John Legend - Mobile Production Pro

VideoFrank The Plumberby Mike WhartonButt-crack Not IncludedHere is a little storyabout momentsof inspiration. It’sa journey that began at anarcade game convention floor(long before the E3/ElectronicEntertainment Expo), a paththat led through the SonyBuilding to ‘The Tree House’ inLaurel Canyon and a designcompany based on a plumbernamed Frank.During breaks in rehearsals for Beyonce’,mPm caught up with Chris Kantrowitz, theco-founder of the production company Frankthe Plumber, to hear his tale.A self described “computer nerd” Chrisbegan designing video games when hewas 14, after his father had taken him to aConsumer Electronics Show.“I played a game at one of the booths,remembers Kantrowitz. Afterwards the headof development asked me what I thoughtand I gave him a long list of problems. Theguy thanked me for being honest, addingthat people usually weren’t. Right then, Idon’t even know where it came from, but Isaid, ‘well you know I have a business testinggames,’ He gave me his card, and told meto give him a call. I figured I was on tosomething, went around to a bunch of otherbooths and left at the end of the day with astack of cards. “A year later, after picking him up fromschool each day, Kantrowitz’s mother wasdepositing him at the doorstep of Sonyto design its’ games. His career continuedon this path until he was 33. “About thattime I had this kind of realization I’d beendoing the same thing for more than halfmy life and I just needed a change,” saysKantrowitz.He and Christian Lamb (his partner) met“randomly” through mutual friends. Lamb,the son of industry legend ProductionManager Chris Lamb, had been workingin the business for quite a while as anindependent video director and designer.“Christian approached me abouthelping him with some videographics for Madonna,” continuesKantrowitz. We worked togetherand enjoyed what we accomplished. Thenwe did some things for Coldplay and I said,‘why don’t we start a company together?’Frank The Plumber was born in my diningroom in 2006.”The transition for Kantrowitz from videogame designer to live concert video designwas a seamless one.Enthuses Kantrowitz, “I think allentertainment shares very fundamentalcores. I’ve always been a huge fan of what’sgoing on in live music and the ways it’sevolved so much in terms of technology.Most modern shows are totally dependaenton computers, ProTools, video rigs andlighting rigs ect, etc. The technology behindconcert touring was a very comfortableplace for me ‘cause I am a technologist anda creative person. When you create a videogame, you’re creating virtual sets, all thelighting, staging, movement, and tempo.Designing live shows is a bit of a reliefbecause the person you’re directing has amind and ideas too. You’re building a stage,lighting it, consulting with and creating astory for the artist. But instead of virtualyou’re dealing with tangible. So in my worldif you wanted a table lamp, you have tocreate it. In the staging world you just gobuy it.”Frank The Plumber’s website boasts ofgreat grand-father Obadiah’s advocacy ofsanitary health and well being, SpeedyService, Plumbing Tips and World WideFranchise offers. Amidst the tonguein cheek subtlety of the websitecan also be found show reels andmontages of the work Kantrowitzand Lamb have produced. It’s animpressive roster, even more sofor a company barely three yearsold. Yet none of it directly pointsto what they do as a company.“Word of mouth is what keeps ourrelationships going, and we’ve been veryfortunate to work with so many wonderfulartists,” says Kantrowitz.The idea was to start a companyfull of artists with a variety of skillsthat could work in a variety ofareas. So as a whole, we couldbasically offer more services toour clients.”franktheplumber.comassistant@franktheplumber.com323-654-4546Because of this flexibility, this team is oftenhired to be involved with more than justthe video content for a tour and is hiredto design a show top to bottom. First andforemost, Frank The Plumber’s ideologyorients itsself to creative designs that push it’sclients to do things visually they would havenever done.Its design approach encompasses morethan the tour itself, but into other aspectsof the artist’s presentation. Kantrowitzrefers to a well used term, “Album Cycles.”“For example, with Chris Cornell, we shota couple of music videos before he wentout, and then used some of the content onhis tour. We try to create broader visual10 mobile production monthly