Castle Creek Productions Produces the First High Definition Series on DIY

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2005--The series "Creative Juice," which begins airing on February 6, 2006, is the first High Definition series produced for the DIY Network. According to John Dietsch, President of Castle Creek Productions and executive producer of the series, "We were somewhat of a guinea pig for the network."

DIY picked Castle Creek Productions to produce their first HD series. Castle Creek has a history of producing quality lifestyle programming, such as "The Great Adventure" for the Fine Living Network and "The Best of California" for syndication, but like many boutique production companies, the company had never entered the HD world.

The High Definition show highlights fun, affordable, easy-to-make crafting projects. "Shooting in HD made a lot of sense," said Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza, who hosted and produced the series. "This allows the viewer to see all the details of each craft."

Castle Creek chose Panasonic's Varicam as the HD camera system. Director of photography Shana Hagan, who lensed the first 13 episodes, had worked on several reality-based projects, including "The Apprentice," and was already familiar with the Varicam system. "Having a DP that had worked in this medium was crucial for us," said Dietsch. "Greg Byers, the co-executive producer and director, had worked with her before so she was perfect for the job."

"I was happy to accept the challenge of shooting verite style for a craft show on High Definition using a single camera," said Hagan, who helped develop a distinct visual style for the series.

In post-production, Castle Creek employed Final Cut Pro 5 and finished in 1080i. "A big challenge with bringing HD post in-house is storage," said Post Supervisor Reed Fenton. "HD simply requires much more than standard definition." Castle Creek ended up needing nearly 13 terabytes of drive space to complete the project. "Quality control is also very important," continued Fenton, "because the viewer sees everything." Rather than color correcting and mastering in-house, Castle Creek chose to conform in their online bay then finish outside. The company delivered 26 episodes in Standard Definition, and 26 in HD.

"Creating the series look for HD not only takes creative expertise," said Freddy James, Director of Programming for DIY, "it also requires experimentation with a palette of technological options that can really affect the creative outcome."

Scripps Networks will launch two HD networks in 2006.

"Creative Juice" the series will begin airing on February 6, 2006, with 26 half-hour episodes. It is preceded by a one-hour special "Creative Juice for the Holidays," which will air throughout December.

"Creative Juice" is produced for the DIY Network by Castle Creek Productions in association with Two Bees and a Pea Productions. John Dietsch is executive producer. Greg Byers is director and co-executive producer. For the DIY Network, Freddy James, Director of Programming, supervised the project.