(New York City, New York--March 18, 2008) Northern Lights recently revved up its creative engine, partnering with Writer/Producer Adam Reid on episodics for "American Chopper," the highly rated documentary series on TLC.
The collaboration was so successful the network adopted the storytelling template, look and sound design established by Northern Lights for its weekly episodics.
"Episodics can often be challenging," says Heather Weiss, VP of Creative at TLC. "Bringing a fresh perspective to what often becomes a weekly formula due to time constraints can be tough. Northern Lights and Adam Reid were able to keep the show fresh and exciting each week with smart copy, stellar cutting and first-rate sound design."
"American Chopper" follows Paul Teutul, Sr. and his son, Paul Teutul, Jr. as they run a business creating custom motorcycles in their New York-based workshop. Contrasting attitudes and unusually short deadlines for building custom choppers often lead to fiery and humorous situations between the men and their employees.
The five episodics created by Reid and Northern Lights focused on custom bikes for the National Guard, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which was designed by actor Jason Lee from sitcom "My Name is Earl," and a University of Michigan chopper for charity.
"The guys on the show are rock n' roll, but are also fun and playful," explains Writer/Producer Adam Reid. "We focused on their personalities and antics, and selected the more explosive scenarios from an upcoming show. Our challenge was making a weekly show feel fresh and exciting. We tried to make our storylines punny and funny."
Northern Lights Editor Michael Palermo set the look and feel of the episodics. "We created a template for the way the cut would flow," comments Palermo. "Our formula was splitting the :30 into two sections, which allowed us to tell different storylines. As an editor, you're lucky to work on this kind of project. Adam is a remarkably talented writer/director who has a good sensibility. He's great at giving you some initial ideas, and then allowing you to embellish in your own way. We tried to make our spots bad-ass and funny, which fortunately, with 'American Chopper' are not mutually exclusive."
Adds Editor Scott Rankin, who cut four of the five spots, "This show has been really popular. They're building a new bike every week so we had to find that hook that would draw in loyal and new viewers. It was nice to work and finish in HD; the footage is really fantastic."
The episodics feature the same patriotic/rock track every week. Ted Gannon of Northern Lights handled the sound design and mix. Gannon also sound designed and mixed the show open with the Jimi Hendrix version of "All Along the Watchtower." For the graphics, Gannon recorded authentic motorcycle sounds, and looped tiger roars and different layers to create a meaner, richer sound.
"I created a discordant and harsh sound design with metal scraping and machinery sounds," says Gannon. "It had to express adventure rather than larger-than-life material so the layers over the bike sound elements were subtle. In one episode for the Armed Forces, there's an eagle scream. I like to add a lot of layers and appropriate concepts to my sound design."
"The advantage of Northern Lights is that all of the editors really get it," concludes Reid. "In many cases, I'd be doing typical producer activities like crossword puzzles or Tetris, and when I looked up, they'd have an almost air-ready version. They stay one step ahead of me. Working with multiple editors could have been scary, but there was a real consistency in the look week to week. And having Ted [Gannon] in the room next door is a huge bonus. As the edit is happening, Ted is working on and finishing the mix. He's a truly great sound designer, which translates into more Tetris time for me."
Client: TLC
EVP, Marketing: Regina Di Martino
VP, Creative: Heather Weiss
Creative Director: David Mellott
Production Company: Flycollar Films
Writer/Producer: Adam Reid
Editorial Company: Northern Lights
Editors: Michael Palermo, Scott Rankin & Christopher Harrison
Postproduction Company: Northern Lights
Online Editor/Smoke Artist: Christopher Harrison
Sound Design & Audio Post Company: Northern Lights
Sound Designer/Mixer: Ted Gannon
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