The Briefing Room

West Los Angeles, CA — It’s not 30 seconds of shoving a logo into people’s faces. It’s not even actively trying to sell something. But it does come from an advertising agency, notably Wieden+Kennedy, the company responsible for 25 years of memorable Nike commercials, through an Internet initiative called Wieden+Kennedy Entertainment. “Itâ€? is branded entertainment.

“Clients today want a more personal connection with consumers through content-based material.� says Joseph DiSanto, executive producer at the West Los Angeles-based post-production company Therapy. “We’re answering this need by partnering with people like BlackLake to produce smart, high quality content.�

Wieden+Kennedy Entertainment (WKE) is a broadband channel, or web distribution platform, that goes live December 1. It will feature informative, personal, documentary-style and alternative entertainment programs that, though they may be backed by the agency’s clients, will only subtly market a company and its products, if at all, as in the case of the web series DIY America, which makes its debut when WKE launches. http://www.wk.com/wke

DIY America is made up of webisodes from three to five minutes in length about art, inspiration and creation from BlackLake Productions, which tapped Therapy to handle editorial and finishing duties.

BlackLake recently completed a feature documentary about a group of contemporary artists called Beautiful Losers, which is available on Apple’s iTunes. “The tagline for Beautiful Losers is ‘Make something from nothing’� says Jon Barlow, executive producer at BlackLake Productions. “The common thread is following your inspiration and making it happen for yourself. If you’re producing stuff that you love, you are rewarded. When we finished cutting Beautiful Losers, Nike came in with some finishing and marketing money.�

Some of that marketing money went into a series of artist-based workshops for kids, which became a series of nine webisodes for Nike called Make Something!! “It’s a unique marketing tool – a series of webisodes direct with a brand,� Barlow says. “we got the inspirational message in Beautiful Losers embodied in this side project: artists from the film inspiring kids to do art – ‘make something.’ We realized the message of the film in the real world. Nike’s presence in Make Something!! is pervasive but not blatant.

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It’s really subtle marketing for both Nike and for Beautiful Losers.� Therapy editor Meg Decker cut two of the Make Something!! pieces which can be found on the Beautiful Losers DVD due out on December 8.

DIY America also has its roots in Beautiful Losers, notes Barlow. “It grew out of the massive archive we have of great artists,â€? he says. “We shot 70 interviews for Beautiful Losers but only used 14. DIY America takes what we didn’t use and cuts it up – artists, filmmakers, musicians – all sorts of people.â€?

Rather than let the interview footage go to waste, Black Lake Productions was able to produce, for example a six-part DIY America series on the topic of skateboarding as an expression itself of creativity titled “Skate and Create.� It featured skateboarders Tony Hawk and Ethan Fowler, filmmakers Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, actor/skateboarder Jason Lee, Thurston Moore of the band Sonic Youth, artist Shepard Fairey, photographer Glen E. Friedman, grafitti artist Earsnot and many others. Other DIY America webisodes, which also are available on iTunes, are singular profiles or are topical from different perspectives. For example, the webisode “Brooms and Brushes� follows around a city grafitti removal crew as they paint over artwork. Without the Wieden+Kennedy+Entertainment online platform, this material perhaps never would have been seen, and that would mean fewer eyeballs on the Nike-backed content, even if there isn’t a Swoosh® logo plastered across the screen.

“Part of the attraction of the Web is that it doesn’t have the limitations that TV does,� says DiSanto. “We can make anything we want. There are no time limits, no structures, no boundaries.�

Interviews were shot with a Panasonic VariCam in 720p on the DVCPRO HD format. Archival material and supporting B roll ranged from VHS to DigiBeta that had to be up-converted to 16mm, Super 16mm and 35mm elements. All that material was handed to Therapy’s artists for editing, online, color and audio.

Says Barlow, “As the producer of the content, I believe Therapy is a perfect place to partner with on a series like this – multi-episode, high-end products for the Web. They’re ideal because they are a fully integrated post production facility. When I come in, I get amazing creativity from their editorial staff, and then can take it through to the master and deliverables�.

“The creative input is always the most valuable thing,� DiSanto explains. “However, with our facility being fully integrated, we’re able to respond to the larger needs of these types of projects – they’re more experimental, they don’t have traditional budgets. The fact that we have great talent to offer in all the areas is the key component as to why we are successful with it.�

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“This whole project from beginning to end has really embodied the future of content distribution and corporate branding,� says Barlow. “The people we were covering were highly creative. The editors we have been working with are highly creative. It’s an interesting test case for the new world of content, especially online.�

Some notable characters in DIY America’s 15-episodes: Shepard Fairey (Artist), Tony Hawk (Skateboarder), Jason Lee (Actor, Skateboarder), Ian MacKaye (Musician, Fugazi), Harmony Korine (Filmmaker), Larry Clark (Filmmaker), Geoff McFetridge (Artist), Craig Stecyk III (Photographer), Thurston Moore (Musician, Sonic Youth).

ABOUT THERAPY
Therapy Studios is a fully integrated post-production company whose unique, award-winning work spans commercials, features, music videos, and online media. The Los Angeles based company was founded in 2005 by executive producers Joe DiSanto and John Ramsay, and artists Wren Waters and Doobie White. They have since expanded into a collaborative team which includes top artists in all areas of post-production, including creative editorial, graphics, �nishing, sound design, mix, and color correction.

Therapy’s facility is located at 2010 S. Westgate Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90025. For more information, call 310.917.1507 or visit http://www.youneedtherapy.tv.

ABOUT BLACKLAKE
BlackLake Productions creates branded content designed to attract, build, and interact with targeted communities. By combining filmmaking, advertising, and social media, BlackLake is redefining how branded storytelling looks, how it’s consumed, and how its benefits are measured.

BlackLake is based in Santa Monica, CA. For more information call (310) 882-5150 or please visit http://www.blacklakeproductions.com.