Digital Media Factory
Digital Media Factory was founded five years ago on Mission Street. DMF provides a venue for local filmmakers, videographers, musicians and photographers to approach visual and audio effects in a state-of-the-art professional environment. But DMF’s main focus is to drive its own line of products, including several television shows, musical documentaries and a feature documentary. DMF’s owners Marty Collins and Ginny Mitchell discussed the challenges and excitements of developing a fresh-faced media industry in Santa Cruz. The two expressed awe at their business’s growth, great satisfaction with the creative minds of the community, and high ambitions for the future, in which they see DMF at the epicenter of a local film, television and multimedia industry. “We’re experiencing growth at a time when everyone else is suffering hard times,” says Collins. “During downtimes, people like to try and escape, and they use media for that.” Collins notes that DMF is creating training material, how-to programs for filmmakers—“how to use a green screen” and “how to light a set,” for instance. “The fact that we’re still here in Santa Cruz … there are so many headlines in the newspaper about how businesses are leaving and how people would rather do tech and media in Silicon Valley,” he adds. “Thing is, technology now allows us to send information worldwide, so it’s almost irrelevant where we are. Plus, the scenery of Santa Cruz is nothing but a benefit for us when we go offsite to shoot. Ginny Mitchell notes that is also a great groundswell of support and involvement from the university, the city, and other creative individuals. “It’s a milestone for the community because all these pieces are coming together to take Santa Cruz into a new economic industry,” she says. “It’s like that moment when the space shuttle is rumbling and about to go and there’s fuel and fumes spewing out all over, and then finally it takes off. I feel like we’ve finally taken off.” As for what’s on the horizon, Ginny Mitchell is working on Santa Cruz Live, the benefit for Young at Heart on May 17: “We’re making a documentary of the concert’s history, and Marty’s working on several movies and a radio show, but mainly we’re trying to develop our own products, like Santa Cruz Live, Big John on the Road, Nature Rangers and the Girls from Santa Cruz.” Marty Collins envisions a bright future for DMF. He says it will look like a digital studio, with less of the analog world. “This is like putting a mill in a small town, except that instead of wood we’ll be producing top of the line digital products,” he says. “We hope that we’re looking at a growing industry in Santa Cruz, and I believe we are. For more information, visit digitalmedia.net. |
