May 14, 2012 UPDATE: “The Alchemist Agenda” was selected for Amazon Studios Development Slate: “The most promising projects at Amazon Studios, where we are building on their stories, creating test movies or carrying out audience tests.” The Hive has completed, an Amazon Studios Production, of the first full length feature motion comic created from original artwork, The Alchemist Agenda based [...]

October 4, 2011 In late 2010, Amazon.com, Inc. announced their entre into the business of producing movies through a new division, Amazon Studios, and a first look deal with Warner Brothers. Their intent was unabashedly clear: to make commercial feature films, for the people, by the people. Good movie ideas, they claim, could and should come from everywhere, and the [...]

…is probably my favorite holiday. I love the food, the crisp, cool hints of the year winding down – an American celebration of gratitude. And I have much to be grateful for this year, especially on this project. I’d like to thank our dedicated team for all their great work and dedication. They have been tirelessly sprinting to make our [...]

Even though this movie is a work of fiction, the suspension of disbelief must be facilitated by reality. I realize how completely incoherent that sounds – so I’ll try to explain. The Alchemist Agenda has a wish fulfillment premise presupposing that there is a formula to unlimited wealth and ultimate power. It also has two lead characters with superior skill [...]

The layers of visuals and sound are starting to work together, and the movie’s really beginning to come to life. While the hive-ling artist are working away to complete the artwork, we had actors come into the recording studio to lay down moans, groans, and cheers for the action sequences and background SFX. It was really fun to see our images [...]

My wife is in the last leg of the pregnancy, so I thought I’d make a clever parallel to our sprint to the finish line on The Alchemist Agenda project. While my wife is uncomfortable, exhausted, edgy, and often sleepless worrying about the arrival of our new baby, I am sweatin’ bullets, as my neurotic nature over-thinks every aspect of [...]

Being an adventure film, we put all our animation/motion efforts into the action sequences. And most of that artwork is now complete. So as our animator spends the next two weeks finishing his very detailed layering in After Effects, our artists are cranking away at the rest of our storyboards. Every frame must maintain Matt Hill’s rich style that serves [...]

October 21, 2011 “Complications cause conflict, and conflict is born in character.” Lajos Egri The writing gurus say that the second act should be loaded with complications. It’s never as good as it seems at the midpoint and it’s never as bad as it seems at the all-is-lost point. Just before the third act begins, the hero hits rock bottom, [...]

October 20, 2011 Posted by Marty Weiss “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.” Steve Jobs [...]

October 18, 2011 Posted by Marty Weiss We are getting ready to animate a fight that takes place in the backseat of a taxicab. Working out animated moves and pulling off the intensity in such a confined space is quite a challenge. This sequence also has a birds’ eye top-shot of a car chase through Prague. The file size of [...]

October 14, 2011 The first few hours of the day were taken to explain the project to our new artist, Jeremy Arambulo. We want everyone involved to be immersed in the feel of The Alchemist Agenda, as well as the workflow. And it’s also important that we give them inspiration they can relate to. Artists need good references, and that’s [...]

The Hive-lings presented the first two test sequences: one animated, one static. The purpose was to determine the level of movement required and the pacing of the edit. It also allowed us to talk more concretely about the kind of consistency we can accomplish, as well as how color will be used. Even though our selective color will be mostly [...]

Our tight schedule requires us to overlap all our tasks as efficiently as possible. Final art started and everything is looking awesome!  Some of Matt Hill’s shots could easily be framed. Our animator, Nick Kunin, has also begun and an additional animation spreadsheet has been created with a list of animation goals. Nick’s first challenge was figuring out the best way [...]

A lot of work has been accomplished in the last week. The Motion Comic breakdown has been completed, as well as the first draft of rough storyboards. The Hive resident editor, Yesenia Higuera, has put all the sketches into Final Cut to create a rough boardomatic with sound fx. Once completed, the “Hive-lings” took me through a sequence viewing. And with the daunting [...]

Jessica Green is a development executive by day, and an actress all other times. She’s also a good friend who helped me cast  an amazing group of actors from The Groundlings Improv Company. Since The Alchemist Agenda script calls for nearly 70 roles with five spoken languages and nearly a dozen dialects, we needed versatile actors with a lot of range.  Our male lead was played [...]

Once we officially began production, the producers started to break down the script. But according to Benjamin Price, partner at The Hive, breaking down a Motion Comic script is slightly different than a regular movie script. For example, there is no need to organize the usual aspects like wardrobe, hair and makeup, which must all be determined early on. Because [...]

What is filmmaking if it’s not the culmination of thousands of creative decisions? There are three acts in a linear story – beginning, middle and end. And there are three phases to making a movie – writing the script, production, and post-production. Each part is a puzzle that could be put together in any number of ways. Our first challenge [...]

https://vimeo.com/49197815 The Hive produced EPSON USA Spots for the Pro Z Projector series. The spot features Advertising Agency J. Walter Thompson in New York.  

http://vimeo.com/49195993

Saturday June 16th, 2012: The Hive co-founder & partners Yesenia Higuera & Benjamin Price, were asked to participate at The 2012 LA Film Festival for the 2nd consecutive year. Benjamin & Yesenia were honored to be one of a handful of advisers at the Future Filmmakers Guidance Sessions Lounge sponsored by PBS SoCal @ The ESPN Zone. The following is an excerpt I stole from [...]

The Hive has become a Google Trusted Photographer (Google Business Photographer) in the LA (Los Angeles) area. What does this mean? Play around with the image below to find out more! Learn more about Google Trusted Photographers here: Google Business Photos Los Angeles – LA from The Hive on Vimeo.

The Hive completes TEACH PSA campaign. The Hive provided editorial, post supervisor, VFX and color correction services for the Department of Education’s series of PSAs. The PSAs will be used to promote the teaching profession. “TEACH” features: President Obama, Oprah, Bill Gates, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Legend, JJ Abrams and many more. To see more of the PSA Campaign Touch [...]

The Hive and Deacon Entertainment Complete a Mini Documentary for The Department of Education’s TEACH Campaign focusing on recruiting Special Education Teachers The Hive and Deacon Entertainment are pleased to announce the completion of a mini documentary for The Department of Education’s TEACH Campaign. The mini documentary chronicles the TEACH Campaign’s objective is to recruit Special Education teachers. The film [...]

The Hive recently completed editorial and post supervisory services on the official Centennial Anniversary of the US Navy. The video was recenlty shown to Naval troops during the Centennial Celebration and is featured on the US Navy Website. Please contact Yesenia @ (310) 926 4932 or yesenia@hivedoes.com for all of your Corporate, Education and industrial videos Honoring the 100th anniversary of Naval [...]

The project was directed by Justin Etheredge and post production services were completed by Yesenia Higuera of The Hive. The promotion video shows Macy Gray rehearsing and recording tracks for her latest studio album “Covered”. The following is an article from the Rolling Stone Magazines Website: Macy Gray Sings Metallica, Radiohead and More on ‘Covered’ Gray on crossing genres: ‘I [...]

UPDATE, December 2011: “The Alchemist Agenda” wins Amazon Studios best test movie!! The Hive has completed, an Amazon Studios Production, of the first full length feature motion comic created from original artwork, The Alchemist Agenda based upon an original script by Marty Weiss. The motion comic was produced by Marty Weiss, Yesenia Higuera, and Benjamin Price. The Hive (www.hivedoes.com) created [...]