Video Proposal

Interactive Behavioral Risk Reduction (IBRR)

Prepared for: Los Angeles County - Department of Public Health, Sexually Transmitted Disease Program
Prepared by: David Smith, Producer
A.G. Melkom, Director

December 4, 2008
Proposal number: RFB-IS-232478

EdgeCentric EIN: 13-422-1594

6840 Orangethorpe Ave. Unit D, Buena Park, CA 90620 T 714.522.7225 C 562.714.7417 dsmith@edgecentric.com www.edgecentric.com
Statement of Work
Project Description
The proposal answers the Internal Services Department Request for Proposal numbered RFB-IS-232478, known as the
Interactive Behavioral Risk Reduction (IBRR) Video Production Project. Digitized video segments are intended for use in
an interactive website providing support and risk-reduction services for HIV-positive MSM. Segments will include up to
four different “topic hosts” using scripted content and five different “personal narratives” using unscripted interviews, to
provide up to a total of 65 segments of 2-3 minutes each covering a range of topics.

Strategy
When there are highly knowledgeable individuals whose experience or expertise is needed for the understanding and
support of being newly diagnosed with HIV, creating a visual encyclopedia of on-camera personal interviews provides a
powerful level of engagement.

By evoking a strong emotional appeal in having individuals infected with HIV tell their stories provides first-hand input and
allows participants to share qualitative information in a manner that allows freer expression of ideas and understanding to
promote safer sexual behaviors and support.

Structure
Each subject is discrete in personality and experience and will be shot in signature profiles whether as an individual
infected with HIV or as an expert in the field. It is key to connect emotionally to the interview subjects to create a
compelling and engaging product. There are a number of techniques that can be employed during the filming of the
interviews to help establish a bond between viewer and subject. Some of these techniques will be explored in the
Method section of this proposal.

Preliminary Topic List:

Newly diagnosed with HIV
Relationships
Sex
Telling others
Medical care
Treatment
Getting support
HIV 101: myths and facts
Staying healthy
Diet, Nutrition, Exercise
Moving forward with your life
Social life, Family
Legal help
Financial help
Drugs
Alcohol
Mental health

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Method

The production staff at EdgeCentric are experts of efficiency. With some amazing scheduling, our Director A.G. Melkon
was able to ferry through 18 interviewees within two days, for a recent PSA and promo for the Los Angeles County Civil
Grand Jury. This level of efficiency can only be achieved with supreme organization. It is for this reason that EdgeCentric
emphasizes the importance of careful and close collaboration in the preproduction phase.

EdgeCentric has decades of experience with coaxing sincere, compelling stories from untrained subjects and over the
years has developed a number of techniques for streamlining the process. The most unusual and startlingly effective
technique is the use of the tele-prompter as interviewer. As in daily interactions, eye contact between subject and audi-
ence is a powerful tool in cementing an emotional bond between the two. By projecting the image of the interviewer on
the tele-prompter screen, the interview subject makes eye contact with the lens, thereby making natural eye contact with
the viewer. Simply asking a subject to speak to the lens results in a more “performance” style that goes counter to the
personal connection we wish to achieve.

This technique also requires the use of a single camera, saving setup time, expense, and keeping intimidating production
equipment to a minimum. To make up for the lack of a cut away angle, EdgeCentric utilizes High Definition cameras that
allow for multiple frame sizes to be extracted from the same high resolution angle. We can cut from a medium shot to a
close up or perform a perfectly timed emotive push in, all in the post production process. This gives us the ultimate crea-
tive freedom while keeping the complexities on shoot day to a minimum.

Samples
We have a comprehensive gallery of sample work posted to our website, www.edgecentric.com for your review.

Additionally, to demonstrate EdgeCentric’s capabilities with a similar video encyclopedia, please visit
www.perfectbusiness.com/video. EdgeCentric assisted in founding the Perfect Business website by providing
production services for the initial round of interviews and provided training to the full time production staff on how to
create the highest quality video content for the web.

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Production Schedule

Pre Interviews / Rehearsal Shoot Rough Cut / Client Review

Week 1 2 3 4 5 6

Scheduling and Prep Client Paper Edit Deliver Final Edit

Budget


Phase Item Qty Price Total

Pre Production
Pre-Interviews/Scheduling 3 800 2,400

Production
Studio/Day 2 800 1,600
Director/Day 2 800 1,600
DP/Day 2 400 800
Sound/Day 2 200 400
Camera/Day 2 400 800
Lighting/Day 2 300 600
Teleprompter/Day 2 250 500
Insurance 1 1,400 1,400

Post Production
Editing/Day 6 800 4,800
Compression/Day 2 800 1,600
Audio Post/Day 1 500 500

TOTAL: 17,500

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Biographies

David C. Smith
Producer, Cinematographer, Editor

David Smith embarked on his video career at the young age of 14 by producing a retrospective of the Vietnam War as a
gift for his father. The short project won local, regional, and national awards and caught the attention of the LA Times in
the form of a feature article about the “Video Kid Taping His Way to the Top”. By the time David graduated high school,
he had produced hundreds of hours of programming. He also taught himself video engineering in order to conquer the
challenge of redesigning two production facilities and building a remote sports production truck from scratch.

At 22 Smith’s talents and experience were recognized when he was granted a vocational teaching credential and began
teaching video production for the Orange County High School of the Arts. He considers the impact he made on his
students to be some of his greatest accomplishments. By teaching and working for a variety of broadcast and industrial
production companies, Smith worked his way through the rigorous Film Production program at the California State
University at Long Beach. It was this program that focused Smith’s diverse talents towards the camera and galvanized
his desire to become a Director of Photography.

Smith has since completed 9 feature films, dozens of short films, commercials, and documentaries. In addition to
pursuing his dream as a cinematographer, David works as an editor and computer graphic artist for video, print, and the
web through his production company, EdgeCentric. Thanks to this experience, David has become renowned for his
technical knowledge, inventiveness, and creativity and calm confidence under pressure.

In the six years since its launch, EdgeCentric has provided production services for a wide range of clients from
government, industry, and the entertainment community. A select listing follows:

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A.G. MELKOM
Writer, Director

A.G. Melkom is a director, producer and writer whose groundwork in visual articulation formed early on through the
medium of oil on canvas, when at age 16 she completed the first of three critically acclaimed solo exhibitions in abstract
expressionism. After finishing her academic work in fine arts and graphics in Paris at Sorbonne's elite L'Ecole Nationale
Des Arts Decoratif, Melkom returned to New York and began formal film training through the Director's Program at the
School of Visual Arts.

In 2000 Melkom focused her attention towards her long time interest in producing commercially successful music videos,
commercials, and industrials, Melkom had the opportunity to produce a video release distribution for Tele-
Communications in Canada, “Trials of Love,” a story of struggle between a grieving father who was driven to murder for
the retribution of his son’s death and the legal system.

Melkom advanced her vision of integrating her writing skills with her artistically eclectic approach by producing two
national public service media campaigns, which were unique in their content’s depth and emotional appeal, and in their
use of artistic diversity in presentation. During this period Melkom also produced, "La Grande Finale," a teleplay about
near-death experiences and a suicide pack among three men dying from AIDS that aired on Canadian Broadcasting; “E -
Reality,” a 30- minute television strip focusing on the continuing psychological and physical influences that politics, media
activity, and the arts and sciences have on the way we experience the reality of our daily lives; and “Portraits In
Obsession,” a documentary on pathological relationships that focuses on women who become emotionally involved with
serial killers.

For five years, Melkom resided in Paris, France, working on a documentary series entitled, “Le Pouvoir De l’esprit” (Power
of the Mind) for Channel M6 Television; a science series unraveling the unusual emotional, intellectual, and inexplicable
mental mysteries of human thought and behavior.

Melkom works in production in Los Angeles and recently completed a documentary and PSA for The Los Angeles
County Civil Grand Jury.

References

Edward Eng Ken Jenkins

Executive Director - Economy & Efficiency Commission Senior Producer - 11 North Event Productions
EEng@bos.lacounty.gov kjenkins@11north.com
(213) 974-1491 [714] 893-3104

Jake Torem
Director of Post Production - Picture Head, LLC
jtorem@picturehead.com
323-823-3066

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