NEWS

The most acclaimed filmmaker of our time, Martin Scorsese, tackles a children’s movie for the first time. EMC West’s camera crews were there to document the master and his brilliant collaborators, including stars Sir Ben Kingsley (Schindler’s List), Chloë Moretz (Kick-Ass), Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas), Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) and Emily Mortimer (Shutter Island). The movie features stunning recreations of the work of early film pioneer George Méliès in what is sure to be regarded the cinephile Scorsese’s love-letter to the magic of filmmaking.
 
We can’t tell you the plot of the film, but if you pick up a copy of the Caldecott Medal-winning book by Brian Selznick upon which it is based, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, you’ll find a story about an orphan who lives in a Paris train station, a clockwork automaton, and a mystery that goes back to the very origins of the cinema. EMC West is looking forward to exploring all these exciting facets on the DVD/Blu-ray bonus features for the film.

From Andrew Stanton, the visionary writer-director behind Finding Nemo and Wall-E, comes the adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ beloved Mars novels, hailed by Ray Bradbury (among others) as the origin of modern science fiction — from Superman to Star Wars. With this epic blockbuster, the characters of John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) and Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins) are sure to become as iconic to moviegoers as Han Solo and Princess Leia.
 
While many have tried to adapt the books to the big screen, it has taken nearly a century for the technology of filmmaking to meet Burroughs’ wild imagination. Combining the latest in performance capture technology with the PIXAR-gold-standard of character animation, Stanton and his ‘Thark’ cast (Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Thomas Hayden Church) have achieved an emotional connection with twelve-foot tall, four-armed Martians that will floor even today’s jaded audiences.
 
EMC West was there, on set, for the spectacular multi-national production. We can’t wait to share our EPK features as well as DVD and Blu-Ray bonus content.

After more than a decade away from the big screen, The Muppets are back in The Muppets, a movie written by and starring Jason Segal, self-confessed Muppets mega-fan.  Fellow Muppet-lover, EMC Producer Charlie Visnic, was on set for 30 days of principal photography to capture all the celebrity cameos and Muppet hijinx.
 
Theatrical release is scheduled for November of 2011 and the EPK and home video bonus features are under way. The content is top secret, but we can reveal that the monsters of Muppet moviemaking are involved. You will see every element of the movie from a, well, unique perspective.

From the minds of master filmmaker Martin Scorsese and bestselling novelist Dennis Lehane comes a dark tale of an escaped psychiatric patient and a sinister conspiracy at the remote Ashecliffe Hospital.  In addition to producing EPK footage for the film, EMC West created two bonus features exclusive to the Blu-Ray release…
 

“The two special features Shutter Island includes do more for the film than most two-disc special editions. Both are so well produced and informative that you could not ask for anything more.” – thereelplace.com

“Behind the Shutters” features interviews with Scorsese, Lehane and cast members which delve into what drew them to tell the surprise-twist story of U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo).

“Scorsese, DiCaprio, Ruffalo and others take the viewer back and show them subtle clues sprinkled throughout the film. It’s pretty great.” – Collider.com

“Into the Lighthouse” documents the real historical background upon which the story draws and features an interview with the world-renowned psychiatrist Dr. Gilligan, who consulted on the film.

“Gilligan provides a fascinating and downright shocking history lesson of the school of medical thought at the time.” – Richard Lam, Suite101.com

The “Get on the Grid” promotional sweepstakes, with T.V. spots created by EMC West, was a huge success at driving audiences to theaters for this estimated $172M box office champion.  Worldwide this franchise reboot has earned nearly $400M!
 
To build excitement in EMC West’s promos, editor Nathan Aceves used a uniquely rhythmic edit in perfect harmony with the acclaimed score for the film by Daft Punk.  Graphics artist Gage Ullman created custom “Tron-ized” 3D logos for TBS, TNT and TruTV and seamlessly integrated them into footage from the film, tracking with camera moves to create a fifteen second spot that conveys more information than a traditional thirty second spot.

The creative brief for the new release of Bambi was to take the popular “Inside Walt’s Story Meetings” bonus, pioneered by EMC West for the previous 2005 Platinum Edition, expand it and make it interactive.  Working with disc programming specialists at San Francisco-based MX Productions, EMC West created a seamless branching experience with all-new content and helped to create the definitive HD-viewing experience of this animation classic.
 

“Just like Disney’s latest Alice in Wonderland Blu-ray release, they once again provide an impressive feature length supplement. This time it’s a feature called “Inside Walt’s Story Meetings” which takes original transcripts from story meetings between Walt and his team of filmmakers, which are then re-enacted in time with the film.” –RopeofSilicon.com
 
“I thought this was an absolutely ingenious innovation … adding life to the concept of the audio commentary.” –DVDTalk.com

This feature has proved so popular that a similar feature is in the works for the new Cinderella Diamond Edition.

EMC West’s expertise in animation documentaries is undeniable after watching the 157 minute interactive documentary “Beyond Beauty: The Untold Stories Behind the Making of Beauty and the Beast”, a compelling look at how Beauty and the Beast went from a story Walt Disney himself could not crack into a high-pressure development process into the first animated feature to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award and a hit Broadway musical.  Featuring interviews with the new crop of legendary animators who took over for the Nine Old Men as well as studio heavyweights like Jeffrey Katzenberg and Don Hahn, this documentary had critics gushing…

“While this plays, there are pop-ups that allow you to branch off into a separate features like the history of Disney animation, the concept art of the film, or the film’s venture onto Broadway. Should you choose to watch one of these, the person in the documentary seamlessly recognizes you have chosen this and gives you an introduction to the video. This is really well done and makes for a great interactive experience.” – cgchannel.com
 
“Everything contained in this lovingly-put-together feature is interesting, thought-provoking, and all-together exciting!” – highdefdigest.com
 
“If you’re a fan, you’ll also want to checkout the “Beyond Beauty” documentary. As behind-the-scenes, making-of type documentaries go, this is about as in-depth as I’ve seen.” – hometheaterblog.com

EMC West also produced a 20-minute special “Composing A Classic: A Musical Conversation with Alan Menken, Don Hahn & Richard Kraft” in which Alan Menken uses both his voice and his piano to tell the story of how he composed the Oscar-winning songs and score.

“My favorite feature has to definitely be the interactive documentary “Beyond Beauty: The Untold Stories Behind the Making of Beauty and the Beast” and the featurette “Composing A Classic“.” – highdefdiscnews.com

‘Wherefore art thou… Gnomeo?’
 
Take the music of Elton John, the director of Shrek 2 (Kelly Asbury), Shakespeare’s classic love story and garden gnomes and what do you get?  Gnomeo & Juliet!  This Rocket Pictures / Touchstone release was a sleeper hit, winning the box office on Oscar weekend and going on to earn nearly $100M domestically.
 
EMC West was behind the EPK marketing materials for the film, with crews capturing the stars James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Ozzy Osbourne and more as they recorded voice tracks over nearly two years of production.  The same footage became the basis for a unique trio of DVD/Blu-ray bonus features, set to be released May 24.
 
“Elton Builds A Garden” explores the contributions of the pop piano man, who not only contributed new and catalog songs to the film, but also helped produce and guide the story and the animation.
 
“Fawn of Darkness” is a hilarious peek inside the recording sessions with Ozzy Osbourne, complete with subtitles!
 
“Frog Talk with Ashley Jensen” shows why the Brit comedienne inspired the animators to give her character a big mouth.  As Nanette the Frog, Jensen gabbed away with the show — even when speaking Japanese!

The story of Woody, Buzz and the gang comes full circle in PIXAR’s billion dollar box office sensation Toy Story 3.  Not only were EMC’s camera crews the ones trusted behind the scenes of the making of the film, but for the first time ever a PIXAR home video release includes a bonus feature not created in-house by PIXAR.
 
In “The Gang’s All Here”, producer Charlie Visnic captured the reunion feeling as the all-star cast of the Toy Story films (Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusak) gathered with new all-star talent (Michael Keaton, Whoopi Goldberg, Timothy Dalton) to tell this final chapter.  Fans get the rare treat of seeing Tom Hanks and Tim Allen interacting as they lay down their tracks.
 
But that’s not all EMC West and producer Charlie Visnic did for Toy Story 3.  To help introduce audiences to some of the new toys featured in the film, a series of featurettes were created.  Visnic and EMC West’s crew filmed director Lee Unkrich introducing the film and the new characters against a green screen, the elements of which were used as fun, compelling scene transitions that kept the pace of pieces moving along.

Reviewers were floored by EMC West’s pioneering bonus feature “Through the Keyhole: A Companion’s Guide to Wonderland” for the latest Blu-ray release of Disney’s psychedelic classic Alice in Wonderland.  This hybrid of documentary and feature commentary brings the story of author Lewis Carroll and the real Alice who inspired him to life, and shows the parallels to Walt Disney’s life which attracted him to the story.

“The real gem is a feature-length HD picture-in-picture track that pops up all sorts of rare and, yes, wonderful stills, archival footage, drawings, and factoids about the film, Disney, and Carroll. Watching the film in this mode really makes you appreciate it more.
 
Bottom Line:
Disney’s animated “Alice in Wonderland” has never looked better, and the PIP track on this Blu-ray is one of the best I’ve seen.” – DVDtown.com

EMC West also produced all of the introductions with voice actress Katherine Beaumont as well as the 13-minute documentary about the film which is also featured on the latest DVD release, “Reflections on Alice”.

The stars of You Again – Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Betty White – could all relate to this story about high school rivals who find their rivalry rekindled in adulthood.  EMC West produced a series of conversations where the stars sat down and told their own true tales of old grudges for a series of promotional pieces called “Conversations with the Cast of You Again.”
 
These pieces helped generate a wider discussion in the media about bullying, high school rivalries and how Betty White truly is a national treasure.

Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds’ hit romantic comedy was another success story for EMC West who produced the EPK as well as DVD/Blu-ray bonus features.  EMC’s ‘behind-the-scenes’ featurette helped warm up audiences to the concept of Sandra Bullock as a workaholic boss who has the tables turned on her by her assistant when she must pretend to be in love with him to earn a green card.
 
The Proposal became one of 2009’s top comedies, earning more than $160M domestically at the box office.  For the home video release, EMC West produced commentary tracks, the Alternate Ending as well as two fun bonus videos: a “Blooper Reel” and “Alaskachusetts,” a fun piece which shows the movie secrets of how a town in Maine was made to double for the Alaskan setting of the film.