Production Paradise

Welcome to the midsummer edition of Showcase Amsterdam from Production Paradise.

One of Europe's favourite cities will soon be hosting Amsterdam International Fashion Week, which is steadily establishing itself as a young and directional alternative to the world's more traditional fashion weeks - runs 21-30 July. Also visit the retrospective on Jacques Henri Lartigue starting this Friday (22 June) at the Foam Fotografiemuseum - until 26 August.

Find more information about all of Amsterdam's hottest production and visual media companies and events at www.productionparadise.com.

Our cover was shot by Tina Winkhaus, represented by Unit Management.

ams production/commercial production: MINISTRY OF FILM

Ministry of Film is a service production company based in Amsterdam, with plenty of experience servicing large and small jobs from different parts of the world.

Most jobs are commercials, but foreign film and television production companies and photographers also found their way into Ministry of Film.

A recent job was for Japanese production company Harajuku Sun Ad, featuring a small Honda car with a self-parking device. It seems they came to Amsterdam because they wanted to show the car in 'a lovely, cosy, female-friendly city'...

The latest production in the Netherlands was a worldwide commercial for CNN for Shell, with commissioning production company Serious Pictures from London and director Ivan Bird. Part of the ad was filmed in Amsterdam on location and parts were filmed in the offices of Shell in The Hague and Rijswijk.

ams production/commercial production: ARTCORE PRODUCTIONS

New talent at Artcore, director Floris Kingma, has an intriguing story:

After getting a degree in economics from the University of Groningen, Floris decided that being a white-collar businessman was not his thing. Instead he preferred to wear as much black and skulls as possible and started pressing the 'REC' button...

From the moment he started producing and directing local commercials for the Amsterdam Television Network, people noticed his films - practically all of them have a dry, minimalist kind of humour.

Artcore says 'since he joined forces with us, we have been rocking. This stop-motion film for client Citybox shows what his perfectionism leads to...'

ams photography/photo agents: ERIC ELENBAAS AGENCY

Eric Elenbaas Agency represents several top artists in the fashion and advertising industry, photographers, stylists and art directors.

Rather than just managing creative careers, the agency 'creates concepts for the development and positioning of companies and brands who want to work with fashion in an innovative way.'

The company takes responsibility for realising and producing projects - including project planning, timelines, budget, art direction, photo shoots and fashion events - ensuring delivery of all requirements and collaborations, managing the project through completion.

Clients also use the agency's expertise for individual parts of the production - such as location scouting, studio, transport, set design, equipment, catering, art-buying and casting.

Credits include: Percy, Blue Blood, No-Excess, Waalwear Group, Van Gils, Dobber and Badboys.

ams photography/photographers: MARIJKE AERDEN

Amsterdam-based fashion photographer Marijke Aerden works for international fashion magazines and advertising agencies.

After buying herself a camera and discovering a fully equipped darkroom in her New York apartment, she has been shooting ever since. She approaches photography with a "no-nonsense sensibility".

Her work appears in Cover Magazine, Elle, Glamour, Style & the family tunes.

Clients include Takashimaya, Levi's and Villeroy & Boch.

ams photography/photographers: DIEDERIK KRATZ PHOTOGRAPHY

Diederik Kratz was born in 1962 in The Hague in The Netherlands.

Since the 90s, he has specialised in international automotive photography.

He just came back from Portugal for the new Mitsubishi Colt brochure and the new Mitsubishi Grandis brochure.

He has also worked for Nissan, Renault, Toyota and Spyker cars.

ams photography/photo associations: PANL (PHOTOGRAPHERS ASSOCIATION OF THE NETHERLANDS)

PANL - The Photographers Association of the Netherlands is the organisation of Dutch photographers active in the areas of advertising, fashion, editorial and independent photography.

It was established in 1990 with the primary aim of offering a platform for applied photography. Since then, it has worked successfully to draw attention to Dutch photography both in the Netherlands and abroad.

The association's primary activity is organising the annual photography awards - the PANL Awards, which take place every year around October, with all the photographers submitting their best work - both commissions and their personal projects.

Each year, the nominated and award-winning photographs are published in a book, the Photography Annual of the Netherlands, which this year includes names such as Marcel Christ, Eddo Hartmann, Edo Kars, Jimmy Nelson and Jaap Vilegenthart. The book is designed by Teun van der Heijden and can be ordered by e-mail.

ams talent/model agencies: THEA MEULENBERG CASTING

Thea Meulenberg Casting's experience over many years is a sign of how well-regarded the company is among European businesses - the following are recent commercials cast by the company:

• 5 @home TV commercials with Herman Poppelaars Film for UbachsWisbrun/JWT
• Volmer Kaas with Bram Schouw, Hazazah Film for Liberty
• Steradent with CineteamFilm Frankfurt for Euro RSCG NL
• Binckbank Internetfilm for New Message
• Etos with Caramel Pictures UbachsWisbrun/JWT
• BMW with John Trapman Barking Dog Film for Spain
• Two Films for TV West
• Calgonite with Vamanos film for Euro RSCG NL
• Vifit film for Internetspel with GR8Films
• New ING Films with Frederik de Groot for Canada
• Vanish with Flip van Vliet from KellerFilms for Euro RSCG NL

Casting says 'we don't try to put forward as many people as possible, but instead look for the right character for the right part.'

The company also works with all main agencies in the Netherlands for talent including fashion models and photography campaigns.

ams photography/post production: MAGIC GROUP

Magic Group is an independent creative digital retouching company based in Amsterdam and founded in 1999.

As a source of creativity, the company has mastered the challenges of image manipulation, retouching and correction. It says its dedicated team of digital operators provides comprehensive/creative imaging services that are supported by industry standardised colour management and digital proofing.

Services include scanning (slides, Polaroids, negatives etc), digital image processing of raw data, digital proofing, portfolio printing, art printing, project/campaign management, Magic Suite, and on-location digital image support.

Two companies in the group: MGCA, representing digital illustrators with a diverse variety of styles, and MAGICO Barcelona, founded in 2006, also specialising in creative retouching/postproduction.

ams film/film post production: POSTA

Posta Audio Post Production has an impressive track record in film and television. And, knowing their way around in drama, means that different genres like commercial, animation and documentaries are taken on with the same attention to detail.

Award-winning projects - including Raak's Golden Bear at the Berliniale 2007 - were completed at Posta.

The studios' speciality can be described as 'hyper-realism - a realistic feel for the accents of the scene embedded in the ambiance'.

Commercials can be sound-designed, composed and mixed at Posta studios, where there is a spacious air-conditioned 5.1 mixing room and practical file transfer.

ams locations/hotels: LLOYD HOTEL

The Lloyd Hotel offers Dutch design at its best, thanks to the more than fifty designers, artists and architects who have contributed to transform this former migrant hotel into a hotel with 117 different rooms ranging from 1 star to 5 stars.

It is located in the trendy Eastern Docklands area, one of the fastest cultural developing areas of Amsterdam.

Every Monday night is 'Lloyd Time' - public events of an impromptu nature - drawing inspiration from what's going on in the hotel, on the streets of Amsterdam and in the news. There is often live music, with artists presentations, exceptional and current films, fashion, poetry or stand-up comedy.

The hotel is also home to the Cultural Embassy, and to celebrate Dutch Culture & Design, it has partnered with KLM and Droog Design to offer a 'Design Special'.