11.5.14 Classic Rock Awards Recap

Leona Blue ‏@leonab59 · 1h1 hour ago
#AdamLambert + #Queen mentioned - Really Creative Media: Bringing Events to Life blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/really-creative-media-bringing-events-to-life/  …

Media production company, Really Creative Media, uses the integrated software in Adobe Creative Cloud for teams to work with top talent and bring stunning high-tech visuals to live events.

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Today’s biggest events and musical acts entertain audiences from all angles, often combining audio and video for exciting spectacles. With backgrounds in theater and video production, Really Creative Media’s co-founders Nick Dew and Jack James are perfectly suited to oversee events that marry live and virtual experiences. The two directors work with teams of expert designers, animators, technicians, and more to bring visual productions to life.

For Really Creative Media, every project is unique with different requirements. “We primarily work with freelancers, so we can combine the best skillsets for each job,” says Dew. “Working with freelancers enables us to work flexibly, but it also means that we need to invest more time and energy to keep everyone on the same page, encourage collaboration, and deliver consistent results—and Creative Cloud does that for us.”

Working as a team

Adobe creative software forms the core of every step of Really Creative Media’s workflow. Whether working on runway shows, touring musical acts, or movie premieres, Really Creative Media relies on Creative Cloud to produce the videos, animations, and intense visual effects that bring shows to life.

Working with Adobe Creative Cloud for teams, Really Creative Media provides its freelancers with access to the latest versions of industry-standard Adobe creative software. “With Creative Cloud for teams, everyone works on the same version, so we don’t need to worry about incompatibilities slowing us down,” says James. The company further enhances collaboration by creating sharable settings and templates that help freelancers adhere to the project requirements.

The Admin Console in Creative Cloud for teams enables Really Creative Media to centralize deployment and manage all licenses from a single location. The company gains visibility into who is using what software, making it easy to reclaim licenses when a project ends and to assign seats to new team members for short-term projects. Once licenses are provided, users can download or update any assigned software without assistance—in the office or on the road.

“To produce truly complementary content for an event, we often need to be on location to fine-tune the timing and effects, so we spend quite a bit of time traveling,” says James. “Previously, we would physically remove hard drives from our work computers and fly them to new locations. With Adobe Creative Cloud, we can log in from a remote computer and sync our work so that we’re accessing the same files, software, and settings that we had in London.”

Backing up a legendary rock band

For a recent project, Really Creative Media supported the world tour of Queen + Adam Lambert with large LED light and video projections.

The creative team used Adobe Illustrator CC for drawing and arraying objects before moving assets into Adobe After Effects CC to prototype visuals, while Adobe Photoshop CC was used to open videos and extract stills and batch TIFF sequences with a specific effect. “With the deep integration among Adobe software applications, edits that we make in Photoshop CC are automatically updated in After Effects CC,” says Dew. “We can spend more time pushing ourselves further creatively and less time exporting files.”

The video portions of the show used significant amounts of archival footage, creating the illusion that legendary Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury was on stage with the rest of the band. “We were working on all types of archival footage—film, tape, you name it,” says Dew. “Adobe Premiere Pro CC supports any file format, so we could just drop footage on the timeline without waiting to transcode hours of video at a time.”

Once finalized, Really Creative Media rendered the footage using Adobe Media Encoder CC. Not only did Media Encoder CC render quickly, but it also worked in the background so that creators were able to continue working on the project and make the most out of their time.

Integration and flexibility

Through deep integration with third-party plug-ins and software, including Trapcode and Cinema 4D, especially Cinema 4D integration with After Effects CC, Creative Cloud for teams provides creators with the flexibility to use any specialty programs within the Adobe workflow. In future projects, Really Creative Media looks forward to leveraging the built-in support for 4K resolution footage in Premiere Pro CC to push their presentations visually and provide a better experience for the audience.

“We work with large stage screens, so the ability to work with high resolutions will enable us to deliver sharper and more detailed images for clients,” says Dew. ” Creative Cloud for teams gives us the tools we need to work effectively and push our limits creatively to provide audiences with unforgettable events.”

Robi ‏@6thsenseplus · 27m27 minutes ago
Clay Aiken’s failed bid for U.S. Congress will be an Esquire Network docuseries wp.me/p5HMd-eVKK   via @timeculture Adam mentioned

What do you do after placing second on American Idol? If you’re Katharine McPhee, you release a few albums and attempt to cross over into acting. If you’re Adam Lambert, you tour with Queen and become an LGBT activist. If you’re Clay Aiken, you run for Congress. Naturally.