Empire’s original perspective, as told through the developers and ironworkers responsible for these massive accomplishments, reveals an important historic continuum in New York’s development. The story of the Empire State building is a truly fascinating record that can never be matched: In the face of the great depression, using no hard hats or nets, iron workers risked and lost their lives to build the Empire State in a mere 13 months. Empire also brings witness to One World Tower, where safety is the highest priority. Many of the ironworkers on One World Tower have a lifeline to the Empire State built by great uncles or grandparents in the ironwork trade.

“For many people, the Empire State is an incredible monument to achievement and a symbol of a great city built by many unsung heroes” says Engine Room’s Dan Schmit. “For Engine Room, the project marks an exciting expansion into original content development partnerships.”

To bring this story to life, Engine Room utilized animation and visual effects to painstakingly recreate historic sequences that bring the viewer back in time and to the 82nd floor of the Empire State building. Engine Room’s Dan Schmit lensed the recreations and cast the historic actors, and his team built set pieces and produced all of the digital elements needed to depict the many facets of the Empire State construction team. Engine Room tapped Zach Kenny to produce and design the show’s beautiful, deco-inspired main titles and interstitial graphics.

The story of the Empire State is interwoven with that of One World Tower, a potent symbol of triumph over adversity built on a sacred site of one of the nation’s most tragic events. Through revealing interviews directed by John Joseph, the developers express both pride and responsibility surrounding the project.

EMPIRE airs Sunday May 20th at 8pm on the National Geographic Channel.

Partnering with Circle One advertising of Connecticut, the three-way creative team has been working to make all the spots fun and humorous, through both performance and visual design. This has resulted in a series of inspired shoots bringing ER’s brand of expert art direction and casting together with a fantastic production crew.

ER and Millennium Creative Group have collaborated on close to a dozen commercial and web spots over the last several years. Of the tight MCG/ER relationship, Pia comments, “You can’t find a more professional or a more client friendly production partner in Hollywood than Engine Room. I trust them with any technical challenge and as important, with any client. Professionalism, Honesty, integrity, and good people is a hard combination to find these days, but Engine Room has all of the above.”

The feeling is mutual from everyone at ER; who view the relationship with MCG as among its best. “We shine brightest when we have the chance to shape projects all the way through the production process,” reports ER principle and live action DP, Dan Schmit. “Our clients appreciate and rely on our focused attention to detail which we impress upon every aspect of our work”.

Breathing new life into a household brand like Reynolds Wrap can be a difficult challenge. The fact that clients like Millennium and Circle One keep coming back for more demonstrates how collaboration with Engine Room can bring success to any production task, no matter how tricky.

Produced in conjunction with Freeman’s company Revelation Entertainment, Through the Wormhole explores the latest scientific theories behind the biggest topics of all. In the first and second seasons subjects were a mix of scientific and philosophical topics: Is there a Creator?, What is Dark Matter?, Where is the Edge to the Universe? Now in season three the focus is getting even more interesting, and controversial: Is the Universe Alive?, Can we Eliminate Evil?, Is there a Superior Race?

To help illustrate the latest theory’s Engine Room’s VFX supervisor Adam Simpson enlists many of the industry’s most visionary artistic talents. And as digital artists are often science buffs at heart, ER doesn’t have to look far to find collaborators who are passionate about the subject matter.
Setting the series off from the typical dry science doc show, Through the Wormhole producers and directors embraced many different graphic and animation styles throughout each episode. These range widely from photo-real rendered 3D CG to traditional hand illustrated and Flash animation sequences. The intention is to make the often lofty subject matters accessible to a very wide audience. Judging from the ratings jump, it’s working!

From the macro, as in a 90 second continuous sequence showing the Big Bang and all creation, to a micro journey inside the smallest particles ever detected, Engine Room enjoys the challenges required to bring this ambitious show to life. With the next ten episodes currently in production, be looking for more amazing scientific adventures coming from inside the Wormhole this Spring.

Engine Room creative directors Dan Schmit and Michael Caplan tapped their new lead designer Todd Ingalls to spin the main title design for Comedy Central’s new sketch show Key & Peele. The highly promoted weekly show takes the 10:30pm time slot between TOSH.0 and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  Former MADtv players Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele star in the hysterical new series and worked closely with the Engine Room team along with the show’s producers to help develop the graphics-rich main title concept.

A highly choreographed green screen shoot produced by Engine Room along with a stylized design treatment take the comedians through a fast paced look at a sampling of the kinds of characters they portray on the show.  The shoot involved running the talent through a series of wardrobe and make up changes, starting and ending each scene with a transitional pose, that leads to the next sequence.  In 20 short seconds they go from being sports fans to gang bangers to surgical doctors to finally resolving as zombie killers.

Ingalls, who was the former lead creative designer at Intralink, joined Engine Room full time last December.  In the K&P open, he masterfully wove the artful piece together into a seamless show open that perfectly sets the tone for the highly creative new series.  By using Engine Room to produce the design, shoot and post for the open, Comedy Central and the K&P producers were able to take full advantage of everything the hybrid studio has to offer.

SOUL SURFER is the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion. The film, directed by Sean McNamara, features an all-star cast including AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood and Dennis Quaid. Amazing surfing, moving performances and photoreal effects all contribute to this inspirational film experience.

Bethany Hamilton’s transformation from shark attack victim to top surfing pro makes her nothing short of a real life superhero. But for the story to translate to a film’s retelling, audiences have to accept AnnaSophia’s physical loss as real. To accomplish this challenge, Director Sean McNamara turned to longtime collaborator VFX Supervisor Dan Schmit and Engine Room to lead what would ultimately become 750 intensive effects shots.

“Dan and I have collaborated for many years and have a shorthand that was key to this complex undertaking,” says Director McNamara. “His team was integral to making this inspirational story of a true champion. They solved all of the visual puzzles beautifully.”

Dan and Engine Room EP Michael Caplan provided on set VFX supervision in Hawaii, returning to the Hollywood studio to oversee their core creative team and offsite artist group of highly vetted remote individuals. Working closely with artists from all over the US and as far away as Macedonia, Engine Room tapped expert effects practitioners best suited for each shot including the hundreds of arm removals, torso and background replacements, surfboard color changes, face replacements and more.

Engine Room’s in house artist team, headed by Compositing Supervisors Eric Heavens, Dave Piedra, Paddy Culham and Mary Dowd, tackled the most challenging shots and engineered solutions for the technical challenges inherent in shooting water scenes with moving cameras, multiple surfers and a prosthetic-clad lead. VFX editors Adam Simpson and Ian Shulman kept the massive show organized and the filmmakers constantly up to date with temp effects shots for screenings throughout a long six month editing process.

“To gloriously overcome her disability required amazing reserves of discipline, strength and courage; the fact that they were summoned by a thirteen year-old is truly inspirational,” says Dan Schmit. “We are proud help Sean and his team portray such an incredible example of triumph.”

Read how Engine Room brought “Soul surfer” to life at latimes.com.

Engine Room is in mid-season production on an innovative comic-book style campaign with Gary Hartley and his Fox Sports Graphics team for this season’s NASCAR on FOX. Each week ER is producing a 30 second custom tease that recaps the thrills, spills and upsets from the previous week’s NASCAR race. These largely animated teases are script-to-air on a five-day schedule and include a full package of driver bumps and additional graphics for the Fox On-Air team to utilize during their weekly broadcasts.

Creative talent was the key in both designing and executing this high profile project, and for that ER leaned on its own Dave Piedra to spearhead the creative effort. Illustrators Frank Gomez and Iain Slack, helped define a striking pop-art look for the tracks, race cars and the drivers themselves. Within days of network sign-off, Dan Schmit joined Hartley traveling to the legendary Daytona Raceway to film the competing NASCAR drivers for their comic book alter egos. With these key assets in place, the ER home team headed by EP Michael Caplan began production, utilizing an appropriately high intensity color palate.

Unique to the spots are the custom 3D car animations for each driver. Hand drawn textures and a custom toon-shader result in a truly different look for each of these graphic car renderings. Highlights of prior week’s races are reenacted and rendered in 3D using Maya and then each comic book panel, consisting of cars racing/crashing, track establishing, driver interiors and hero driver poses, is assembled by Compositing Supervisor Eric Heavens, who brings it all together in After Effects CS5. The first tease rolled out in February in time for the Daytona 500 and the 14 episode series will continue until June.

Produced in conjunction with Freeman’s company, Revelation Entertainment, Through the Wormhole explores the latest scientific theories behind the biggest topics of all. Is there a Creator? What is dark matter? Is there an edge to the Universe? These are just a few of the ambitious mega-topics explored with Freeman hosting.

To help illustrate the latest cutting edge theories, Engine Room enlists many of the industry’s most visionary artistic talents. Since digital artists are generally science buffs at heart, ER doesn’t have to look far to find collaborators who are incredibly passionate about the subject matter.

Setting the series off from your typically dry science doc show, Through the Wormhole producers and directors embraced the concept of using many different animation styles throughout each episode. These range widely from photo-real rendered 3D CG all the way to traditional hand illustrated and cutout animation sequences. The intention is to make the, often lofty, subject matter accessible to a very broad audience. Judging from the huge ratings, it’s working!

From a macro 90-second continuous sequence showing the Big Bang and all of creation to the journey inside the smallest particles ever detected, Engine Room enjoys the challenges required to bring this ambitious show to life. With the next ten episodes currently in production, be looking for more exciting scientific adventures coming from within the Wormhole…

Partnering with Circle One advertising in Connecticut, the three-way creative team has been working to make all the spots fun and humorous, both with performance and visual design. This has resulted in a series of inspired shoots bringing ER’s brand of expert art direction and casting together with a fantastic production crew.

ER and Millennium Creative Group have collaborated on close to a dozen commercial and web spots over the last several years. Of the tight MCG/ER relationship, Pia comments, "You can’t find a more professional or a more client friendly production partner in Hollywood than Engine Room. I trust them with any technical challenge and as important, with any client. Professionalism, honesty, integrity, and good people is a hard combination to find these days, but Engine Room has all of the above."

The feeling is mutual from everyone at ER; who view the relationship with MCG as among its best. "We shine brightest when we have the chance to shape projects all the way through the production process," reports ER principle and live action DP, Dan Schmit. "Our clients appreciate and rely on our focused attention to detail which we impress upon every aspect of our work."

Breathing new life into a household brand like Reynolds Wrap can be a difficult challenge. The fact that clients like Millennium and Circle One keep coming back for more demonstrates how collaboration with Engine Room bring success to any production task, no matter how tricky.

In the race to complete the Oscar contender BLACK SWAN for its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, the independent film producers Brian Oliver and John Breaux at Cross Creek Pictures turned to Engine Room to design a theatrical ID for their new production company.  The result is a slick noir style, black & white piece that perfectly accompanies Darren Aronofsky’s latest directorial masterpiece.

ER had been courting UK designer Allison Moore for several years and finally the Cross Creek project created the perfect opportunity to join forces.  ER and Moore worked closely to develop the client’s original concept of a period steam engine traversing a trestle bridge into storyboards before going into production.  A few short days later the first animation test was rendered and within a week the ER team presented the finished theatrical ID to the producers in a screening room at E-Film in Hollywood.  Oliver and Breaux were proud of the results and within a week the new Cross Creek Pictures ID premiered along with BLACK SWAN, to open the 2010 Venice Film Festival with appropriate fanfare.

On the new Planet Green series FUTURE FOOD, the kitchen is regarded much more as a laboratory environment offering inspiration for a more scientific approach to the logo and graphics package design. Much as celebrity chefs Omar Cantu and Ben Roche are pushing food preparation into the future in experimental and wild ways, Engine Room has done the same for the show’s look departing from the typical and somewhat tired look of traditional cooking shows. Engine Room took cues from grade school scientific experiments rather than frying pans and food resulting in a clean and playful look. The design was so well received at Planet Green that they also adopted it for their promo campaign leading up to the premiere in spring 2010.

Future Food premieres March 30th on Planet Green.

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/future-food

The result was three Miller/Fox “Taste Greatness Moment” game overlay graphics packages. Each consists of a :15 second introduction piece and a :30 second graphic bed for replay of “Taste Greatness Moments” from the game, for the entire Basketball, Baseball and Hockey seasons.

As the design contained both a graphic animation side and a live action component, both the Live Action and the Design arms of the studio teamed up on the project. The one-day Phantom Camera shoot involved assembling a seasoned liquids team to wrangle the beer and product elements. There was also a motion control element to move the camera on its specific path.

After a color session at Technicolor, ER veterans Eric Heavens and Dave Piedra then took over with the goal of bringing the design boards to life. After many weeks of animation, 3D and compositing the three packages were finally delivered and will air on many live sporting events throughout the coming year.

Both films were perfectly suited for Engine Room’s boutique style of collaboration as both directors have a meticulous artistic eye for detail.  There were other similarities as well; each was a period project that required VFX assistance to set their backdrop.

Working with Tom Ford on “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company) was a memorable experience for all the artists at Engine Room.  His perfectionist vision and creative will both challenged and energized the studio.  Engine Room made good on the 120 VFX shots contributed to his film, but not without many entertaining stories along the way.   Besides delivering the extensive effects package, the studio’s live action wing also produced several critical insert shoots in support of the film, further demonstrating how ER brings much more to film projects than just CG support.

On “The Runaways” (River Road/Apparition), the story of Joan Jet and her legendary teenage rock band of the ‘70’s, Engine Room delivered close to 80 VFX shots, which included many period recreation shots.  These scenes took place at the base of the then dilapidated, Hollywood Sign, which was restored to its current state after the movie takes place.  ER’s in-house matte artist Dave Piedra brought an artistic vision to these shots that Sigismondi and the film’s renowned editor Peter Chew were thrilled by.

For both Ford and Sigismondi, their films were absolute labors of love and as independent filmmakers from Nick Cassavetes to John Sayles have discovered, Engine Room matches their passion in its work.  The result is a perfect visual effects playground on which to realize the forward reaching vision of today’s independent filmmakers.

The collaboration with CNN On-Air to produce the spot, demonstrated perfectly the level of trust and excellence for which Engine Room is known. Leaving no room for error, the precise schedule for the shoot was timed out to the minute. Engine Room seamlessly coordinated with CNN show producers and technicians gaining unparalleled access to shoot inside the actual Larry King Studio just hours before the show went on air. When the star arrived the multi-camera HD shoot jumped into gear and when the cameras finally cut, Larry King exclaimed, “That was the easiest shoot I have ever done!”

“Larry was a pleasure to work with”, says ER cinematographer Dan Schmit. “It was an honor to collaborate with him and to have the opportunity to fold our production into his tightly produced show.”

The best part for the crew, besides hanging out with a legend, was listening to his amazing stories in-between set-ups. “This was a shoot that none of us will ever forget,” affirms Schmit. “It was wildly entertaining with high-pressure stakes all rolled into one.”

The Web and In-Store sales campaign examines the multitude of uses the Altus music system offers. The challenge with selling any new gadget is conveying how and why the latest technology is something that will enhance a consumer’s life. The Hello Creative campaign does a beautiful job in doing this by following a couple as they transition from room to room via a series of seamlessly interwoven vignettes where we witness each of the new Sony speaker system’s individual applications and uses.

From the foyer where a woman docks her iPhone, to the kitchen, office, living room, dining room and bedroom, the Sony Altus wirelessly beams synchronous music throughout the home. The Hello Design concept depicting the environment in a classic minimalist white world focuses our attention on the product and its ease of use. The project, which was natively shot in HD, had to live both as a horizontal format for the Sony website and as a vertical 16×9 aspect ratio for in-store monitors at retailers across the country.

From casting to art direction, pre-production to wrap, Engine Room’s long history of specialty shooting for all kinds of design applications made it the perfect choice to produce this innovative and high-profile live action showpiece.

View the Sony Altus product website

Shot in Puerto Rico, this acclaimed Disney Channel event feature is based on the characters of the hit "Wizards of Waverly Place" television series, now in production on its third season. The show follows the adventures of Alex Russo (Selena Gomez) and her brothers Justin (David Henrie) and Max (Jake T. Austin) as young teenage wizards growing up in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of NYC. There is a lot of VFX magic happening on the show, and the new movie takes that to a whole new level.

The story follows the family on a trip down memory lane to the tropical vacation paradise where their parents first met. In a fit of rage, the reluctant Alex wishes that her parents had never met. The wish is granted and they are thrust into an alternate dimension. The kids find they have only a few hours to fix the problem or they will cease to exist. They take an exotic journey through the island’s remote rainforest in search of the "Stone of Dreams", a mystical wizard relic capable or reversing the accidental spell.

"The interesting thing about this movie from a visual effects perspective was the large variety of shots and sequences. This allowed us to build a diverse global artist team to execute all the necessary elements", says VFX Supervisor Dan Schmit, who was present for much of the filming in San Juan early this spring. As with most television films the post turn-around was very short. "This made some of the bigger more work-intensive 3D scenes like the Jungle Chasm and NYC Subway sequences, a major challenge", Schmit add, "but we still delivered an incredible VFX package on time and on budget."

Engine Room has collaborated on over 25 original Disney Channel Movies and numerous DC television series over the last eight years, but the Wizards Movie was the by far the biggest and most ambitious project yet. Based on its success, there is speculation about a sequel. Having given the show’s viewers an incredible visual effects feast with the first film, who knows where the Russo family’s next adventure will take us?

While in days gone by a primetime main title was something embellished for up to 45 seconds of screen time, these days networks aim to keep their viewers engaged by cutting them down to as little as 7 seconds or less. Today’s design challenge is therefore to create an experience that is compelling, fun to watch and delivers a memorable brand message fast. The new Mentalist main title successfully does all of that by capitalizing on iconic black & white images of protagonist, Simon Baker intermixed with cool vintage graphics.

The choice of who to tap for this task was an easy one as Engine Room has been the go-to company for the show’s visual effects since the first season. As a result, there was already an intimate trust between creator Bruno Heller and executive producer Chris Long and their Engine Room effects team. Executive Producer & VFX Supervisor Michael Caplan worked closely with all parties involved to capture the essence of the series in creating the compelling and classy new look.

Judging by the speed in which the piece shot through the network approval process, it is safe to say that the new open is here to stay and will remain a permanent part of the show for the run of the series. And based on its devoted fan base, “The Mentalist” will continue to entertain and keep viewers guessing for many more seasons to come.

"The Mentalist" in-road originated through Caplan’s long standing professional friendship with the show’s Executive Producer Chris Long. Having worked together on numerous episodics together over the years, an Engine Room collaboration was natural. The visual effects work requirements within the production range from creating complex digital matte paintings to the everyday production fixes that every show on the air today relies upon.

While keeping up with the ongoing schedule requirements of a run-away hit has been demanding, Caplan and a focused team of Engine Room artists have enjoyed the work tremendously. "It’s always exciting to work on a show that receives both critical acclaim and ratings success and on top of that it’s truly a pleasure collaborating with longtime friends & colleagues to deliver a great product. We look forward to many more episodes and seasons to come" says Caplan.

Besides CBS’s "The Mentalist", Engine Room provides ongoing Visual Effects vendor services to several new programs as well as some longstanding favorites including: the WB’s "One Tree Hill", Disney Channel’s upcoming "Jonas" which stars the Grammy Nominated Jonas Brothers, Disney XD’s new upcoming series "Zeke and Luther", NBC’s "Chuck" and MTV’s new upcoming reality show "The Phone".

Now through September, HBO is airing an unusual promo designed by Engine Design and executed by Engine Room for the upcoming season of Entourage. Exploring the stylings of a graphic novel, the :60 and :30 second clips follow Vince, Drama, Turtle and E on a jet-set celebrity adventure across Europe before being summoned back to LA by their irascible agent Ari.

Engine Room coordinated a team of high end illustrators with the single goal of bringing Engine Design’s original boards to life for this ambitious and highly visible piece.

While environmental backgrounds are commonly shot after a live action green screen scene is photographed, to attempt to shoot them first for a complex scene like this was ambitious and required extensive planning. After weeks of detailed storyboarding ER cinematographer and VFX supervisor, Dan Schmit joined Brooks in Seattle to shoot the scenes, sans actors. Blessed with perfect HD shooting conditions the result was a library of provocative footage that ultimately became a visual signature for the film itself.

In the fall when production started up on the East coast, Schmit then joined first unit to ensure the actor green screen elements were shot correctly. After editing, Engine Room then digitally composited the entire scene. According to this year’s Sundance Film Festival audiences the plan worked, as the film was met with fantastic reviews. Quid Pro Quo opens mid-June in New York and LA before releasing nationwide.

Engine Room is slated to join Brooks on his next picture shooting this summer, Burning Bright.

DIRECTV’s new "Hot Pass" technology puts viewers behind the wheel in an exciting 200mph racing experience that allows them to view from camera positions all around the track-all live during NASCAR’s upcoming broadcast season. So when their in-house creative director Dave Pagani wanted to bring the California Speedway into a suburban neighborhood to sell this point, an Engine Room collaboration was the perfect way to ensure success.

The plan involved hoisting an HD camera on a 50ft Technocrane, with a motion control repeat head, out and over pit row during an actual race. "We spent days prepping an elaborate schedule that would maximize every second around the track’s extremely tight shooting restraints," says Dan Schmit, DP and VFX Supervisor. "Then the rain hit, and all hell broke loose." When the delayed race was suddenly full-on with no time to rehearse, the team was forced to free record all the spot’s camera moves, wild, without the necessary stand-in performances they had so critically planned on. NASCAR Images shooters jumped in to help make up for the limited amount of race time.

For the spot to work, the racing footage had to match perfectly with the actions of the lead actor who wasn’t photographed until the following day, so tensions were high on the second location. Thankfully, due to the right mix of experience and luck, it all came together, helped by the fact that Engine Room also produced all the digital effects for Pagani’s spot. "When things out of our control go wrong on the set," says Schmit, "it’s great for our clients to know that the guys shooting their work have the ability and resources to insure its proper completion, even under extreme conditions."

Engine Room’s recent work includes a launch spot for Inspirada, an ambitious commercial/residential development in Las Vegas, produced for Robertson Wood Advertising and Stella Productions. Directed and shot by ER owner Dan Schmit, the spot conveys life in the finished community with the real challenge lying in the fact that the actual site is presently only in very early construction.

The shoot, which took place both on a green screen stage and on location, also incorporated ER’s proprietary "Around the World Rig" camera system. The AWR was used to create a series of circular camera moves in and around the subject as she travels seamlessly through a wide range of Inspirada locales.

Working with project architects, the ER Digital Effects Unit based their work on actual CAD files when bringing the yet-to-be-built portions of the community to life, all with photo-real success. These rendered 3D backgrounds were then digitally composited with previously shot green screen elements into a fully realized vision of what the city will be like when completed around 2010.

From the drama of a darkened theater comes a compelling project driven by the imagination of DevaStudios and the creative execution of Engine Room VFX. This collaboration produced a series of genre-specific theatrical opens for Lionsgate Films and presented Engine Room with the opportunity to create a piece that would potentially be seen at the beginning of every Lionsgate release for decades to come.

This long-lasting impression inspired Engine Room to explore leading creative and technical execution options for the package. The result is three unique opens – flagship, horror and family – that use the visual metaphor of gears to relate the magical inner workings of Lionsgate Entertainment, a studio that presents premier entertainment to audiences of all ages.

ER combined a seamless mix of visionary art direction, live-action shooting and memorable CG effects to keep viewers guessing all the way. Dan Schmit served as Director/DP & VFX Supervisor while EP Michael Caplan helmed all aspects of the production thru post. Art Director Richard Amend brought an experienced painters eye, as CG Supervisor Andrew Honacker led a team of 3D Artists and Compositors on a race across the finish line. Executives at Sony Pictures and the filmmakers at Imagine Entertainment have labeled the piece "historic" for its stunning visuals and powerful emotional impact.