Jet Set Shanghai

Let me set the scene: it's 2012 and I've just got my dream job at 3-Legged Dog Media + Theater Group. 3LD is a cutting edge arts and technology company. Working there was like working with the rockstars you worshipped as a youth. There's a mixed bag to that and it isn't always as glamorous as you'd hope it could be.

The executive director at 3LD, Kevin Cunningham is a blessing and a curse. He's an excellent creative leader with good instincts and fantastic at selling a project. The curse is that he's maybe too good at selling those projects. At this time in 3LD's history, Kevin was trying to intentionally set up a profitable arm of the 501(C)3 to fund the artistic work. This meant we were doing a lot of pitches, and throwing our all at them. One of those seemingly random pitches was a staged presentation for Michael Kors.

Working with Phil Gulley, Nica Ross, and David Ogle, we produced a ton of random fashion-forward content with the goal of presenting something with our Studio-C Eyeliner setup. Eyeliner is holographic technology (it's really just Pepper's Ghost and expensive mylar). We shot some original content and put together something that was over-the-top and beyond the scale of most media presentations. Phil and I stayed up all night creating a full-scale demo and oddly enough: the presentation was a success.

Over the next two years, we would conceptualize, design, and execute a media forward fashion show that would be Michael Kors' brand launch in China. Early on, we decide we were going to go to Kors' iconic locations and shoot a ton of high resolution VFX plates that we would then composite into a massive projection blend. We travelled all over the world: Denmark, Italy, France, China, Canada and Connecticut 🤣. We drove my Smart Car into one of the 3LD studios as a proof of concept for when we would shoot Kors' Maybach. We built out a two-story green studio so that we could brings in Mike's favorite models and comp them into our massive projection blend. We built a VFX studio from the ground-up. We researched new technologies to get frame synchronization across 17 1920x1200 projectors – and we didn't use anything proprietary. We built a scale demo of the show and presented it in New York.

I had a lot of different responsibilities on this project, but everything happened under role of Creative Producer. I managed the money. I wrote the contract. I shot a bunch of the content. I programmed some of the show. I composited and designed a bunch of the content. I designed the projection rasters. I coordinated with a team of 10 post-production creatives, more than a dozen production creatives, and the engineering team. I drank Japanese whiskey and smoked cigarettes inside a 5-Star hotel. I got sick on the plane.

Then, we went to Shanghai and spent two weeks in airplane hangar tweaking that content, up until the very last day. We also produced a series of content for the after-party. The event was awesome. One of the most memorable days of my life. 3-Legged Dog has a reputation, but the folks I worked with there I would go through the trenches with any time – still some of my closest friends and collaborators.

Alright, let's do the numbers 🎶

• 2 Years
• 3 Creative Directors
• 3 Directors of Photography
• 2 iMacs for post
• 3 Programmers
• 4 Mac Pro Cheese Graters for post
• 4 Video designers
• 6 Mac Pro Trash Cans for post
• 10 Post Production artists
• 11 Shoots (Concepts, NY Car, NY Boat, NY architecture, CT Jet, Banff, Capri, Paris, Shanghai, Party Textures, Models)
• 12 Mac Pro Trash Cans to run the show
• 23 Projectors
• 40 million pixel main composition
• The biggest Eyeliner surface ever made (100x50')

Multimedia Concept, Design and Execution 3-Legged Dog

House Design Bureau Batek

Production Services Apax Group