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December 4 , 2003
By George
S. Mc Quade III
West Coast Correspondent
Odwyer Publications, NY
| (From
L-R Top right) Francis J. Cavanaugh, V.P.
Photography, West Coast, CBS Entertainment Roxanne Motamedi, entertainment
managing editor, gettyimages Steve Newman, 20th Century Fox Photography,
Tracy Gitnick, deputy photo Editor, Associated Press, Herb Hemming,
director, Assignment Photography, WireImage Alan Berliner, Berliner
Photography, LLD/Be images, Scott Pansky,
(at the podium) president
Entertainment Publicists Professional Society (EPPS) media workshop
in Hollywood. |
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Secrets of Photo Publicity Unveiled
More than 100 people packed into an unusual media workshop recently
(Nov. 20, 2003) sponsored by the Entertainment Publicists Professional
Society (EPPS) and PR Newswire to learn the secrets of photo publicity
at the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel in Hollywood. Questions surfaced about
the relationship between A.P. and CBS studios, which canceled his show,
on the day Pop Star Michael Jackson was arrested. There were no anchors,
reporters, editors or writers. Only people who handle photography.
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| Francis
J. Cavanaugh, V.P. Photography, West Coast, CBS Entertainment says
as many at 50 phots of Pop Star Michael Jackson were post on the
his company website before CBS yanked the Michael Jackson special.
Often journalist go to websites for images. |
Tracy Gitnick, AP
Deputy Photo Ed.
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Associated Press is looking for news angles on the
person no company says Gitnick
"We cover a lot of entertainment, but we're still a new organization
so the image needs to have a news hook," said Gitnick oversees A.P.'s
photo coverage in Southern California. She can be reached at tgitnick@ap.org.
"Something that is relevant to the magazine or newspaper that is going
to come out tomorrow or this week. Our goal is speed and we're digital.
We get things out quickly and we want to be able to go to an event,
shoot something and transmit it so that someone can use it tomorrow.
It might be a celebrity, who is top tier such as the awards shows. It
might be a noncom awards event, because usually I chatted with the publicist,
who talked to me about who is going to be there, what we would have
access to. Access is usually the big issue. Often they'll want us to
shoot their red carpet and only have one or two celebrities before the
event and there is only so much you can do with the red carpet. We prefer
to be inside, where there is something casual happening and more spontaneous.
It shows someone in the Midwest what it's like to be a celebrity in
Hollywood when they read the newspaper. That's the larger audience you
get from us in a lot of ways outside of Hollywood."
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The panelists were: Alan Berliner, Berliner Photo Agency ; Francis
Cavanaugh, V.P., West Coast Photography, CBS; Tracy Gitnick, Associate
Photo Editor, Associated Press; Herb Hemming, Bureau Chief, Wire Image;
Roxanne Motamedi, Entertainment Managing Editor, Getty Images; Steve
Newman, Photo Editor, 20th Century Fox and the moderator was Eric Hollreiser,
senior. V.P., Media Relations, ABC Cable Network Group.
Best photo publicity is a company photo page to alert media....
Most of the panelist said the professional entertainment photo sites
usually require membership, and A.P.'s Gitnick said having a photo page
on your company website is the best idea. However, she said do not send
heavy attachments or files to A.P. She said it's better to alert A.P.
with an Internet link that you've posted images, which allows faster
editing under deadlines.
"It will be similar to the Kobe Bryant coverage the shot everyone will
want to have," said Cavanaugh "With the Reagan's TV series that was
a scenario from the CBS point of view, once we have an air date for
a project, material goes up on the media site, which all major magazines
and newspapers have access to. That material was downloaded and stored
away in archives. 50 images were made available, until CBS decided to
not show and allow it to go to Showtime.
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EPPS
President Scott Pansky introduces blockbuster
panel on publicity photography. |
| "About 99 percent of what we shoot and what we do is digital and
Wire Image was one of the few that saw the potential of delivery
of images via the Internet and the digital technology," said Hemming,
bureau chief, Wire Image. "Our company was started by five or six
photographers specializing in different areas and had access to
the Internet. |
Photography panelist at the Wyndam Hotel
"I started out as a publicist in still photography many years ago
and things have changed dramatically," said Newman, who handles the
still photography at 20th Century Fox. "Four years ago the way we conducted
business changed so dramatically it's startling. I considered myself
to be one of the old fashioned people, because my photography dated
back to the early 80's, and when I started at Fox there was no digital
photography taken at all. It was all wet processing and there were servicing
materials the old fashion way, dubbed slides and we were still making
black and white prints. Since then we developed an online press site,
and we're producing materials on disc and we finding more and more that
our unit photographers are exploring digital. I have not work with a
photographer, yet, that has asked to shoot with all digital cameras.
We constantly comparing the look of the material and shooting 50 percent
digital or 50 percent film as try to figure out if we the like the grain
that adds artistically to the image and we don't want to lose. The advertising
department would like to go all digital now, but it has not been an
issue of fast breaking, because with photography shot on our movies
we have the luxury of time. "The ability to retouch and manipulate images
that I thought was a lost art in the old fashion sense has been sort
of reborn as a digital art form giving us the ability to do such amazing
things such as getting lines out from people's eyes to swapping heads."
Newman can be reached at: Steve.Newman@Fox.com.
| Steve
Newman, 20th Century Fox Photography, Tracy Gitnick, deputy photo
Editor, Associated Press, |
"We in the process of going digital," said Cavanaugh handle all of
the photo coverage that gets done on the CBS and UPN shows. His phone
number is 323.575.2797. "We have also found that for every good thing,
there are other elements to take into account. The labs for example.
Before photographers would shoot 20 rolls of film and just drop it off
at the lab and move on to the next assignment. Today they shoot 400-500
images, but now he has to download the images, do a general edit, format
it and all of a sudden it becomes little more murkier as to where the
images start off and end up. We shoot all episodes and studio work on
entirely digital when we do the big galleries to launch the shows in
the fall, then we still stick with medium format film as well as digital.
Part of the digital work hinges on who needs what and when. CBS has
the luxury of not having to turn material around right away."
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Francis
J. Cavanaugh, V.P. Photography, West Coast, CBS Entertainment Roxanne
Motamedi, ET Managing Ed.
We now able to deliver in real time at the shows. Digital also
allows you to do an event and get approval anywhere in the world,
which enables us to get images to publications and meet deadlines."
Hemming oversees sports news and West Coast assignments for Wire
Image. "My job is to keep up with Roxanne at Getty Images." Hemming
can be reached at 323.988.1414 or Herb@wireimage.com.
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Alan
Berliner, Berliner Photography,
LLD/Be images
"Digital photography is an ongoing costs," said
Berliner, who does agency and studio work is celebrating his 30th anniversary
in Hollywood at Berliner Photo Agency and B.E. Images. "We used to shoot
the film, bring it back and take it to a developing lab or whatever. Now,
it's on site with either on site editors or editors back at the studio
or agency. That has definitely raised the cost. Luckily the magazine sales
have increased, so the cost to do that has increased, but the customer
base is larger. In other words there are more people to deliver it to
who pay for it, than there were a few years ago." Berliner can be reached
at 323.857.1282.
"For us the coverage right now is not on whether is special is airing
on CBS, but on the news angle on where Michael Jackson is going to turn
himself and where is he going to get arrested," explained Gitnick. "We're
friendly when we work together, it needs to happen, but he (Francis
Cavanaugh at CBS photography) is right now trying to avoid publicity
on Michael Jackson. I'm focusing on the guy."
"When that mug shot of Michael Jackson is taken, it will be the image
everywhere unfortunately," said Hemming, Bureau Chief, Wire Image.
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"Eye On PR"
