WWE John Cena bodycast
Very cool brand opportunity squandered…video courtesy of Todd Day.
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1208570967896&ref=mf
Moviefone Picks up Post on “Plan 9″
http://www.moviefone.ca/2010/06/18/nightly-news-bradley-cooper-baseball-film-michael-fassbender-magneto/
Remember during the good old days of VHS when all the movie studios thought it was a grand idea to colorize old black & white movies because audiences supposedly wouldn’t have anything to do with a film not presented in color? Now there’s a new wrinkle on transforming old films — 3D. According to Scifi Pulse, PassmoreLab, a San Diego-based 3D production and conversion studio, will convert the greatest worst movie of all time, ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space,’ into 3D. Ed Wood’s campy 1959 film follows bumbling aliens who want to turn dead humans into zombies to stop Earth from building a super bomb. ‘Plan 9′ was restored and colorized by Legend Films in 2006, and will now be converted at a cost that far exceeds the film’s original $60,000 budget. PasmoreLab has already converted one cult horror film into 3D: George Romero’s 1968 ‘Night of the Living Dead.’ “We are absolutely drawn to cool and unusual projects” said company president Greg Passmore. “… we are converting ‘Plan 9′ because we love cult films, and we take great care with them.” “All the great films we love in 2D can now be converted into 3D seamlessly to attract new audiences and find new revenue streams,” said Steve Glum, PassmoreLab’s head of branding and distribution.
PassmoreLab Signs $200 Million 3D Conversion Deal
7-Year Association Will Convert Hundreds of Shows as Pact Will Create Largest 3D Library in the Entertainment Industry
San Diego, CA — San Diego-based multi-media 3D production studio PassmoreLab announced today that it has signed an agreement with legendary production company Grizzly Adams® Productions has to convert 500 of its feature films, television series, and documentaries to 3D.
According to Charles E. Sellier, CEO of Grizzly Adams Productions, when completed, the estimated seven-year, $200 million project “will create the largest 3D library in the entertainment industry.”
In addition to converting its existing 2D library to 3D, PassmoreLab will convert Grizzly Adams’ new productions to be completed — 18 new feature films and 78 television series episodes — over the seven-year term of the agreement.
Named after its long-running NBC Network TV series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, Grizzly Adams Productions has been a leading producer of family friendly and faith-based independent movies, documentaries, television specials and series for the past three decades.
David Balsiger, vice-president at Grizzly Adams, notes, “To the best of our knowledge, we’re the first production company to initiate converting a major film library to 3D.”
PassmoreLab is a state of the art multi-media 3D production studio specializing in the conversion of 2D motion pictures into 3D entertainment experiences. The company’s proprietary technology for 2D to 3D video and film conversion is unmatched in the industry, in both turnaround times and conversion costs. Their existing library of 3D content is already considered to be the largest in the world, with hundreds of television shows, films, documentaries, videos and animation titles.
“At the end of the seven-year agreement with PassmoreLab, we project that we will have the largest 3D library available for retail, the most 3D TV programs available for licensing, and, we will have captured major shares of both the family and faith 3D markets,” explains Balsiger. Approximately 20 percent of the Grizzly Adams library is described as faith-based.
According to Greg Passmore, president of PassmoreLab, his company has arranged funding for the $200 million conversion project and has ramped up capacity to convert up to 100 Grizzly Adams titles per year.
Passmore observes, “Grizzly Adams has completely embraced 3D technology. There are other studios with large libraries, but they face many hurdles to convert even a few titles to 3D. For example, since the industry considers any resulting 3D title as a derivative product, there are contractual restrictions regarding director approvals, talent and music residuals, plus complex financing issues. All of this adds up to a disincentive to convert back list titles into 3D.”
“We own all of our films and television series outright,” explains Balsiger. “Our library is ideal for converting shows and filling the retail pipeline quickly while demand is high and supply is extremely low.”
Passmore adds, “Internationally, there’s every indication that 3D will be the standard from this point forward in movie theaters, on broadcast television, and across all video delivery systems. Our strategy is to be completely ready to take full advantage of that by having a large 3D-ready library available for licensing.”
If there ever was any doubt that 3D is the future of the home video market, those arguments were laid to rest recently when electronics giant, Panasonic, reported that its stock of 3D HDTVs selling at about $3,300 each had completely sold out within days of the products hitting retail outlets.
According to U.K.-based research firm Futuresource Consulting, the portion of U.S. households that will have a 3D television set in four years will rise to 45 percent from four percent this year.
Although box office blockbuster, Avatar, was shot in 3D, converting a 2D film to a 3D film appeals to leading filmmakers. For example, Tim Burton shot the recently released Disney remake of Alice in Wonderland with traditional 2D digital cameras and then converted the footage to 3D.
The masters are already available for the 3D Blu-Ray and VOD versions of The Fabric of Time, Grizzly Adams’ award winning television special about the Shroud of Turin, long believed to be the burial cloth of Christ. This is Grizzly Adams’ first 3D evergreen entry into the faith market which will crossover onto secular retail shelves for Easter sales.
Within the next six weeks, the highly acclaimed feature film, Friends for Life, will be released in 3D. This family friendly movie, complete with wolves and a bad grizzly bear, has received 30 awards for production excellence.
The first new 3D television series for the joint Grizzly Adams-PassmoreLab production pact will be a fifty-two episode series about George Washington, culminating with a feature length theatrical picture.
Among the new 3D feature film projects slated for production over the term of the alliance are two Grizzly Adams family-oriented feature films currently in pre-production: The Super Heroic Life of Edward Hinkleberry; and the newest franchise installment to the Grizzly Adams legend, Grizzly Adams Begins.
Grizzly Adams will oversee all worldwide television broadcast/DVD licensing for the 3D productions. PassmoreLab will take the lead role in theatrical distribution.
Contact Steve Glum at 1-858-200-5813, or email at steve@passmorelab.com.
Just Found: youtube Urban Rail Park Vids
Cool. Just found this page that houses a bunch of the Urban Rail Park vids.
* edit, color correction, sound design: http://www.todd-day.com
“3D Producer’s New Video: Shooting 3D is as Easy as 1, 2, 3″
PassmoreLab’s New Tutorial Video ‘Shooting 3D’ Takes the Mystery Out of 3D Production
San Diego, CA (Nov 7, 2009) - San Diego-based 3D producer PassmoreLab announced today the release of a new self-produced short film entitled Shooting 3D: Introduction to Stereoscopic Production Techniques that is intended as a “Quick Start” to de-mystify the production requirements and camera techniques of the genre and take the guess-work out of shooting live-action 3D productions. It was created as a tool for beginners and emerging 3D film-makers to better understand the process, from a seasoned 3D producer’s hands-on perspective.
“I have been shooting 3D for years, and trust me, I have made all the mistakes I care to remember,” smiles Greg Passmore, president of PassmoreLab. “At the time, there were no real tutorials to speak of, and all of us in 3D were mostly learning the process by trial and error. Honestly, the error part can get quite costly, so I thought a 3D self-help DVD might be in order.”
Shooting 3D: Introduction to Stereoscopic Production Techniques discusses camera selection, alignment, symmetry, proper mountings, editing tips, technique and a host of other technical details about how to shoot professional looking 3D productions, even without using professional gear or budgets.
The 2D video is 20 minutes long and was created for beginning 3D enthusiasts, focusing mainly on consumer and prosumer cameras and comparisons. Shooting 3D: Introduction to Stereoscopic Production Techniques provides general information and advice from Passmore – he himself an industry pioneer – on 3D productions and how they are set up, calibrated, shot, and edited.
“It dawned on me one day that I was explaining 3D production over and over again at film festivals, so I thought I could create a tool that was much more helpful,” says Passmore. “With the added bonus that they could go back and replay anything they may have missed.”
2009 has been a great year for PassmoreLab. The independent studio has been busy producing a number of live-action 3D science and nature-themed productions – namely ‘Microworlds’, ‘The Extreme Nature of Bats’, and ‘Physics of Surfing’ to name a few — as well as rolling out conversion after conversion, with the most high-profile title being the 3D conversion of the original 1968 George Romero zombie classic “Night of the Living Dead, Now in 3D!”, which premiered October 3 in Los Angeles.
The 3D industry in general has had a banner year as well, as consumers have embraced it worldwide. The explosion at the box office has been exceptional, as was evidenced again recently with Sony’s $30 million opening weekend for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 3D”. The emergence of a 3D Blu-ray DVD player for the home entertainment market is next on the 3D horizon, due out in 2010.
“Next year we will see more 3D at the theatre level, and ground-breaking new innovation in the home market, which is great news for the industry” said Steve Glum, Head of Branding and Distribution for PassmoreLab. “Our titles are uniquely poised and positioned to embrace both markets, as we continue to produce 3D content that can be enjoyed no matter where 3D lovers may be. And with our new Shooting 3D video, perhaps there will be even more 3D content out there.”
PassmoreLab’s Shooting 3D: Introduction to Stereoscopic Production Techniques can be purchased at Amazon.com for $24.95, as well as at www.passmorelab.com.
About PassmoreLab
Passmorelab, the “World’s Largest 3D Content Provider”, is a San Diego-based multi-media production studio that specializes in 3D production and 2D to 3D content conversion. The studio custom-designs and builds its own RED camera 3D rigs for both conventional and rugged film productions, shooting everything from feature films, television and science documentaries, to underwater diving, extreme sports and cave exploration, click for reel http://www.passmorelab.com/PL2minTRAILER.mov . State-of-the-art facilities include a full 3D production studio, video/film post-production, optical development lab, and a software development environment. Production includes 2D, 3D, high dynamic range time lapse, stereoscopic microscopy and cutting-edge simulation technologies for real time SFX. Passmorelab’s proprietary technology for 2D to 3D video and film conversion is unmatched in the industry, in both turnaround times and conversion costs. PassmoreLab has additional offices in Russia and the Philippines. For more information, visit www.passmorelab.com.
ABC NEWS Nightline Covers Bats Film
Here’s the link to the ABC NEWS Nightline story on one of the films I am working on, “The Extreme Nature of Bats” (announcement is below in previous blog entry).
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=8962985
“PassmoreLab’s New 3D Film Delves Deep Inside the Extreme Nature of Bats”
Studio’s Latest 3D Film Takes a Very Realistic and Often Stark Look at Bats in New Museum Science Film
San Diego, CA (Oct 22, 2009) – When Greg Passmore, president of San Diego-based 3D Production Studio PassmoreLab recently uttered the words ‘to the bat cave’, he wasn’t referring to atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed, Robin, The Dark Knight or Dracula. But all signs point to his bat cave being every bit as entertaining, creepy and biting.
Passmore was referring to a Texas bat cave where he was filming part of his latest science movie, “The Extreme Nature of Bats”, that has a resident population of 12 million of the little flying fanged mammals. These bats are as important to the surrounding ecosystem – and every single ecosystem in the world for that matter — as the clean air and water that support them. But as beneficial as they are to nature controlling pests, pollinating plants and dispersing seeds, they can often be as deadly. Known carriers of the rabies virus — which can be fatal to humans and animals — bats’ dark reputation as nightstalkers is as much fact as it is fiction, and Passmore’s production is traveling the world filming bats in order to tell a balanced truth about them.
Now in production, “The Extreme Nature of Bats” is a new, 35 minute educational science film that will explore the myths and dark legends that have stalked the world’s only flying mammal for hundreds of years. Through the wonders of digital 3D technology, audiences will learn that bats are unique and interesting animals; but, because of fear and misconceptions associated with them throughout history, they also are some of the most misunderstood animals in the world.
The film is being shot in various locations around the world and will examine several species of bats, including free-tailed bats, fruit bats, and vampire bats. Texas was chosen as one location because the territory contains some of the largest bat caves in the world, including maternity caves that are winter homes for millions of Mexican free-tailed bats. Other locations are quite exotic, including Africa, chosen for the fruit bat population; Belize, chosen to illustrate ancient Mayan ceremonial practices and primitive bat cave etchings; Romania, to further illuminate the myths surrounding Bran Castle (Dracula’s Castle); and the jungles of Mexico, to film the infamous vampire bats.
Only three of the world’s approximate 1,000 bat species are vampire bats that drink the blood of other animals — and occasionally humans. These rare species are only found in isolated parts of Central and South America. Once a vampire bat locates a host, such as a sleeping mammal, it lands and stealthily approaches it from the ground.
“Vampire bats are highly-evolved hunters. They have specialized thermoreceptors which help them locate areas where its preyʼs blood flows close to the skin. Their front teeth are specialized for cutting and removing skin and their saliva contains an anticoagulant which, when injected, prevents the prey’s blood from clotting,” says Greg Passmore. “Often they will return night after night to the same animal, so they simply just have to pull back the scab from previous visits to feed on more blood.”
Passmore’s objective from the start was to take viewers on a highly-memorable, realistic journey and expose them to a world they have never seen before – from deep inside active bat caves filmed from the inside out – giving viewers a realistic understanding of the risks and rewards associated with large bat populations.
“This film is not a tame depiction of bats as cute little cave kittens,” says Passmore. “It’s real — the good, the bad and the ugly. Millions of bats live in those caves, departing and returning, devouring tons of insects nightly. But they also die there.”
One sequence shows the bats as they die and fall from the roof of the cave into the muck of bat guano below, being quickly consumed by waiting Dermestid beetles and worms.
“That’s not your typical average bat movie fare, and I can attest to the fact that the circle of life inside a bat cave is actually quite bizarre and a little disturbing,” smiles Passmore.
The film will also explore the similarity between humans and bats. Interestingly, bats have the same basic arm and hand bones found in humans and most other mammals. However, the forelimbs of all bats developed as wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of sustained flight.
More than half of America’s bat species are considered in decline or are already listed for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act. Wildlife experts agree that ignorance about bats and their habitats has contributed to their demise. It was Passmore’s passion for conservation and edgy story-telling that led to this film.
“I think this is an important film. The world needs to better understand these creatures before they are gone,” continues Passmore. “We are seeing new diseases like White Nose Syndrome that are killing off entire bat colonies, and that is tragic. Our film will hopefully do much for educating people about the importance of these creatures and why we need to protect them.”
There are close to 1,000 species of bats worldwide and they comprise more than one-fifth of all mammals. The film takes a straight-ahead approach to telling the story of the plight and flight of the worlds’ bat population. “The visuals speak for themselves, and I will admit that the storyline can get a little startling at times,” says Steve Glum, PassmoreLab’s head of Branding & Distribution. “But sometimes a little shock makes people stop and think, and I believe this film’s relevance fits well with the ever-growing worldwide concern for the planet’s well being.”
PassmoreLab’s “The Extreme Nature of Bats” (www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ23ZMBcVMg) is scheduled for release to IMAX, Science Centers and Museums in March 2010.
A Shaking Wet Wolf?
Yes. This was a complete brand challenge like I had never faced before. We bought the franchise rights to the American Great Wolf Lodge brand and I had to launch it in Ontario, Canada. For those that have done this kind of deal before, in most cases when you become a franchisee you also have the rights (and are sometimes required), to utilize corporate training procedures, operations manuals, and in this case, branding & marketing guidelines.
But there was a big problem. The brand guidelines were written for an American audience and were full of midwestern, conservative marketing positioning. Having to launch an unknown brand in a new country, I had to take an uninspired and confusing brand mark, coupled with confusing brand tone & execution & uninteresting marketing, and somehow communicate to a new, jaded, international and cultured Greater Toronto audience that this brand they were about to start hearing about was a top-notch, fantastic, fun, family, indoor waterpark resort.
Not an easy task.
But, through solid determination, strategic thinking, and brand risk-taking, I got us there.
See, I had to somehow connect the dot that this new brand, which looked in ink like a typical log cabin hotel, was in fact a mega-fun indoor waterpark resort. AND I had to deal with a name like Great Wolf Lodge — does that sound like a fun water park to you? It didn’t to me either, so I set about trying to connect the DRY WOLF DOT to the WET FUN DOT, and in the midst of it, came up with a iconic brand stamp that was a spectacular exclamation point to any TV or online marketing I did. I liken it to the roar of the MGM lion we see at the beginning of any MGM movie.
Steve Glum interviewed by Martin Lindstrom
Steve Glum is interviewed for the Martin Lindstrom Video Report in NYC during the launch of Martin’s new book Buy•ology (http://www.martinlindstrom.com).
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! TV Spots
This is the first of four spots I produced during the 2008 Ripley’s campaign. One of them went on to win “Best TV Spot” at IAAPA’s Brass Ring Awards, the International Marketing Awards, smoking the competition.
They were really done for fun, just taking old vintage footage (the whirling dervishes, as I refer to them, a bunch of old dudes doing crazy stuff then smoking to prove they did it), and layering some silly music on top. I really just did them as a low-cost spot for in-room TV, promotional spot TV, and online.
Somehow they caught on beat out the entire field at IAAPA…LOL!