prague Jun 2009

Ad Wood was founded in 2001 by a group of people who decided to use their creativity and filmmaking skills to make an impact on the Czech advertising market. The company has since produced a number of award-winning TV commercials and brand campaigns.

The first quarter of 2009 was filled with commercial work for clients O2, The Czech Savings Bank, ING Bank, and Green-Swan Pharmaceuticals. The company also cooperated with a charity foundation supporting child accident victims on two recent TV spots.

Shooting with skilled directors Dan Ruzicka, Sandalz, and Marko Simic, as well as a professional crew in various locations around the world, Ad Wood offers an increasing range of production services.

The summer season is already underway with two major projects. The first continues the company's successful collaboration with Danone on a set of product commercials, while the second sees Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, the face of The Czech Savings Bank, showing-off his skills for the Ad Wood cameras.

Punk Film is an audiovisual production company that focuses on producing commercial TV spots. It has a broad range of talented authors and artists capable of meeting the specific needs of clients and their storyboard demands.

Punk Film ensures full production services for foreign companies shooting commercial projects, music videos, feature films and photo productions. The company's unique combination of youth and experience ensures it consistently provides top quality, creative and innovative services.

• Recent work: Comfort 'Getaway' - full service production for Norwegian production company Monster. Line producer: Jakub Drocar.
• Currently in production: Mills - full service production for Norwegian production company Fantefilm. Line producer: Ondrej Beranek.

Visit the website for more information.

Based at the Barrandov Film Studios, Prague, Starlite Productions provides full production services for feature films, TV productions, commercial films, documentaries, music videos and still photography. With offices in Prague, Belgrade, Sophia and Athens, and with representation in Los Angeles, Starlite works with experienced Czech and international film and commercial directors, as well as top photographers.

Starlite recently shot commercials for Orion-Nestlé, Gambrinus Beer, Wustenrot, Douwe Egberts, UNICEF, AXA Insurance, Pilsner Urquel, Opavia-LU and GE Money Bank. The company also works with non-profit organisations including The Tereza Maxova Foundation, The Czech Paralympic Comittee and BESIP.

Starlite Pictures was recently launched to focus on 3D animation and visual effects, handling everything from cartoons to real environments and combining live action with 3D computer animation.

Starlite Productions promoted short film 'Bába', directed by Zuzana Špidlová and produced by the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, at this year's Cannes film festival.

Ivana and Radka Bohuslavova established Vital Prague in February, 2002, after having worked in the Czech advertising industry for eight years.

With inspired locations and access to some of the best crews currently working in the Czech Republic, Vital Prague is a unique company that prides itself on a professional attention to detail and cost effectiveness that comes from a boutique set-up and personalised approach.

Clients: Skoda, Nivea, Bacardi, T-Mobile, Bonpari, Nissan.

Jiri Turek is a fashion, advertising and portrait photographer represented by LUGOfriends. He is currently busy with his project 'cityLab' that sees him travelling around the globe taking pictures of daily life in the world's metropolises.

Jiri believes the best equipped fashion studio to be the street, with the most genuine models being ordinary people. He has found that in every city there is a different kind of sex appeal, style and sentiment, which is what he attempts to capture with his camera in countries all around the world.

Nikola Tacevski has worked as a freelance photographer since 1987. He began shooting advertising photography in 1994.

Some of the ads on which he worked as a photographer have won prizes at prestigious international advertising festivals, including Cannes (Silver Lion), Portoroz Golden Drum Ad Festival (Central and Eastern Europe), and Louskaceks (Czech advertising festival).

Nikola was twice presented in Lurzers Archive publication '2000 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide'. He works for many international agencies offering full photo production and post production services.

Kristina Chrastekova has shot with many of the world's most acclaimed photographers, including Meisel, Richardson, Lindberg, Testino, and Lagerfeld.

Originally, the big names were shooting Kristina as their model, but she learned some tricks of her own and a couple of years ago decided to stand on the opposite side of the camera. Today, she shoots fashion and advertising photography, as well as her own personal projects and photo stories.

Bazzy took her first pictures in the midst of the smoke and soot of Yekatenburg, one of Russia's largest industrial cities. The urban landscape pushed Bazzy to find freshness, vibrant dynamics and a touch of spring to enliven her photography.

She found energy and brightness in the city's nightclubs and on the vivid faces of the guys and girls with whom she transformed life into digital memories. At last, Bazzy was creating new shapes and perspectives, adding colour and light to the world in stark contrast to what she saw during the day in the big dull city.

Since her experiences shooting on the set of a film production, Bazzy has made it her goal to spend the coming years photographing the work of the leading directors, production crews and actors in world cinema and advertising.

Fabrika is an independent Czech agency founded in 1998. Its portfolio of international and Czech clients, turnover, and number of awards put the agency amongst the top 11 in today's market.

Fabrika offers clients comprehensive services, from market analysis through to communication strategies and execution. It is the only Czech agency with its own strategic instrumentation that helps build clients' profiles by monitoring Czech consumers and their behaviour in relation to both local and international brands.

Clients include: UniCredit Bank, Kia Motors Czech, Allianz pojistovna,  UniCredit Leasing, Lego Trading, Pivovar HOLBA, Walmark, MAKRO Cash & Carry CR, Helppes, KRKA, MediClinic, AVG.

Playground provides creative retouching services in the Czech Republic and abroad. Over the past few months the company has participated in some interesting international projects:

• Unicef tap water project with NYC-based photographer Roger Hagadone.
• Collection of images for Nestlé Argentina with Ale Burset.
• Author bikes campaign.
• AT&T with Tim Tadder.
• Collaboration with Frieke Janssens at the Ostend Film Festival.
• Lamborghini SV and Volkswagen Polo series with Outtofocus.

Playground has recently developed a unique new tool, the Blur Studio, which has the ability to simulate a virtual rig curved motion blur especially for car photography and CGI work.

Graphic atelier DRAWetc. offers complete photo production services, including a wide range of post production and retouching techniques. The company recently extended its team of illustrators and graphic artists through partnerships with skilled photographers Vaclav Sirc, Alex Hajdu, Tomas Trestik, Maya Duljevic and Tomas Soucek.

With many years of experience in various fields of graphic design, particularly photo-realistic airbrushing, illustration, storyboarding and 2D/3D animation, the company is the ideal choice for all kinds of advertising assignments. Its all-in-one service enables clients to reduce costs and work efficiently.

DRAWetc. works with leading agencies and clients worldwide. Recent projects were completed for Veolia, Ogilvy, Publicis and Euro RSCG.

Aidan Hughes was born on Merseyside, England, and was formally trained by his father. His influences include Golden Age comic artists Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Jim Steranko, Russian Constructivism, the Italian Dynamo Futurista, and the work of woodcut artists Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward.

Despite having never attended art school, he began publishing his own comics before embarking on a commercial career, producing illustrations and storyboards for clients such as Warner Bros., the BBC and The London Evening Standard. In the 1980's he began a long-term collaboration with industrial band KMFDM, created BRUTE! pulp magazine, and worked extensively in radio, TV and the media. Aidan's other work includes graphic design, short film making, computer games and animation.

Check his website for more information, or see his Wikipedia entry to learn more.

With 13 years of experience, Katerina Kosova is one of the most talented make-up artists currently working in Prague.

She began by working with the likes of Dolce Vita, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Elle and Maianne, and has subsequently worked on fashion shows by Vivienne Westwood and J.P. Gaultier. Katerina is also a supervisor for L'Oréal.

She is the main make-up artist for the Elite Model Look competition in the Czech Republic and worked on the recent 2008 worldwide edition held in Prague. Katerina is also the personal make-up artist of famous opera singer Magdalena Kozena.

You can email Katerina for more information.

Young stylist Martina Jarolimova began her career six years ago as assistant to Czech fashion designer, Denisa Nova. Over the last three years she has been collaborating with stylist Jana Kapounova, and together they have formed a highly creative team.

Martina recently completed styling on a range of TV commercials and photo shoots for clients including Vodafone, Samsung and Klenoty Aurum with Tatiana Kucharova, Miss World 2006.

She works with many of the leading Czech photographers, including Standa Merhout, Goran Tacevski, Jiri Turek and Karin Zadrick, but it has always been her dream to work alongside photographer Tim Walker.

You can email Martina for more information.

Latest news from PH Model Management:

• Bara Holotova broke-through into the mainstream during the 2009 spring season after booking a Prada show in Milan and a Miu-Miu show in Paris. She is also having great editorial season, with work for W Magazine with Craig McDean, Italian Vogue, Vanity Fair, Dazed and Confused, IO Donna, Elle, Glamour and Marie Claire. Bara began her career in 2006 as a 15 year-old new face, and her unique look and strong character are set to take her far.
• Libor is one of the select few great male models from the Czech Republic. He recently did campaigns for Byblos, Roberto Cavalli, Etro, Thierry Muegler and John Galliano.
• PH continues to discover great new faces like recent find, Noemi.

Studio 55 is one of the largest and most professional photo ateliers in the Czech Republic. Its 200 m² workspace is located near by the centre of Prague.

Back-lit with natural light, but including blackout possibilities and a goods elevator, the studio offers professional equipment rental, production, post production and backstage shooting facilities.

Studio 55 is headed by Martin Kinkal, a renowned professional photographer with over 15 years of experience shooting around the world for international clients, including Elit, Modeta, Axis, Stella Artois, Regina, and magazines Turp, Max, Maxim, FHM and Coupe. He has also collaborated on campaigns for Avon with Daniela Pestova, One Magazine with Tatiana Kucharova, and Longevity with Anna Polivkova and Olga Menzelova.

Culinaria Praha is a specialty food store, gourmet-to-go and catering company located in the heart of Prague.

It offers gourmet products from around the world - and around the corner!

At Culinaria, freshness is pinnacle, closely followed by a desire to provide world-class foods and an exceptional shopping experience. Offering a broad selection of wholesome dishes and desserts made fresh on the premises from the finest ingredients, the company's homemade food can also be enjoyed at its centrally located store.

Prague Stay is the number one choice for international filmmakers looking for accommodation whilst working in Prague. Whether planning a visit for just a few weeks, a few months, or for the long-term, the company offers high quality accommodation to fulfill every need.

Prague-Stay's dedicated temporary housing specialists have an understanding of the film industry's special accommodation needs. The company has provided a wide range of accommodation for international film crews, producers, directors and actors, including Johnny Depp, Heather Graham and Hilary Swank.

With eight hectares of parkland and sophisticated modern architecture, Hotel Praha has famously featured as a set for movies, TV commercials, TV programmes and music videos.

The property was used as a set in the films 'Prag' (2006, directed by Ole Christian Madsen), and 'The Brothers Bloom' (2008, directed by Rian Johnson).

Nicole Kidman, Johnny Depp, Mads Mikkelsen, Adrian Brody, Tom Cruise, Mark Ruffalo, Rinko Kikuchi, Antonio Banderas, and many other actors have enjoyed superior accommodation at the Hotel Praha, as have many famous politicians and musicians, including Crown Prince Naruhito, Mikhail Gorbachev, James Brown, Montserrat Caballé, and others.