Thursday, May 12, 2005

Reality TV Keeping AlphaDogs Busy


AlphaDogs has been busy providing online services for a number of popular reality series produced and directed by Pilgrim Films & Television, Inc. American Chopper, American Hot-Rod and Southern Steel all air on the Discovery Channel and were onlined at the facility. American Chopper also gave AlphaDogs the opportunity to showcase its audio bay, which the company added in late 2004. The studio mixed and sweetened the audio for the show in the new bay.

Terence Curren, president of AlphaDogs, headed the projects, which were posted using a combination of Avid Symphony and Adobe After Effects.

American Chopper is a reality show that follows the various business and social activities of a father/son custom chopper building team of Paul Teutul, Sr. and Paul Teutul, Jr. AlphaDogs posted the episodes Jr. vs. Sr. and Mikey Special. Both were finished in standard definition, though the programs were shot in both SD and HD.

American Hot Rod looks at the business of custom hot rod builder Boyd Coddington and his crew. Pilgrim Films normally edits the show in-house but turned to AlphaDogs for online edits and color correction due to a very tight deadline with the series' schedule.

Southern Steel focuses on a Virginia-based shop that creates custom motorcycles. Russell Frazier, VP of graphics technologies for AlphaDogs, created the opening titles for Southern Steel and designed graphics treatments used throughout the program. Curren led online finishing and says the biggest challenge for AlphaDogs' editing team was color-correcting the episodes.

"All of
Southern Steel was shot on location in the garage or outdoors," Curren explains. "With many of the frames illuminated only by ambient lighting, we had to adjust for different outdoor/indoor environments, times of day and camera angles. Moreover, Southern Steel was shot using a combination of Mini DV and DVCAM cameras, which don't give the same range of color information to work with as higher-end cameras."

Set to premier this spring on Discovery,
Dry Dock was shot in the Bahamas and documents a cruise ship makeover. Frazier created the show's opening graphics. AlphaDogs' sound editors also worked on the show.

The studio is also posting
Ghost Hunters (NBC/Sci Fi Channel), The Ultimate Fighter (Spike TV), and the upcoming VH1 reality series Strip Search.


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.