What’s Their Gig?
The first thing you notice when you walk into Digital Kitchen’s new offices in Manhattan is that everybody in the place is, well, really kind of cool. You know the type: guys who wear thick black-framed eyeglasses and fedoras and actually pull it off. They’re also busy; the energy in the room is intense and high-spirited. Dave Skaff, the newly-hired executive producer, is proud of this assembled group. "I’ve never been in a stronger, more supportive creative environment," says Skaff as he surveys the so-called "mosh pit" where his team sits. "When people aren’t happy they leave at six." Since it’s nearly 7:30 and the mosh pit is jumping, these guys are apparently pretty content.
Digital Kitchen, a motion graphic design and production company, was founded in 1995 when Paul Matthaeus, Digital Kitchen’s chief creative officer, opened the facility’s first office in Seattle. Since then, they’ve set up shop in Chicago, LA and most recently New York.
The Cool Factor
Digital Kitchen considers itself to be a non-traditional design shop. While many companies specialize solely in television promotion or film trailers, Digital Kitchen is quite literally all over the map, having produced site-specific "experiential" pieces in Hong Kong, Las Vegas and New York’s South Street Seaport.
To celebrate the opening of the Mirage development in Las Vegas, Digital Kitchen created a seamless, 360-degree video on nine HD screens, using the Sony CineAlta HDW-F900R HD camera. Matthaeus described the project, which includes being surrounded and then enveloped by flowing champagne, as "ambient wallpaper; a visual poem."
If you haven’t been at the right place at the right time to experience these experiential pieces, you have certainly encountered the company’s work on the small screen. Digital Kitchen-designed title sequences include those for groundbreaking programs, such as Six Feet Under, House, Rescue Me and Nip/Tuck; the opening for Dexter won the shop an Emmy. While Matthaeus claims that one of the hallmarks of Digital Kitchen is that it doesn’t have any one “house style,” he admits that his team has a unique approach to creating title sequences. “We’re out to create a metaphorical, cinematic television experience; our clients want a video Haiku.”
The Geek Factor
Digital Kitchen’s New York staff is a close knit group. They play in bands together. Their artwork hangs on the office walls. Their desks were designed by Matthaeus to be ergonomically correct and promote communication.
Two thirds of the staff was recruited from outside of New York City; they’ve relocated from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Texas, Chicago and Seattle. Because of this, the group tends to stick together; they share apartment brokers, explore the city, eat and drink together.
It’s now 7:45 and the mosh pit is suddenly, completely empty; everyone seems to have left at exactly the same time.
Skaff offers up an explanation: "We got invited to a party."