Tech Talk: Del Padre Tapped to Review the Redrock microMatteBox

Mark Archer, Del Padre Digital's creative director, is featured in the latest issue of Studio Monthly magazine, where he was called upon to review the Redrock microMatteBox for the publication's ROI Reviews section. He used the piece of equipment on a recent music video shoot in Detroit, Mich.

"We’ve been using Redrock Micro products for some time," he says. "When we heard they were offering a universal mattebox, we decided to try one along with our new RED ONE camera."

Archer explains that matteboxes are integral to shooting with high-end rigs like the RED ONE, because lens hoods are often inadequate.

"Often, they are just not large enough to do the job well," he says. "You can bring plenty of gobos and put up light blocks, but this takes time and grips to keep things moving on the shoot. And if you’re using a system with interchangeable lenses, time becomes even more of an issue."

The review is in the December 2008 issue of Studio Monthly, and is also available online. In addition to providing an overview of use, ratings, and troubleshooting while using the microMattebox, Archer also shot his own photos of the apparatus for the magazine.

It's a Gas(s) - Fuel Lines Readers Choose Del Padre Blog as Number One

Fuel Lines, the advertising and marketing blog of ad-agency- and social-media- guru Michael Gass, has announced that this blog is number one among Fuel Lines readers in December 2008!

We received more than three-quarters of a record number of votes - color us proud. What's more, Fuel Lines reaches thousands of readers through RSS and a special, blog-of-the-month e-mail blast, so this is great exposure in the marketing and design industry. Big thanks to Michael and all of the Fuel Lines readers!

Fuel Lines is also home to the Ad Agency New Business Report, so it's good required reading for marketing profs. You can follow Gass and Fuel Lines on Twitter, and while you're there, follow us, too.

We are:

@delpadre (president Nino Del Padre)

@archervision (vp and creative director Mark Archer)

and

@writerjax (publicity diva and writer Jaclyn Stevenson)

Kodak, Pepsi, Volkswagen, Bacardi? We're in Good Company.

Del Padre Digital has been awarded Best in Class by the 2008 Interactive Media Awards, for excellence in the design, development and implementation of the most recent version of our Web site, delpadre.com.

When we launched this version of delpadre.com, version six, we knew we were introducing one of the most search-engine optimized Flash sites on the Web today. But to be honored among some of the best companies in the country, and some of the best designers anywhere, validates our belief that all of our work is cutting-edge, not just in SEO. Especially given the fact that we’ve been recognized for our own company’s site.

The honor, granted by the Interactive Media Awards, places Del Padre in the company of several well-heeled and Fortune 500 companies, including Volkswagen, McDonalds, Sony, Pepsi, and Kodak, among others, whose sites were designed by some of the top interactive media and marketing agencies in the world (view a full list of winners here).

A little more about the IMAs ... the competition honors the Web's most professional work, judging sites on a number of criteria, ranging from design, usability, and innovation in technical features, to standards compliance and content. Only a fraction of sites entered into the IMA competition earn Best in Class status each year. The awards are sponsored by the Interactive Media Council, Inc., a nonprofit organization of leading Web designers, developers, programmers, advertisers, and other Web-related professionals -- all of them seeking to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet.

FWA - All the Way

The FWA (Favourite Website Awards) is well-known among Web and multimedia communities -- its site welcomes 44,000 visitors a day and maintains a Google page rank of eight, in addition to listing some of the newest, ground-breaking Web sites on the Internet - not to mention updating that list daily.

Del Padre Digital's own site has received an FWA nod in the past, as has its client Robert Charles Photography. However, now the spotlight is on us in a different way.

A piece we wrote is currently the featured article at the FWA, looking at some of the innovative SEO-for-Flash things we're doing at delpadre.com and how it's made us one of the most searchable Flash sites on the Internet.

As part of the article, we spoke to Rostislav Hristov, creator of SWFAddress -- one of the tools we used when relaunching delpadre.com in June, 2008.

"[Del Padre] started developing their new site from scratch, and ended up with a solid base that can be extended even more in the future," Hristov said of delpadre.com's redesign.

We tend to agree.

View the printable version of the FWA article Flash Forward

Del Padre-Produced NASA DVD Released

Completing a project that began two years ago, we've just received our first copies of a three-part educational movie filmed for NASA, for which we served as directors, animators, editors, and producers.

Spacefaring: The Radiation Challenge, addresses the topic of radiation and human space flight, and was produced in tandem with the Space Science Institute. We combined live action with 3D animation and compositing to create a trio of video shorts for DVD. The plot follows three young astronauts encountering a solar storm on their way to Mars, but it's more than just a movie --classroom activities accompany each act of the story, designed for both middle school and high school students.

Spacefaring also includes video-game-level special effects, and is available in both standard definition and HD formats.

Del Padre On Hand to Announce STEPS at ASTC, Philly

Del Padre Digital's Creative Director Mark Archer and Senior Programmer Joe Maki were recently among more than 1,800 science-center professionals from 31 countries, who gathered for the 2008 ASTC (Association of Science Technology Centers) annual conference, held at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pa.

Del Padre's Mark Archer meets and greets with Philly's resident Founding Father.

Archer and Maki attended as part of their involvement with the STEPS (Science Theater Educational Programming System) project, an application being developed by a collaborative of science and multimedia professionals, including the Space Science Institute of Boulder, Colo., the SETI institute in Mountain View, Calif., and NASA. STEPS will be for use by educators in museums across the country, and will create interactive presentations to help science educators of all types stage theatrical presentations for museum audiences.

Del Padre Digital has been tasked with developing the multimedia aspects of STEPS, utilizing the latest tools in digital design to create a software engine with groundbreaking, yet easy-to-use functionality.

The project is slated for completion in 2010, and the ASTC conference coincided with the end of the first development year of this three-year project. A trailer was also produced by the STEPS team and Del Padre Digital for the conference, giving what will be its key audience a first look at the developing platform. The video was filmed in part at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, one of the science centers that will utilize the final STEPS product.

A beta version of STEPS will be unveiled next year, at the ASTC conference in Fort Worth, Texas.

Music Video Shot on RED Now in Production

Rolling through the streets of Detroit, Del Padre Digital recently became a player in the filming of a new music video for one of hip-hop’s rising stars.

We’re in the midst of editing now, after a whirlwind shoot in several locales in Michigan for Johnny ‘The Greek’ Saxx’s single Take Me Away. This will be the premiere video from his latest album, The Protagonist, released this year by BP/Universal Distribution.

Del Padre Digital’s creative director, Mark Archer, was pulled into the project earlier this month to serve as its director of photography. This created an opportunity not only to film in various challenging locales, from a cigar room to a Bentley cruising down Lake Shore Drive, but also to test the mettle of the firm’s new Red ONE 4k camera.

Mark Archer and lighting specialist David St. George film at Blue Sky Studios

“We shot a number of staged scenes at Blue Sky Studio in Troy, Mich., which is a state-of-the-art, fully-equipped production facility,” says Archer, “as well as at one of the state’s hottest night spots – The Harem Lounge. All of these locations posed challenges, but also unique, exciting filming scenarios.”

The plot of the video follows Saxx through a number of ‘high-roller’ scenes, from mansions to parties with plenty of bling in tow. The footage was shot over two days, and is currently being edited at Del Padre Digital’s suite in East Longmeadow, Mass. It’s slated for completion at the end of this month.

Saxx is already a cross-over draw in Greece and other Mediterranean countries; his previous videos are available on ANT1 Europe, as well as Viacom US.

Science and Storytelling

There’s a science to storytelling, and Del Padre Digital is currently at the forefront of the latest techniques.

Del Padre is one of several partners in a cutting-edge educational project funded by the National Science Foundation that is poised to change the face of science education. We've joined forces with the Space Science Institute of Boulder, Colo., the SETI institute in Mountain View, Calif., NASA, and a number of science centers and museums of varying size to help launch STEPS, or Science Theater Educational Programming System.

STEPS is an application being developed for use by educators in museums across the country. It will create interactive presentations to help science educators of all types stage theatrical presentations for museum audiences, using state-of-the-art technology, live action sequences, animation, and other components.

Del Padre Digital has been tasked with developing the multimedia aspects of STEPS, utilizing the latest tools in digital design to create a software engine with groundbreaking, yet easy-to-use functionality.

As part of this endeavor, Del Padre Digital’s creative director, Mark Archer, recently attended the Theater in Museums Workshop at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. There, the STEPS team was able to glean information regarding the strengths, challenges, and opportunities facing science education today, as well as film a trailer announcing STEPS.

“We were able to take part in discussions that have to do with all parts of ‘science theater,’ including audience participation, script writing, funding, producing, and the use of improvisation,” he says. “Plus, we were able to film while we were learning, creating an informational video featuring members of the STEPS team.”

Del Padre Digital's creative director Mark Archer (right) films at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis with STEPS founder Brad McLain of the Space Science Institute.

The video will be shown at the ASTC (Association of Science Technology Centers) annual conference, to be held at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pa. Oct. 18 to 21.

“The attendees at the ASTC conference are a core audience for us,” says Archer. “This is a groundbreaking project – there’s nothing else like it out there. We’re trying to create an early buzz.”

STEPS is slated for completion in 2010.