other thing.
So, the challenge is to figure out how to do a show that is from the beginning true to the show and
maintain a consistent feel and a look. I think what’s going to happen is budgets will have to come down
but it can never go back to the early days of TV. It probably can’t go back to a time when they would do
36 episodes a year and they would shoot an episode in five days. No one would accept a show now that
looks the way “Dynasty” did when it was on the air. The question is how do you take the limitations and
turn them into an advantage and do something for less money that embraces the aesthetic those
limitations create, which is what we did on “Cloverfield.”
We decided to do a movie that which when you read the script you think this is a $150 million movie. We
had to find a way to do it for under $25 million and accomplished that by embracing the aesthetic of the
videotape from the single-cam point of view. That let us do a movie that let us have a huge monster, had
all these crazy scares. It did it in a way that didn’t require a kind of expense that would have made that
movie ungreenlightable.
Coming off the successes of “Fringe” and “Lost,” how do stay inspired as both a creative as well
as a businessman?
J.J. ABRAMS: It’s a dream to do these shows, these movies and work with these people. I’m still
shocked that I get to do it. The inspiration usually comes from a feeling about a character or a situation.
Sometimes it’s incredibly singular and small such as “Felicity.” I knew I wanted to do a story about a
young woman, a girl who follows a boy to a college she never would have gone to, and in the process of
doing that, discovers her past somehow. I didn’t quite know what that meant or how that would look, but I
knew there was that idea or character who was that romantic that she would do something that foolish.
“Alias” was really inspired by wanting to take that premise, that “Felicity” model, and say “God, if she was
a spy than that would really be fun.” The double life idea was compelling.
“Lost” it was Lloyd Braun calling me saying he wanted to do a show about survivors of a plane crash and I
called him back and said “You’re not going to like what I’m going to pitch you because it’s very weird but
here’s the idea.” He said “I like it” and we came up with the specifics of the show. A lot of that was
inspired by what the challenge was and desperately wanting to see something that is not out there.
What is it that inspires you?
J.J. ABRAMS: There is no one thing but it is the magic of the process. It is the idea of creating a story
that the people will believe. It’s like doing a magic trick, taking something that’s not real, that is an illusion
that seems incredible, and making people feel that it’s real. It could be a very straight forward drama, it
could be comedic, horrific, science fiction, it could be anything. The process of filmmaking is the thing I’ve
always known that I’ve wanted to do, which is why I feel so lucky that I’ve been given a chance.
Walk us through the process of creating music for your series…
J.J. ABRAMS: I’ve always thought that music is at least 51% of the experience of a movie or a show. So
it’s always been really important to me. It’s one of the reasons I do the theme songs to the shows that I’ve
done. It’s because I would love the music and no one would ever ask me to do the theme for a TV show.
So if anyone ever asked me to do a theme for another TV show, I’d be thrilled.
But the fun of doing a theme is setting a certain kind of tone for what the show is. It’s like making a great
little theme song and the best ones ever are some of the best recorded music ever, like the “Sanford &
Son” theme song is spectacular. It’s one of the greatest things ever.
Anyway, the scores for the shows themselves, we have since “Alias” been collaborating with Michael
Giacchino, who has also done the movies I’ve directed and recently produced, and he’s as good as they
get. He’s sort of the next generation of composers.
What are the keys to establishing a franchise or branding in a multimedia world with so much
competition out there?
J.J. ABRAMS: I think that one of the important aspects of approaching the work you do is not to
consider the branding at all.
The real brand is the result of the work of making something that feels particularly exciting or high quality.
Brand loyalty is the result of simply doing something that is of value to people whether it’s a product or a
movie, story or song.
For me, branding is more of a by-product and less of a goal.
Speaking of brand loyalty, you’ve now inherited “Star Trek” as well as the avid fan base that goes
with it.
J.J. ABRAMS: As someone who was not an avid “Star Trek” fan as a kid, my approach was less about
absolute and pure reverence to what came before, as it was appreciation that I need to revere what came
before. That means that I didn’t have that natural sense of “Oh my God, I must follow every aspect of
Trek canon moving forward.”
On the other hand, I knew it was critical to fans of that universe, and I couldn’t do something that was
blasphemy to them. One of our writers Roberto Orci is a massive “Star Trek” fan, so he was keeping me
honest the whole time in that regard.
As far as the brand is concerned, I think maybe the advantage I had coming into it is that I think I saw
“Star Trek” more the way the average moviegoer sees “Star Trek” and less the way a devotee sees it.
That made it easier for me to pinpoint things that I felt were the most important things to be true to. For
example, I knew I wanted the look of “Star Trek” to feel like it was of the original series and yet withstand
the high resolution of seeing the movie in IMAX. I wanted it to have elements that I knew were iconic to
that franchise like the shape of the Enterprise. I wanted to do something that die-hard fans would go
“Ooh, that’s a little bit different. That’s not the Enterprise I know.” But at the same time, at first glance,
know that it was the Enterprise and have people who have never seen “Star Trek” but are somehow
genetically are born with this knowledge of Kirk and Spock to be able to glance at the Enterprise and
glance at the wardrobe or even glance at the fonts and know that was “Star Trek.”
But if you actually look at it, there is something about it that isn’t exactly what you remember. That’s just
because if we literally used the same wardrobe or design of the original series, it would literally look like a
campy joke.
So I think the key to doing “Star Trek” is the following: maintain elements that you know you cannot and
should not change, and be true to that and even more than that, be true to making what you consider to
be a great movie. The more important thing is to be relevant to today and to now, because if you simply
let yourself be led by or serve the master of what has come before, you are immediately backwards
looking and the odds of doing something that is truly relevant, compelling, impactful, exciting and of now
are very small. It’s critical that you allow the process to be inspired by what’s come before, but you have
to use that as one of a number of criteria that guide you creatively. If you’re only serving that, you are
probably going to be not just limiting your audience, but limiting the potential of what it is you are working
on.
term “television franchise.” From early shows such as “Felicity” and “Alias” to the much-heralded arrival of
“Lost” and “Fringe,” the executive producer and composer has not only received multiple Emmys for the
quality of his work, he has also delivered the coveted hype and anticipation to the launch of his shows.
One of a handful of producers who are now household names, Abrams now boasts a six-year television
production deal with Warner Bros., the first result of which is “Fringe,” as well as a five year film deal with
Paramount worth a reported $55 million.
He recently took time from his work on ABC’s “Lost” and Fox’s “Fringe,” as well as one of entertainment’s
greatest franchises in the upcoming “Star Trek” movie, to talk about the art of branding with brief editor
Chris Pursell. In the interview, Abrams discussed the future of big-budget television shows, his approach
to marketing, why he would happily take a job in music and his role juggling both the business and
creative elements that go into a tentpole series.
How involved are you in marketing and is marketing more or less important now than ten years
ago?
J.J. ABRAMS: I think ten years ago it was a real anomaly to see shows advertised using outdoor
medium as you do now. You never saw TV shows have previews in the movie theater; there really was
no online advertising at all. Promotion of TV shows used to be: you watched that network; you are going
to see an ad for an upcoming season or week, but now it’s become with magazines and outdoor and
Internet, the promotion of TV shows has become a multi-billion dollar ordeal every year and marketing is
definitely more important just because it’s in use in a way it wasn’t ten years ago.
But my involvement on “Fringe” for example, I could not be more grateful or impressed by what Fox did
on that show. They really came up with wonderful creative that reflected what we were doing in the show
and then we were collaborating with them where it was a real dialogue at the very beginning where we
would be responding to one another in a wonderful way that was an example of incredible and inspired
creative working to sell something they were genuinely enthused about and I think you can see it in what
they did.
ABC, meanwhile, on both “Lost” and “Alias,” did an incredible job. The ratings for “Lost” were as good as
they were not because everyone had seen the show and knew about it and liked it, and not because the
reviews had been out there. It was because ABC made the show look compelling, they did an amazing
job with a great outdoor campaign that had pathos and emotion and it looked like an event. My
involvement with these things varies but I am deeply involved in how things get sold, especially on the
film side.
The sale of the idea, which is not just about the poster or the advertisements, but it’s also about the timing
of the release of information. All of that is something I think is critical, and I’m involved in that as I can be.
At what point in the process do you think about marketing?
J.J. ABRAMS: I tend to work from the inside out, trying to figure out what it is that gets me genuinely
excited because whenever there is something that is honestly and purely thrilling from the inside, there is
invariably a way to externalize that, to create a message and deliver it. People just feel that there is
something interesting there because there was something interesting to the people who created it.
Rather than looking at it from the outside in, thinking “Ok, what would be a cool commercial?” or “What
would be an interesting image that would be compelling?” I think that for better or worse, try to look on the
thing that grabs you at the onset at its essence. In a way, the marketing of that thing ended up being an
outgrowth of that.
Where do you see the future of big budget dramas either on the air or online?
J.J. ABRAMS: I think obviously, especially with the economics of today, big budget anything is making it
less and less possible for people to take those risks for those kinds of projects. That’s not to say there
aren’t models of it, there are people who say that when times get tough, people turn to TV for comfort. But
in terms of big budget shows like “Heroes” (and) “Lost” certainly where enormous budgets are spent, I
think it’s true with some shows that don’t even look like they would be that expensive, but we are still
spending three, four, five, sometimes even six million dollars to do an episode of a television show that’s
an hour.
Now if you factor in the amortization of that and you double it to be a two-hour movie, you could be talking
about easily a $50 million dollar movie every week. That’s lunacy. Meaning that you can’t do too many
shows like that, and if you do a show like that, it had better work, otherwise it’s a big expense. I think the
challenge of shows like that are numerous, including making a pilot that is so elaborate that the series
can’t live up to that and then (what) you end up doing (is) basically you are cheating the audience out of
something. You can’t have the famous action director, like McG, direct every episode of the show. So you
do the pilot and you marvel at all that amazing energy and then week to week you realize it is really a
whole other thing.
So, the challenge is to figure out how to do a show that is from the beginning true to the show and
maintain a consistent feel and a look. I think what’s going to happen is budgets will have to come down
but it can never go back to the early days of TV. It probably can’t go back to a time when they would do
36 episodes a year and they would shoot an episode in five days. No one would accept a show now that
looks the way “Dynasty” did when it was on the air. The question is how do you take the limitations and
turn them into an advantage and do something for less money that embraces the aesthetic those
limitations create, which is what we did on “Cloverfield.”
We decided to do a movie that which when you read the script you think this is a $150 million movie. We
had to find a way to do it for under $25 million and accomplished that by embracing the aesthetic of the
videotape from the single-cam point of view. That let us do a movie that let us have a huge monster, had
all these crazy scares. It did it in a way that didn’t require a kind of expense that would have made that
movie ungreenlightable.
Coming off the successes of “Fringe” and “Lost,” how do stay inspired as both a creative as well
as a businessman?
J.J. ABRAMS: It’s a dream to do these shows, these movies and work with these people. I’m still
shocked that I get to do it. The inspiration usually comes from a feeling about a character or a situation.
Sometimes it’s incredibly singular and small such as “Felicity.” I knew I wanted to do a story about a
young woman, a girl who follows a boy to a college she never would have gone to, and in the process of
doing that, discovers her past somehow. I didn’t quite know what that meant or how that would look, but I
knew there was that idea or character who was that romantic that she would do something that foolish.
“Alias” was really inspired by wanting to take that premise, that “Felicity” model, and say “God, if she was
a spy than that would really be fun.” The double life idea was compelling.
“Lost” it was Lloyd Braun calling me saying he wanted to do a show about survivors of a plane crash and I
called him back and said “You’re not going to like what I’m going to pitch you because it’s very weird but
here’s the idea.” He said “I like it” and we came up with the specifics of the show. A lot of that was
inspired by what the challenge was and desperately wanting to see something that is not out there.
What is it that inspires you?
J.J. ABRAMS: There is no one thing but it is the magic of the process. It is the idea of creating a story
that the people will believe. It’s like doing a magic trick, taking something that’s not real, that is an illusion
that seems incredible, and making people feel that it’s real. It could be a very straight forward drama, it
could be comedic, horrific, science fiction, it could be anything. The process of filmmaking is the thing I’ve
always known that I’ve wanted to do, which is why I feel so lucky that I’ve been given a chance.
Walk us through the process of creating music for your series…
J.J. ABRAMS: I’ve always thought that music is at least 51% of the experience of a movie or a show. So
it’s always been really important to me. It’s one of the reasons I do the theme songs to the shows that I’ve
done. It’s because I would love the music and no one would ever ask me to do the theme for a TV show.
So if anyone ever asked me to do a theme for another TV show, I’d be thrilled.
But the fun of doing a theme is setting a certain kind of tone for what the show is. It’s like making a great
little theme song and the best ones ever are some of the best recorded music ever, like the “Sanford &
Son” theme song is spectacular. It’s one of the greatest things ever.
Anyway, the scores for the shows themselves, we have since “Alias” been collaborating with Michael
Giacchino, who has also done the movies I’ve directed and recently produced, and he’s as good as they
get. He’s sort of the next generation of composers.
What are the keys to establishing a franchise or branding in a multimedia world with so much
competition out there?
J.J. ABRAMS: I think that one of the important aspects of approaching the work you do is not to
consider the branding at all.
The real brand is the result of the work of making something that feels particularly exciting or high quality.
Brand loyalty is the result of simply doing something that is of value to people whether it’s a product or a
movie, story or song.
For me, branding is more of a by-product and less of a goal.
Speaking of brand loyalty, you’ve now inherited “Star Trek” as well as the avid fan base that goes
with it.
J.J. ABRAMS: As someone who was not an avid “Star Trek” fan as a kid, my approach was less about
absolute and pure reverence to what came before, as it was appreciation that I need to revere what came
before. That means that I didn’t have that natural sense of “Oh my God, I must follow every aspect of
Trek canon moving forward.”
On the other hand, I knew it was critical to fans of that universe, and I couldn’t do something that was
blasphemy to them. One of our writers Roberto Orci is a massive “Star Trek” fan, so he was keeping me
honest the whole time in that regard.
As far as the brand is concerned, I think maybe the advantage I had coming into it is that I think I saw
“Star Trek” more the way the average moviegoer sees “Star Trek” and less the way a devotee sees it.
That made it easier for me to pinpoint things that I felt were the most important things to be true to. For
example, I knew I wanted the look of “Star Trek” to feel like it was of the original series and yet withstand
the high resolution of seeing the movie in IMAX. I wanted it to have elements that I knew were iconic to
that franchise like the shape of the Enterprise. I wanted to do something that die-hard fans would go
“Ooh, that’s a little bit different. That’s not the Enterprise I know.” But at the same time, at first glance,
know that it was the Enterprise and have people who have never seen “Star Trek” but are somehow
genetically are born with this knowledge of Kirk and Spock to be able to glance at the Enterprise and
glance at the wardrobe or even glance at the fonts and know that was “Star Trek.”
But if you actually look at it, there is something about it that isn’t exactly what you remember. That’s just
because if we literally used the same wardrobe or design of the original series, it would literally look like a
campy joke.
So I think the key to doing “Star Trek” is the following: maintain elements that you know you cannot and
should not change, and be true to that and even more than that, be true to making what you consider to
be a great movie. The more important thing is to be relevant to today and to now, because if you simply
let yourself be led by or serve the master of what has come before, you are immediately backwards
looking and the odds of doing something that is truly relevant, compelling, impactful, exciting and of now
are very small. It’s critical that you allow the process to be inspired by what’s come before, but you have
to use that as one of a number of criteria that guide you creatively. If you’re only serving that, you are
probably going to be not just limiting your audience, but limiting the potential of what it is you are working
on.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
BRIEF PLUS: Sean Owolo—Designing a New Career
By Shanna Green
For someone lacking a formal background in visual graphics, Sean Owolo is rapidly positioning
himself as a leader in the field known for its eye candy.
In an age of job duties becoming fluid, and “preditors” becoming the norm, Owolo represents thenew breed of business developer. Owolo, who currently works as an executive producer/businessdevelopment at Los Angeles motion graphic design and illustration company Big Machine Design,has been able to position himself to be in high demand in the industry by learning to anticipateemerging trends and react quickly.
And Owolo says it was all by accident.
The former music executive started his career working in marketing for major record labels
including Warner Bros. Records and Universal Music. He left the music industry in favor of design five years ago when he realized that the industry was steadily tanking.
Owolo, a longtime fan of visual effects and animation, said he noticed that design had gone so
mainstream that even consumer markets had shifted their attention to it. Whether it was laundry detergent or soap bottles, design had finally become a larger part of their marketing plans.
“Everywhere people are competing for eyeballs, whether it’s TV or product packaging, so design
has become a lot smarter and I just wanted to be a part of that,” he said.
Although he had no design background, he landed a position in business development at creative agency 3 Ring Circus, and was able to transition quickly into the design industry, which he credits with his past experience in the music industry.
Once he became emerged within the company, he noticed that there was a large group of
creative directors and freelancers who wanted to start their own company, but often didn’t have
the business and financial know how or means.
Thus, in early 2007, HEROIC, a joint venture between Owolo and 3 Ring Circus CEO John
Sideropoulos was born. HEROIC became an umbrella answer for him to start a company with the
financial infrastructure that he could represent designers and best match them for jobs, freeing
them up to concentrate fully on creating.
After spending three and a half years at 3 Ring Circus and co-launching HEROIC, Owolo had
achieved what he’d set out to accomplish and felt it was time to move on.
In June of 2008, Owolo left 3 Ring Circus and HEROIC to go to work for Big Machine Design.
It was his ability to work both sides of the industry that Big Machine Design Co-Founder and
Creative Director Steve Petersen said he found so attractive about Owolo.
“We looked for a long time in the broadcast/design world to try to find a good business
development person and it’s really hard,” Petersen said. “We started looking out there in the
industry and I think we’re very happy with our decision to look in the music industry.”
Since coming to Big Machine Design, Owolo has had the opportunity to work on a number of high
profile jobs including Nashville Star for NBC, a new open for Live with Regis and Kelly, an AMC
comic book style tribute to Samuel L. Jackson and the opening credits for last fall’s Gary
Unmarried, which he noted was particularly impressive to his teenage daughter who
accompanied him on set to meet Jay Mohr.
But one of the favorite jobs he’s done over the years was a summer of 2007 rebrand for the
bilingual music and lifestyle channel LATV. While at HEROIC, Owolo was tasked with finding
designers to come up with a package for the Los Angeles-based channel that was getting ready
to launch nationwide. Owolo brought together two companies, BuildDestroy and Wondermint, for
the job, which consisted of a graffiti artist doing live action spray painting on green-screen, which
was then layered with matching visual effects. The package was met with critical acclaim and
featured in Stash magazine.
“It was just a great project that the clients loved, but also that the designers loved,” Owolo said. “I
think that that’s when it’s perfect; when your client is ecstatic and also the designers didn’t have
to compromise their vision at all and they’re happy as well.”
Owolo sees the key to his future in the industry as being able to evolve and adapt right along with
it. From doing and re-doing work specifically for HD, to designing projects to fit onto cell phones
and ipods in the correct ratio to designing in-game graphics for the steadily growing video game
industry, Owolo sees the design industry as wide open to those who can seize the opportunities.
Sometimes companies have to make their own opportunities, he said. As part of anticipating the
evolution of how audiences will consume entertainment, Big Machine Design is currently
developing new original content to sell to the very channels they’re designing for.
“It’s just a manner of bracing yourself and putting yourself ahead of the curves and in areas that
are just starting to think about that,” Owolo said. “Outside of just broadcast design and TV is the
Internet. Now you have that force to deal with.”
Big Machine Design has already produced and sold their original live action and animation series
“True Crime: Streets of Miami” to truTV, and currently has another 10 shows they’re internally
developing.
This could be a huge part of the future of design companies that both Petersen and Owolo
recognize. By creating content for the very networks they’re branding, they’ve been able to give
themselves a critically competitive edge.
“We’re privy to a lot of what’s coming out, and a lot of the sensibilities of the networks,” Petersen
said. “We’re kind of always ahead of the curve because we’re working on the branding of some of
that stuff.”
The next goal for him, Owolo says is to become even more involved in this production of original
content and eventually executive produce television shows. Design, he says, is the industry to
pursue.
“There’re just so many areas that need design,” Owolo said. “Anything that appeals to the eyeball
is going to need a designer. I don’t see it as an industry that’s going to slow down anytime soon.”
For someone lacking a formal background in visual graphics, Sean Owolo is rapidly positioning
himself as a leader in the field known for its eye candy.
In an age of job duties becoming fluid, and “preditors” becoming the norm, Owolo represents thenew breed of business developer. Owolo, who currently works as an executive producer/businessdevelopment at Los Angeles motion graphic design and illustration company Big Machine Design,has been able to position himself to be in high demand in the industry by learning to anticipateemerging trends and react quickly.
And Owolo says it was all by accident.
The former music executive started his career working in marketing for major record labels
including Warner Bros. Records and Universal Music. He left the music industry in favor of design five years ago when he realized that the industry was steadily tanking.
Owolo, a longtime fan of visual effects and animation, said he noticed that design had gone so
mainstream that even consumer markets had shifted their attention to it. Whether it was laundry detergent or soap bottles, design had finally become a larger part of their marketing plans.
“Everywhere people are competing for eyeballs, whether it’s TV or product packaging, so design
has become a lot smarter and I just wanted to be a part of that,” he said.
Although he had no design background, he landed a position in business development at creative agency 3 Ring Circus, and was able to transition quickly into the design industry, which he credits with his past experience in the music industry.
Once he became emerged within the company, he noticed that there was a large group of
creative directors and freelancers who wanted to start their own company, but often didn’t have
the business and financial know how or means.
Thus, in early 2007, HEROIC, a joint venture between Owolo and 3 Ring Circus CEO John
Sideropoulos was born. HEROIC became an umbrella answer for him to start a company with the
financial infrastructure that he could represent designers and best match them for jobs, freeing
them up to concentrate fully on creating.
After spending three and a half years at 3 Ring Circus and co-launching HEROIC, Owolo had
achieved what he’d set out to accomplish and felt it was time to move on.
In June of 2008, Owolo left 3 Ring Circus and HEROIC to go to work for Big Machine Design.
It was his ability to work both sides of the industry that Big Machine Design Co-Founder and
Creative Director Steve Petersen said he found so attractive about Owolo.
“We looked for a long time in the broadcast/design world to try to find a good business
development person and it’s really hard,” Petersen said. “We started looking out there in the
industry and I think we’re very happy with our decision to look in the music industry.”
Since coming to Big Machine Design, Owolo has had the opportunity to work on a number of high
profile jobs including Nashville Star for NBC, a new open for Live with Regis and Kelly, an AMC
comic book style tribute to Samuel L. Jackson and the opening credits for last fall’s Gary
Unmarried, which he noted was particularly impressive to his teenage daughter who
accompanied him on set to meet Jay Mohr.
But one of the favorite jobs he’s done over the years was a summer of 2007 rebrand for the
bilingual music and lifestyle channel LATV. While at HEROIC, Owolo was tasked with finding
designers to come up with a package for the Los Angeles-based channel that was getting ready
to launch nationwide. Owolo brought together two companies, BuildDestroy and Wondermint, for
the job, which consisted of a graffiti artist doing live action spray painting on green-screen, which
was then layered with matching visual effects. The package was met with critical acclaim and
featured in Stash magazine.
“It was just a great project that the clients loved, but also that the designers loved,” Owolo said. “I
think that that’s when it’s perfect; when your client is ecstatic and also the designers didn’t have
to compromise their vision at all and they’re happy as well.”
Owolo sees the key to his future in the industry as being able to evolve and adapt right along with
it. From doing and re-doing work specifically for HD, to designing projects to fit onto cell phones
and ipods in the correct ratio to designing in-game graphics for the steadily growing video game
industry, Owolo sees the design industry as wide open to those who can seize the opportunities.
Sometimes companies have to make their own opportunities, he said. As part of anticipating the
evolution of how audiences will consume entertainment, Big Machine Design is currently
developing new original content to sell to the very channels they’re designing for.
“It’s just a manner of bracing yourself and putting yourself ahead of the curves and in areas that
are just starting to think about that,” Owolo said. “Outside of just broadcast design and TV is the
Internet. Now you have that force to deal with.”
Big Machine Design has already produced and sold their original live action and animation series
“True Crime: Streets of Miami” to truTV, and currently has another 10 shows they’re internally
developing.
This could be a huge part of the future of design companies that both Petersen and Owolo
recognize. By creating content for the very networks they’re branding, they’ve been able to give
themselves a critically competitive edge.
“We’re privy to a lot of what’s coming out, and a lot of the sensibilities of the networks,” Petersen
said. “We’re kind of always ahead of the curve because we’re working on the branding of some of
that stuff.”
The next goal for him, Owolo says is to become even more involved in this production of original
content and eventually executive produce television shows. Design, he says, is the industry to
pursue.
“There’re just so many areas that need design,” Owolo said. “Anything that appeals to the eyeball
is going to need a designer. I don’t see it as an industry that’s going to slow down anytime soon.”
BRIEF PLUS: Promo writing 101
By Hamilton Fisher and Andrew Jackson
“There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
–Alfred Hitchcock, British film director, 1899 – 1980
Sir Alfred Hitchcock knew how to keep an audience on the edge of their seats. A movie trailer or
television promo producer should aspire to do the same. There’s a formula for writing we use at BBC
America that guarantees you’ll create a first-class dramatic promo every time. We call it, “the Robin Hood”
technique.
Think of yourself as an archer and the promo your bow and arrow. The beginning of the spot is the
threading of the bow; the announcer’s copy is the pull-back of the arrow on the string; and the back-end
of the spot (the quick cuts and dialogue) is the release of the arrow on its journey towards the target, the
cliffhanger.
It’s a simple formula. The key to making it work is the amount of preparation you put into it on paper. The
more time you allow for structuring copy and clips on paper will reduce the amount of time you need in
the edit suite and add to the overall quality of your spot.
The Paper Cut
All promo-writers know the fear of starting production on a new promo. It’s that helplessness we feel
when confronted with a blank page of paper. Don’t panic. The following steps can help to show you the
way.
First choose the cliffhanger, the target at which to aim the narrative arrow. This is almost always a clip or
sound bite from the film that leaves the viewer wondering what will happen next. Everything else in the
promo builds to this moment. Then select a scene to place at the beginning of the spot, a short clip that
rivets the viewer’s attention, sets-up the storyline and begins the march towards the cliffhanger. Now
you’ve selected the two most important elements in your promo: the beginning and the end. You know
where you’re starting from and you know where you’re going. All that’s left is to fill-in the middle.
Logging
Before you can construct an outline on paper (the paper cut) you need to arrange the materials in front of
you in an easy-to-use manner. Yes, I’m speaking about logging the film, the most boring and thankless
part of the process. It’s also the most critical. Skimp here and you’ll find yourself at a disadvantage during
the rest of the process. A detailed log is a promo writer’s best friend.
As you log a film, make note of which sound bites or dialogue will help you to tell the story. There are two
general types of dialogue we look for when writing spots at BBC America: thematic bites, those moral
statements spoken by a character that define what the film is about, and the narrative bites, the
statements that tell the plot and define the characters’ motives. A list of thematic and narrative sound
bites will help you to meet your deadline later in production. This is especially true when the boss asks for
last-minute changes to your spot. There’s rarely time to go back and search the film for options when
you’re already deep into the process.
Copy writing
Now you’ve got a detailed log of the film and you’ve chosen the cliffhanger and the opening clip to begin
the spot. But before you choose the sound bites and action to fill-in the middle, write the announcer’s
copy first. The words you choose will help determine what dialogue and action will fit.
For many of us, the copy writing is the most intimidating part of the process. But, quality copy is what
makes a promo memorable, and you should budget as much time as possible to get it right. The promo
copy is typically a line or phrase (one or two sentences) that is a succinctly-stated truth, not a synopsis of
the storyline. The copy is not a book report but instead is used to give dramatic perspective, sensibility
and “relatability”. But be wary of sounding overly profound. The copy should sound underwritten. The
words should flow in a clear and simple manner to the degree that the viewer doesn’t even hear it in the
spot. Good copy is unobtrusive and registers “in the back of the brain”. But don’t be afraid of hyperbole; a
promo is a dramatic tease so doesn’t hold back!
The copywriter as’ mini-philosopher’
Before you write a word of copy, step back from the details of the plot and look at the story from a position
of wisdom. The copy you write should relate to the film’s theme, the overarching subject of the story. It’s
the copywriter’s job to make these overarching ideas in the film relatable. That’s why promo writers are
often called ‘mini-philosophers’. In other words, look for the film’s life lesson. This is the theme of the story:
fear, honor, truth, deception, greed, hope and sacrifice. It can be about what an individual may
experience in life…or what groups experience…or what nations experience under the same
circumstances.
Playing Chess with Words
To create the best copy a promo writer must aspire to be an aphorist, a writer of pithy sayings. The
dictionary defines an aphorist as someone who writes ‘any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely
expressed’. But it’s more than big ideas expressed in small language when it comes to writing promo
copy. You’ve got to write in a conversational manner using language you’d hear on the street as opposed
to thoughts you’d read in a book. For this reason I’ve personally kept a running list of memorable lines
I’ve heard from people I know or strangers I’ve met. To me, these street-sayings are gold because they’re
spoken words, verbalized in a spontaneous manner by people who were inspired by the moment. The
following are examples of observations I’ve recorded outside of work and used later for inspiration in
writing copy:
In a Holy war, nothing is sacred- an observation made by my wife while watching a television news
report from the middle-east.
You’re not breaking the rules; you’re breaking the law- spoken by my 8 year old nephew while playing
cops and robbers.
And I’ve recorded some helpful comic observations:
What do you do when you’re surrounded on all sides? Shoot in all directions- from a story I heard
from a Vietnam vet. I used these lines in a movie trailer for a Bruce Willis action flick.
Between dating and divorce is a state of limbo called marriage- muttered by my sister after her
second divorce.
The Danger of the ‘Disconnect’
Have you ever read a book and found your concentration drifting away? That’s when a break in the linear
progression of the story causes the reader to lose focus. This usually happens when the author’s
storytelling becomes disjointed. The same is true for promos.
As you continue to structure the spot on paper, keep the phrases of the copy close together. If the copy is
broken-up by too much dialogue or action, the viewer may experience a disconnection between what was
said earlier and what’s said later. The break between each phrase of copy should be short enough in
length to insure that the viewer doesn’t lose the promo’s train of thought. Otherwise the viewer may lose
focus and interest. It’s helpful to write your copy in a manner that allows each separate phrase to stand
alone and still make sense. For example: “we don’t make headlines” – sound bite – “we make history”.
Each phrase in the sentence makes sense regardless of the distance between them.
Revisiting the paper cut
After you’ve finished your first outline on paper, don’t relax. It’s only your first draft. The paper cut should
go thru numerous versions (try switching the end with the beginning) until you’ve exhausted every
possible sequence of sound bites, copy and action. This is the best way to create the most impact in a
promo and save time in the online edit.
The Radio Cut
Congratulations, you’ve got a detailed log, the announcer’s copy and the spot’s structure on paper. You’re
now ready to take the project to the next step: the edit suite. But before you even think about the pictures
and graphics, consider making a ‘radio cut’ first. If you have the budget, go into the audio suite with a
sound designer and edit together the announcer’s tracks, music, sound effects and sound bites. This step
will help save you time when you enter the video suite.
The grammar of a radio cut
Most people recognize four basic building blocks of radio drama: speech, sound effects, music and
silence. Bronwyn Woodhead, an editor at BBC America, calls the use of these audio elements the
‘grammar’ of a spot. She punctuates her promos through the deliberate placement of sound effects’ hits,
drum builds and drones. To Bronwyn, this approach is similar to the use of commas, semi-colons and
exclamation points in writing prose. The grammar of a spot, she says, allows the editor to stop and start
the spot or change direction, all in an effort to keep a viewer’s attention from wandering. Bronwyn likes to
remind producers not to overwrite a spot with wall-to-wall copy and sound bites. Instead, leave enough
space in the structure of a spot for the editor to create an ambience or atmosphere.
The Use of Music
Though traditional music beds give a spot its feel, wall-to-wall music (from the beginning to the end of the
spot) has become passé. The opinion today is that music beds feel one-dimensional. This is not to
discount the use of music entirely. A production score works well in the last third of a spot, the ‘back-end’,
and helps the spot build to the cliffhanger.
The Pictures and Graphics
Now that you’ve got your radio cut you’re ready to go into the actual online edit suite. Take along the
time-code numbers of the film’s sound bites that you placed in the radio cut. Align the bites with the
pictures and voila! You’ve got a spot with 90% of the pictures already in place. Now you can relax and
enjoy creating the eye-candy, the quick video-edits and explosive graphics that make a promo fun to
watch.
The Idiot Check
When the spot is cut and you’re ready to show it to the boss, remember to first do “the idiot check". Go
back and recut the promo every which way you can imagine. Experiment with the structure like you did
with the paper cut. Reverse the beginning of the spot with the ending. Move around the middle elements
to see which sequence works best with the copy. Try every combination you can think of until you're
satisfied that you’ve found the best structure for telling the story and building to the cliffhanger.
Finally, watch the spot with and without the sound on and ask yourself, ‘do the pictures tell a linear story?’
Then listen to the spot without watching the pictures and ask yourself, ‘does the sound design tell a linear
story?’ Don’t be satisfied until the spot’s message can be understood both ways.
The resolution
Sir Alfred Hitchcock would have been a first-rate promo producer. Though he liked to criticize movie
trailers for giving-away a film’s plot, the master of suspense understood what makes a trailer (or promo)
work: it’s not enough to make the audience want to see your film, make them want to see what happens.
“There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.”
–Alfred Hitchcock, British film director, 1899 – 1980
Sir Alfred Hitchcock knew how to keep an audience on the edge of their seats. A movie trailer or
television promo producer should aspire to do the same. There’s a formula for writing we use at BBC
America that guarantees you’ll create a first-class dramatic promo every time. We call it, “the Robin Hood”
technique.
Think of yourself as an archer and the promo your bow and arrow. The beginning of the spot is the
threading of the bow; the announcer’s copy is the pull-back of the arrow on the string; and the back-end
of the spot (the quick cuts and dialogue) is the release of the arrow on its journey towards the target, the
cliffhanger.
It’s a simple formula. The key to making it work is the amount of preparation you put into it on paper. The
more time you allow for structuring copy and clips on paper will reduce the amount of time you need in
the edit suite and add to the overall quality of your spot.
The Paper Cut
All promo-writers know the fear of starting production on a new promo. It’s that helplessness we feel
when confronted with a blank page of paper. Don’t panic. The following steps can help to show you the
way.
First choose the cliffhanger, the target at which to aim the narrative arrow. This is almost always a clip or
sound bite from the film that leaves the viewer wondering what will happen next. Everything else in the
promo builds to this moment. Then select a scene to place at the beginning of the spot, a short clip that
rivets the viewer’s attention, sets-up the storyline and begins the march towards the cliffhanger. Now
you’ve selected the two most important elements in your promo: the beginning and the end. You know
where you’re starting from and you know where you’re going. All that’s left is to fill-in the middle.
Logging
Before you can construct an outline on paper (the paper cut) you need to arrange the materials in front of
you in an easy-to-use manner. Yes, I’m speaking about logging the film, the most boring and thankless
part of the process. It’s also the most critical. Skimp here and you’ll find yourself at a disadvantage during
the rest of the process. A detailed log is a promo writer’s best friend.
As you log a film, make note of which sound bites or dialogue will help you to tell the story. There are two
general types of dialogue we look for when writing spots at BBC America: thematic bites, those moral
statements spoken by a character that define what the film is about, and the narrative bites, the
statements that tell the plot and define the characters’ motives. A list of thematic and narrative sound
bites will help you to meet your deadline later in production. This is especially true when the boss asks for
last-minute changes to your spot. There’s rarely time to go back and search the film for options when
you’re already deep into the process.
Copy writing
Now you’ve got a detailed log of the film and you’ve chosen the cliffhanger and the opening clip to begin
the spot. But before you choose the sound bites and action to fill-in the middle, write the announcer’s
copy first. The words you choose will help determine what dialogue and action will fit.
For many of us, the copy writing is the most intimidating part of the process. But, quality copy is what
makes a promo memorable, and you should budget as much time as possible to get it right. The promo
copy is typically a line or phrase (one or two sentences) that is a succinctly-stated truth, not a synopsis of
the storyline. The copy is not a book report but instead is used to give dramatic perspective, sensibility
and “relatability”. But be wary of sounding overly profound. The copy should sound underwritten. The
words should flow in a clear and simple manner to the degree that the viewer doesn’t even hear it in the
spot. Good copy is unobtrusive and registers “in the back of the brain”. But don’t be afraid of hyperbole; a
promo is a dramatic tease so doesn’t hold back!
The copywriter as’ mini-philosopher’
Before you write a word of copy, step back from the details of the plot and look at the story from a position
of wisdom. The copy you write should relate to the film’s theme, the overarching subject of the story. It’s
the copywriter’s job to make these overarching ideas in the film relatable. That’s why promo writers are
often called ‘mini-philosophers’. In other words, look for the film’s life lesson. This is the theme of the story:
fear, honor, truth, deception, greed, hope and sacrifice. It can be about what an individual may
experience in life…or what groups experience…or what nations experience under the same
circumstances.
Playing Chess with Words
To create the best copy a promo writer must aspire to be an aphorist, a writer of pithy sayings. The
dictionary defines an aphorist as someone who writes ‘any witty, ingenious, or pointed saying tersely
expressed’. But it’s more than big ideas expressed in small language when it comes to writing promo
copy. You’ve got to write in a conversational manner using language you’d hear on the street as opposed
to thoughts you’d read in a book. For this reason I’ve personally kept a running list of memorable lines
I’ve heard from people I know or strangers I’ve met. To me, these street-sayings are gold because they’re
spoken words, verbalized in a spontaneous manner by people who were inspired by the moment. The
following are examples of observations I’ve recorded outside of work and used later for inspiration in
writing copy:
In a Holy war, nothing is sacred- an observation made by my wife while watching a television news
report from the middle-east.
You’re not breaking the rules; you’re breaking the law- spoken by my 8 year old nephew while playing
cops and robbers.
And I’ve recorded some helpful comic observations:
What do you do when you’re surrounded on all sides? Shoot in all directions- from a story I heard
from a Vietnam vet. I used these lines in a movie trailer for a Bruce Willis action flick.
Between dating and divorce is a state of limbo called marriage- muttered by my sister after her
second divorce.
The Danger of the ‘Disconnect’
Have you ever read a book and found your concentration drifting away? That’s when a break in the linear
progression of the story causes the reader to lose focus. This usually happens when the author’s
storytelling becomes disjointed. The same is true for promos.
As you continue to structure the spot on paper, keep the phrases of the copy close together. If the copy is
broken-up by too much dialogue or action, the viewer may experience a disconnection between what was
said earlier and what’s said later. The break between each phrase of copy should be short enough in
length to insure that the viewer doesn’t lose the promo’s train of thought. Otherwise the viewer may lose
focus and interest. It’s helpful to write your copy in a manner that allows each separate phrase to stand
alone and still make sense. For example: “we don’t make headlines” – sound bite – “we make history”.
Each phrase in the sentence makes sense regardless of the distance between them.
Revisiting the paper cut
After you’ve finished your first outline on paper, don’t relax. It’s only your first draft. The paper cut should
go thru numerous versions (try switching the end with the beginning) until you’ve exhausted every
possible sequence of sound bites, copy and action. This is the best way to create the most impact in a
promo and save time in the online edit.
The Radio Cut
Congratulations, you’ve got a detailed log, the announcer’s copy and the spot’s structure on paper. You’re
now ready to take the project to the next step: the edit suite. But before you even think about the pictures
and graphics, consider making a ‘radio cut’ first. If you have the budget, go into the audio suite with a
sound designer and edit together the announcer’s tracks, music, sound effects and sound bites. This step
will help save you time when you enter the video suite.
The grammar of a radio cut
Most people recognize four basic building blocks of radio drama: speech, sound effects, music and
silence. Bronwyn Woodhead, an editor at BBC America, calls the use of these audio elements the
‘grammar’ of a spot. She punctuates her promos through the deliberate placement of sound effects’ hits,
drum builds and drones. To Bronwyn, this approach is similar to the use of commas, semi-colons and
exclamation points in writing prose. The grammar of a spot, she says, allows the editor to stop and start
the spot or change direction, all in an effort to keep a viewer’s attention from wandering. Bronwyn likes to
remind producers not to overwrite a spot with wall-to-wall copy and sound bites. Instead, leave enough
space in the structure of a spot for the editor to create an ambience or atmosphere.
The Use of Music
Though traditional music beds give a spot its feel, wall-to-wall music (from the beginning to the end of the
spot) has become passé. The opinion today is that music beds feel one-dimensional. This is not to
discount the use of music entirely. A production score works well in the last third of a spot, the ‘back-end’,
and helps the spot build to the cliffhanger.
The Pictures and Graphics
Now that you’ve got your radio cut you’re ready to go into the actual online edit suite. Take along the
time-code numbers of the film’s sound bites that you placed in the radio cut. Align the bites with the
pictures and voila! You’ve got a spot with 90% of the pictures already in place. Now you can relax and
enjoy creating the eye-candy, the quick video-edits and explosive graphics that make a promo fun to
watch.
The Idiot Check
When the spot is cut and you’re ready to show it to the boss, remember to first do “the idiot check". Go
back and recut the promo every which way you can imagine. Experiment with the structure like you did
with the paper cut. Reverse the beginning of the spot with the ending. Move around the middle elements
to see which sequence works best with the copy. Try every combination you can think of until you're
satisfied that you’ve found the best structure for telling the story and building to the cliffhanger.
Finally, watch the spot with and without the sound on and ask yourself, ‘do the pictures tell a linear story?’
Then listen to the spot without watching the pictures and ask yourself, ‘does the sound design tell a linear
story?’ Don’t be satisfied until the spot’s message can be understood both ways.
The resolution
Sir Alfred Hitchcock would have been a first-rate promo producer. Though he liked to criticize movie
trailers for giving-away a film’s plot, the master of suspense understood what makes a trailer (or promo)
work: it’s not enough to make the audience want to see your film, make them want to see what happens.
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