AlphaDogs' work for Century Council wins Freddie Award

AlphaDogs, Inc., a post-production studio focused on keeping clients “ahead of the pack,” announced that it has helped one of its clients win an International Health & Medical Media Award, known as the Freddie Award.

For the past 29 years, the awards have been given by MediMedia, one of the world’s leading providers of healthcare educational materials and services. The competition’s goal is to celebrate excellence in the healthcare field; each year, the Freddies attract documentaries, series, shorts, videos, Web sites and CD-ROMs from around the world.

AlphaDogs was responsible for all offline and online post-production work for the winning CD in the Health and Wellness category. The CD, titled Alcohol 101 Plus, was created by the Century Council of Washington, D.C., to help students make responsible decisions about alcohol use. The project was chosen for a Freddie Award over a number of other major competitors, including Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield and NBC’s Dateline.

“We worked extensively on the Alcohol 101 Plus CD to ensure that it both looked spectacular, and that it had the kind of ‘feel’ that would appeal to young people,” said Terence Curren, president of AlphaDogs and the project’s lead editor. “We congratulate the Century Council for winning this award, and are pleased to have played a part in helping them achieve this goal.

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About AlphaDogs

Founded in 2002, Burbank-based AlphaDogs, Inc. quickly established themselves as leaders and innovators in the rapidly changing digital post arena. The company maintains an early adopters edge; testing and assimilating leading technologies to keep ahead of the pack with solutions such as the RED camera and were the first post house in Los Angeles to take delivery of the Avid Symphony HD editing system. Personal attention from a seasoned award-winning team assures client satisfaction accompanies each cost-effective delivery of superior post production services—from editing and audio re-recording to broadcast design & effects.

AlphaDogs is home to the popular Editors' Lounge and headquarters of the growing media transfer specialty service Digital Service Station; now serving California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. AlphaDogs is located at 1612 West Olive, Suite 200, Burbank, CA 91506.

Visit the AlphaDogs team on the web: www.alphadogs.tv.

Alpha Dogs completes Post on two films for ACI

AlphaDogs’ online expertise with Avid Symphony cut post-production costs and editing time in bay

AlphaDogs, Inc., a post-production studio focused on keeping clients “ahead of the pack,” today announced that it recently completed online post-production work on two American Cinema International (ACI) projects: Hatchetman, a horror film, and Wildfire, a documentary film about smokejumpers.

AlphaDogs took full advantage of Avid® Symphony™’s Universal online editing power to color correct, conduct dirt fixes, titling and assembly for both films. The AlphaDogs team worked closely with the producers, directors of photography (DP) and post-production technical supervisors of each project to ensure the unique challenges and technical problems that each project presented were quickly addressed and corrected.

Terence Curren, president of AlphaDogs, was the lead editor for each project and worked closely with both post-production teams to ensure the online post process was completed on time and on budget. “At AlphaDogs, our commitment to client satisfaction is always the top priority,” said Curren. “We strive to exceed our clients’ expectations every time we go to work on a project—be it a feature film or other project meant for television or cable.”

Adam Bennett, post-production technical supervisor for Hatchetman, noted, “The primary reason we chose to online in Symphony was due to its ability to produce the cleanest masters in both NTSC and PAL formats. In addition, working in Symphony allowed us to globally color correct for both formats from one master.” Bennett also added, “Terry and the AlphaDogs team turned us into Symphony fans. After watching them work for five minutes, it was clear that we were working with experienced Symphony editors; they showed us tricks that we didn’t think were possible within Symphony.”

According to Bennett, the entire online process for Hatchetman was completed faster than expected. Bennett allotted three to five days for color correction on Symphony—the same time as he normally gives for working on film. To his surprise, AlphaDogs completed the project faster than expected and, according to Bennett, “the final product came out looking better than he expected.”

For the ACI documentary Wildfire, AlphaDogs was responsible for ingesting digi beta masters for the final conform, color timing and correction, as well as titling. The entire post-production process was executed within Symphony and was completed within a week.

Arnold Peterson, director of photography and associate producer for Wildfire, said, “As a cinematographer used to working in the chemical medium [film], I found the flexibility of the system [Symphony] quite astounding. This was a multi-media project combining video and film masters, and the entire post-production team was quite pleased with the rhythm of the project.”

Peterson continued, “After sitting in the room with Terry on the Symphony, I knew something was different. I was not expecting 75 percent of what the Symphony was capable of doing. Having the kind of flexibility in post on a Symphony system in the capable hands of the folks at AlphaDogs brings great comfort to a cameraman who had always in the past felt constrained by the limitations of video.”

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About AlphaDogs

Founded in 2002, Burbank-based AlphaDogs, Inc. quickly established themselves as leaders and innovators in the rapidly changing digital post arena. The company maintains an early adopters edge; testing and assimilating leading technologies to keep ahead of the pack with solutions such as the RED camera and were the first post house in Los Angeles to take delivery of the Avid Symphony HD editing system. Personal attention from a seasoned award-winning team assures client satisfaction accompanies each cost-effective delivery of superior post production services—from editing and audio re-recording to broadcast design & effects.

AlphaDogs is home to the popular Editors' Lounge and headquarters of the growing media transfer specialty service Digital Service Station; now serving California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. AlphaDogs is located at 1612 West Olive, Suite 200, Burbank, CA 91506.

Visit the AlphaDogs team on the web: www.alphadogs.tv.

AlphaDogs Marks New Territory

Growth forces second move in company's first year

After only a year in business, Burbank-based post house AlphaDogs has expanded for a second time. The newest spurt adds a third Avid Symphony, rentable production space and ups the total square footage to 5,000.

President Terence Curren cites continued rampant growth and a desire to future-proof the company so they can evolve without having to move yet again.

"We started with two small Symphony rooms in 800-square-feet," recalls Curren, who says the company was 'forced' to move to its current location six months after opening in 2002.

Sitting in the shadows of the Warner Brothers and Disney studios, AlphaDogs has made its name posting television series but Curren says commercial work is increasing steadily.

Recent assignments include spots for Stitch! The Movie, the Lilo & Stitch Series and Fillmore for Walt Disney Television Animation, and a campaign of 10 :30's for the Stater Brothers grocery chain through Heartland Media.

AlphaDogs' two-person motion graphic and branding team has completed design and animation work for, MTV Productions' Tough Enough series, Terra Nova for the Discovery Channel and various promos for The WB.

In addition to the Symphony's the AlphaDogs arsenal includes an Avid Meridien Media Composer, Avid Adrenaline, five Avid Xpress and four Final Cut Pro systems. The graphics department runs After Effects, Commotion and Combustion.

Curren says it was the plunging cost of these post toys - a Symphony edit bay can run one-tenth the cost of its linear on-line predecessor - and the goal to stress talent over tech that lead to the formation of AlphaDogs. "I really don't see a big future for large facilities," says Curren.

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About AlphaDogs

Founded in 2002, Burbank-based AlphaDogs, Inc. quickly established themselves as leaders and innovators in the rapidly changing digital post arena. The company maintains an early adopters edge; testing and assimilating leading technologies to keep ahead of the pack with solutions such as the RED camera and were the first post house in Los Angeles to take delivery of the Avid Symphony HD editing system. Personal attention from a seasoned award-winning team assures client satisfaction accompanies each cost-effective delivery of superior post production services—from editing and audio re-recording to broadcast design & effects.

AlphaDogs is home to the popular Editors' Lounge and headquarters of the growing media transfer specialty service Digital Service Station; now serving California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. AlphaDogs is located at 1612 West Olive, Suite 200, Burbank, CA 91506.

Visit the AlphaDogs team on the web: www.alphadogs.tv.

AlphaDogs completes Ad Campaign for Stater Bros.

Post-production studio lends creative, technical expertise to commercials for major grocery chain

AlphaDogs, Inc., a post-production studio focused on keeping clients “ahead of the pack,” today announced that it has completed post-production work on a series of television commercials for Stater Bros., one of the largest privately held chains of grocery stores in the U.S.

The advertising campaign, with the tagline An American Tradition, consists of ten 30-second television spots that emphasize the quality of the grocery store’s offerings as well as its low prices.

In the past, Stater Bros. had created its ads on film; this series was the first shot entirely in high-definition (HD) digital using Sony’s 24P camera. After the segments were created, Terence Curren, president of AlphaDogs, helped them save money and time in the post-production process.

“We decided to edit the new spots at AlphaDogs because of their stellar reputation, and I must say it speaks for itself,” said Lisa Shanks Thomas, executive producer and owner of Heartland Media Productions, which directed and produced the commercials. “Everyone was very professionals and helpful, but with a relaxed atmosphere. Terence Curren is a terrific editor and was immensely knowledgeable in the 24P environment. We consider AlphaDogs at the top of our list.”

According to Curren, Stater Bros. originally planned to have AlphaDogs do HD online editing, which is quite expensive. “When I spoke with them,” said Curren, “I discovered that the final product was to be delivered in standard definition—they shot the ads in HD only to get the ‘film look.’ I suggested that we down-convert the master tapes and do the work in Avid® Symphony™.”

Because of the speed necessary to complete the ads, Curren used Symphony to edit both offline and online uncompressed. “Because AlphaDogs has three terabytes of storage available, it’s no problem to have all the media online.”

As always, Curren’s team used its creative and technical experience to provide the client with an outstanding finished product. “One spot needed to go from an ‘old film’ look to current day,” explained Curren. “AlphaDogs used a combination of sepia toning and Boris Continuum’s Film Damage plug-in. We didn’t need to fake the film motion, as the source was 24P. After AlphaDogs cut the spots to the clients satisfaction, we used Symphony’s color corrector to achieve a final look that the director was happy with.”

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About AlphaDogs Founded in 2002, Burbank-based AlphaDogs, Inc. quickly established themselves as leaders and innovators in the rapidly changing digital post arena. The company maintains an early adopters edge; testing and assimilating leading technologies to keep ahead of the pack with solutions such as the RED camera and were the first post house in Los Angeles to take delivery of the Avid Symphony HD editing system. Personal attention from a seasoned award-winning team assures client satisfaction accompanies each cost-effective delivery of superior post production services—from editing and audio re-recording to broadcast design & effects.

AlphaDogs is home to the popular Editors' Lounge and headquarters of the growing media transfer specialty service Digital Service Station; now serving California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois and Ohio. AlphaDogs is located at 1612 West Olive, Suite 200, Burbank, CA 91506.

Visit the AlphaDogs team on the web: www.alphadogs.tv.