Please join Marsha Casper Cook on
Tuesday Nov 6 4EST 3 CST 2 MT 1 PST when she welcomes her guest Randall Dark,
Writer, Director, Producer and Cinematographer.
Randall is the creative and marketing force
behind Randall Dark Productions, Inc. He received one of the International
Electronic Cinema Festival's top honors: The Pioneer Award, bestowed in
recognition of extraordinary contributions to the success of High Definition.
He is a member of the Television Arts and Sciences Academy and is one of a
select few members of the Consumer Electronics Association's Academy of Digital
Pioneers, a group recognized for their efforts implementing Digital Television
in the United States. Dark and his companies have been involved in over 2000 HD
projects including feature films, documentaries, commercials, music videos,
corporate presentations, product launches and live events.
The Maxell Corporation presented Dark its Independent Filmmaker Award for
Achievement made during the making of "Closing Escrow". HD Programs
directed by Dark have also received awards from CEA, Telly, IECF, Communicator,
Aurora, Axiem, WorldFest Houston International Film Festival, Videographer, The
American Corporate Video Awards and Cinema Chicago.
Marsha is an author, screenwriter, host and producer
of all Michigan Avenue Media and World Of Ink Podcasts. For more about the shows - http://www.michiganavenuemedia.com
January 17, 2018 /
canada, china, film, film production, hd, hd video, video
Spotlight: Randall P. Dark
If you’re old enough to have used
a cassette tape, I’d be surprised if that photo isn’t imprinted on the
back of your brain as it was one of the iconic images of the 1980’s.
That anonymous man in the chair, who he was and what we were
experiencing in that poster – music, speakers, print, early MusicTech –
in many ways exemplifies, by inspiring, what you might think of as a
MediaTech professional.
I sat in a local coffee shop in Austin, TX, months ago, and shared
passions and possibilities with a now clean(er) cut and gray Randall
Dark.
In meeting for the first time, I had no idea that the poster from my
youth, a poster that got me excited about music and audio, had Dark so
early in my life as to influence my path toward media innovation. He’s
an exciting personality, visionary, passionate, and just what you’d
expect from a Canadian: a person you just enjoy spending time with.
Writer, Director and Producer
Today, Dark is a director, producer, writer, cinematographer, and
media consultant who has not only embraced new camera technology, he is
considered by the television industry to be one of the guiding thought
leaders and adopters of the HD medium. Since seeing HD first in 1986,
if you can believe, he has gone on to capture on the screen Julie
Andrews, Bill Clinton, Willie Nelson, Harry Connick Jr., Leonard Nimoy,
Lyle Lovett, Sting, and Stephen Hawking.
“Because high definition was so real and so vivid — the
coluors were perfect, you could see the tiniest detail — I believed that
if you had a 65-inch TV in your home and you watched a documentary
about starving children, it would touch your heart in a way that you
would have to react,” says Dark. “I believed it was a technology that
would have an impact on people and change their hearts. I honestly
believed it would change humanity.”
Evidence of our vision that media cross pollinates throughout music,
video, and other formats, Dark, found himself from Canada (he’s a native
of Saskatchewan) to New York City, working out of the Ed Sullivan
Theatre, where he worked with bands like Aerosmith and Crosby, Stills
and Nash. He helped build one of the first multi-camera,
high-definition production trucks and shot Victor-Victoria on
Broadway with Julie Andrews. We all know the significance of the media
in sports and Dark was behind the camera for Super Bowl XXX and NBA
All-Star games as well as the first to broadcast in high definition a
live sporting event to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. as
the American Public looked to Congress and the FCC to determine if high
definition was a viable new TV standard for the United States.
In 2013, he found himself collaborating with Willie Nelson, Kris
Kristofferson, Harry Connick Jr., Connie Britten and Lyle Lovett as one
of the executive producers of Angels Sing
and of watching Nelson and Connick Jr. create a new song, he noted, “I
got to watch these two geniuses at work. My life is so amazing. I have
never been star-struck working with celebrities because people are just
people. I think what happens is so many big name stars get worshipped
and people go ‘I’m a big fan’ and it gets tiring after a while. I think,
because I am an expert in my field I can sit down and say, ‘Hey, I know
nothing about what you do but do you want to know about high
definition?'”
I could relate. I had a poster on my wall for years when I was growing up. Yeah, I’m that much of a media geek that I had a Maxell cassette tape poster
on my wall. Dark had the opportunity to work with Maxell to recreate
it years later. What a brilliantly fun coincidence; and in a moment I
was a little star-struck, here I was having coffee with an inspiration
of mine, even though it wasn’t actually, originally Dark in the chair on
the poster. The idea behind media and technology suddenly started
gelling in my brain. Dark, pointedly, wasn’t in that original chair; his
influence is such that Maxell recreated it with him.
Dark is a media personality that we want to spotlight not just
because of my personal connection with him. He is known for taking the
experimental approach that we want to challenge everyone to embrace.
He’s long been digital technologies and as we all wonder at HOW we can
afford quality media production, whether we’re advertising, producing a
film, or in need of a music video, he just does it. For his
documentary Fast From The Past, he he used many different types of cameras, everything from an Apple iPhone to a 4K camera. Whatever it takes.
Truly, embracing all forms of media. If you’re as inspired to write
as am I, you can appreciate that bubbling in the back of such a brain
are stories to be told, and not always through video. Dark wrote a
children’s play some 25 years ago, Tale of Sasquatch, and found it later published by the Playwrights Guild of Canada. Today, it’s an animated mobile app, available now [android | apple].
What brought us together to share chairs in a coffee shop was our
alignment on so many ideas for the future of media and it’s therein that
I’d like to encourage you to get to know Randall Dark. Thinking
globally and in the sense of how networking and education will drive
forward our media economy, he co-founded the Macao China International Digital Camera Festival and serves today as its artistic director. He, as do we, works with companies and
non-profit organizations on how to use technology to grow their
businesses and and To see articles written about Randall and the
projects he has been involved in, check out – http://randalldarknews.blogspot.com/. Curious about listening to more of his story? Join him on Marsha Casper Cook’s podcast World Of Ink Network as they explore even writing books beyond producing movies.
Long
time Silicon Valley technology and startup veteran, Paul O'Brien is
affectionately known as SEO'Brien for an extensive past in the search
industry.
Now Texan, O'Brien works in Venture Capital Economic
Development, serving the investment and venture capital economies
directly, through thought leadership, consulting, and startup
development.He's the founder of MediaTech Ventures, a founder and
managing director of the Texas Technology Council, and partner in 1839
Ventures.
Please join Marsha Casper Cook on January 3 at 830 EST 730CST 630MT
530PST when she welcomes Randall Dark and Samuel French for an open
discussion about writing books, plays and movies. It's going to be a lot of
fun!
Please join Marsha Casper Cook on October 17 at 4 EST 3 CST 2 MT 1 PST when Marsha opens the World Of Ink
show for a great discussion with two very successful men in the
entertainment world, Mikey Brooks and Randall Dark. Each of them has
accomplished so many wonderful projects it's going to be an interesting
and learning experience.
Randall Dark is a Canadian Director, Producer, Author, Cinematographer and Playwright and Mikey Brooks is an Author, Illustrator and Cover Designer.
Marsha Casper Cook is and Author, Screenwriter, Marketing Consultant and Radio Show Host
Please feel free to call in if you have any questions. 714-242-5259
Randall P. Dark was chosen as FILMMAKER in the category of THE INDEPENDENTS. Here is his interview:
Randall Dark is a long-standing innovator in digital video, having
founded HD Vision in New York City in 1992, becoming one of the first
specialists in the technology behind HDTV. More recently, he has been
executive producer on films including Angels Sing, featuring Harry Connick Jr., Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, and the documentaries Makarios: A Rising Tide and Seadrift vs. the Big Guy. He also produced the trailer for the Howard Lukk-directed SMPTE documentary Moving Images. He runs Randall Dark Productions out of Austin, TX.
What will be the biggest challenge of 2017 for the media industry?
The biggest challenge is finding funding for projects. Ideas are a dime a dozen.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
I have said during my entire career that I have never worked a day in
life. I love what I do therefore it doesn’t feel like work to me. That
being said, I do like to play a round of golf once in awhile.
What movie, TV show, book, music, or other media would you most recommend to your colleagues?
I recommend seeing or reading or listening to whatever is hot. Keeping your finger on the pulse is important.
What’s your best advice for others in this business?
Go big or go home.
See the entire list of StudioDaily's 2017 honorees here.
Recently, Randall Dark participated on a panel of video production
professionals to discuss video and how it relates to start ups.
Held at Impact Hub Austin, the panel talked about how startups can use
video – where it can bring them the most value to finding the resources
to produce it.
With that shift to smartphones and VR, audiences have become
increasingly harder to attract and keep interested in companies and
products.
When creating video, Dark noted, “Our attention span has shrunk dramatically. I need to be compelling in the first 15 seconds."
Along with Dark on the panel were Lyn Graft, Carlana Stone and Pat 'Shaggy' Welsh.
Randall P. Dark has been named a 2017 StudioDaily 50 Awards Honoree!
The StudioDaily 50 recognizes influential creatives and technologists
whose leadership breaks new ground in media and entertainment.
The List is populated by executives and producers who make great work
happen; directors, cinematographers and editors who push the creative
envelope; and scientists, engineers, inventors and other innovators who
keep pushing the state of the creative arts.
StudioDaily announces the 50 honorees on its inaugural list of the
StudioDaily 50 — key creatives and technologists whose leadership and
influence in all parts of the industry who are breaking new ground in
media and entertainment.
The list honors executives from major corporations, visionary creative
thinkers, technology mavens who make awe-inspiring images possible and
specialists in advertising, B2B communications and more who do great
work on a national, regional, or local scale. Through their leadership,
expertise and execution, these are the people who make media and
entertainment such a vibrant industry.
The complete list of StudioDaily 50 honorees and profiles will be
announced on Tuesday, April 25. In recognition of his accomplishment,
Dark will be honored during the StudioDaily 2017 Prime Awards presentation on the NAB show floor.
Randall P. Dark will join Jeanette Arsenault for a live interview with
Marsha Casper Cook on The World of Ink Radio Network, Wednesday January 4
at 4:30 EST/3:30 CST/2:30 MT/1:30 PST.
The discussion centers on the collaborative project about Arsenault’s
brother Ron, who has cerebral palsy. He lives in Canada at St. Joseph
Hospital Complex Care due to his particular needs.
Dark brings his skills as writer, producer/director to tell the
heartfelt story of how Arsenault's music, inspired by her brother,
motivates her to help others by touching their hearts through song.
Together they plan to explore the emotional subject many people face each day when a crisis strikes their family.
The University of Ottawa's monthly publication TABARET highlights the
stories that have shaped and continue to shape the university's history.
Along with discoveries by professors, they highlight outstanding
alumni.
Recently, Mike Foster profiled high definition visionary and alumnus,
Randall P. Dark. The following is an excerpt from the story:
Randall P. Dark (BA ʼ79, Honours), one of the pioneers of high
definition television, says he embraced the technology because he
believed sharper images had the power to change the world. But it wasn't
easy convincing film industry bigwigs of the merits of HD.
"I was laughed at many, many times," says Dark. "After one demonstration
of HD to some of the top cinematographers, directors and producers in
New York City, I was viciously attacked. They were saying it looked like
video, it was horrible, it was never going to happen. I remember one of
my staff asking me, 'Randall, how do you feel? They tore you apart.'
But I was elated. I said, 'Did you see how passionately vicious they
were, how much they hated it? If it touched them that much, we're on to
something.'"
Today, Dark is a producer, director, cinematographer, writer and media
consultant who has shot some of the most famous personalities in high
definition, including Julie Andrews, Willie Nelson, Harry Connick Jr.,
Lyle Lovett, Sting, Bill Clinton, Leonard Nimoy and Stephen Hawking. He
is considered by the television industry to be a visionary guru who has
played a key role in advancing the HD medium.
Dark compares the moment he first saw HD in Toronto in 1986 to someone
seeing a Model T Ford during the days of horses and carriages.
"My brain fired and I thought this was going to be the future of so many
things. I wanted to help bring it to the world and I was blessed enough
to be involved in so much of the roll-out," says Dark.
"Because high definition was so real and so vivid — the colours were
perfect, you could see the tiniest detail — I believed that if you had a
65-inch TV in your home and you watched a documentary about starving
children, it would touch your heart in a way that you would have to
react," says Dark. "I believed it was a technology that would have an
impact on people and change their hearts. I honestly believed it would
change humanity."
In the mid-1980s, he worked on the CBC's Chasing Rainbows, the first
television mini-series to be recorded in HD. From there, he moved to New
York City, working out of the Ed Sullivan Theatre, which was sometimes
used in those days as a high definition sound stage for MTV's Unplugged
series. He got to work with bands like Aerosmith and Crosby, Stills and
Nash.
In 1992, he founded HD Vision Inc., an HD production and post-production company in New York and Dallas, Texas.
"I was one of the first in the world to build multi-camera,
high-definition production trucks. I got to shoot Victor-Victoria on
Broadway with Julie Andrews. I got to shoot Super Bowl XXX. We got to
shoot the NBA All-Star game. I was the first to broadcast in high
definition a live sporting event to the National Press Club in
Washington, D.C. where members of the (U.S.) Congress and the FCC
(Federal Communications Commission) analyzed the images to determine if
high definition was a viable new TV standard for the United States. I
ended up doing a lot of the very first events because I was one of the
only people in the world to own HD trucks," says Dark.
He later co-founded HD Vision Studios in 2002 in Los Angeles and, in
2007, Randall Dark Productions LP. Over the years, he has been involved
in around 2,000 feature films, documentaries, music videos, commercials
and corporate presentations.
"My life is so amazing"
One of his latest projects is the film Angels Sing. Released in 2013, it
features Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Harry Connick Jr., Connie
Britten and Lyle Lovett. As one of the executive producers, he got to
watch Nelson and Connick Jr. create a new song, which plays during the
film's credits.
"I got to watch these two geniuses at work. My life is so amazing," says
Dark. "I have never been star-struck working with celebrities because
people are just people. I think what happens is so many big name stars
get worshipped and people go 'I'm a big fan' and it gets tiring after a
while. I think, because I am an expert in my field I can sit down and
say, 'Hey, I know nothing about what you do but do you want to know
about high definition?'"
Dark is also known for taking an experimental approach and mixing a
variety of digital technologies. In his documentary Seadrift vs The Big
Guy (2012), which follows contestants in the 260-mile Texas Water Safari
canoe race, he used everything from an Apple iPhone to a 4K camera,
which yields a resolution four times higher than standard HD.
"I used 20 different types of camera technology to do that documentary,
everything from cutting-edge 4K to high-definition sunglasses to shoot
it. I think I used a total of 40 cameras," says Dark.
Filmmaker Randall Dark brought a lot of cameras to his latest shoot.
Fast from the Past, the pilot-in-progress for a proposed reality-based
television series following everyday characters as they rebuild classic
muscle cars into racing vehicles to take out on the track. The project
originated with Mark Mcilyar, a self-taught mechanic, body shop owner
and vintage race-car driver who acts as producer, host and storyliner
for the program. Dark describes Mcilyar and his friends as "interesting
people with an outrageous hobby" worthy of a series dedicated to their
exploits. We talked to Dark, director and cinematographer on the pilot,
and his colleague Sharon Rankin, who helped wrangle cameras and shot
behind-the-scenes stills for the project.
StudioDaily: So how did you connect with the wild world of vintage race car drivers?
Randall Dark: I love all sports. If it's 'the best in the world,' I'm
there — whether it's tiddlywinks, the Olympics, or these crazy people
putting together these cars. We follow a dentist and a fireman in their
adventures racing on the Indianapolis Speedway. So when the show's host,
Mark Mcilyar, brought the project to me, he had me at 'hello.'
What kind of cameras were in your kit?
RD: I brought a 4K JVC camera and a Canon camera, but I also had 10
GoPros and 10 JVC ADIXXION cameras with me. Part of telling the story is
that you don't want to be up in the stands. You need the wide shot, but
also the medium shot and the tight shot to tell a story. And it's
innovative companies like JVC and GoPro and Canon, et cetera, who've
developed the technology that gets people like me and Sharon inside
events instead of outside of them.
Sharon Rankin: I'm a Nikon shooter. I brought Nikon D3s with four different lenses, and I had just tried the Sony a7R II.
Sharon Rankin. Photo by Scott Rankin
Randall, all of those action cameras helped you get inside some tight spaces with the drivers, right?
RD: I've shot NASCAR and other speed events, and it's really tricky to
get cameras in certain places on these cars. The cars are unbelievably
expensive, for one thing, and normally the professional drivers don't
want you filming where you can see them doing their secret things. But
what's different about a fireman and a dentist is that they are so
generous and nice. We were allowed complete access.
What was different about the JVC cameras compared to the ubiquitous GoPro?
RD: The JVC action camera has a side LCD viewfinder and a zoom lens, so I
can put it on the outside of cars, inside them, on the top of them. But
when I was framing, with a GoPro you're running and gunning so you set
it there and hope the angle is right and off it goes. But with a
viewfinder and a zoom lens, I was able to get cool shots, zooming in or
out a little bit for more flexibility. The JVC 4K camera was a very
portable run-and-gun camera with an attached mic. I also brought a Canon
HDV camera, and we brought in the 5D Mark II. I try to keep my camera
technology as light as possible. I would use a more elaborate rig with a
matte box and filters on a feature film like Angels Sing, but for this
project I couldn't tell the story I wanted to tell with big technology.
But could you project it on a big screen if you needed to?
RD: Yes, and here's why. When you shoot an interview, you can shoot it
at 4K and light it beautifully and it looks great. When you've got a
GoPro or a JVC portable camera on the outside of a car racing by and you
intercut that footage, your brain forgives the difference in image
quality. You accept the difference in resolution because of the type of
shot you're seeing.
What shots did you get that you're especially proud of?
Photo: Sharon Rankin
SR: There was a shot that I took in the aisleway next to the racetrack
where you see the car coming toward the camera. That was one of my
favorite shots, partly because I was leaning out into the track and the
car, in order to pass, came probably within a foot of me at 200 mph. I
was pelted with stones and debris. For me, getting that shot was
exhilarating and as scary as anything.
Photo: Sharon Rankin
RD: I really loved some of the POV shots I was able to get with the
portable technology that I never could have gotten if I had to crawl in
with the driver. I do love one shot that Sharon took. I was using one of
the JVC cameras to shoot a car going by, and it looks like I've got a
gun and I'm shooting at them. If you're a spectator, and you don't know
that it's a tiny camera, you're wondering why that guy's following the
car like he's got a lightsaber or something.
How long was the shoot?
RD: It was a three-day shoot for us. There are different events on
different days, and we wanted to represent all of the different classes
of cars. And it helps in telling the story to get things that happen on
day one and then follow up on day two. And you have to do fun
interviews. One of the race-car drivers went into the gravel pit and got
rocks under the car that they have to get out before the next race. So I
did one of the interviews under the car with the driver as he was
cleaning out the rocks. I think other documentary approaches are valid,
but I wanted people to feel the dirt and the grit [of the track] so that
was a natural choice.
So how carefully did you plan the shoot? Did you plan out the shots and
sequences you needed to get in order to tell the story you wanted to
tell?
RD: I didn't want to know too much about the event before I threw myself
into it. With a lot of my work, I get so excited about doing things
that the work becomes — not childlike, but it has that enthusiasm. I
don't recommend it for everybody, but I don't overplan or overthink my
projects. I work them out in the moment, and I think that makes my work
more organic.
But does it make it harder to stay focused?
RD: Kristen Cox produces for me a lot of the time, and she always says,
"Randall, you've got to slow down." I need someone to keep me on one
shot before I run across the racetrack to get that other shot over
there. It's a combination of not being naive in the moment, but also not
being a hardened expert in racing. I see it through rose-colored
glasses, and I think the storytelling reflects that. I'm not heavily
involved, but I'm a fan of what these guys are doing. I'm just
experiencing it for the first time, and I can't wait to share it with
the world.
Do you feel like you've developed your own documentary shooting style?
RD: When I did Makarios: A Rising Tide,
I was in the Dominican Republic, shooting in a village that had no
running water or electricity. In that environment, I moved slowly,
quietly and respectfully. I'm going into their impoverished environment
to tell their story as best I can, with as much respect as possible. My
style in that world was calm, quiet. I became a different type of
director because the environment required me to be a different type of
person. On the Indy 500 racetrack I can get away with running around
screaming and yelling because the track is so loud, but it's a type of
energy I'm bringing to the type of cinematography I'm trying to create.
You can't go around screaming in someone's house. If you look at the
documentaries I've done, you'll see a different type of feeling and
camerawork because the story I'm trying to tell demands it. Not because
"Randall Dark's style is to use a shaky-cam."
What did you learn from this project?
RD: One thing Sharon has taught me is to believe in vertical marketing. A
lot of the time, I'm so busy directing or shooting that I forget about
getting the shots that I need for marketing. Sharon, how many shots did
you take?
SR: I took at least 7,000 images for this project.
RD: It's a lot of work for her to find those shots. But all of a sudden,
I'm talking to broadcast and distribution and they ask, 'What do you
have [to promote this]?' To say we have an edited program and
behind-the-scenes photography, it just makes it a better package for
presentation.
It sounds like you've developed a good working relationship.
SR: I love working with Randall, and I love racing and cars, so it was a
great opportunity to put my passion for photography forward with this
project. We did a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun.
On Thursday, March 10 at 11 pm ET / 10 pm CT, join the conversation with Randall P. Dark on Deadly Reads Radio.
Randall will be talking about HDTV, of course, and loads of other fascinating topics... like his play and children's app Tale of Sasquatch, and his brand new play and children's app Easter Frog: The Brains Behind the Bunny.
Click here to listen to the interview. Call in live to talk with Randall at 646-668-2716.
