Interview: Page (1) of 2 - 07/13/06

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Blink Digital's expanded team. From left are Steven Chester, Dan Post, Allie Rosenzwieg and Jeffrey Eagle.

HD-DVD or Blu-Ray? While marketers wrestle with that question, production houses are taking an agnostic approach, offering DVD authoring and creative services for whatever their clients want. But these days, clients are likely to ask about a variety of other interactive media formats as well, including Video-on-Demand (VOD), mobile devices and games.

Being ready for all this emerging media requires a good strategic plan, which is what Blink Digital, a Santa Monica, CA-based DVD production facility, has put into place. ?The idea is to figure out how to put all the pieces together in one workflow so that we can do all those formats simultaneously,? says Steven Chester, General Manager, Worldwide at Blink Digital. ?That's really where the market is going.?

The goal is to offer one-stop shopping to Blink Digital?s customers, who include major players in the movie, TV, music and advertising industries. Content that can be distributed via everything from a Blu-ray disc to a mobile phone can be kept on the company?s secure servers for reauthoring to whatever format is required. And as part of the Ascent Media Group, Blink Digital can access assets from its sister divisions via the company?s proprietary black fiber network.

?The challenges include having the right infrastructure, finding the talent, and having the ability to author on all those multiple formats,? Chester says. Talent is an especially key ingredient, he notes. Blink has just hired several new creative executives charged with designing custom content for client projects.

Jeffrey Eagle, Executive Producer, Original Programming, joined Blink from Herzog-Cowen Entertainment, where as Creative Director he worked on DVD titles such as Ray, Pirates of the Caribbean, and ?Desperate Housewives.? Allie Rosenzwieg, Producer, Original Programming comes to Blink from Sony Pictures Studios, where she was Director, DVD Content & Programming. She  previously directed value-added material production at MGM Studios, working on such projects as the James Bond Collection DVD series. They are joined by new Art Director Dan Post, whose background includes New Wave Entertainment, Deluxe and B1 Media, and who is now overseeing DVD design and animation as well as other creative projects at Blink Digital.

?In hiring these people, the idea was to elevate our ability to provide out-of-the-box creative concepts for our clients, to offer a one-stop shop,? Chester says. ?With the pressures that the entire market is feeling, what's going on is that clients are really looking for a one-stop shop that can offer not only menu design but can also provide original programming,? Chester says. ?What we try to do is by having all of that in-house, provide them not only with great creative solutions but also provide them with financial incentives that make it worth their while.?

Chester says the extra storage capacities of of HD-DVD and Blu-ray are allowing the company to create some innovative features for titles currently in production, although  specifics can?t be divulged until the titles are released. ?But the goal is to give consumers something different that validates their decision to go out and buy these new devices. Ideas that are being played around with are really new and unique, and I think what you are going to see is some cool features that have never been done before on standard DVDs,? he says.

Some of the Blu-ray titles Blink is working on are destined for Sony?s PlayStation 3 game consoles, which are coming out with Blu-ray players in them. ?You're going to see some of these Blu-ray releases with special features that will enhance the capabilities of the PlayStation 3, maybe with unique previews games, or things that you can do to showcase the film franchise or the game from that franchise,? Chester notes.

For original programming and features, the earlier Blink is brought into the process, the better, Chester says. ?That's where you get to the raw ideas, versus if someone hands you the material, you're limited to what you have.?

For clients, the one-stop shopping approach solves not only logistical issues, but financial ones as well. ?As corporations maximize the revenue, they're looking at ways to streamline the creative or production process,? Chester notes. ?That includes creating multiple elements that can be repurposed across the variety of formats and the media outlets that they're going to go to in the end."

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