Category: Press

Rain or Shine GovBall 2016

Mark A. Ritchie Directs the 2016 NYC Governors BallThe rain just made that last set the best so far says, Mark Ritchie. In a small trailer backstage, a wide screen shows a live feed from multiple cameras sweep the Gov Ball stage on the festival grounds and the audience. The set Ritchie is referring to was of Haim, an all-girl indie rock trio that just finished up after an intense, unexpected downpour broke 15 minutes into them playing. Saturday’s headliners, The Killers, are up next and the band still haven’t approved the live stream of their set. In a partnership with Live Nation, Ritchie directs a live stream of Governor’s Ball with the Amsterdam-based company, Corrino Films.

This is GovBall’s sixth year going at it and they’ve done an amazing job. Every year they do what many said couldn’t be done – they hold a well-attended, well-organized festival in New York City, a challenging environment for an event of this kind. For about 300 bucks (give or take, amenities withstanding) you get 3 days of music. That’s the schtick that festivals like Governor’s Ball (also known as GovBall) sell. You get headliners and a grocery list of bands you would love to see but are too lazy to keep up with. You get plenty of tents. Tents of merch, tents of glorious food and tents of overpriced beer. In the orchestrated chaos you get thousands of other people brought to together longing for an experience.

Director Mark Ritchie behind the scenes of Governors Ball and Kanye’s Prelude

Governors Ball & Kanye Prelude “Gorgeous. Three, three. Three, one. (click) Three, six. Six!Very Nice. Keep it going guys. Keep the pace, doesn’t mean you slow down. Pull out five. Ready? Pull Five. Go! (click) There we go,” says a stern but melodic male voice in a dark trailer.

The clicking sounds are the result of several well lit buttons being pushed as Mark Ritchie, Governor Ball director, talks to his camera crew as Lord Huron performs a 60 minute set on Saturday. Lord Huron took the main stage at 4:45, and for the next hour, Mark is the conductor of the most intrinsic visual orchestra in New York. Today, Mark Ritchie and his team are directing, packaging, and editing the first ever 4K live stream from Governors Ball. Talk about pressure.

In its six year history, Gov Ball has managed to achieve another first, live streaming. Partnering with Vice, Corrino Films, Live Nation, and Samsung, the event is streamed to fit across multiple channels and platforms, including Vice’s new television Network, Viceland, the marquee outside of Samsung’s flagship store in Manhattan, and Video On Demand for those who want to see the festival for the first time, or those who want to relive their favorite moments again. To the non-techie, this sounds cool enough, but those who saw the miles of cables and fires running throughout the festival and became excited know that this is a true feat.

Directing is a daunting task in itself, but on the fly editing of a live festival and streaming a huge amount of data to a store across town could be a fast paced nightmare. Luckily, with Ritchie, at the helm, he and the Corrino Films team treat this like a dream, “Dont tell my boss, but they probably wouldn’t have to pay me”. He laughs at the end, but the look in his eyes and the excitement in his voice is indicative of a person who not only enjoys his job, but enjoys perfecting every nuance of his craft. If bills were not a thing, or America was still on the barter system, there is no doubt that Mark would happily take his payment in good shoes, coffee, or nights on the town.

Mark Ritchie to Direct Super Bowl Greatest Commercial 2016

First, SUPER BOWL’S GREATEST COMMERCIALS 2016 will celebrate 50 years of great Super Bowl commercials with a top 50 countdown culminating in a live announcement of the greatest Super Bowl commercial of all time from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. home of SUPER BOWL 50. It is hosted by Boomer Esiason, Analyst for CBS Sports’ NFL pre-game show THE NFL TODAY, and Katharine McPhee, star of the CBS drama SCORPION.

CBS-Super_Bowl_2016_Commercials-featuredThe special will be a Super Bowl Commercial celebration where Frazier will take viewers through the top 10 spots revealed in the SUPER BOWL’S GREATEST COMMERCIALS 2016 special and offer sneak peeks of the highly anticipated commercials to air during CBS’s SUPER BOWL 50.

This year, SUPER BOWL’S GREATEST COMMERCIAL 2016 has the top editors and writers of Time, Inc. publications, including Jess Cagle, editorial director at People, Dalton Ross, executive editor-at-large at Entertainment Weekly, Daniel Roberts, writer at Fortune, Susie Poppick, associate editor at Money, Sean Gregory, senior writer at Time, and Richard Deitsch, senior editor at Sports Illustrated, as the Time Inc. Editorial Blue-Ribbon Panel in charge of ranking the 50 Super Bowl Commercials from spots 50 – 3. The top two commercials will be posted on CBS.com at 8:00 PM, ET/5:00 PM, PT, at which time viewers can vote for the greatest commercial of all time. The winner will be revealed live during the East Coast broadcast at 10:00 PM, ET.

AMIRA and ALEXA Mini capture Kanye live

To unveil Kanye West’s YEEZY Season 3 fashion collection, the artist combined the show with the premiere of his new album “The Life of Pablo” in a live broadcast from sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Kanye West - Yeezy Season 3 Fashion Show - Madison Square Garden NYCMoving Image & Content (MIC) was tapped to execute the sensational event that would be streamed to over 750 cinema screens in 26 countries as well as online. Director Mark Ritchie of Southpaw Productions opted for a cinematic look for the unique fashion event and art performance. Director of photography Rick Siegel captured it all on 10 AMIRAs and 4 ALEXA Minis.

The cameras, which were supplied by AbelCine NY, included a mix of Steadicam and handheld rigs (Minis), tripods, dollies, Tower Cams, and Technocranes (AMIRAs). Ritchie notes, “The AMIRA and Mini are such solid cameras. We easily rigged them onto all the different platforms. It’s nice because the accessories are standardized. There are no surprises. I like to stay in the creative world, but I can get hung up when the technical world gets in my way. That doesn’t happen with ARRI cameras. It saves time, energy and triage during the day.”

I’m very proud to say I’ve pushed the entire creative and technical workflow to 14 ARRI AMIRAs and ALEXA Minis. It’s been a long time waiting, but ARRI has finally filled the gap for storytellers that work in the live environment who still want to offer a truly cinematic experience to their viewers.
Mark A. Ritchie

Greatest Animal Commercial Countdown Directed by Mark A. Ritchie

From the producers of the wildly successful “Super Bowl Greatest Commercials,” The CW presents GREATEST ANIMAL COMMERCIALS COUNTDOWN, a one-hour special hosted by Donna Lynne Champlin (“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”) and Kevin Frazier (“Entertainment Tonight”).

Greatest_Animal_Commercial_Countdown-featured

Take a peek into the world’s most spectacular commercials that feature the animal kingdom in this special, GREATEST ANIMAL COMMERCIALS COUNTDOWN. In addition to counting down the Top 10 animal commercials of all time, hosts Donna Lynne Champlin and Kevin Frazier will celebrate other memorable animal spots and be visited on set by a few furry guests.

This special is produced by Juma Entertainment and IMG Productions, the production teams behind SUPER BOWL GREATEST COMMERCIALS, as well as Robert Horowitz and Tony Lanni and directed by Mark Ritchie.