Global content creator Talpa Media is expanding its international production portfolio with the launch of Talpa Middle East. Based in Dubai, Talpa Middle East will represent Talpa’s catalogue across North Africa and the Middle East, and produce local versions of Talpa formats.

Talpa has appointed production veteran Ziad Kebbi to lead its new company as Chief Executive Officer, reporting into Talpa Global’s Managing Director, Maarten Meijs. Kebbi’s vast experience includes Arab versions of such global formats as The Voice, Betty La Fea, Deal or No Deal, Wheel of Fortune, Fear Factor Extreme and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.

Talpa Middle East’s first production will be the third season of MBC’s The Voice Arabia, the pan regional Arab adaptation of Talpa’s global format.

Announcing the new company, Talpa’s Meijs said, “The Arab speaking region has been evolving rapidly, both on a technological and industrial level. With 350 million people spread over such a vast area in so many countries, it is clearly a region with many opportunities. We’re therefore very pleased to have Ziad Kebbi on board; he has worked with every broadcaster in the region and is thoroughly familiar with the Talpa catalogue.”

Kebbi said, “We can now super serve Arab broadcasters with dedicated resources, local expertise and Talpa’s format leadership to create outstanding television for Arab audiences everywhere.”

In addition to Talpa Media USA, established in 2012, Talpa Middle East is the second fully owned daughter company outside The Netherlands. Talpa wants to be present in its most important markets, either by fully owned daughters or by joint ventures with local media companies. Earlier this year, Talpa announced the formation of Talpa UK, Talpa Italy and Talpa Nordic in respectively London, Rome and Copenhagen. From The Netherlands Talpa’s international division Talpa Global – headed by Managing Director Maarten Meijs – is in close contact with the joint ventures and Talpa’s fully owned production companies.

When grading the commercial on DaVinci Resolve, Chiba had to reproduce the body colour of the car and the natural colours in the nature. “I used Power Windows to make masks and added more contrast to the pale blue colour of the body. Also I used Resolve’s sharpen tool to make the edge of the car more obvious, which gave a cooler look to the car. Also, since some of shots were done on cloudy days, the backlit shots tended to make the colour green a bit too dark, so we used Resolve’s curves functions to bring some green back.”

Chiba and his crew also used an UltraStudio 4K for monitoring DaVinci Resolve’s output, as well as a SmartScope Duo for waveform monitoring in their Tokyo offices. And they use a wide range of Blackmagic products, such as Audio Monitor, Teranex 2D Processor and Mini Converters, in their day to day work.

“Blackmagic products have a consistency in their design, so they look very nice when mounted together in a rack. We sometimes bring Blackmagic equipment in a fly away kit to use on set. Helmet Inc., owns its own equipment, allowing us to do everything in house, such as planning, directing, shooting and editing. Resolve is a powerful tool for jobs which require flexibility and speed, and we are now planning to do more on set grading with Resolve,” concluded Chiba.