Sprinkle Blog

• Film Festivals & Screenings: Deep Blue

  February 12, 2017

  In 2014, Sprinkle Lab produced the short film Deep Blue.

  The story is about Eva, 18 years old, who wakes up on the day of her baptism beside her sleeping lover. After bolting home before her absence is noticed, she prepares for her big day, the lingering memory of the night before haunting her. Eva tries to keep her composure in front of her Mennonite father and brother as realizations emerge that her affair may be ending and that the risks she has taken could have been in vain.

  The film premiered as the only United States based Selection in the Pardi di domani (Leopards of Tomorrow) Awards at the Official Festival del film Locarno. One of Europe’s premier film festivals, Locarno, is held annually in August in the city of the same name in Switzerland since 1946. Locarno hosts the main feature of the festival is the open-air screening area at the Piazza Grande with room for over 8,000 spectators, having one of the largest open-air screens in the world.

  

  It was an honor to premiere our film with such an incredible line-up of directors, producers, and filmmakers.

  The film was then screened in competition at the Curtocircuito International Film Festival for its Spanish Premiere. It had the opportunity to screen in Montréal in the “The Best Short Films of Locarno” at the Phi Centre a multidisciplinary arts and culture organization that cultivates all aspects of creation, development, production and dissemination.

  It was an incredible cast, crew, and experience to create this film and the opportunity to share it with international audiences has been a deep joy.

• Welcome to Film Casualty

  April 18, 2016

  We are very excited to announce a new company that we’re launching: Film Casualty Insurance Agency

  Over the past five years of running a production company, we’ve learned a great deal about the workings of our industry: from call sheets to crafty, film festivals and 4k. However, it turns out that some super boring stuff has allowed us to really keep our business alive and healthy. Administrative processes like accounting, legal representation and insurance policy management. When we started Sprinkle Lab, we had absolutely zero clue about these processes; and when researching for useful information, the entire back office of a production studio seemed obfuscated and a total pain in the ass.

  So, why are we starting an insurance company?

  The first reason is that we’ve needed to pay very special attention to our film insurance coverage at Sprinkle Lab. So, we’re solving our own problem. If you’re a filmmaker, we’ll bet you could use this type of service too. The second reason, is that we think insurance for the film industry can be done much, much, much better.

  If you’re interested in learning more about Film Casualty or looking for some new insurance options, then visit filmcasualty.com. We’re excited to help you get to work.

  California Insurance License: 16841690

• New Music Video!!

  April 6, 2016

  OMG you guys, guess what?? We produced a new music video and it’s super fun and a little strange and we’d like to share it with our mothers  and also with you because you’re a wiener. Or winner.

  

  Photay (AKA Evan Shornstein) is a multi-instrumentalist producer mixing bright melodies with unusual textures. His music is vibrant and beautifully unexpected. For his new release Sadie, he wanted to release a music video for the album’s single Monday. In illustrating his motivations behind the song, Photay describes it as:

  ‘…a coping mechanism, for mundane morning routines, just a few melodies to help you through the ups and downs of daybreak.’

  The video’s director Ivan Cash wrote a treatment including Brooklyn-based dancer Ashley Roby and Oakland-based dance crew TURFinc. Why not break the Monday minutia with a free-formed public dance experience? Ivan describes his motivations below:

  ‘I think reality is malleable; that’s the most powerful thing that we as humans can understand. The concept of this video was to take routine and disrupt it, both for our protagonist and for people she interacts with in the busy city.’

  Our two day shoot spanned between the dissonant streets of Oakland and SF. We stripped the crew down to a handful of pros in order to reduce our footprint in the public space.

  We’re happy to have the video up on NOWNESS and featured on The FADER. While you’re at it, peep our Behind The Scenes film below!

• Tapered Throne

  April 1, 2016

  

  Sprinkle Lab co-founder Brandon Tauszik spent 4 years capturing .GIF images to create a mesmerizing portrait of Oakland’s black barbers. The project is called Tapered Throne. It’s a stunning visual work and is introduced with a poignant essay by Quincy T. Mills, Ph.D Professor of Africana Studies, Vassar College:

  Brandon Tauszik’s GIF images of black barbers in Oakland, California reveal the resolve of a group of ardent professionals. The project illuminates the position of barbers as conduits of black communities; of Oakland. Behind these portraits are the aspirations of men who are not just making a living, but who see the value of their labors in the development of black community life. Like the GIF images themselves, these men and their shops are not static. Even as they stand behind their barber’s chair with arms propped up clutching the clippers, they are constantly in motion and in tune with the comings and goings of the people in their city.

  See select press coverage below:

  Medium The Best Use Of GIFs In 2015: Brandon Tauszik

  TIME How the GIF Is Taking Over the World

  Los Angeles Review of Books, The Offing Tapered Throne / Bald Fade

  Booooooom Brandon Tauszik’s Animated Gifs of Oakland Barber Shops

  Northeastern University’s Storybench Using Gifs to Tell The Story of Oakland’s Black Barbershops

  Catchlight Status Update Bay Area-Exhibition Profile

  More press here.

• Border Cantos: Richard Misrach | Guillermo Galindo

  March 3, 2016

  We are honored to share and celebrate the work of Richard Misrach and Guillermo Galindo and their current exhibition, Border Cantos, a series of images and instruments made from ephemera found along the US-Mexico border. The works highlight and explore the unseen realities of the borderlands. It is a striking and expansive exhibit, currently being shown at the San Jose Museum of Art.

  

  Richard Misrach | 
Wall, Jacumba, California, 2009 
Pigment print 60 × 80 inches

  We are thrilled to have had a small part in bringing these works to the public. Our team at Sprinkle Lab edited and finished the production of the exhibit film highlighting Galindo’s composition and performance of his Efigie and Zapatofono instruments.

  “Richard’s photographs have become music and my music has materialized in his images. At this point one thing cannot exist without the other.”
  – Guillermo Galindo

  

  Border Cantos opening night & editor Brandon Tauszik.

  Border Cantos premieres at SJMA and then travels to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

  It will be on exhibit at SJMA from Friday, February 26, 2016 until Sunday, July 31, 2016

• Sprinkle Lab joins AICP

  October 19, 2015

  

  The Association of Independent Commercial Producers, known more popularly as the AICP, was started in 1972 and has grown to represent the interests of companies that specialize in producing commercial content. Today, AICP member companies account for 85 percent of all domestic commercials that air nationally.

  Since Sprinkle Lab’s founding in 2011, our team has always looked from the sidelines to the AICP organization for guidance and knowledge . Now, because of our amazing clients and directors,  we’re happy to announce that Sprinkle Lab has joined the AICP. Our studio is one voice (among many) that the association serves as a strong collective for the $5 billion-plus commercial production industry.

  This means that Sprinkle Lab has even more support in providing the absolute best service and filmmaking craft to our clients. Our mission at Sprinkle Lab is to discover and support directors to create content for audiences, clients and ourselves - we’re excited to have the support of the AICP to see our mission move forward.

  

• Sprinkle Lab in Hawaii

  September 29, 2015

  This past week Sprinkle Lab Business Development Lead, Matty Barnes, went to the American Advertising Federation’s Western Regional Leadership Conference in Honolulu. As president of local AAF affiliate club, Ad 2 San Francisco, Matty went to take part in the meetings and sessions that will ultimately grow AD2SF’s ability help to make the advertising community stronger in our region.

  

  Gorgeous view of Diamond Head looking over Waikiki.

  Sprinkle Lab appreciates all that the American Advertising Federation does for the industry; the Advertising Hall of Fame & Hall of Achievement, the American Advertising Awards and especially the work they do on capital hill to represent the advertising community and ensure that we’re protected against any potential legislation that would stand to hurt the industry.

  

  Matty in the middle, with other Ad 2 leaders from the Western Region.

  A recent example, the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees Committees chairmen submitted corporate tax reform plans that would limit the deduction for advertising to 50% in the current year with the remaining 50% amortized over five (in the Senate) or 10 (in the House) years.

  

  Hawaiian Airlines SVP of Marketing, Avi Mannis, taking the conference through decades of Hawaiian Airlines branding during a lunch time presentation.

  AAF and the Advertising Coalition submitted comments to the Senate Finance Committee explaining the importance of preserving advertising’s status as a normal and necessary business expense fully deductible in the year incurred. AAF and many local members met with members of both Committees and their staff to explain the importance of maintaining the full deduction to the industry and the economy. (Courtesy AAF Baltimore)

  

  The whole, smiley, group of AAF Western Region leaders.

  Sprinkle Lab is proud to support Matty and the efforts of AD2SF and the American Advertising Federation.

  

  It’s never a bad time to start thinking about your next vacation : )

  Mahalo for reading our post, hang loose!

• A Visit from the Governor’s Office

  March 7, 2015

  We were recently excited to host and share Sprinkle Lab’s trajectory of growth and creativity with Kish Rajan who serves as Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.

  In 2012, Governor Brown appointed Rajan as the GO-Biz director to lead the executive team. His directive from Governor Brown is to enhance California’s job creation effort by streamlining business regulations, promoting statewide economic development and fostering greater international trade opportunities.

  Rajan has a passion for being a champion for California business and entrepreneurs. While here, we had the chance to discus the important role of AB 1839 which set aside $330 million a year for the next five years for film and television tax incentives, which more than tripled the amount of money California offers in subsidies annually. It’s a critical piece of legislation that keeps film studios creating incredible content, here in California.

  It was great to share our own story of how Sprinkle Lab has grown over the last few years focusing on creating content we’re proud of for audiences, clients and ourselves; introducing a few of our awesome staff, and describing the awesome Bay Area vendors like Little Giant, DTC & the dozens of film-professionals that have made building a production company in California possible.

  A huge thank you to Kish for making the journey to our studio and to the Governor’s Office for keeping film production an economic and cultural priority here in California.

• 2015 AD2SF Agency Olympics

  February 17, 2015

  

  Michael McDonald devotee, Hillary Lannan, drinks from the prestigious cup.

  Behold.

  The unstoppable team from MUH-TAY-ZIK | HOF-FER got the inaugural win at the first ever AD2SF Agency Olympics. They proved their dominance by winning an intense round of trivia, an aggressive set of quarters, and an impressive show of grace and elegance at the flip-cup table.

  “This is the biggest thing that has ever happened to us.”

  -Matt Hofherr after laying eyes upon the trophy himself.

  It wasn’t an easy win however, as nine competing agencies gave them everything they had. R/GA and Deep focus provided the steepest competition, coming in second and third respectively.

  

  Though no such category existed on the night, Matthew ‘Kanye’ Bryne sincerely felt the award for best video should have gone to AKQA.

  Special thanks to our co-sponser, Spotify, for hosting the event as well participating agencies: AKQA, Bassett & Partners, Carat, DDB California, DeepFocus, Duncan/Channon, GodfreyQ, H&L Partners, and R/GA. All made for what was a very successful fundraising event for AD2SF’s Public Service Committee, which provides pro-bono advertising services to local non-profits such as Hack The Hood.

  

  A prestigious white glove presentation at MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER occurred the day following their historic victory.

• Photographer’s Playspace

  November 18, 2014

  The Photographer’s Playspace show opens this week and features twenty photographers who have created new works in response to assignments from the Aperture book The Photographer’s Playbook: 307 Assignments and Ideas, a recently published compilation designed to inspire fresh perspectives in a photographer’s creative process.

  

  The exhibition reveals each artist’s distinctive process and aesthetic, demonstrating how a simple prompt can inspire renewed engagement with the medium. For the exhibition, Sprinkle Lab director Brandon Tauszik collaborated with Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg to craft a short film around Eric William Carroll‘s assignment:

  Chicken
  ”Choose a person, preferably a stranger, to make a portrait of. After securing their permission, begin photographing them. Ask them to try a few poses, move the camera around, suggest a different location. Never stop photographing. If/when the subject becomes visibly irritated, snap the shutter at an even faster pace. Fake technical problems to prolong the session for as long as possible. The only rule is that you cannot choose to stop photographing—the subject must [tell] you that they no longer wish to have any more pictures made. Bonus points for those who get a model release signed post-shoot.”

  Enjoy some exclusive screenshots from the film below:

  

  

  

  If you’re in NYC, catch the opening reception @ Aperture Gallery, Wednesday, November 19, 7:00–8:30 p.m.