Showing posts with label beta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beta. Show all posts

Friday, June 25, 2010

Sneak Peek from Pantsuit




Photos from Pantsuit's upcoming UCB Comedy video, "Christian Twister," written by Stephanie Allynne, Scott Rodgers, and Angela Trimbur; directed by Stoney Sharp.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Behind the Scenes: Overly Ambitious Ensemble Drama



The Brig's
Overly Ambitious Ensemble Drama, written by Zack Phillips and directed by Adam Sacks, lived up to its title: filming took more than 15 hours, with over 35 different shots, 7 different shooting locations and 38 actors, resulting in a 1:34 tour de force.

Check out some of the production spreadsheets that this video required:



"Doing a shoot of that magnitude is kind of like planning a wedding," says Zach. "Tiny problems that normally wouldn’t be a big deal get magnified when you’re dealing with such a large group of people and multiple locations. If one shot takes longer than planned, you’re suddenly behind schedule with 10 or 20 actors."

But thanks to over 20-plus hours of pre-planning, The Brig wrapped early or on-time both days of shooting. Adds Zack, "Adam, the director, did a great job. We also picked locations that were close to each other but had diverse looks to them, so it’d look like we were all over the city. "

And, of course, a smooth shoot was ensured by a cast list that reads like a UCB talent directory. The video features Emily Axford, Keith Bethea, Dave Bluvband, Eddie Brawley, Corey Brown, Alex Charak, Matt Cutler, Shaun Diston, Morgan Evans, Don Fanelli, Kim Ferguson, Matt Fisher, Brandon Gardner, Jason Guerrero, Jon Gutierrez, Amy Heidt, Will Hines, Jordan Hirsch, Amanda Hirsch, Dan Hodapp, Rob Michael Hugel, Dru Johnston, Molly Lloyd, Tim Martin, Matt Mayer, Veronica Osorio, Josh Patten, Amber Petty, Zack Phillips, Ben Ragheb, Ben Rameaka, Adam Sacks, Jason Saenz, Matt Starr, Will Storie, Drew Tarvin, Jeff Wisniewski and Scott Yacyshyn.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Sneak Peek from The Brig: HUGE SANDWICH



An upcoming sketch from The Brig features this ridiculous sandwich -- but UCB favorite Jim Santangeli looks like he is up to the challenge. Stay tuned!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Sneak Peek from Diamonds, Wow!: Loving Farms


Rob Webber.

Farm animals. (Lots of them.)

Get ready.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Sneak Peek from Diamonds, Wow!

Here's a shot from an upcoming Diamonds, Wow! video, "A League of Their Own Quote Club," written by Caitlin Tegart.

If a sentence including the words Caitlin Tegart and A League of Their Own (!) did not send you into excitement overdrive, check out who stars in this video: D'Arcy Erokan, Morgan Jarrett, Molly Lloyd, Ashley Ann Hale, Nicole Drespel, Marcy Jarreau, Joe Spellman, Brandon Scott Jones, Mike Scollins, Amey Goerlich, Chris Scott, Alex Kane, Virginia Thompson and Will Choy.

A sketch dream team! Keep your eyes peeled in early May.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Behind the Scenes: 4/20 from The Brig!



Sometimes, sketch comedy is dangerous business -- for example, the latest shoot from The Brig. Although most of the pot-themed video was filmed indoors, the sketch, written by Adam Sacks, also required the actors to hit the streets of downtown Brooklyn while engaging in some suspicious behavior. Justin Tyler not only had to don booty shorts and a trench coat, he also had to run out of a store carrying half a dozen candy bars -- while simulating lighting up a pipe. Fortunately/unfortunately, Justin did not end up wearing cigarette glasses with Lady Gaga in jail. "The video's not exactly after-school special material," says director/editor Nate Russell.


On set with The Brig


In spirit of the video, this blog was posted at 4/20 at 4:20am. Check it out:

Monday, April 19, 2010

Sneak Peek from The Brig

If visiting UCBComedy.com isn't part of your morning ritual (like bagels or crying to "Empire State of Mind" on the subway), it's time to start: The Brig's "Overly Ambitious Ensemble Drama" will hit the site in the coming weeks!

Looks fun, right?

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Behind the Scenes: The Brig

Adam Sacks of UCB Comedy's The Brig wants to give you some insight into creating one of their videos...

From Adam:

Here's a video I directed and did the effects for recently.

Some people asked me how I created the backgrounds for the video, so I figured I'd go over the basics.

In Photoshop I start with flat colors. I try to go with a middle color for each section, that way I can add shadows and highlights later.

Then I add extra layers on top of darker colors to create shadows. It's pretty common for me to use 3 or 4 layers per section to build up shadows gradually, instead of trying to do it all at once. I use different opacities and blending modes on the layers to get the look I want.

Next I do the same thing, but with highlights.

This still looks very computery, so the next step is to overlay photos of textures to get the types of variation in color and value that make something look real. For the wood I added some wood textures (a no-brainer), and for the glass I added some concrete textures to make it look frosted.

And finally I flattened the glass section and warped it a bit to make it look curved instead of flat. In general, it's much easier to work with rectangular shapes (because it's much easier to make rectangular selections), and then when you're done, warp them into the shape you want.

And just to give you an idea, here's a screen capture of just some of the layering that went into making this background.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

BETA teams produce three new UCB Comedy Originals

UCB's BETA teams are producing a ton of great videos this week.

Sex Drugs & The Hard Rock Cafe





Oscars In Memoriam: Extras


The Favor

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Behind the Scenes: Diamonds, Wow!: Kevin Smith

Below are some behind the scenes shots from the making of Diamonds, Wow! latest funny video









Left to right. Ed Mundy (director), Brandon Scott Jones (actor), Zach Neumeyer (director) recording voices for Kevin Smith - Too Awful to Fly

Friday, February 19, 2010

New Videos from NYC UCB Beta teams

Numbalex: Depressed Yet? by The Brig

Watch this depressing ad then take our depression med.




Salinger's Last Book by Diamonds, Wow!

J.D. Salinger's highly offensive final book shouldn't be publisher

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Behind the Scenes - FIX Badass






Badass stars and was written by Hal Rudnick and co-stars Justin Donaldson. It's a badass show about badass technology.

DP - Doug Beatty
Director - Matty Smith
Editor/Effects - Jack Allison
Stills by Jack Allison

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

New UCB Comedy Original/The Brig video goes viral

In the wake of the Superbowl there have been a slew of parody ads. Here is a really funny take on the Google ad from The Brig/UCB Comedy Originals. Today it went viral and has been one of our most watched videos to date.

Google: Parisian Oops





Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Behind the Scenes - The Brig's "Bachman Turner Overdrive"

New comedy video coming soon featuring:
Jamison Guest, Amber Petty and John Murray

Friday, January 29, 2010

Diamonds, Wow! - Behind the Scenes of Hard Rock Cafe



Nate Lang as the late Joey Ramone

















Joe Strummer (Ben Rodgers) meets David Bowie (Thomas Middleditch)












Brandon Scott Jones as Johnny Rotten