Mothlight Pictures Takes to the Web

After 17 years as a turnkey film and video production house, Chicago's Mothlight Pictures is going multimedia.

"Nowadays companies want to share their info, and now we are providing the resources to do it," said Mothlight Producer Snehal Patel. "We are augmenting our business by taking it online. We are on the cusp of a new revolution. We are blurring the line between digital and film, and that's why it is really cool to be in the industry right now. It's like the Golden Age."

Mothlight's work comes from ad agencies, marketing firms and meeting production companies who hire them to produce and direct for their clients. But their M.O. didn't include a website until two years ago, when technological advances made it possible to transfer their work to the web.

"The goal of our new work -- the web and multimedia video -- is to migrate our intuitive, natural sensibility to the digital screen," explained Mothlight Director Marc Wellin, who founded the company in 1984 as a freelance DP. "We want to present video and streamed media to viewers in a way that makes sense, so that when they choose to play a video, it's not just a little rectangular box on grid stuck on the computer screen."

Mothlight marks this new phase with the launching of their website (mothlight.com) and the distribution of a craftily-packaged multimedia CD-ROM called "The Mothlight Collection." The website, co-created by Mothlight Webmaster Brandon Boyer, features information about the company, news about their latest projects and video clip samples of Mothlight's work. The CD-ROM is a sort of "science kit," which includes a magnifying glass and a petri dish containing Mothlight's CD-ROM as well as a toy moth.

"Marc and I are both science geeks," admited Patel. "So the idea came about easily."

"I always tell people that we're not right for every job, but our work has a certain feel that makes it memorable," explained Wellin. "I think our best stuff has a natural, very human feel. It can be funny or serious -- and is sometimes both -- but we try to make it ring true for the viewer no matter what the subject."

An example is their project for Healthworks, a hands-on health and lifestyle museum for children, for which Mothlight was awarded the 2001 Silver ADDY for video and streamed web presentation. Wellin chose to shoot DV using a Steadicam rig, which allowed the DP to photograph the space from a kids-eye point of view. A local cast of 25 students provided the talent, and interviews with the developers of the HealthWorks program added key commentary. Once post-production and music scoring were completed, the show was encoded for streaming on the HealthWorks website.

"Healthworks was so pleased with the way we portrayed the museum that they asked if we could stream the video on their website," Patel said. "Now anyone who visits them online can see the museum through our work."

Another endeavor is their side project "Taking Liberties," an independent film on post-9/11 race relations in the United States, with emphasis on the experiences of Arab Americans. The footage, also shot on DV, will be turned into a 1-hr documentary exploring the delicate balance of race, religion and citizenship. In addition, there will be a companion website allowing visitors to view comments in the form of letters, statements and video clips, and to voice their opinions via a chatroom.

"The future of Mothlight's work is about choice," explained Patel. "We want to help clients deliver their message to the medium that makes the most sense for them, whether that's online, on DVD or something with string and orange juice cans."

"Like everybody else, we spend a lot of time on the phone and we're constantly bugging creatives to see our reel," admited Wellin. "But in all honesty I've found that friends -- and friends of friends -- have turned out to be my most valuable resource. Sometimes I'll answer the phone and it'll be someone I haven't heard from in eons and they'll say, 'Guess where I'm working now?' It never ceases to amaze me."

For more information on Mothlight Pictures, go to http://www.mothlight.com.

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