HD Hits West Texas
United Supermarkets Made Decision For the Future
View Spot
In 1916, when H.D. Snell opened the first
United "Cash Store" he had a simple philosophy of offering
customers the finest in quality, value and service. Acting
on this simple premise, one store grew into the present number
of 47 United Supermarkets and the affiliates of Market Street
and Market Supermercado that service the south and southwest.
Eighty-eight years later when Admarc Southwest,
the broadcast agency of record for United Supermarkets, was
asked to create ten :60 spots with a similar philosophy that
would stand the test of time, the decision was made to produce
classic spots and finish them in high definition.
Gary Bain, Creative Director for Admarc
stated, " Because our client is technologically aggressive
and wanted us to produce timeless spots, it was logical to
transfer and finish on HD. And since these spots will be utilized
years from now, the pristine video image of this format worked
favorably within this idea. The quality of the image was stunning,
almost 3D."
"Two out of the ten spots, "Heartland" and
"Foreman's Choice" will be finished in early March and the
remaining eight will be completed in a few months time. Pony
Pictures shot the footage in Alpine, Texas and other locations
around the state, including aerial footage of Hell's Gate
at Possum Kingdom Lake. Shooting 35 mm film then transferring
to 16 X 9 ratio with the Spirit 2K at Video Post & Transfer
made the footage look awesome. We edited both spots on Discreet's
fire HD.
"The day we took the chopper out to Hell's
Gate at Possum Kingdom Lake, the headwinds were peaking at
70mph. We noticed a bit of camera instability during the film
transfer so we asked our capable editor for advice. Mark Sullivan,
fire artist for VP&T stated," I used the Stabilizer feature
in fire to seamlessly eliminated the unwanted camera movement
and also the fire Autopaint feature did a bang-up job of cleaning
up other inconsistencies in the film."
Bain continued, "We went to VP&T because
we knew they would be able to handle a project of this magnitude
and we were correct for our client was extremely happy with
the outcome."
Chief Marketing Officer for United Supermarkets
and Executive Producer on the spots said, "Given the wide
range of distribution channels available nowadays for the
rich media projects we produce, I can't imagine mastering
in anything but HDTV. It's a simple formula for us - maximize
the shelf life and return-on-investment by capturing 30 and
60 second movies on 35mm film that feature timeless content."
Bain added, "We're excited because we know
the day is soon coming when everyone will have an HD set.
United is planning to have HD screens in all their stores
and is adding an additional marketing initiative of theatrical
unveiling. Releasing in movie theatres is a fantastic idea
because we not only have a captive audience, but also know
the way these spots were produced will hold up well on big
screen theatres in United Market's local areas."
United Supermarkets is not only planning
a continual expansion of stores in the southwest but is quickly
becoming a huge contributor to charitable events and outreaches.
In the fall of 2005 United will sponsor the United Texas Tour,
the longest professional cycling race in U.S. history with
a record purse of $175,000.00. The proceeds will benefit cancer
research and help to redefine survivorship. The race has the
endorsement of The Lance Armstrong Foundation.
Video Post & Transfer is a leading post-production
facility in Dallas, Texas that is at the forefront of high
definition television offering HD film-to-tape transfer/tape-to-tape
colour correction as well as HD editing and compositing solutions
and audio facilities. VP&T is a one-stop shop for all HD needs
and handles all formats and frame rates.
I/O Partners, Inc. is a high performance
systems integrator, based in Irving, Texas with field offices
around the U.S. Its solutions target advanced enterprise demands
for custom networking, storage and advanced computer integrations
for media and non-media companies. I/O Partners is proud to
represent an extensive number of leading edge, technically
oriented companies including Discreet, a division of Autodesk,
which considers I/O Partners one of its largest integrators.
I/O Partners has been distinguished as one of the fastest
growing companies in America by Dunn and Bradstreet's Entrepreneur
publication, and is recognized as a leader in television production,
broadcast integrations, storage and network innovations. http://www.iopartners.com/
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