NEW YORK – The Apartment isn’t the story about two sisters. That storyline was introduced over 20 years ago when television programmers used a sitcom to spoof the conventional soap opera. This new storyline is lathering up the Internet with what is called “coffee break” programming – an online on-going story of three-to-five-minute segments that is updated daily. Viewing time commitment is reduced, allowing viewers to remain involved with the story at their convenience during breaks in the workday.
The Apartment is a new Internet soap produced by Motion Picture Pro Studios (MPP). A fully equipped film and digital entertainment studio, MPP specializes in the creation and delivery of high-quality episodic programming for the web – the “webisodic” platform. MPP founders Nathan Nazario and Ralph Toporoff are producing webisodics because they feel this type of programming is more appropriate for the Internet.
“We are doing webisodic programming because we believe the Net increasingly is resembling a television and not a movie theater,” said Mr. Nazario, who has spent more than a decade in the film industry, handling publicity, marketing and promotion for Life Is Beautiful, Shakespeare in Love, Dead Man Walking and Fargo.
“When compared to television, webisodic programming is inexpensive but the quality is far from low budget,” added Mr. Toporoff. “Using the latest technology, such as one digital camcorder instead of three large cameras, we deliver high quality results at a low cost.”
Mr. Toporoff started Motion Picture Pro Studios as a professional film school five years ago. His students produced live-action film shorts. Now, maintaining a turnkey studio facility on the outskirts of New York’s Silicon Alley, MPP is a fully equipped production company specializing in the development and delivery of “advertainment” solutions for the advertising industry. Former celluloid purists, Messrs. Nazario and Toporoff have embraced the functionality, quality and economic efficiency of digital video production and have transformed the school into a digital entertainment company.
Their digital camera of choice is the Canon XL1, used to shoot The Apartment, The White Rose (a digital short that will premiere on Alwaysi.com, a leading online independent entertainment site) and direct-to-video projects such as The Golfather.
“A good cinematographer who applies to digital video the same requirements found in film will be blown away with the results of the XL1,” said Mr. Toporoff. “With the capability of interchangeable lenses that can be manually controlled, more and more film aficionados will be turning to digital video and the XL1 in the years ahead.”
Applying cinematic techniques to the MiniDV format, Mr. Toporoff, whose credits include American Blue Note, Alice’s Restaurant, The Swimmer, Husbands and countless commercials and corporate films, was absolutely astounded with the quality of the pictures and the digital sound produced by the XL1.
“For truly cinematic images, the XL1 manual lens provides a softer appearance than conventional video,” said Mr. Toporoff. “As for sound, our audio engineers find no difference between DAT and MiniDV,” cited Toporoff. “If you do your tests, and you understand what the XL1 can do for you, it is easy to learn how to work with this camera. You should apply the same principles as you would with film to the XL1. You can trust the camera totally.”
Economics drives the motion picture business, and the Canon XL1 is instrumental in the low production costs associated with The Apartment.
“The XL1 made The Apartment economically viable to produce high quality images for the Internet and maintain broadcast quality for television,” added Alexandra Levinsohn, MPP’s Head of Production. “Postproduction with computers and software was easier and less costly than with film. Digital is so efficient. Zero deterioration when going in or going out. By applying the same stringent rules of film to MiniDV, you arrive at the same high quality.”
Leah Laiman, former headwriter for As The World Turns, Days of Our Lives and One Life to Live, is executive producer of The Apartment. It is shot and edited quickly, making turnaround extremely short.
“Shooting film style (single camera) with the XL1 allows us to shoot the exact composition and lighting we want,” added Mr. Nazario. “The audio flow and cuts are seamless. Compare this to a traditional soap shoot, involving four cameras and lighting in four directions, you can see the savings in time and money. Another example is The White Rose, which took two days to shoot using the digital format. With film, it could easily have taken a week.”
“We were shocked at the price of the XL1, and that something this small and economical turned out such quality,” added Mr. Toporoff. “A comparative film camera would start at $25,000, and still the cost of shooting and developing would be high.”
MPP Studios has become enamored with the 16:9 format in digital, giving the company an entirely new perspective of the quality of digital. The studio has five other programs in various stages of development.
“At this point, we will continue to only use the Canon XL1. We just can’t believe what is coming out of this little box,” said Mr. Toporoff.
