Hurricanes Go Top Shelf with New Ad Campaign
                                                                  
Trailblazer Studios Makes Every Second Count with Phantom HD Camera

RALEIGH, N.C. (Oct 6, 2009) – The Carolina Hurricanes have a hot new ad campaign to usher in the 2009-10 season. Fans can look forward to high-drama footage in ultra slow motion thanks to the Phantom HD high-speed digital camera used to shoot the dozens of spots that will air through spring of next year.

This marks the second year the Canes have teamed up with ad agency Craig Jackson & Partners and Trailblazer Studios to produce the franchise’s extensive advertising and video scoreboard spots. The campaign, themed “It’s a Caniac Thing,” slows down the high-speed moves of Eric Staal, Cam Ward and other Canes’ favorites. View Cam Ward spot.

“It’s a Caniac Thing” features eight main spots, each one catching a key player in a signature move – a slapshot, a wrister, a glove save. The voiceover describes the move in a dramatic way and settles on the one word that comes to mind for Caniacs when they think of their beloved team.

“Shooting at 500 frames per second makes the footage unique, because you can break down human motion to its barest elements,” said Garye Costner who directed the spots. “The hockey scenes we shot were happening so fast that you really don’t see the whole thing in real time. Then when you slow it down, what took a half second is stretched out to 6 or 7 seconds. For the first time you get to see just how powerful and skilled the skaters really are.”

Red Truck Films, represented by Trailblazer Studios, shot and produced the spots, with Cathy Wilson as executive producer and Costner as the director/DP. Costner brought in the Phantom camera and a technician from New York, giving the Canes an affordable way to utilize this typically expensive technology. 

The Phantom HD is capable of shooting in excess of 1,000 frames per second. It has an excellent dynamic range and a high sensitivity (ISO 550), making it useful even under normal lighting conditions.

“The Phantom was really, really wonderful to work with,” said Costner. “The image is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen. The blacks are so clean and have absolutely no noise at all, and the scenes are as clear and compelling as I wanted them to be – and then some.

“Using the Phantom was a lot easier than shooting high-speed film, and it didn’t cost near as much. It’s not cheap, but it’s fantastic when you have subject matter that lends itself to high-speed footage.”

Serious Robots, the post production division of Trailblazer Studios, provided on-set supervision, post workflows, editorial, compositing, graphics and color correction – delivering eight main :30 second spots. Editors Scott Roy and Ian Krabacher will continue to cut the spots and create individual game tags for all upcoming home games.