Apples & Oranges Productions has ramped up quickly since its founding in 2008 to become a force on Broadway, with two shows currently on the boards: the Tony Award-winning revival of the 1960s bellwether musical Hair (associate producers) and Memphis (lead producers), a new musical with music by Bon Jovi founding member David Bryan. (View Apples & Orange's YouTube channel.)

Memphis the Broadway Musical
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For both projects, and for Paradise Found (a new musical directed by Hal Prince that will premiere in London this spring before transferring to Broadway), Apples & Oranges is creating multi-faceted marketing packages using HD cameras from Panasonic, including the AG-HPX300 and AG-HPX500 P2 HD shoulder-mount camcorders, the AG-HVX200A P2 HD handheld, and the AW-HE870N 2/3-inch HD/SD multi-purpose camera.

Apples & Oranges maintains a partnership with the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., where company co-founder Tim Kashani, then a student, was introduced to the HVX200A P2 HD handhelds, which the school uses for both instruction and production. Upon launching Apples & Oranges with partner Pamela Winslow, Kashani began incremental purchases of P2 HD camcorders; the company currently owns an HPX300, HPX500 and two HVX200As, and has an equipment sharing arrangement with Dodge College when shoots require additional camcorders.

Before importing its digital flash to Broadway, Apples & Oranges partnered with Santa Ana’s Discovery Science Center in Orange County, Calif., on “The Science of Hockey,” an exhibit that teaches visitors about physics through the sport of hockey. The production company shot all the exhibit video, featuring the Anaheim Ducks, with HPX500s and HVX200As. Shortly thereafter, Apples & Oranges set its sights on Broadway.

“While our first assignments were California-based, both I and Pamela, who has deep Broadway roots [she originated the role of Rapunzel in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods], were strongly committed to fostering artistic endeavors on both coasts,” said Kashani. “We knew our expertise was in audio/visual marketing, but we wanted to move beyond traditional Broadway promotion, which for decades has consisted largely of newspaper ads supplemented by limited television spots.”

“We were confident that with the P2 HD camcorders we had the ammunition we needed to create marketing pieces that were edgier and could blend into the whole panoply of social networking outlets,” he added.

Kashani relies on the HPX300 as his primary production camera, and typically shoots 1080p at 30 or 24fps in AVC-Intra 100 (interviews, however, are often shot in AVC-Intra 50 to take advantage of the extended record times). He supplements the HPX300 with the HVX200As and especially, the HPX500 when wide-angle shots and/or low light are factors.

For Memphis, which opened on Broadway last fall, Apples & Oranges scheduled two multi-camera shoots, one of the live show (with several HPX300s time-synced) and one of a three-hour rehearsal. From that material, more than 30 interstitial videos have been created for viewing on the musical’s Web site (www.memphisthemusical.com) and several social networking platforms, including Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter. The video has been repurposed for the show’s group sales department, and used to produce a DVD for press. The show footage has likewise been used as B-roll in television commercials.

Apples & Oranges has just finished a “making of Memphis” documentary (outlets to be determined) shot with the P2 HD camcorders. Kashani said that all New York-based projects are edited in Final Cut Pro.

"Hair in the Square"
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For the revival of Hair, the iconic '60s “American Tribal Love-Rock” musical, Apples & Oranges used HXV200As to shoot man on the street interviews that appear on the show’s Web site (www.hairbroadway.com) and on various social networks. Currently, the company assisted with the design and installation of an AW-HE870N POV camera on the stage of the Al Hirschfeld theatre that will capture video of the show’s famous finale, when audience members join the cast on-stage for a “be-in,” that will stream live on Hair’s Web site.

Kashani said that, while video production projects for Paradise Found are not yet fully formulated, he will be taking P2 HD camcorders to London to document rehearsals and interview principals for early show advertising.