Berkshires – Imagine News

Transforms Berkshires into Remote Areas of the World

By Lauren Zink

“A soldier walks towards his military vehicle in an arid desert…”

“A couple prepares to sail the ocean on a hot summer day…”

These are scenes from the advertising campaign for the new Pelican ProGear product line – staged in some unexpected locations. Winstanley Partners, a marketing and interactive agency in Lenox, Massachusetts, transformed the Berkshires to look like remote areas from all over the world – from Canada to the Middle east.

Nate Winstanley founded his partnership in 1986. What began with two people has grown into a firm of thirty employees with over twenty- five clients including Spalding, General Electric and Pelican. Winstanley Partners is a full-service high tech agency specializing in advertising, marketing, and creative-design. And amidst forests and lakes, attracting outdoor consumer products came naturally to this boutique agency.

“It’s not about the products, rather, it’s about understanding the consumer and what the hot buttons are for that target demographic,” says Founder and President Nate Winstanley.

The target audience for Pelican is very similar to the audience for Spalding – people who like outdoor lifestyle products and have a keen sense of adventure. The staff has become experts in understanding this consumer segment.

TOP TO BOTTOM:VP/Creative Director Ralph Frisina's rough pencil sketches for the Pelican project. / Photographer Gary Gold takes a photograph of a Pelican cooler with a floatplane in the background on Onota Lake in Pittsfield / A gravel quarry in Lenox, MA became an arid desert when Winstanley Partners brought in Pelican ProGear, cast and crew, and a vintage Land Rover to show the products in the hands of an adventurer. / All images are courtesy of Winstanley Partners. — TOP TO BOTTOM:
VP/Creative Director Ralph Frisina’s rough pencil sketches for the Pelican project. / Photographer Gary Gold takes a photograph of a Pelican cooler with a floatplane in the background on Onota Lake in Pittsfield / A gravel quarry in Lenox, MA became an arid desert when Winstanley Partners brought in Pelican ProGear, cast and crew, and a vintage Land Rover to show the products in the hands of an adventurer. / All images are courtesy of Winstanley Partners.

Recently, Winstanley Partners completed its first phase of a comprehensive campaign for Pelican ProGear, introducing the brand’s new line of rugged-use products ranging from shatter- proof iPhone® cases and laptop backpacks for city-dwellers and travelers, to rugged outdoor/ marine coolers for serious adventurers.

Some of the core imagery in the photo shoots for packaging, advertisements, sales material and in-store collateral were captured in the Winstanley Partners backyard – literally and figuratively. All their shots try to look as remote as they can. “The Pelican products are at the level of being very real, and we want to keep their message at that level in our photos,” said nate Winstanley.

“Sites were chosen to illustrate specific themes,” noted the partners’ Vice-President and Creative Director Ralph Frisina. “Pittsfield Airport served as the backdrop for an aviation- based photo shoot, while an active quarry was transformed into a barren, remote desert through creative staging.” The creative team for that shoot included Winstanley Partners and local photographers Mark McCarty of Troy, New York and Bill Wright of Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Pelican ProGear products were also captured on rough terrain atop Monument Mountain in Stockbridge, on the water at Onota Lake in Pittsfield, and among the trains of the Berkshire Scenic Railway in Lenox.

Owning their own backyard has served as an appropriate backdrop for an off-roading themed photo shoot that charged staff with slinging mud at vehicles, products, and models. in another photo, models are sitting inside a tent at night in the forest. in reality, they are on the back porch of the Winstanley Partners office during the daytime.

The agency began its work with Pelican ProGear in late February, 2012 with development of ProGear’s identity, followed by packaging design for the entire line, the creation of sales brochures and point-of-sale materials, and design of the Pelican ProGear website.

In the future, Pelican is expanding their line to include even more heavy adventure outdoor performance products, and Winstanley Partners will be there to help with their advertising campaign. Soon Winstanley Partners will shoot new imagery in the Berkshires for Pelican ProGear. A floatplane landing in the water in Canada is actually on Onota Lake in Pittsfield. A young couple camping in their silver airstream trailer will be shot in the Pittsfield State Forest.

The Berkshire Film and Media Commission [BFMC] frequently asks the local community for locations and specific props; it helped spread the word to find the silver airstream camper. “it is great to collaborate with Winstanley Partners and assist them with various productions, especially with their commitment to shoot locally,” says Diane Pearlman, BFMC’s executive Director.

Locations are not the only local focus for Winstanley Partners to utilize. They also like to cast local residents in their shoot. Their requirement is not to have professional experience as the model or actor, but rather, to actually work in the role they are cast in.

“With hunting shots, we always recruit hunters because they know what they are doing and it looks the part, said Nate Winstanley. “Recently, we wanted to capture three generations of hunters. We set out to find teenage boys who were comfortable carrying a shotgun so in the photo it would come across as realistic.”

Local people are utilized with radio and voiceover work as well. Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, have been a great resource for television and radio talent. “Sometimes you can not beat a professional actor, and we are very fortunate to have some great ones right around the corner from us,” says Nate Winstanley.

Winstanley Partners has been recognized for their work, including winning numerous ADDY Awards. Their collaboration with the Berkshire community, and appreciation for having the opportunity to hike among rolling hills at the end of the workday, has helped them find their niche, which has put them on the map all over the world.

To learn more visit, www.winstanley.com.

Lauren Zink is the Communications Manager for the Berkshire Film and Media Commission. Reach her anytime at Lauren@berkshirefilm. com. To keep up-to-date with the western Massachusetts film scene, visit www.berkshirefilm.com

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Cynthia Wade: A Masterful Story Teller

Posted By: Bill Berkshires, documentary, women in film

By Lauren Zink

Documentary Filmmaker and CinematographerCynthia Wade. — Documentary Filmmaker and Cinematographer Cynthia Wade.

“I am a storyteller first, and sometimes an unexpected, reluctant activist second.”

By the time you read this article, Cynthia Wade may or may not have won her second Academy Award in five years. As an accomplished documentary filmmaker who focuses on social issues, winning another Oscar is not what is important to her – creating compelling stories is.

Cynthia’s desire to become a documentary filmmaker began when she was a theatre major at Smith College in Northampton, MA. Spending her time traveling from audition to audition, and landing few roles, she was left feeling frustrated and absent from the creative process. When Cynthia found a camera her sophomore year and began filming her friends, she realized being behind-the scenes was where she belonged.

During her senior year Cynthia decided to apply to the Smith Scholars Program, a special study program where instead of taking classes, she could make a documentary. In 1989, she completed her first film – about women’s dating lives and romantic expectations at an all-female college. Cynthia compared her story to that of her grandmother’s time, a 1939 Smith College graduate.

On graduation day, Cynthia’s documentary screened in front of 800 people. The film included scenes from lesbian and bi-sexual dances, and many considered it too edgy and controversial. Days later, the then-President of Smith College held a meeting in which she announced that she would not run an article about the film in the alumnae magazine because the presence of lesbians at Smith upset some of the older alumnae.

“I didn’t mean for it to be controversial, I was just trying to figure out what college dating life meant to students. This was the first time I realized there was real power to a documentary film,” said Cynthia.

This experience solidified Cynthia’s desire to become a documentary filmmaker and she went on to receive her Masters in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University.

In 2008, Cynthia won her first Academy Award for her short documentary film, FREEHELD. This 39-minute film follows the life of Laurel Hester, a police officer who is dying of cancer, and simultaneously fighting for earned pension benefits for her partner, Stacie Andree.

Although FREEHELD was released during a very controversial time in the United States – when the subject of gay rights was being talked about on every media outlet in the country – Cynthia had no idea how big of an impact the film would have. “I just fell in love with the women in that story and their relationship – the love and care that they had for each other. My passion for a film always starts with the people. I am a storyteller first, and sometimes an unexpected, reluctant activist second.”

The late Laurel Hester with herlife partner Stacie Andree, stars of FREEHOLD. — The late Laurel Hester with her
life partner Stacie Andree, stars of FREEHOLD.

FREEHELD was televised on Cinemax and won 15 film festival prizes, including the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. FREEHELD is set to be a major feature film, with Ellen Page already signed on to play the role of Andree.

Amidst her hectic lifestyle post-Oscars, Cynthia said she realized — while walking up her fourth-floor walk-up in Brooklyn — that never before had she had her own sacred place. “What I yearned for was a quiet place, a special place, for my family. I dreamt of having a little house with a fireplace, wood-plank floors, and a private space for me, my husband and two daughters. After her Oscar win in 2008 Cynthia said to her husband, “I need to go some place where it’s just us as a family.”

Cynthia’s wish came true when she found the perfect home in South Egremont, Massachusetts – a real-estate listing she found on Craig’s List. “The house was crooked, small, cozy, and had wide plank floors and a fireplace. It needed work, and I loved it,” Cynthia states. Originally a weekend getaway, the family moved to the Berkshires permanently 2 ½ years ago.

At a time where people can do their work anywhere, Cynthia feels very fortunate that she can live in the countryside and still have just as successful a career. “The Berkshires,” Cynthia says, “has the potential to have the same creative vibrancy as Brooklyn does.”

The Berkshire community rallied around Cynthia for her second Oscar nomination. Melissa Bigarel, owner of the Great Barrington store Louisa Ellis, was her stylist for the dresses leading up to the Oscars; Anni Crofut, jewelry designer and owner of Anni Maliki, lent some jewelry; and Annie Okerstrom-Lang, local realtor and co-owner of the Great Barrington Okerstrom Lang Landscape Architects, introduced Cynthia to her brother Todd Okerstrom, head of Personal Shopping at Bergdorf Goodman. Todd connected Cynthia with NYC designer Randi Rahm. Rahm lent her a gold beaded gown for the awards ceremony.

Cynthia Wade shares a laugh with Rachel andCynthia, sisters and owners of the Racine Hair Salon — Cynthia Wade shares a laugh with Rachel and Cynthia, sisters and owners of the Racine Hair Salon

This time around, Cynthia’s documentary, MONDAYS AT RACINE, moves people in a different way. The 39-minute film focuses around a Long Island hair salon that, every third Monday of the month, closes its doors to the public for women who have cancer and are undergoing chemotherapy. During this time these women enjoy free beauty services, and along the way, have become a major support system for one another. The sisters, who own the Racine Salon and lost their mother to cancer, will be Cynthia’s dates to the Academy Awards.

Director Cynthia Wade on the set of MONDAYS AT RACINE.

Andrew O’Hehir, writer for Salon.com, writes of MONDAYS AT RACINE as “a modestly scaled film with a modest suburban setting, about the ramifications of a disease that has touched most American families, but Wade’s blend of intimacy, hopefulness and profound tragedy ultimately makes it much, much bigger than that sounds.”

Currently, Cynthia runs her own production company, Cynthia Wade Productions Inc., and is traveling all over the world – one day she’s working in Indonesia and the next she’s in Manhattan. How lucky we are to have Cynthia, and her masterful storytelling talents, here in western Massachusetts. To learn more about Cynthia Wade you can visit her website at www.cynthiawade.com

Lauren Zink is the Communications Manager for the Berkshire Film and Media Commission. Reach her anytime at Lauren@berkshirefilm.com. To keep up-to-date with the film scene in western Massachusetts you can read Lauren’s tweets at @BerkshireFilm.

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Treat Williams Stars in Short Film in the Berkshires

Posted By: Bill Berkshires, short films

Bringing a stage play to the screen

-By Lauren Zink

Director & Co-Producer Joe Cacaci sets up a shot with Director of Photography, Dejan Georgevich. — Director & Co-Producer Joe Cacaci sets up a shot with Director of Photography,Dejan Georgevich.

Tucked away in the hills of western Massachusetts, the Berkshires have long
been known as a cultural Mecca with world renowned theatre, dance and music venues. More recently, the area has begun to make a name for itself as a destination for film production.

In late January, Joe Cacaci and John Whalan bridged the gap between two mediums by bringing a stage production to the screen.

Members of the “Chickadee” basketball team watch a take with Joe Cacaci, John Whalan and writer, Richard Dresser.

Originally written as a one-act play for the Berkshire Playwrights Lab’s [BPL] 2012 annual gala, “Halftime” was performed by Treat Williams as a monologue at the Mahaiwe Theatre in Great Barrington, MA. When Williams walked
off the stage he turned to Whalan and said, “You have to shoot this.” Six months later, the original creators were back together to adapt the story into a ten-minute film.

HALFTIME, written by Richard Dresser, directed by Cacaci, and produced by Whalan’s Black Ice Entertainment LLC, was shot at Berkshire School, a coeducational boarding school located in Sheffield, MA. Thanks to athletic director, Dan Driscoll and set designer Jim Spieler, the boys’ varsity
hockey locker room was transformed into middle school basketball cubbies.

The film revolves around a coach giving his downtrodden team, the Chickadees, a half-time pep talk that goes seriously awry. Eight local 11 year-olds played Williams’ team, recruited with the help of BPL general manager Lori Bashour. All of the young actors had some experience performing in local
school productions.

“When all the cameras are on you, it makes you excited inside,” said Toby Keenan, one of the young actors.

BFMC Founder and HALFTIME Co-producer, John Whalan with BFMC Executive Director Diane Pearlman, and BFMC Communications Manager, Lauren Zink — BFMC Founder and HALFTIME Co-producer, John Whalan with
BFMC Executive Director Diane Pearlman, and BFMC Communications Manager, Lauren Zink

The Berkshire Film and Media Commission [BFMC] was happy to assist the production finding the location as well as some cast and crewmembers. “I am thrilled that two of our Advisory Board Members, Joe and John, brought this project here. The caliber of talent and professionals involved in this
production will help promote the Berkshires as a premiere shooting location,” says Diane Pearlman, BFMC’s Executive Director. “I was excited to be on the set and see so many of our Berkshire crew working together, some of whom have
been working with each other for the last 20 years.”

HALFTIME is one of many short-films being co-produced by Cacaci and Whalan, several of which are based on the 1-act plays being performed at the Berkshire Playwrights Lab. Founded in 2007 by theater professionals Jim Frangione, Bob Jaffe, Matthew Penn and Joe Cacaci, BPL dedicates itself to
encourage, develop and present new plays through readings, workshops, and fully staged productions.

“Bringing this play from stage to screen here in the Berkshires, merges the interests and passions of Black Ice and BPL. To have an actor like Treat involved makes it particularly gratifying,” says Cacaci.

The real HALFTIME Team: Director/CoProducer Joe Cacaci, Actor Treat Williams, Writer Richard Dresser, and Co-Producer John Whalan pose after the shoot wrapped. — The real HALFTIME Team: Director/Co-Producer Joe Cacaci, Actor Treat Williams, Writer Richard Dresser, and Co-Producer John Whalan pose after the shoot wrapped.

Williams, a long time fan and performer at BPL, was to appear in a four character play at the last BPL gala, but a last minute TV production conflict prevented him from being available for the scheduled three day rehearsal. Not
wanting to lose his valued participation, BPL approached Dresser about writing a monologue for Williams as soon as he could. Dresser’s immediate response was no. However, after a good night’s sleep and some thinking, Dresser woke up the next morning with a great idea – and the story for HALFTIME was created.

Dresser has written screenplays for television series such as “The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd” and “The Job”. According to Dresser, “the monologue is based around a character who just has practically everything go wrong for him, and this uniquely, untalented middle school team is all he has left.”

Whalan and Cacaci hope these short films will give actors a chance to perform characters they’re not typically used to playing. In their last short film, FOOD FOR THOUGHT, coproduced with Joe Mantegna for his Quickbites series that
aired on KCET in LA, Tony Shalhoub (see IMAGINE cover February 2007) was cast in a very different role than his usual obsessive-compulsive-driven character on Monk.

In gaining some momentum, Cacaci and Whalan consider these first two productions, and a third piece, shot last year at Castle Street Cafe in Great Barrington, MA as part of the pilot phase – and plan to produce at least a dozen more. According to Whalan, their idea is to create a brand of very
high-end shorts, using recognizable talent, all of which will continue to film in the Berkshires.

Whether HALFTIME will be launched first on the web, or in short film festivals or eventually as part of a series of shorts for television, remains to be determined. “There is a changing dynamic in the whole world of entertainment. People are watching things in shorter segments and we can make these episodes attractive either as their own series or as one-offs,” says Whalan.

Bringing a full range of production work to the Berkshires has been a focus for John Whalan, as both the founding co-chair of BFMC in 2008, and as the president of Black Ice Entertainment, a multi-media, film development and production company based in Great Barrington. “We want to keep filming in the
Berkshires as an economic engine for the area and to showcase countywide talent onscreen and off-screen,” says Whalan.

The momentum from HALFTIME has surely already been felt. As the cast and crew wrapped up the production they were leaving Berkshire School knowing they would be reunited soon to adapt the next one-act play into a short series. The next time, however, they hoped the production would not take place near
a hockey rink and be just as cold inside as the weather was outside.

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