- 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
- Map
- Contact Info
- Scrapbook
The biggest trend in commercial production is to create images with very shallow, film-like depth-of-field. This “look” was easy with 35mm movie film. As a general rule, the larger the film frame or imaging device, the “tighter” the depth-of-field and more selective the focus. This contrasts with previous HDTV digital cameras that achieved sharp focus throughout the entire frame.
Although I love film and have shot over 2,000,000 feet of it… today’s budget for a typical spot doesn’t have the luxury of $10K to $20K for 35mm film stock, processing, HDTV transferring and sync-ups.
Using “film-like” shallow depth-of-field to separate actors or products from a scene’s background can now be achieved with new, cost-effective cameras from Sony and Panasonic. They use large scale digital imagers that approximate the size of 35mm film negative. Since these cameras record to solid state memory, there’s no added size, weight or expense related a tape mechanism.
I recently shot a series of commercials with Panasonic’s new AF100. I love the fact that all my Canon and Nikon 35mm lenses work perfectly with this camera. Plus, it will shoot 1080P, true slow-motion at 60 frames-per-second. I don’t have a lot in common with James Cameron, but we both agree that professional cameras need to be smaller and lighter. Technology marches on…
Pittsburgh Filmmakers is a nonprofit organization that offers a curriculum of courses in film, video, and photography to university and independent students in Western Pennsylvania.
Last week, director/cinematographer Glenn Przyborski spoke to an advanced class of future film and video producers and directors. The subjects ranged from interpreting storyboards to the importance of writing director’s shot lists. Glenn shared his experiences in handling different types of filming situations. He also discussed the pros and cons of several new high-definition cameras that have been recently introduced. The evening ended with almost an hour of interesting Q&A.
Frank Caloiero of WQED-TV teaches the weekly class and strives to give his students “real world” experience with professionals in the film and video industry.
Here’s a 4 minute “mini time capsule” of GNC’s early TV advertising. General Nutrition Centers had an amazing period of growth and profitability in the early 90’s. During this time, TV Advertising helped GNC realize it’s first quarterly profit as it went public for the second time.
From ’93 through ’96, Przyborski Productions produced most of GNC’s network TV spots. We introduced their “Gold Card” and many product lines that are still in stores today.
All the commercials were filmed in 35mm, then transferred and edited on 1″ videotape. By the end of 1993, we were editing on D2 composite digital. (In the 90’s, everything was standard definition.)
Compared to what we produce today, most of these old commercials are dated and a little “corny.” Saturday Night Live even did a comedic parody on GNC’s “Colon Cleanser”, titled, “Colon Blow.” Eighteen years ago, sophisticated computer graphics were in their infancy. The stock music GNC used also dates the ads. The 8 commercials in this video were selected from several GNC campaigns.
Each year, the 911th Air Wing of the Air National Guard sponsors “Wings Over Pittsburgh” an air show that features military and civilian aviation acts from all over the country.
Even if you’re not an aviation buff like me, it’s a great time to get out and enjoy the sunshine. The second day day of this year’s event took place on Sunday, September 11th, the 10th anniversary of the infamous attack on America. (I’ll never forget 9/11/01. We were shooting a commercial in Jay Verno’s studio the day the Towers fell. We didn’t know if we should continue shooting or just go home…)
The sky was threatening all afternoon and everyone expected weather delays. As it turned out, the only delay was caused by the President and Air Force One as he departed from giving a tribute at the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
I thought the most interesting aerial visual was a modern F-16 jet fighter flying in tight formation with a classic, World War II vintage, P-51 Mustang.
This video is a short collection of scenes from this year’s event.
Arena Football is a new entertainment concept in Pittsburgh, but considering the possibility of the NFL player lockout… it just might catch on.
There are several major films, including the latest Batman feature, who want to shoot in Western PA, but have been waiting for the Governor’s decision. In today’s complicated world of film finance, states bid against each other to see which can provide the biggest incentives to producers. Now the proposed budget has to be rammed through our state’s legislature.
Ray Tragesser & Dax Parise have teamed up to form UpperCut, a brand new post-production facility in downtown Pittsburgh. The facility is located on the 10th floor of #4 Smithfield Street. Ray has an amazing view of downtown and the Mon River from his edit suite.
Ray Tragesser was a Slippery Rock University intern working with Glenn Przyborski back in the late 80’s. Glenn could see that Ray liked working in production, but he loved post-production. Przyborski convinced Ray that he should follow a career path in broadcast editing.
Today, Ray Tragesser is one of the region’s most creative and most sought after commercial editors. All of us at Przyborski Productions wish Dax & Ray the best of luck with UpperCut!
Svetlana Maine is the senior art director at Eat ‘n Park and she’s now an American citizen. Svetlana, a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, is from Russia. As an intern, her work ethic and unique flare for original design quickly became apparent to Eat ‘n Park’s Cliff Miller and Kevin O’Connell. She was offered and accepted a full-time position before graduation.
Svetlana designs the artwork for many of Eat ‘n Park’s in-store promotions and other printed materials. She also creates title graphics that are used on television commercials for item/price inserts.
On Feburary 18th, Eat ‘n Park’s entire marketing and advertising team crowded the Federal Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh to witness Svetlana Maine become a citizen of the United States. Congratulations Svet!
With over 75 restaurants throughout Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, Eat ‘n Park called on Przyborski Productions to shoot their ongoing testimonial campaign. VP of Creative Services, Cliff Miller and Senior VP of Marketing, Kevin O’Connell worked with director/cinematographer Glenn Przyborski to establish a fun, free-spirited look and feel for the very successful marking campaign.
Glenn shoots the on-going, HDTV campaign using a specially modified Canon 5D digital camera. The camera’s extremely shallow depth of field yields an intimate portrait of Sarah and featured customers, while blurring background action.
Eat ‘n Park spots are always shot in busy restaurants, so it’s important that guests are not disrupted. Before dawn, dozens of ceiling lights are exchanged with special daylight bulbs. Powerful HMI’s are used outside to stream “daylight” into the restaurant. Przyborski also uses low power LED panels as fill light on featured customers.