Stylistic differences between production cities

[Rob Ruffo]

Hi all!

I'm wondering if I'm imagining things, but it seems there is an actual TVC/music video stylistic difference between New York, Toronto, L.A. Paris, and that each city seems to have a particular niche - some better known for a glossy approach, some more for naturalism for example, and that color grades seems to follow a trend in each town.

Is this my imagination? Do agencies actually ever say something like "Well this is a Miami campaign, let's phone the Miami prodcos"? or "This really needs to be sent out to Toronto?"

I don't want to state what I have noticed here to skew the query, but I will later.

I know each director and DP will very much have their own mark, but I think it's useful to be aware of community-wide sets of often-shared values and how they differ city to city, if they do indeed differ.

 

[Bruce Allen]

The weather is different, the light is different, the cities look different, the aesthetics (manmade and natural) that surround you are different and the people look different and come from different cultural / aesthetic backgrounds.

Even if you're just doing the grade, you gravitate towards what looks "natural" to you - and that depends on what the world looks and feels like outside when you step out of the office.

So... yes!

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Rob Ruffo]

You're right Bruce - that makes a lot of sense. I find it compelling how even projects shot in studio, showing zero local urbanism/scenery, and maybe using flown-in actors of the exact same ethnicity as those from somewhere else, still look way different in a localized way. There are also such tendencies as "how close is a close-up" which I'm thinking of doing some kind of numerical statistic on.

Do you think agencies/labels know this - and shop their projects accordingly?

 

[Matt Uhry]

Do you think agencies/labels know this - and shop their projects accordingly?

Most of the time agencies shop by directors reels and not by destination. Most destination decisions are cost, location, talent and weather driven, in that order unless it's a celebrity and then all bets are off.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com

 

[Phil Holland]

the light is different

One of the more shocking things I noticed when I really started travelling about is daylight. I had one of those head scratching moments where I thought something like "boy is that grass green, almost too green".

Luckily I've been able to travel to several locations consistently and been able to observe a few things. I've spent a fair amount of time across the US, Vancouver, Wellington, and my home Los Angeles and started to perform some highly unscientific experiments. Mostly shooting during morning, mid day, evening, magic hour. I swear the sun is noticeably brighter and crisper in New Zealand compared to Los Angeles. Kiwi sky is also a real pristine blue. It could be the smog, ozone, good local beer. I love Southern California/Southwest USA magic hours and the occasional rare greenish sunsets we get in Los Angeles. I've never seen those colors in Washington or Vancouver. I have seen some subtle pinks and blues in skies I'm not familiar with up around the northern west coast.

There's a million factors that could be at play here, or I could have been lost in my noggin. Either way I see something different in the pictures when we are talking natural daylight in different locations.

 

[Sam Taylor]

NZ is known for high levels of UV light. I remember shooting on the ocean east of NZ and the light was so blue that it was almost purple at times on a hot day. Lot of people got sunburned!

 

[Patrick Tresch]

Interpretation of colors are also different between continents. This is also why Kodak has another look than Fuji and Agfa. It's not only a technological difference. The best exemple was how people interpreted BW density for Red Or Blue... is red darker than blue? How much darker?

Pat

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Most of the time agencies shop by directors reels and not by destination. Most destination decisions are cost, location, talent and weather driven, in that order unless it's a celebrity and then all bets are off.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com

Yes, that's true - but I've noticed that certain towns get more work from certain agencies (not necessarily local) and that those agencies have a certain desired look, driven by their key creatives, that is typical of them.

For example, Miami gets a lot of South American storyboards. As a young director considering moving to Miami, you might evaluate whether your look jives with what is currently working in South America, as your rep is going to see a lot of traffic from there, and if what you are doing is not compatible with that look, you might not get a lot of calls.