In line with author Clint Carter, “People have relied on music to hold tales and produce individuals collectively” all through historical past.
So when Rolling Stone requested him to trip a Can-Am Spyder throughout the U.S. to highlight the artists, venues, and recording studios retaining this vital storytelling historical past alive, they turned to inventive manufacturing studio Riverside Leisure to supply the five-part sequence referred to as Common Tread.
On this installment of Made in Frame, we find out how they navigated via the complexities of capturing and enhancing a sequence that concerned in depth touring throughout a pandemic, and the way Body.io helped them craft their tales and produce their groups collectively from coast to coast.
A protracted street
This challenge was, from the get-go, meant to be a on-the-road manufacturing throughout quite a few areas with episodes capturing in locales starting from Los Angeles to Woodstock (NY), with Mississippi, New Orleans, and Nashville in between.
With Rolling Stone primarily based in New York, Can-Am and company Anomaly in Canada, Riverside Leisure in Nashville and LA, and post-production home Outpost in St. Louis, the necessity for distant collaboration was already a given.
However then there was the pandemic to ratchet up the general complexity of the sequence.
In line with Jeff Molyneux, Riverside Leisure’s co-founder and head of manufacturing (Nashville), what was initially slated to be a two-month challenge expanded to eighteen months. Entire episodes needed to be rescheduled—or canceled and utterly reconceived—because the virus spiked and touring turned too harmful.
“We have been presupposed to go to Toronto to movie an episode, after which Canada shut down. That’s how we got here up with the Mississippi episode with Kingfish. After which after we shot the New Orleans episode, it was an eight-piece band and due to COVID, we needed to adjust to how many individuals may very well be inside within the venue at a given time.”
Which additionally meant that the shoppers couldn’t journey to the shoot. “They couldn’t be on set, however they needed to see every little thing and we wanted to get it to them shortly. We actually relied on Body.io for that.”
A protracted schedule
A sequence is all the time a considerable quantity of labor beneath the very best of circumstances.
Shot on REDs and Alexa Minis, throughout the 5 episodes the challenge occupied 9.22 TB of footage in Body.io. For every episode, Outpost needed to create the principle lower in addition to a teaser.
After the preliminary cuts, every episode went via two or three iterations for revisions. The primary cross was uploaded for the Riverside EPs and director through a Body.io shared folder to get their notes and suggestions previous to sending episodes to Rolling Stone.
Then, as soon as Outpost addressed the notes from Rolling Stone, they’d share with the Can-Am shoppers for evaluate.
Having extra time to ship doesn’t all the time translate into making the method simpler.
Within the case of this challenge, as a result of the schedule was so protracted there have been alternatives for evolution within the branding and graphics, so it fell to post-production supervisor Sunshine Clay to deal with the logistics for Outpost.
“A full 12 months glided by between enhancing the primary episode and its precise launch,” she says.
“So not solely was it difficult to choose up and keep it up the type and momentum after the COVID pause, the model had additionally advanced throughout that point, and unifying all of the type and model parts throughout the episodes turned one other difficult task.”
Past that, there have been additionally English and French variations for the entire exhibits and teasers, which wanted to undergo a translation course of.
“We hadn’t performed a variety of subtitling work previous to this challenge, and there have been some hiccups as we discovered the very best workflow for the Canadian French variations,” Sunshine says. Finally, it was as much as Can-Am to make sure that every little thing was faithfully translated, a process made simpler by exchanging variations via Body.io.
All through a lot of the challenge, the groups used Body.io for exchanging cuts and reviewing. However towards the top, additionally they used it for deliverables. In line with Sunshine,
“As we received nearer to launch, we have been capable of cross alongside among the particular person present belongings to Rolling Stone so their promo crew may work with these parts to create further social posts.”
Distinctive textures
In every episode, Clint Carter travels to interview totally different artists, however the venues have been nearly characters in themselves with distinct personalities.
So whereas the sequence wanted to have a constant really feel, Outpost’s supervising editor Lucas Harger explains that every particular person episode had a extra uniquely nuanced tone.
“It’s all inside the model, however every episode wants to suit the particular texture of the situation or the theme that they’re exploring,” Lucas says. “For those who consider the grasp, Anthony Bourdain, each episode had a distinct really feel, but it surely was all distinctly his type.”
As a result of Widespread Tread is shot documentary type with out scripts or storyboards, the Outpost crew began by viewing the footage for every episode and having a kickoff name with Riverside to speak via their objectives.
“We’d speak about the principle story beats after which get into laying it out so the conversations and interviews felt probably the most pure,” Lucas says. He describes the exhibits as having been creatively fluid.
“As we have been reducing, we’d take into consideration how Clint may give us some voiceover bits to assist with transitions from scene to scene, and we’d share cuts with him in Body.io in order that he may write and document them.”
That fluidity prolonged to the sound design and colour grading, as nicely.
Longtime Outpost collaborators, colorist Brian Singler and sound designer Steve Horne, labored carefully with Lucas to assist in giving every episode its personal distinctive look and sonic signature.
For instance, should you watch the primary two episodes, you’ll instantly discover the distinction between Clint driving via the noisy streets of LA to interview Shooter Jennings on the legendary Viper Room, adopted by his off-road, gravel-crunching trek to The Caverns in Tennessee.
Within the first, Clint is surrounded by the sound of site visitors and the brightly coloured billboards. Within the second, the fall-hued bushes and warmly coloured caverns mix with the tones of the bluegrass musicians whose type evokes and echoes the pure surroundings.
“We used the areas and themes to drive the inventive choices,” Lucas says. “Each episode had its personal tone and vibe that matches the feel of the situation.”
Bringing individuals collectively
Producing a sequence requires clear communication between all of the entities concerned, particularly as exhibits develop over time. And within the case of Widespread Tread, there have been a variety of transferring items in a variety of totally different areas.
It’s one of many causes Jeff discovered Body.io so important to the method.
With six Outpost editors engaged on Premiere Professional both from their houses or on the facility, Riverside director Alex Chaloff was additionally capable of simply talk with them via Body.io straight of their Premiere cuts from wherever he was.
“They’re mainly all working in unison collectively,” Jeff says. Which made all of the distinction given not solely the space between administrators, shoppers, EPs, and editors, but in addition simply personally for Jeff.
“I’m all the time juggling a number of initiatives,” he says.
“And all Lucas has to do is textual content me when there’s one thing to have a look at and I can simply go in and make notes actually quick after which he’s received one other lower to have a look at inside an hour. I wouldn’t have an organization if I couldn’t transfer at this tempo, and there’s actually nothing else that enables me to.”
Jeff even makes use of Body.io these days to maintain cuts of all of his administrators’ reels.
“I inform all my administrators to place their finest content material right into a Body.io folder and that manner I can curate it and submit their work for jobs nearly instantaneously.”
“Generally it’s even sooner simply to strive issues than to speak about them.”
For Outpost, Body.io has been an integral a part of their workflow that likewise permits them to obtain notes and reply simply.
“With computer systems and the web, you’ll be able to lower totally different variations actually shortly,” Lucas says. “Generally it’s even sooner simply to strive issues than to speak about them.”
As a post-production supervisor, Sunshine highlights the truth that even after pausing for COVID, Body.io helped them shortly soar again into the inventive dialog.
“I used to be capable of shortly reference prior edits and push ahead with the following edits, and the hyperlinks allowed me to simply share references with my crew,” she says.
“Moreover, it’s been an ideal place for us to archive final masters and publish parts in order that Riverside can simply entry them.”
Connecting via tales
Jeff, Lucas, and Sunshine all agree that making these exhibits was difficult however rewarding.
And if Clint Carter thinks that tales create connections, Sunshine agrees. “I really feel just like the tales and the native flavors have been so nicely captured—after the Woodstock episode I used to be able to fly out to go to Allaire Studio to reconnect with my hippie dad and mom’ roots.”
With a crew distributed from coast to coast, a pandemic, an evolving model, and an ever-changing manufacturing, we’re completely satisfied to have the ability to join creators with their tales.
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