PRODUCTION WITH CREATIVITY
Kontent is one of the Bay Area’s longest-established video production companies. So for us, the production process is more than hiring a crew and securing a location. Our experience enables us to look at video production through a creative lens; finding ways to stretch the budget, accommodate tight schedules and solve the inevitable problem or two that will pop up along the way. Not to mention operating an efficient, on-budget production. When you trust us with your film production you’ll be in good hands… as many or few as needed. We can take on the entire project or just the sections where you have gaps to fill.
PRODUCTION SERVICES
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Do you need accuracy to ensure your production is realistic? Planning for a period piece, or a documentary that needs a lot of fact checking, or statistics? If your subject is historic, scientific, or dealing with information in a way that your audience needs strong visuals to understand, Kontent Films can provide the necessary research.
Not sure what pre-production planning entails? This is the part where we ascertain what you will need for your actual production. The better your pre-production, the better your production. Whether that means locking your script, working out budgets, setting up your LLC or 501(c)3, breakdowns, story boarding, shooting schedule, gear and shot lists, if you don’t know all the elements related to the project, it’s better to leave that in capable, professional hands. With over two decades of experience in the film industry, Kontent Films can cover all the bases for your project, from the initial concept to the first day of your production.
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You’ve got talent flying in from multiple destinations, and different locals for shooting your project. You’ve got to arrange for pickups from the airport and drop-offs at various lodging arrangements, as well as need to get your talent to and from their accommodations to the set, or between different sets. Even though there are Uber and Lift drivers at the ready, and plenty of unique AirBnB listings, not everyone wants to use those kinds of options. You may need more concierge services for guests at more high end hotels and/or you may want private chauffers, or buses for larger crews. You may also need to rent additional vans for cargo. Kontent Films understands the logistics for many scenarios of film and video production in the San Francisco Bay Area, knows reputable providers, and the best kinds of accommodations to fit any budget from A list actors, to budget indies.
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Great communication and coordination involving different people, tasks, and locations, is a key element in a successful film or video production. If you’ve already done your pre-production planning, have all your crew in place from Producers, DP, Director, and more, you may still need help coordinating everything with everyone. A highly skilled Production Coordinator can make a huge difference in the seamless flow of a project and help you avoid highly stressful situations due to poor communication between different film units and project teams. Coordinating between different team members from administrative, principle cast and crew, and non-principle workers, to third-party suppliers, is an important job, and you want a “people person” who understands the needs of each individual in every exchange in a temporary system under intense budget and time constraints. Kontent Films understands the importance of remaining professional, being respectful, while also getting things done.
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Planning for a film or video project to shoot in Northern California and need assistance with finding cast or crew? Kontent Films can help! Let’s say you’ve got a great cast assembled for your video or film production in the San Francisco Bay Area, but you’ve yet to secure a crew for your production. If you’re short a crew member, Kontent Films can find you crew members from below the line to above the line positions. From a reliable Gaffer, Master Carpenter, Stage Manager, Lighting Designer, Set Designer, to a Technical Director, Director of Photography, or Director, for example, we have a great roster of amazingly talented crew to choose from.
Or maybe you’ve got a great production company you work with, but still need to secure the talent. Or perhaps, you have your main cast, but need extras. Kontent Films can be your Casting Director and help with casting the stars and extras for your film or video production, no matter how large or small your project may be.
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You need a certain look or feel to your project and there’s different visual styles between genres like film noir, westerns, or sci-fi in a narrative film. The same is true of documentary interviews, and video presentations for tech conferences. That’s why DIT and Editorial is important. Kontent films can provide a DIT, or a “Digital Imaging Technician” to work directly with the cinematographer for on-set color correction, managing production workflow, and provide overall image quality control. Combined with editorial which improves storytelling with rhythm, pace, and building tension, the style of editing is very different between TV shows and feature films. There’s an art to delivering stories with high shoot to edit ratios, scenes shot out of sequence, and having to select the best takes from the subtle differences in an actors performances. Kontent Films can help to deliver stunning visuals and editing styles to transform your shoot into a professional looking project.
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You don’t want to have to buy or lease all the equipment you may need for any kind of indoor, underwater, or outdoor shoot. That’s where short term rentals come in. We can fulfill your every need for equipment from lighting like an ARRI 4 light kit, a Lowel 3-light kit, Aputure spottier lights, light panels, and spot boxes, or a gaffer kit, to green screen backdrops, crane jibs, a motion control system, or camera packages like the Mark II Cinema EOS, Arri Alexa 4K cameras, or Sony HDC-P1 studio camera, or RED 8K, 6K, 5K, or 4K. Maybe you already have your camera, but need a few more lenses. Whether it’s Canon, Nikon, or Panasonic, Rokinon, Zeiss speed, or compact zoom lenses, Kontent Films can get it for you. Or, maybe you really just need a drone for some overhead footage, or a working wireless lav, because yours stopped working. We’ve got you covered. If Kontent Films doesn’t have something on hand for you and still can’t find what you’re looking for, we can still help you find it.
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Contact Kontent Films if you are planning a video production or film studio shoot in the San Francisco Bay Area and we’ll help you secure the best Sound Stage. If you have a production planned, but haven’t yet found a great soundstage to shoot on location, we know a number of great locations in the San Francisco bay area to choose from. Depending on the sort of square footage you need and if you need a cyclorama, or not, we can find out the best stage rental option for you. Some have dressing rooms and kitchens, and some don’t, so it helps to know what you are looking for when it comes to your particular production.
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Kontent Films provides location scouting for both commercial and independent video and productions. Whether it’s for a documentary, or a narrative short or feature length film, you need locations to shoot your project and not all of them belong at a stage rental. Your script calls for a gritty scene, a dark alleyway, a clean or cluttered office, a suburban neighborhood, or something more unique, like a warehouse full of props for carnival. Or, maybe the scene is at a special event. Whatever location you need for your film, it takes a talented location scout to find an exceptional location to shoot those scenes. You need more than a scene, you need a location that can support your cast and crew, that can supply the power, or provide the lighting. Kontent Films considers everything when scouting locations, so you don’t have to.
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Kontent Films can help you secure permits for your video or film production in San Francisco, or any city in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Whether you need to block off an entire street, or city block for your production, or whether you want those amazing exterior shots you’ve always dreamed of from San Francisco’s iconic views, such as the tower at Pier 1 of the Ferry Building, the “Painted Lady” victorians lined up at Alamo Square, Coit tower, or toward the Golden Gate Bridge on Ocean Beach. You can’t just go to any exterior location and setup your cameras to record, because you might get a visit from local authorities. Getting permits beforehand will ensure you have a secured location. We can help with any metropolitan area in the United States. In fact, Kontent Films is experienced with getting permits in a great number of locations both in the US and internationally. We know who to contact, how to fill the forms out, and get the permits you need.
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Kontent offers full production insurance for any size production.
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There are many different line items to consider when budgeting for projects. From working on film financing, and tax relief, accounting for grants received which has its own type of record keeping, to equity, pre-sales, soft-money / incentives, bridge / gap financing, crowd / source-funding, running the bookkeeping and accounting, production forecasting and cost reporting, post production and project close, payroll, taxation,and foreign filming, there is more to a production’s accounting that what meets the eye - even with contingency percentages. Line Producers must have considerable industry experience which is only possible by working for a number of years in production with a great roster of industry contacts that can command the respect of the production crew. Line Producers work directly with a Production Accountant, and each might need assistants as well.