Victory Studios’ creative team has been busy creating new TV spots for several clients.
The Seattle Seahawks tapped VS to produce :30, :20, and :10-second TV spots designed to build excitement and anticipation for the upcoming season. Victory Creative Director Kevin Smith directed the spots, teaming with editor/finisher Ben Kaplan to create the fast-cuts, music-driven spots
The spots feature the work of Seahawks’ DP David Glass, original music from composer Nick Denke and 3D graphics by Casey Frey and Dawn McLellan.
Seattle’s Speakeasy called on Victory to produce its first-ever TV spots, to be aired via Google TV. The spots promote Speakeasy’s Hosted Voice for Business VoIP product. Writer/director Kevin Smith crafted the spots, with editorial and graphics by Victory’s Ben Pohl. The spots will air nationally on cable TV.
The animals were the stars as Victory Studios recently completed new TV and radio commercials for Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. The spots featured the zoo’s newest attraction, Clouded Leopards from Thailand, and one of their oldest inhabitants, ET the Walrus. Senior Producer George Riddell produced and directed the “Unforgettable” campaign, with assists by DP Geoff Dunlap, Creative Director Kevin Smith and Editor Ben Kaplan.
The intrepid Victory Studios production team ventured into the wild for face-to-face encounters with grizzly bears, cougars and gray wolves as they created the new TV spot for the NW Trek Wildlife Park in Eatonville, WA. “Spend The Day In Awe”, conceived by Rusty George Creative was produced and directed by Victory Studios Senior Producer George Riddell. Creative Director Kevin Smith provided copy and creative support. Director of Photography was Geoff Dunlap, with editing by Ben Kaplan.
In April, Victory Studios shot TV spot footage using the RED ONE camera at Tulalip Resort and Casino. Victory’s Ben Kaplan did the color grading work. “Ben’s doing a great job – Tulalip spots have never looked better”, says Director Dan Molvar. Victory Studios’ Producer Mike Wacker reports that Ben has also recently excelled at providing pleasing looks to two other highly visible projects, a new ticket sales spot for the Seattle Seahawks, and the “We Are Sounders FC” video.
Victory’s Richard Bartlett produced a PSA for Countywide Community Forums, King County’s award-winning program to engage its citizenry in community consultation. The spot airs on Seattle’s PBS affiliate, KCTS.
5/5/2010 - Providence Health & Services: Excellence on screen
Victory Studios recently crafted nine videos for Providence Health & Services’ 2010 Excellence Conference, an annual meeting of leaders from throughout the company’s five-state region. The pieces ranged from a profile of a Palliative Care team in Spokane, to a new approach to emergency care in Portland called Rapid Medical Triage. Award-winning examples of clinical excellence in Southern California were also captured. An audience favorite was the story behind the “Pink Glove Dance,” a music video to benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The original video has received more than nine million views of YouTube.
VS Creative Director Kevin Smith wrote, produced and directed all nine videos, with DP Geoff Dunlap lensing the work. Composer Nick Denke created original music for the videos and Jason Devore mixed and sweetened. Ben Pohl and Ben Kaplan provided editorial and graphics work.
The 2010 videos, as well as some from past years, can be see at:
5/3/2010 - Victory Studios’ Mike Wacker in the Control Room
Victory Studios, Executive Producer Mike Wacker spends Sounders FC GameDay at Qwest Field in the control room producing the show for the stadium’s giant videoboards. Producing live events is in Mike’s blood. Besides live stadium shows, Mike has extensive experience producing sports broadcast for the Seattle Seahawks, and others. Also supporting Sounders FC is the Victory Studios graphics team of Casey Frey and Dawn McLellan, who provide graphics support for SounderVision, the stadium’s videoboards.
Qwest Field Control Room L-R: Bob Palmer, Technical Director, Doug Mossano, Director, Mike Wacker, Producer
4/20/2010 - Seattle Seahawks turn to Victory Studios to promote NFL Draft
Victory Studios’ Ben Pohl scored with this 30 second TV spot for the Seahawks and the 2010 NFL Draft. The spot was designed to promote traffic to Seahawks.Com (hyper link their site) for fans to learn more about the Draft Party the team was hosting in honor of the second most important day in the NFL, next to the Super Bowl - Check it out!
4/8/2010 - Victory Studios: We Give Our Full 90!
With our friends at Seattle Sounders FC, Victory Studios recently produced “We Are Sounders FC”, a three-minute video that captures the excitement and passion of Seattle’s newest professional sports franchise, currently in its second year of Major League Soccer play. The video was written and produced by Rick Crawford, Mike Wacker and Victory Studios’ creative director Kevin Smith. Other credits include Nick Denke with original music, with mixing by Nick and Jason DeVore. Editing was handled by Victory’s Ben Kaplan, with an assist from SFC Cameraman/Editor, Eric Miller. Motion Graphics and 3D logo work were handled by a Victory team of Ben Pohl, Casey Frey, and Dawn McLellan.
12/15/2009 - Victory does the Big Apple
Victory Studios recently produced a series of 2D and 3D animations for the annual Saks Fifth Avenue Christmas window displays at their flagship store in New York City, directly across the street from Rockefeller Center. The project was funded by Microsoft to promote the launch of Windows 7.
The work is based on Saks’ annual children’s Christmas book; this year’s edition entitled Twinkle, Twinkle Little Flake. The story follows Twinkle the snowflake’s journey from the sky all the way down to the windows of Saks’ flagship store.
Nine animated components playback on 52” monitors within eight of the 33 available store windows. Another display, run by nine laptop computers, features animated snow falling on the skyline, synchronized across the entire 24 foot display.
Victory’s Richard Bartlett produced the project, working closely with in-house designer Casey Frey and 3D artist Dawn McLellan. The team created the work from existing assets and original artwork, bringing the book’s characters to life by giving each their own individual “swagger”. The book is also animated, its flipping pages synchronized to voice-over narration.
Frey used Victory’s Virtual Production Manager (VPM) -- an online system allowing clients to review work and seamlessly pass it along to others – to facilitate project approvals coming from both New York City and Redmond.
Brandon Bates, Victory’s IT manager, worked with the client to ensure proper file management and quality play back.
11/11/2009 - 8mm and Super-8 film transfer now available at Victory Studios
Victory Studios has just installed, and finished testing, its new 8mm/Super-8mm Telecine. This unique system allows for a super-clean frame-by- frame capture and processing at multiple frame rates in both HD and SD. The frame-by-frame capture allows for a much cleaner picture than a traditional film chain or "just projecting it on a wall and shooting it with a camera". Victory Studios’ Chief Engineer, Scott Thomas says, “The HD transfers really do look amazing.”
Josh Mallinger, Duplication Manager, says this new transfer service is perfect for those who want a retro look on their next project and also for the many people who have old family films that should be converted to DVD.
The default output for Standard Definition will be authored DVD's or DV-AVI files. For High Def the default output is authored Blu-ray discs or MJPEG-AVI files. Thomas and Mallinger indicate that Victory can also render to Quicktimes or other codecs/formats as needed.
10/2/2009 - Victory Studios rolls out new grip truck packages
Victory Studios has recently expanded it's grip and lighting package options to include two new Grip Truck configurations. The core of these new configurations is our custom designed Grip Cart and Lighting Cart. The 24x48 Grip Cart holds the equivalent of a 1 ton grip truck and can be rolled on-location for easy access to all the gear. The Lighting Cart adds basic lighting and electrical support to complete the package. Designed to fit in the back of a standard cargo van, these carts can be offloaded in places that a standard box grip truck cannot go... like parking garages. A full list of gear on the grip/lighting carts for the "Grip Van" configuration can be found "HERE" (.pdf link).
For larger shoots these carts can be combined with our larger box truck. The "Grip Truck" configuration includes all the gear from the grip van configuration and adds lots more. A full list of the current "Grip Truck" configuration can be found "HERE" (.pdf link)
10/1/2009 - Nordstrom taps Victory Studios
Victory Studios recently produced a series of web-videos for Nordstrom's Fall Boot Line. The videos, shot by Victory's Geoff Dunlap, and post-produced by Ben Pohl, can be viewed on the Nordstrom website at: Nordstrom Fall Boot Guide
9/28/2009 - Victory Studios supports USO Puget Sound Area (USOPSA)
Victory recently produced a pro bono video for the 2009 USOPSA Five –Star Gala and Auction. The effort was part of Victory Studios’ commitment to making USOPSA its lead charity through 2010.
The nonprofit United Service Organization’s mission is to provide moral support and recreation services to America’s troops at home and overseas.
Mark MacDonald, president of Victory Studios, says, “Victory Studios has long supported the USO. Conrad Denke, Victory’s founder is a Vietnam-era veteran and has experienced the benefits of the USO firsthand. We realize how important the USOPSA is to the troops and we look forward to helping the USO fulfill its mission to give comfort to those who make daily sacrifices for all of us.” MacDonald added that Victory plans to provide the annual gala video, support in documenting special events, and production of public service announcements.
The video for the 2009 event features KIRO television news anchor Steve Raible, a longtime advocate for community causes in the Seattle-area. The piece is designed to motivate audiences to contribute generously to USOPSA.
Tom Jaffa, USOPSA board chairman, and president and CEO of The Jaffa Company, says, “ Victory Studios is tops in the industry, and we’re very excited to have them as a strategic partner in our efforts. Their expertise is invaluable to our mission.”
9/15/2009 - Comcast/ "Seahawks Press Pass"
Victory Studios has produced two :30 second television commercials promoting Seahawks' Head Coach, Jim Mora's weekly press conference show airing weekly on Comcast, and Comcast On Demand. The spots, written and produced by Mike Wacker, with Jim Cissell's NFL Films-style voice over, were designed by Victory Studios' Casey Frey.
9/1/2009 - Victory teams with Seattle Seahawks
Victory Studios has been busy supporting graphics production and audio design for Qwest Field's HawkVision videoboards. Projects range from sponsor graphics to player headshots and the Hawk Intro video used to introduce the team at each home game. Go Hawks!
9/1/2009 - Victory Studios creates UW tribute video
The University of Washington's Eighth Annual Recognition Gala featured the awarding of the prestigious Gates Volunteer Service Award to alumni and long-time UW supporters Jon and Judy Runstad. To document their achievements and accomplishments, Victory Studios produced a commemorative video that was screened for the 400+ guests at the black-tie affair on Sept 11. The video featured archival and current-day footage of campus and student life, interviews with friends and colleagues of the Runstads, and University faculty and administrators, including UW President Mark Emmert. Victory Studios' senior producer George Riddell produced and directed the video, in collaboration with Gigantic Planet and the UW Marketing Department.
8/13/2009 - Smith joins VS creative team
Victory Studios has hired Kevin P. Smith as its Creative Director. Smith comes to Victory after leading Eyeplay, Inc. for the last 17 years. Eyeplay was a top creative services agency specializing in cinematic communications for targeted audiences.
Mark MacDonald, President of Victory Studios says Smith is a great addition to Victory’s creative team. “Kevin is well known for his creative, eye-catching approach in communicating a client’s message. We expect Kevin and the rest of our talented team to continue making Victory Studios a go-to place for creative, high-quality productions for broadcast, web or theatrical distribution.”
“I am excited to be part of the team at Victory and look forward to adding to our creative services,” says Smith. “I’m a big believer in the power of production value and craft, and I’m confident we can harness even more of that power for clients here at Victory.”
5/25/2009 - Father & son create a new Victory Studios’ entity
Conrad and Xander Denke of Victory Studios have formed a new entertainment arm of the company, a separate entity to handle production of full length motion pictures for theatrical release. The new entity is called New Liberty Films, based loosely on Liberty Films, Frank Capra’s former production company. The company will be producing films and other projects that involve uplifting themes similar to the library of films that Frank Capra created in the 40’s and 50’s, but with modern storylines involving the challenges of today’s complex world. The company is headquartered at Victory Studios in Seattle and is run by Xander Denke on a daily basis. The first film will be "Jumping Tracks," a coming of age story involving a hippie commune and a cast of fascinating characters.
