- About Przyborski Productions
- Show Reels
- Misc Videos
- Introduction of 24P (from 2002)
- Americana
- Images from a Summer Carnival
- River Rafting
- Scenes from a County Fair
- America Lost
- Moments@24fps (1999)
- Behind-the-Scenes Prop38 (2000)
- 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins
- Barth Bartholomae (1997)
- Behind-the-Scenes Pagetime (1998)
- Frontier Telephone (2000)
- Time Capsule: GNC 1993-1996
- Glenn
- Jimmy D
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- Scrapbook
About once a year, clients will ask if I miss shooting commercials on film as we used to do on every project. Our last “film” production was in 2006. Looking back, my business partner, Jim DeVincentis and I had a lot of fun on film shoots in the late 80’s, 90’s & early 2000’s.
In the mid-90’s, JVC introduced a small mini-DV camcorder. We bought several of them and asked clients and crew to shoot some behind-the-scenes video during our film productions. I located several of the old tapes and edited them together with the actual footage we were filming. Of course everything back then was standard def.
Most people think of the past with nostalgia… as if things were always better in the “good old days.” Do I miss shooting film? I’ve always enjoyed working with agencies & clients to create commercials that everyone was proud to air. The specific production “medium” was never the most important part of a project.
My son John said, “Dad… If the vinyl LP record can return to popularity, movie film has a good chance of a come back.” You never know…
Here’s a “time capsule” of KDKA-TV promos from ’79-’96.
Friends at a retirement party for KDKA’s Drew Moniot reminded me of the many promotional campaigns Przyborski Productions produced for KDKA from 1979 through 1996. Those were the “analog” days of 35mm film production, film-to-tape transfers, and tape-to-tape video editing.
I was fortunate to work with 3 of KDKA’s creative services directors… Brad Crum (1979-1982), Art Greenwald (1985-1988), & Lorraine Sneebold (1988-1996). The promos we produced were often music-driven, high-energy spots that featured KDKA’s on-air talent and their interaction with the community.
The earliest of these promotions aired 40+ years ago. They’re a visual tribute to KDKA’s talent and staff, many of whom are retired or unfortunately, no longer with us.
Excela Health is the largest medical system in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Excela has three major medical centers… Westmoreland Hospital, Frick Hospital, and Latrobe Hospital, plus smaller, specialized medical treatment facilities. They’re also the county’s largest employer.
Glenn Przyborski was chosen to direct & photograph Excela’s TV campaign titled, “Accolades” which showcases the system’s health services and areas of specialization… from complex orthopedics to open-heart surgery.
Using a crew with experience shooting inside busy hospitals, Glenn Przyborski directed and photographed the campaign in 4K Ultra High Definition. This allowed hi-res “frame grabs” from the video to be re-purposed for billboards, social media, and other marketing purposes.
Excela’s Tom Chakurda created the concept and Robert Firment handled the complex logistics that allowed all the scenes for “Accolades” to be shot at 3 separate hospitals, over 2 long days.
Here’s a fun look at a crazy network ad campaign produced for Stanley Steemer, America’s largest residential and commercial cleaning service.
Corporate creative director, Jim McCabe called with an unusual production request. In 2006, the company had marketing success with a funny commercial that featured “Toby” a Labrador Retriever scooting his butt across the living room carpet to the shock of the homeowner and her friend. Jim wanted to revisit the concept, only this time “Toby” would scoot over carpet, tile and hardwood floors. Plus, Jim also wanted a trained parrot who harasses Toby.
Glenn Przyborski directed and photographed the campaign using 2 cameras on each shot for more editorial options. 2 cameras also gave an “insurance factor” just in case the trained animals “lost interest” after several takes. Everything was shot and edited in 4K UHD, then downsampled to 1080 for final release.
In the 90’s, Harry Greenberger worked with us as an assistant cameraman. Harry loved all aspects of the filmmaking business and was always a great, positive thinking crew person. On some rare occasions, he even filled in as a background extra. Today, Harry is a writer and director of feature films. His latest, “Staring at the Sun” has won major awards at over 40 major film festivals including Best Picture category in New York, L.A. and many others. It’s great to see Harry Greenberger receiving this well deserved career success!
2019 marks the 50th Anniversary of man’s first journey to the moon. Unlike the secretive Russians, we let the whole world watch the historic event from lift-off at Cape Kennedy to splash-down in the Pacific ocean.
“Apollo 11” is an amazing documentary, produced by CNN films, that details the entire journey with half-century old, restored film from the National Archives. Some of the footage has never been released to the public.
My late father, Joseph Przyborski was one of the cameramen who documented almost every launch from the late 50’s through mid-70’s. They used 16mm, 35mm and 65mm motion picture cameras. After watching the film in IMAX, I’m sure some of the shots that make up “Apollo 11” were filmed by my dad.
SmithFoods of Orrville, Ohio is a family owned company, founded in 1909. They supply premium dairy and other food products throughout Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.
The Innis Maggiore Agency of Canton, OH chose Przyborski Productions to produce SmithFoods’ latest TV campaign. The concept called for casting 5 children and 5 adults who could be those same kids, only now in their 40’s.
Glenn Przyborski directed and photographed the commercial in 4K digital. Props and wardrobe stylists selected kid’s clothes and table props that were popular in the mid-to-late 80’s. Back then, all TV was standard definition, so we rendered the opening sequence in the 4 x 3 ratio of older TV sets. After several visual tests, we decided not to alter the color or contrast of the opening sequence.
The commercial runs throughout Ohio and selected portions of the Mid-West.
Before Kennywood, Idlewild and Sandcastle were acquired by California based, Palace Entertainment in 2007, I directed, photographed and edited dozens of their TV campaigns. Brad Wucher was the agency creative director and writer on most of these ads. He’s a good friend and we spent many hours filming amusement park fun. We’ve ridden roller coasters and other intense rides while trying to hold heavy 35mm movie cameras and laughing so hard it hurt.
On all these projects, Henny Henninger, Andy Quinn and the late, Carl Hughes ruled the parks. They were great clients who were totally supportive of our crazy ideas. Most of these commercials were shot on 35mm movie film then edited on 1” analog videotape. Later, D-2 composite digital was used for post-production. We produced a couple of the last spots in HD, but in the mid-2000’s, many TV stations and cable companies couldn’t air non-network HDTV commercials, so home viewers saw them in standard definition.
Please enjoy this retro collection of summertime fun… Glenn Przyborski
A short time ago, I ran into Russ Streiner, an old friend who’s best known as the producer of George Romero’s, “Night of the Living Dead”. He has the unique distinction of being the first person in the film killed by a zombie. Russ was excited about the Blu-ray HD release of this classic horror film. In the 60’s & 70’s, Russ produced dozens of television ad campaigns. Many people are unaware that his business partner, the late George Romero, was a popular director, cinematographer and editor of TV spots before moving on to motion pictures.
Russ asked if I had saved any of the old commercials created by Hartwick-Przyborski Productions. Paul Hartwick (who passed in 2013) and I founded the company in 1975. From 1975 to 1987, “H/P” produced hundreds of TV commercials for clients and ad agencies across the USA. At one time, we had offices in New York, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
I located several boxes of old 2” and 1” videotape. All these spots were originally shot on 35mm film. In the 70’s & 80’s, commercials were distributed to networks and TV stations, exclusively on videotape.
In no particular running order, I selected 25 commercials. They look and sound so dated when compared to what we do today. Check out the popularity of musical jingles and just how bad electronic title graphics looked 35+ years ago. If you’re over 40, you might remember some of these ads from when they originally aired…
This video is also on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/272371561
This Friday, April 7th, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will induct England’s popular 70’s & 80’s rock group, YES. Cheering in the audience will be John Brabender, one of the country’s best known political media experts, ad agency owner, frequent contributor on MSNBC and CNN and long-time super-fan of YES. Brabender also led a crusade to get his favorite band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Every once in a while, a project comes along that’s completely different and fun to shoot. With hits like “Roundabout”, “Owner of a Lonely Heart”, “Long Distance Runaround” and many more, YES, is truly a major group from the 70’s & 80’s. Yet they still have a huge, cult-like, devoted following that sells out every performance.
For the group’s U.S. tour, Brabender asked Glenn Przyborski to direct and photograph several short videos that would play on YES’ concert video screens. They were tied to late 70’s nostalgia, including an homage to a scene from the movie “Almost Famous”. The videos were played before the band’s performance and to signal the end of intermission.
The videos were edited at Phenomenon by Thad Christian. Michael Goodis created the original sound design. John Brabender created and wrote the original concepts.
