Piano Disc Product DVD

PianoDisc was in this week doing another DVD production. These are essentially "music videos". But rather than a single extremely over produced song, PianoDisc does a whole album of material. The purpose is to produce a product that they sell to their customers of their "customized" grand pianos. The pianos are outfitted with an electronic device that essentially converts them into "player pianos". Then they are hooked up to a High Definition DVD player where the customer can see the music video, but the sound is, in fact, coming out of the piano! So you're getting a personal performance on the piano in your living room and are able to see that performance on your big screen TV. Quite a product...but alas, only if you have the money!

Stan, Frank, and the Ducky

Bumped into Stan Atkinson at the Sacramento Home and Landscape show... OK, OK, Stan was a cardboard cut-out. But I couldn't help tormenting his ducky... especially since Stan didn't do his last commercial at The Studio Center like he had planned. That ducky will pay dearly for that!

Is Hollywood Leaving Hollywood?

In a word... Yes. Those of us who have followed the Film Industry for years already know this, but it was underscored in this weeks CFAA (Capital Film Arts Alliance) meeting with Burbank Assemblyman Paul Krekorian. He mentioned that 43 other states have some film industry incentives...California is not one of them. And I'll bet we won't get some anytime soon with this current legislature. How can lawmakers be persuaded to cut a deal for one group in the face of the catastrophic deficits? And especially most Republicans will block any such attempt. So as Assemblyman Krekorian said, "It's a dead issue". Just as the aerospace industry left LA, wave goodby to the film industry.
That being said, the big studio lots will still be there, but mostly to do Television, which will stay. Movies will still be financed out of those big building in Century City, just as Redwood Palms finances movies out of Folsom... But they won't be made there, as they are not here.
Don't forget... The the movie industry moved to LA from New York indeed for mostly economic reasons. And that's why they will now move out of LA to more receptive places like New Mexico, Louisiana, North Carolina, along with Vancouver, etc.
What does that mean for us here in Sacramento? Pretty much nothing. We haven't seen a big budget Hollywood movie up here for years...and that probably won't change ( remember, we're still in California). What can we do about it? Pretty much nothing (remember, we're still in California).
More comments about Sacramento Filmmaking to come !!!

Guess where I've been?

I'm back after two weeks... in Modesto! NO... You guessed it... China.
And now I'm settling in as the Last Emperor of Fee Drive! Seriously... It was an amazing trip as you might guess... And the stories I can now tell. Got to climb The Great Wall... Look over the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xi-An. Walk through Tianenmen Square where my picture will hang up there next to Mao's (not). And explore The Forbidden City. But shoot me if I order Chinese food anytime in the next few weeks!

David Benoit at The Studio Center

Five time Grammy nominee, world renown jazz pianist David Benoit was at The Studio Center this week recording a music presentation for PianoDisc. You can't listen to KSSJ Smooth Jazz for more than a hour without hearing one of David's more than 400 recorded titles since he has over 30 albums out there. Also David is the creator of the soundtracks for all the recent "Peanuts" TV specials... and even recorded the bumper for the Weather Channel's "Local On The 8's". I told him that was my personal favorite (He got a big laugh). Here's a picture of David in the studio and with Fred Casanova, our Senior Editor.

Here's a shot from a new exercise video recently produced at The Studio Center by Pascale VanderBrouck. This series of aerobic workouts will eventually be distributed on DVD and available as Web downloads. It was a full day of gettin' sweaty!

Another Great set built by Edward Duffy and Peter VanDyke with gorgeous lighting by Dave Bunge. The pictures from the Sony EX1 High Def camera were just superb. We were recording directly from the camera via the SDI connection to a laptop computer and onto an external hard-drive which then is taken into the edit suite. No transfer waiting time. The output is stunning. Just saw a couple of the spots on broadcast TV and I would be hardpressed to say they weren't shot on film. The EX1 has so many settings and variables you can emulate a film-look right in the camera. It's been one of our best acquisitions.