David Fraunberger
A History of Excellence in Filmmaking, Commercials, and Media
Executive Producer • Producer • Director • Cinematographer • Writer • Post Production Manager • Media Expert
David Fraunberger on set producing
The Beginning
David’s path in filmmaking was set in stone at the age of five upon watching Indiana Jones outrun a boulder and seeing Luke Skywalker defy all odds to triumph over the dark side.
Focusing on media production in middle school and high school he produced short films on his family camcorder. His first short film focused on a wealthy child who cast aside materialism to live in nature. The second short film was the story of a schizophrenic struggling to find happiness.
Many of David’s earliest films focused on young individuals trying to find their identity and place in life, a theme that continued through his work into college.
Upon graduating high school in New Jersey, David traveled to Los Angeles to attend film school at Columbia College of Hollywood.
David would learn the craft of cinematography from Vince Toto (Air Force One, Mortal Kombat, Predator 2) and the art of writing screenplays from Leonard Ripps (Frankenweenie) and Jack Weinstein (Lois & Clark). David also credits his skill in writing to his high school teacher Philip Millstein.
During his time at film school, David developed relationships with many lifelong collaborators and produced his thesis film Bilbo, a film noir starring John Farley.
A Fascination With Classical Hollywood Storytelling
David’s thesis film “Bilbo” was heavily inspired by Christopher Columbus’ “Home Alone” and classic film noirs.
David had become enamored by the stark contrast and dark storytelling from films such as “Sweet Smell of Success”, “The Killing”, and “Sunset Boulevard”.
Bilbo, a dark comedy starring John Farley (Leo, Portlandia, Sandy Wexler) tells the story of a clown who accidentally takes a birthday party hostage. Bilbo, with the help of a child, learns he wasn’t meant to be a clown.
Watch David’s thesis film “Bilbo” in full below.
The Origin of David’s Production Company Shades Studios
Upon graduating from film school David went straight to work. He moved back east and launched his production company “Orphic Cinema” in 2012 and began producing in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, filming and managing the post-production for over 50 short films.
Though David thrived creatively and cut his teeth during this time it was difficult for him to build a profitable business around short films. In 2014, video became a hot topic for businesses with social media and video for websites taking off. David identified this trend and saw a need he could fill for businesses - commercial video.
David rebranded Orphic Cinema as Shades Studios with the mission to provide commercial video for businesses.
The original logo for Shades Studios when it was launched under the name Orphic Cinema. David created the name and VFX for the banner.
A Collection of Early Short Films From Orphic Cinema
On the film “To a Stranger” David provided color and finishing.
On the film “Regular” David managed the last phases of post-production helping to complete the film for its festival run.
For the film “Three Women” David filmed multiple scenes, provided equipment and crew, colored, sound mixed, and finished the film.
An Overnight Success
After rebranding to Shades Studios and providing a solution to businesses that were greatly in need of video and media, the business became an overnight success.
David learned marketing, how to create websites and run paid campaigns with pay-per-click and video advertisements on social media. He learned the entire sales funnel of digital marketing with a focus on generating sales by combining paid advertising and media.
Upon launching a paid advertising campaign for Shades Studios he was able to bring a 5X ROI on his own campaign which landed corporate clients hungry for video.
David extended his resume from beyond producing to include marketing expertise
This transformation occurred in 2014 when digital marketing, paid online advertising, and video collectively collided to become the most effective form of generating revenue for B2B and B2C businesses.
Early Shades Studios Commercials After Rebranding in 2014
David discovered in this period the true meaning of producing: delivering the highest quality product and results while keeping costs low for his clients. For many of the productions David personally handled every aspect, from filming, to editing, to marketing strategy, often managing beyond the production to distribute the videos through PPC and paid advertising on landing pages.
One of David’s first advertisements produced for a local music school.
Another early commercial made for a local salon.
By 2016, David and Shades Studios became the go-to service for small businesses and Fortune 500 companies in the tri-state area.
Commercial produced by David and Shades Studios for American Water and Mueller.
A Boll & Branch commercial produced by David and Shades Studios.
David became an expert in producing company profiles like the one seen here for Axiom Healthcare Strategies.
One of David’s first animated videos produced for an app.
A MAC commercial produced by David.
David and Shades Studios were at the forefront of artificial intelligence producing media about natural language processing and social learning in 2019.
By 2019, David became a subject matter expert in the topic of combining video and paid advertising to generate sales.
David’s success in producing media for sales led to him hosting an event with Google.
David organized the event alongside Google and SmartSites and presented as a subject matter expert on the topic of growing businesses with video and PPC.
With reaching a high level of success in advertising, David returned to his cinematic roots.
He began producing several television pilots and entertainment programs for online distribution like this episode of Culture Club featuring celebrity hairstylist Nick Arrojo.
When COVID-19 shut down productions in 2020, David pioneered new ways of filming while keeping companies compliant.
David helped popularize UGC content and developed new strategies for Fortune 500s and small and medium-sized businesses to continue filming and generating sales.
The strategy David developed was used by Anheuser-Busch for live-stream content produced by David and Shades Studios.
Seeing the hair industry devastated by COVID-19, David donated his time and applied his new UGC (User Generated Content) strategy to assist.
Pivoting to animation allowed David to launch the BetMGM app during COVID-19 with social advertisements.
David produced over 500 commercials for MGM assisting in generating 1.96 billion in revenue for the app.
A Journey Into Producing Feature Films
In 2021 with production resuming, David began his journey into feature films.
David was approached by Rosso Films International to manage the finishing process for the film Stolen Dough.
The film was partially financed by AGBO and two of David’s heroes, the Russo Brothers, directors of Avengers Endgame, the second highest-grossing film of all time.
David colored the film, restored archival footage, edited sections of the film, and encoded deliverables of the film for online and theatrical release.
Stolen Dough can be viewed on Amazon Prime by clicking below.
From 2023 to 2024, David produced the PBS film America’s First Guru.
David managed the production of America’s First Guru hired by visionary director and fellow producer Raja Choudhury.
David oversaw the production in its entirety, scheduling, budgeting, supplying equipment, and hiring his longtime crew of collaborators. He managed the team and physical production on set.
Upon wrapping principal photography, David personally edited the film and managed the post-production through his production company Shades Studios.
The film was nationally distributed on PBS and theatrically released to critical acclaim.
