Gatorade :30 Final
Director: Michael Sugrue
DP: Art Adams
Dancer: Katherine Wells
Choreographer: Tanya Bello/Project B
Sound Design: Gavin Little/Echolab
Gaffer: Gordon McIver/Rebel Sun
RED Tech: Paul Marbury
Editor: Michael Sugrue
Hair & Make-Up: Yvette Swallow
Stylist: Pirjo Visser

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
XOXO, Emily
Client: Banana Republic
Photographer: Peter Medilek
Set & Props: Shannon Amos/Amos Styles
Wrangler & Dog: Gregg Holland & Lily/Animal Arts
Location: Left Space, San Francisco
Interview: “On the Set with a Top (Dog) Model” – The Republic

Here is a behind-the-scenes snapshot selection from our video shoot for Visa in China. Thanks to Redgate Rentals, we were well equipped with the Alexa and Phantom cameras. We produced two weeks of interviews and b-roll in four cities, with four crews and 1,000-fps workflow!

Mumbai Street View by Director Michael Sugrue
Emily Miller Productions

Singapore Flavor by Director Michael Sugrue
Emily Miller Productions

Client: Visa Inc.
Director: Michael Sugrue
Producer: Emily Miller
Editing: Justin Griffin
Graphics: Aras Darmawan
Composer: Laura Escudé
Additional Editing & Graphics: Brett Putman

Reflecting upon the gifts, good humor and grace of 2010, thank you to all of the inspiring and inspired – clients, agencies, photographers, directors, crew and talent – who provided art and personality, skill and power to our productions this year. Together we produced images around the world: in the alpha cities of Mumbai, Hong Kong and Singapore, in New York tech plants and on Nashville horse farms, from the Vancouver Olympics to secret corporate bunkers, and across California from its national parks to San Francisco’s super studios. The year wrapped and delivered, now we look forward to a productive, adventurous 2011. See you soon!

Photographer William Hereford asked Emily Miller Productions to throw a dinner party à la advertising shoot for cookware authority Anolon. With a menu and merrymaking in mind, we cast a tableful of models and an up-and-coming chef who was handy with a knife and knew how to pan sear a duck breast (or 40). Making way for commercial and documentary crews from New York and San Francisco, EMP worked with location experts at BirdMan to scout and secure a spacious mid-century home in Mill Valley, California. With three styling teams for food, wardrobe and props, we needed two floors for all of our ingredients. On set, Hereford required an open floor plan to choreograph the cooking and talent — between two crews, four burners and an inventory of pots and pans. And of course we needed a deck, patio and garden for our own feasts. No sweat, EMP produced the culinary odyssey during a record-setting heat wave in a houseful of good company, food and cheer!

Photographer: William Hereford
Client: Meyer Corporation
Project: Anolon
Agency: The On3 Group
Documentary: Leonard Nelson
Print: The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Glamour, GQ and Food & Wine

Our shoot: Emily Miller Productions was hired to provide a week’s worth of destinations and experiences for National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths, who was selected to photograph scenes emblematic of American culture as part of a global commercial project for HSBC bank and the JWT agency.

The challenge: Fill the shoot schedule with a kaleidoscope of activities, vignettes and cultural adventures that would represent the many facets of the American experience, all within two hours of San Francisco.

The big questions: What represents America? And how can we cover it all in five days and 500 miles?

The fix: With a list of ideas and a rich resource pool here in the Bay Area, EMP had long-distance brainstorms with our photographer, who was shooting the project’s first legs in Central and South America along with creative director Dinesh Kapoor, videographer Bryan Harvey and traveling producer Jennifer Hile. From Argentina to Panama, their real-time experiences informed and influenced our approach to this unique assignment by the day.

Considering our evolving locations, we had to have contingencies for the contingencies. We needed to make human connections that could withstand last minute schedule changes, cancellations and replacements. So we created a plan of modular pieces that could bend and sway. Even unexpected rain simply meant shooting something different (indoor rock-climbing wall), instead of shooting nothing at all (empty surf).

EMP explored contemporary scenarios such as: a first-generation Chinese grandmother watching her granddaughter try on a white Western wedding dress; a multi-ethnic competitive cheerleading squad with girls of all sizes encouraging each other through their weekly practice session; a gospel choir performing in a community church in one of the toughest urban neighborhoods; and a modern circus school where executives learn a centuries-old high-wire act from professional trapeze artists.

We traveled back a few decades to uncover the historic core of Small Town America and our love of the open road. Within a few hours of the city, we found a quintessential Route 66-style gas station-turned-museum of all things Americana and a suburban drive-in movie theater. We drove the picturesque hairpin turns on the Pacific Coast Highway at sunset and captured the youthful exuberance of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in a vintage convertible.

And when our traveling team asked to see moments typical of our fair city by the bay, EMP brought them to a hive of bicycle culture, the best of the Mission street murals, a favorite coastal running route and park trails beneath the redwoods. We introduced them to a community of houseboat dwellers that enchanted us all with their stories from the past and their acceptance of change, a community held together by the tenet of being a good neighbor… Indeed, how very American.

Client: National Geographic
Project: HSBC
Agency: JWT
Photographer: Annie Griffiths
Videographer: Bryan Harvey
Producer: Jennifer Hile

Griffiths' Golden Gate

Small town story with a twist

On the water: community charm

Three cameras and two cars at 55mph

Our shoot: Emily Miller Productions was hired to provide a global payments technology client and an award-winning photographer with full-service production power.

Video and photography: spanning three Asian countries, we produced interviews and stories about real people whose lives have been transformed by digital currency — plus, b-roll captures of Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong.

In San Francisco: jumping across numerous time zones, we sourced and managed an international team in order to get interviewees ready, locations set and crews prepared. We booked: resourceful fixers, reliable drivers, expert sound and grip crews with topnotch equipment, talented hair and make-up artists and savvy translators. Meanwhile, we fast tracked our business visas and, for traveling equipment, packed our prized carnet.

In Asia: we cast a range of company talent, business owners and b-roll street stars — clad in pinstriped suits, swimsuits, ceremonial garb and local fashion. We scouted and secured permission to shoot a dream list of locations, from atop mountains and skyscrapers to inside transport hubs and ports. Art and antiquities shops, cinemas and cricket fields, markets and malls required Skype handshakes before our arrival and run-and-gun negotiation on the ground.

Nonstop travel demanded fearless driving, urban hiking, auto-rickshaw riding and shooting inside of an aerial cable car during a windstorm. Our conditions were near equatorial heat and humidity with a dash of air-con, and a spectrum of sunshine, fog, pollution and rain. All were tempered by Hong Kong-style coffees, spicy noodle breakfasts and an oasis of a swimming pool. When 4 weeks of production wrapped, we polished off the hottest dish of peppers and the coldest Tsingtao in Asia, and headed to Bali.

Client: Visa
Project: Currency of Progress
Director/Photographer: Michael Sugrue

Singapore skyscraper scout

B-roll on Arab Street

Mumbai equipment delivery

Crewing an interview inside of the largest textile market in Asia

Indian craft services

5D shoot at an ancient water tank

Bollywood street star

Hong Kong crossing, scouting, shooting

Production breakfasts from airport to set

On the Ngong Ping trail via a crystal cabin with a glass floor

Welcome to the new web home of Emily Miller Productions. The story starts well before it lands here on our News page, where we will feature our producer tales and snaps. Look behind the scenes while we make shoots happen.