PodSquad

Hello World

2011-09-27T21:58:00.001-04:00

Edit reel 2010

2010-06-01T08:57:00.001-04:00

Once I finished this up I realized I had shot everything on it as well. The times, they are a-changing.

Forget it Jake. It's... Chinatown

2010-05-16T08:40:00.016-04:00

I spent this weekend at the D.C. studios of NPR in an amazing workshop on audio storytelling. I was excited - and appreciative of the good folks at the NAHJ and NPR who thought my body of work merited this growth opportunity, but I had no idea what I was in for when I rolled into the NPR parking garage at 8:30 on Saturday morning.

Leading the class, Sora, NPR's training director and and an amazing - and incredibly kind -instructor, started immediately with the anatomy of an NPR story: Character, Narration, Scenes, Ambience, and Actualities. My professional experience is equally divided between writing and editing, so while I felt immediately at home I could also tell that I would be learning more - a great deal more - than I had expected. After listening to a few quintessential NPR stories (driveway moment kind of stuff) we were asked to dissect the stories; break them down into the five elements and how they kept us, as listeners, engaged.

We talked about audience and the need for a clear sense of direction. Focus. Active Voice. The difference between writing for print and for The Ear. Our teachers shared an analysis and comparison on a particular story as it was reported in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and NPR. The print stories were multiple pages, with photos, graphics, and gave multiple takes on the event at hand. The radio version was, when presented in the same font size and column width, two columns and took up about half of an 8.5"x11" sheet of paper. You can always put down the paper and come back to it. If you decide to answer the phone when you're listening to the radio, the story is gone forever.

The truth is, I'm a wordy writer. Those last three paragraphs could have been boiled down to one. This, I think, was what I was really there to learn. Our assignment: listen to a pre-recorded interview with a local historian about the history of DC's Chinatown (where we were located), pick an element of that history, go get some interviews, and write your story. Sure, I picked up some great interview and writing techniques, but when we came back from our street interviews, I was torn; just as with my last "assignment", I was seeing stories everywhere, and in everything. I was trying to be artistic, poetic, and comprehensive all at the same time. The writing contained all the things I love to read and no one has the time or attention to listen to. One producer sat down next to me as I wrestled with my script, and in minutes half of it was gone. One thought per sentence. Active voice. What's the action? Leave space for... space.

Once my story was disemboweled, NPR anchor and all-around awesome person Lakshmi Singh stopped by to check on my progress. "What's it about?" I really couldn't say. I had my selected interviews, I had the bones of a story, and in a minute she distilled it for me - listening to my 60 seconds of interviews she saw what I couldn't see for the fog of trying to write what it was not.

We finished the day by turning in a file of our selected interview clips and reading our story live to the class, cueing Rolando, an NPR producer and one of our fantastic trainers, to play back our clips as we would have them appear on-air (complete with the anchor intro, which was a bit weird, as I had to introduce myself, but hey - we're there to learn how to do it when we really submit a story to them, so that's pretty cool). We were all given the same assignment, and the class came back with six wonderful and incredibly different stories of this neighborhood and the people who live in or pass through it. After I read my story to the class, wrapped the workshop and got back to the hotel, I had to keep working on it and hear it in (nearly) finished form, complete with the NPR logo I created in Logic. This is the finished, but rough, draft:

A Moment in May

2010-05-03T13:38:00.007-04:00

Where will you be on Sunday, May 2, at 15:00 hours (U.T.C.)?

...asks the New York Times Lens. Here's where I was:

... ankle-deep in the Moormans River during the height of snake and fly season.

I'm always looking for ways to hone my craft and this challenge seemed like a great opportunity/excuse to get off my couch and make a picture. I had about a day to think about what the shot ought to be, and how I might make it happen. Honestly, this is why I like “challenges” of this type – they force you to think a little bit and pull me out of the autopilot mode I find myself in at times.

So... 11AM, wherever you happen to find or put yourself, with a camera. Sounds pretty simple and that’s really the trick – if it sounds simple then it usually isn’t, and that’s where the fun part kicks in. I decided to get out of my house and get out of my yard; the NYT guidance was that it could really be about anything in terms of theme, but since this was to be part of a “Timely Global Mosaic” I thought a sense of place was important, so that’s what I started going for. I spend most of my time at work capturing images of people (which I love), but this seemed like a good time to stretch.

I don’t know if going to your favorite place in the woods qualifies as a stretch, but I honestly had never done too much good shooting out there, aside from the video of my Dad, right after he fell into the river. I’d had some thoughts of wanting to make a picture from the middle of the creek, thinking it might give a neat perspective. Had it all planned out until I got in the car, with about :45 minutes until it was time to pull the shutter. That’s when the plan fell apart. It’s probably a ten-minute drive from my house to the location (less really) and I must have found 20-30 potential shots in those few short miles. The cemetery on the hillside. Weekend Harley warriors stopping for coffee at the country store. Fly fishermen heading toward the reservoir. Kids at the swimming hole. Flora. Fauna. Gah, make it stop!

The weird thing about constraints is that they make your mind work SO hard. Not hard as in difficult – hard as in overdrive. So here I was, no time to think and nothing but thoughts, which – doh! – was exactly why I undertook the challenge.

So with no time to think, I tested a few ideas that crept up on the bank.

Ah, so-so. It was just about the worst time of day to be doing this kind of thing. I stuck with my plan (it’s that first shot, up top). Wide lens, long exposure, moving water (and be in the water). I don’t think there’s anything earth-shattering about this shot but it has meaning in that I learned a lot while doing it. And after 11 O’clock hit I took a deep breath and a short walk and really enjoyed the day. Also, I think I won’t wear flip-flops the next time I try this sort of thing.

update: it made the cut!

5x5, in under 5

2010-04-02T16:23:00.004-04:00

Love this idea, which I found via LonelySandwich, who quotes:

blakewhitman:

Do you ever shoot video with your point and shoot or iPhone and never do anything with it? Of course. Who has time, or the know-how, to edit a crazy involved video? It’s tedious and hard.

Not true! At Vimeo, we have a super simple project call ‘5 Vignettes’. It’s easy and a great solution for your lack-of-editing prowess. Take five, five second clips and string them together to make a twenty five second little video. Upload it to Vimeo and add it to the 5 Vignettes Group, or just go there and check out some examples. It’s really the best way to use up footage you never do anything with.

I will give away a free Plus Account to whoever reblogs this with the best 5 Vignettes video they make today by 11:59 pm PST. Older 5x5’s don’t count. Go!

this shows up at a good time for me, as I'm really trying to keep things moving by doing shorter, more fun projects that keep the creative juices flowing. As Sandwich writes:

I love this idea. I LOVE IT, THIS IDEA.

I edit for a living, and I hate it. It’s hard, it requires skill and competence to not do badly, and in the end, no one really notices unless you’re terrible at it. But we (you and I) have mounds and mounds of video that really is in some serious need of editing.

So apply some constraints, is what Vimeo is saying. Don’t get all fancy about it, just slam five good bits together.

This, like flickr’s “long photo”, might just be the cathartic reset that web video needs right now.

I’ll make a 5 Vignettes and post it later today. You should, too.

So I did, and here it is!

Bongo, in Charlotte

2010-03-30T22:02:00.000-04:00

Room for Innovation

2010-03-18T21:13:00.008-04:00

(note - having some trouble getting this embed to fit, click here to see in full YouTube glory)

Commissioned to create a short doco/promo piece on a new space for teaching Innovation, I thought this would be the perfect time to bring my new HDSLR - the Canon 7D, in to play. There are a lot of workflow considerations to discuss and this piece is intercut with plenty of archival HDV b-roll and the occasional Panasonic AVCHD wide shot (the Panny was also the audio master for the piece), but the cinematic quality of the new cam provided production values higher than I ever expected, even though I've run a few jobs on this same platform with the Canon T1i, which I shot with strictly to get better low-light perfomance.

SO, can ya tell which shots we stretched on? Fun ;-)

Color Grade #3

2010-02-27T16:43:00.003-05:00

That's better.

My First Documentary Film: Leadership and Theater

2010-01-12T11:15:00.007-05:00

(click the video to watch full size on YouTube)

What does theater have to do with business ethics and leadership? In the spring of 2009, 24 MBA students at the Darden School of Business in Charlottesville learned more about the connection as they took Professor Ed Freeman's "Leadership and Theater: Ethics, Innovation, and Creativity" class. In addition to acting and directing exercises, the student's final project was writing, directing, and acting in a full-length play. This documentary follows the students throughout the class, with the grand finale of the performance.

See supporting materials at the Leadership and Theater Website.

DSLR Video - first takes

2009-10-07T16:17:00.004-04:00

I've been too busy shooting and editing to write, so maybe some pictures can take the place of a few words?

Rough Edit of an Industrial Piece, my first work with the Canon T1i.

Some Studio test shots with the T1i and kit lens.

Spots

2009-04-30T13:44:00.002-04:00

My spots from the days when this was all I did. Good times...

Color Grade #1

2009-04-20T13:11:00.010-04:00

Since I haven't had time/energy/motivation to write anything for this blog in four months (thanks, Twitter!)I'm going to start posting some before/after pix of color grades I'm working on. This is an area where I have very little practical expertise and am hoping to increase my skillset via practice, practice, practice. So, without further blah bleh blah, here's #1:

Before:

After:

Shot in MiniDV (NTSC) with natural light.

Here's the list of ingredients (all in Final Cut Pro), in order:
1. Color Corrector 3-Way: Slightly crushed black and brought the whites into line via Mid and White adjustment. Pushed everything in the to Reds/Mg ever so slightly, trying to remember the adage that slight adjustments are the best ones.

2. TMTS Custom Diffusion: This is also very subtle, really more noticeable in the motion than in this softer, de-interlaced JPEG.

3. Vignette: This one is less subtle and I might back it off a bit, or opt for two instances, one for focus and another for true lens vignette.

All in all, this was about 20 minutes, maybe less. If I go back for tweaks I'll update the post to track the progression.

the price and the promise of citizenship

2009-01-20T14:33:00.009-05:00

I did not trek to D.C. this week for what turned out to be the most historic event that city may ever witness, but watching the inauguration from Mr. Jefferson's University was a pretty good second option. It's fairly difficult to elucidate how any of us feel at this moment, but one thing I know is this: in almost 40 years on this planet, up until a year ago I was convinced that my generation had blown it, that the great challenges and responses of Americans who had Come Before Us would be examples which we could look up to, but would never live up to. I think perhaps that more than anything I feel a sense of relief that, given the opportunity and the challenge, we have in this election been able to surpass our fears and our prejudice to do what we need, for the sake of all of us.

There's a long road ahead, but the record shows that with strong leadership, anything is possible. I was asked yesterday if I felt proud that I had "contributed" to the victory (I spent a few days canvassing, a small effort at most) and that's when it hit me: I'm excited about this leadership because it inspires me to action. It inspires we, the people, to do the work that no single person can, or can be expected, to do. It is what makes this a great country and despite all our flaws, all our bitter history, focuses us, in the President's words, "on what you can build, not what you destroy".

And then of course, there is what needs to be said. Despite growing up wrapped in the shroud of white privilege, nothing has scared me more in my life than seeing both the immediate and long-term effects of racism. Reflecting on his society's treatment of black men and women, Jefferson feared that "a just, vengeful God could not sleep forever"; I've often feared for our future because of the way we handled race relations in this country, and I think we've made a major step here by selecting leadership based on ability, vision, and education, putting anything aside that doesn't matter - in the interest of, well, a healthy self interest.

When I woke up this morning, without warning or prompt Reagan's campaign catchphrase popped into my head: "It's morning again in America", and I really believe it is. I'll close by adding that with this promising new leadership I'm really glad I won't have to tell people I'm Canadian when I travel abroad. That was just painful. Things are looking up.

Making the Case

2008-12-22T20:05:00.004-05:00

So here's a piece I've been working on for nearly a year that's not so phenomenal for its production value or editorial finesse, but simply in value-to-client. We've had this on YouTube for a few days, and we're averaging 200+ views daily. Nice!

There are a few reasons I'll never forget this one. First being that I spent a week doing the multicam edit (it was a three camera shoot with backup audio on another system) on an older Avid before that system died completly, taking the project files and all the media along with it. The second memorable "event" in this piece was a client management situation I learned SO much from. Months into the project, a second producer came in from the marketing side, essentially speaking a different language than the rest of us. Had I sat everyone down in a room and said "let's get on the same page" from the get-go, it would have been fine. Truth was, the new producer had a completly different concept in mind(with the same "name" we had been throwing around months prior to her arrival), and the poor dear couldn't figure out why on earth we didn't "get it". Lesson learned: New person comes on, you sit down with the entire team and MAKE SURE you're on the same page, speaking the same language.

That being said, there were two realy shining moments to this project for me:

1. Amazing Talent: Professor Rodriguez is a wonderful person and teacher, on and off camera.

2. Putting the Learning to work: I spent a good deal of time this summer formally re-educating myself on the mechanics of creative, specifically through Apple's Certified Professional program. I thought I knew a lot - and I did - but I had no idea how much I didn't know before I started taking these classes. The best part is that now, I'm hooked. I'll never let 12 months go by again, let alone a week, without making sure I'm learning something, either formally or informally. Having invested the time makes my work better, richer, and more rewarding, and that's a trend I'm looking to continue in the new year.

Sustainability, Recycling Footage, and YouTube Annotations

2008-10-09T16:37:00.012-04:00

One of the frustrating aspects of my job is that I often walk away from a series of interviews with HOURS of good material. People who are passionate, knowledgable, and know how to speak intelligently about their area of expertise are what make my job fun and easy. I always feel as if I'm betraying them a bit by having to cut their thoughtful comments down to sound bites, and that our conversation together is somewhat wasted if I can't publish it to the world.

Last week I did a piece that had great interviews but the total amount of material was far too much for a showcase piece, so I tried YouTube's new "Annotations" feature to link from within our showcase news piece to the more in-depth interviews from the guests. My yield, as it were, went up from 4 minutes of video to about 25 minutes of really good material, and it is, in a sense, self-editing. If you're interested in learning more, great. If not, it doesn't get forced on you or take away from the snappy promo.

This is going to be a fantastic feature for the kind of work I do at the University – I'll be interested in seeing what other assuredly more creative ways YouTube producers put it to work. For now, here's the finished piece - feel free to interact!

Click Here to Watch in Higher Quality.

D.I.Y.

2008-09-06T11:04:00.006-04:00

Sometimes things break fast, all at once. More often though, they degrade, and then, seemingly all of a sudden, they don't work at all. It sneaks up on you. Such was the case with my car stereo last week.

If you take a look at this blog you'll note I'm a big fan of podcasts. I also spend a good deal of time in my car, either commuting to work or heading up to D.C. once or twice a month, which can be a 3+ hour drive, depending on the traffic. This is why I really, REALLY love being able to run my iPod into my car stereo; hours and hours of audio books, podcasts, and of course, music. If you're in the same boat, you've no doubt explored the numerous solutions for connecting your mp3 player - expensive interfaces that work really well (but only for newer cars), FM Transmitters (they never work well), and then the good old line-out-line-in solution. This works best for me in my '97 Accord, but has one weak point: a one-inch connector that juts out the front of the stereo and is easy to hit when tossing bags in the front seat, when dogs are jumping around the car, etc. This is bad because the only thing that's holding that connector to the rest of the car is a few points of solder - not really designed for "strain relief".

So, as I anticipated, it finally happened; something knocked the connector and one day, seemingly all at once, no more iPod in the car. Tragic, no? In truth, I had felt this coming on. The whole thing felt dodgy from day one, and about a month ago I had lost the Left Channel. I wasn't sure this was my input jack but was too lazy to pull the stereo all the way out to check the harness and had a gut feeling it was probably that faceplate jack, which I didn't know if I could fix anyway.

With nothing to lose (except a half-hour of time and about $100 on a new stereo) I decided to take the damn thing apart to see if I could make lemonade out of these lemons. I'd often thought this could all be put together in a more secure way, and if I just bought a new stereo, well, I'd be starting over with the same weaknesses.

30 minutes later it was all put back together, plugged into the car, and sounding better than it had in months.

It's often billed as a "guy" thing but I find an inherent pleasure in taking things apart, even better when I can find the success (rare in my case, I'm no mechanical genius to be sure) of actually fixing something. It was a Zen moment to be on the bench with this silly little stereo, and it got me thinking about the process, and what can be learned by trying something you don't know you can finish:

1. Have the confidence to try things: Success breeds confidence, breeds success, and so on.

2. Go back to the foundation: whether it's mechanical or creative, such as a piece of writing, a musical composition, or a graphic design, we often find ourselves going down roads where things just aren't working anymore. I often find the prospect of "undoing" work daunting, it seems so inefficient, to just throw away all that effort. More often than not though, it's this thinking, and all that non-functioning, interfering material that is getting in the way. Trash it, go back to the bones, and start again, at the start. Many times this is the only way to get where you really wanted to go.

3. Have the right tools for the job, the most important one being patience. I started with a well-lit workspace, magnifying lamp, forcep tweezers, a variety of small screwdrivers, and a good soldering iron. Most importantly, not rushing and enjoying the process allowed me to put the tools to use in an efficient and effective fashion.

4. Anticipate that the results might be better than you expected, or worse: I could afford to lose this stereo (I considered it lost anyway at this point), and my first instinct was to just go buy another one. As mentioned, I'm no mechanical genius, but I've had limited and rewarding success in the past with these kinds of projects. At the outset of this project I had in fact forgotten that half the stereo wasn't working anymore, so when I fired it up I was shocked to hear it sounding better than it had in months - giving me the full stereo signal instead of just half. Again, the major lesson here for me was that when you try things you're not sure of, you may be truly surprised by what you can accomplish

5. See point #1. Wash, rinse, repeat.

So, there you have it. A small project with big life lessons. And I've got my iPod back in my car for the next trip to D.C.

Voyage of Discovery

2008-08-27T14:13:00.003-04:00

Above is a video I did last week of a team-building exercise for incoming students at the Darden School. The "Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery" gave me the opportunity to reflect on my own recent Voyage of Discovery, where I've been taking classes at the Washington D.C. location of Future Media Concepts with the goal of earning my Final Cut Studio (FCS) Master Pro certification.

I had initially embarked on this course of study as a way to forward my career and, lets be honest, earning potential doing something I really loved. Over the years I've worked as a writer, musician, producer, marketing manager, e-commerce strategist, sound engineer... a lot of different jobs. None of them were as fun or more of a seemingly "natural fit" for me as the creative work of being a music editor, way back in the day. It didn't pay much but many years later I still look back on it as one of the happier times, professionally, in my life. Later, there was a brief, glimmering moment in my life in video where all was creative, a natural extension of my experience as a music editor... and then all of a sudden it seems I was told I was "The Producer" and life hasn't been as much fun since.

So it was with that thinking that I went back to school this summer. Ostensibly, the goal was to achieve a certification that would provide greater breadth of professional opportunities. I really thought there wasn't a whole lot for me to learn in editing video or audio, and I couldn't care less about graphics, because I'll always want to hire pros for that anyway. Whoo boy, I couldn't have been more wrong.

I'm about half-way through this course of study, and as with all things in education, the most important thing I'm learning is how much I Did Not Know prior to the outset. What I'm learning about technique and workflow makes me cringe at the way I worked just a few months ago, and I'm finding that with my new set of tools I don't get in my own way anymore. I have a vision, I create it. If it doesn't work out, I start over and try something else. With my new tools I don't spend any more time saying to myself "with all the effort I just put into that, do I really want to undo it and try another way? Isn't that Good Enough? Most importantly, I'm noticing a visible improvement in my work over just the past few months.

Of course, if you're familiar with the FCS suite you'll recognize a lot of template media in the above piece, and you know what? That's just fine with me, because a month ago I wouldn't have ventured that far. And for the next project, I'll do more and be braver. And on and on.

All this, and I'm only half-way through. Can't wait to see what lies at the end, or beyond it.

Podcasting with Drupal

2008-07-18T18:38:00.006-04:00

Old friend Steve Monsen at the Alliance for Children and Families and I have been discussing the tech side of Podcasting for Nonprofits (note I am decidedly more of a content development person). They run a Drupal CMS (Content Management System) -based site and want to keep everything on the same server. While I still recommend Libsyn's hosting to everyone I know (they make it just too easy), he found this link which I thought would be worth sharing with anyone who might be interested:

Podcasting With Drupal (via Awakened Voice)

Good luck with the show, Steve!

Hate that Microphone

2008-07-16T11:30:00.008-04:00

BUT.. I had a lot of fun riding the electric bicycle. Was amazed we were able to get any usable audio at all given the blaring PA. You'll see my hand making a cameo - holding the mic not quite off camera while I conducted the interviews.

And a big shout out to Apple Motion - although I've not yet done the graphics certification (two weeks away!) creating the lower thirds clocked in at about two minutes of fiddling with the options, even made from scratch.

I did this music just a few weeks ago as an instrumentation test for something else I'm working on. It's nice when all these pieces just come together, right on the laptop ;-)

Pandora, iPhone Update and the Social Web

2008-07-16T09:48:00.003-04:00

I swore I'd never use Twitter but felt obligated to give it a try, and well, whaddya know, I'm hooked. Initially I found it a fun way to keep a mini-diary and very much like TwitPic's integration with my iPhone. As time has gone on, I find it even more entertaining to read what my friends and colleagues are Twittering about, and we've even started using it as an informal tool for two-way communication, i.e. "does anyone have any advice on..."

On a tangentially related note, I did the iPhone OS update last week - I've been chomping at the bit for the App store to open in iTunes and even though I'm on a version 1 phone, I imagined this would open up some amazing functionality if not just some good time-wasting fun on the device. When the store opened over the weekend, I was nearly overwhelmed at the amount of free and reasonably priced apps, many related to some of my favorite web services, like Pandora radio and the NY Times crossword puzzle. If you're not familiar with Pandora Radio, it's a "smart" kind of radio station, which pushes music to your device, you give each track a thumbs up or down, and your voting and the opinions of other users of the service helps Pandora intelligently plan your playlist based on those preferences. I simplify, but if you want more information read about the Music Genome Project.

I was so impressed with the immediacy of having Pandora's service (linked to my web account, natch) on my phone that I Twittered (tweeted?) within minutes of trying it out. The next day, I got a reply from @rustyspeidel asking if Pandora used the Sprint Data (Edge) network or Wifi. I had only tried it on WiFi (no cell service at the house) but replied I would try it in the car. So Rusty, to answer your question: It DOES work on the Edge network. A bit sluggish at times and it only runs as a foreground app, so if you want to check your email Pandora will close. Also, it's a bit of a battery hog. I imagine the buffering is less of an issue for users of the newer 3G phones where that service is available, and if you have a power adaptor for your car that would negate the battery issue.

So, props to Pandora for pimping my phone. Even more impressive is that I was notified a few hours after my Twitter post that Pandora was following me on Twitter. I find it very impressive (and pretty cool) that they are keeping their ears open for what people are saying about them, and staying connected to the people that are likely to say things about them, good or bad. Twitter and blogging are great tools for staying engaged in conversation with your customers, and having worked in companies that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on focus groups of questionable authority, I think this provides a really cool insight into how technology is enabling organizations to connect with consumers.

7 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Podcasts

2008-07-10T14:50:00.002-04:00

7 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Podcasts

Just (re)discovered this article after an email exchange with an old colleague. Check it out, and consider that these guidelines don't just apply to Nonprofits.

http://havefundogood.blogspot.com/2006/04/7-ways-nonprofits-can-use-podcasts.html

Jump: 9 Photographers

2008-07-09T13:57:00.001-04:00

This 11-minute short film gives viewers a glimpse into the thoughts and souls of nine diversely talented Aurora photographers, highlighting their work and passion.
The short premiered in June 2008 at the Look3 Festival of the Photograph in Charlottesville, Virgina.

Look3: Festival of the Photograph 2008 wrapup

2008-06-18T12:03:00.010-04:00

I'm still a little fried from this year's activities (in a very good way) but I'm more inspired than I've been in years. Since our first year was so hectic, I made a point to step away from our productions this year (thanks to the wonderful volunteer video crew of Mike Hollander, Tiffany Horst, Peter Hedlund, Kevin Fagan, Sera Tabb, Seth Butler, Charlotte Hornsby) and see the Festival outside of the Paramount Theater.

Of course, it was a privilege to be present and capture presentations from Flip Nicklin, Mary Ellen Mark, Joel-Peter Witkin, David Alan Harvey, and James Nachtwey. Even better were the wonderful folks I meet and became friends with over three short days of Peace, Love and Photography. It's difficult to relay the experience in words, so I'll just include some links and give it a few weeks to simmer ;-) One thing worth noting now is that the multimedia exhibited at the "Works" finale in the Charlottesville Pavilion was, for a moving-picture person such as myself, really mind-blowing. I've decided that my next personal project (shouldn't they all be personal?) will be predicated on finding a great still photog and following a story with him or her.

Some really cool people I meet, whose work you'll be seeing more of and is worth checking out now:

Seth Butler
Liz Kreutz
Heather McClintock
Jamie Rose
Allison Shelley

...and PDN provided some great coverage:

as did John Harrington and the crew from Photo Business News:

(with more video here)

Perhaps I'll report more after I've really absorbed it all ;-)

and here's really nice coverage from NPR...

YouTube Header Ache...

2008-06-02T13:05:00.006-04:00

I've been trying to stay away and/or get out of web design as much as possible over the past few years, but every now and then something needs to be done and it's just easier to do it yourself. The real lesson here: When in doubt, View Source.

As we've been working on setting up Darden's YouTube Channel (complete with unrestricted file durations and all the other great things that come with having an Enhanced Channel)I decided that while we wait on the content encoding it would be a good idea to get the look of the channel up-to-date. This doesn't take a great deal of work, just adjusting the color scheme to match our main website and getting the few graphic options one is given (hey - simple is good) created and uploaded.

If you have a YouTube "Enhanced Channel", one of the privileged options you receive are what they call "Branding Options", under Channel Design. within these branding options, there are three additional ways you can complement your channel design: using a Video Page Banner, a Video Page Icon, or a Channel Banner.

As of today, the Channel Banner upload dialog advises as follows:

Upload a thin banner that will display at the top of your Channel page (maximum 850px by 75px).

So I took a logo that looked like this, with the above following specs:

and the resulting image on the YouTube Channel did this:

As mentioned above, I've been trying to get away from web design ever since the late 90's, so I didn't jump through a lot of hoops trying to figure this out. I did what I do best, which is to find someone with the answer, and this is what I got:

"The YouTube page is embedding it at 875 pixels wide while the image is only 850 pixels. Did they say to make it 850 or 875 wide?"

So, I adjusted the canvas size of the image and voilà, as they say.

This is not a gripe about YouTube - Obie has been wonderful at cultivating and managing educational channels on YouTube and I'm going to pass this along to him so they can make the fix, but I know someone like me is out there Googling this right now...

Look3: Festival of the Photograph 2008

2008-04-23T15:04:00.004-04:00

Phew! After sitting on the Tapes that Bryan Harvey and I shot at last year's festival for almost a year, I got the rushed call to put together a promo piece, and here it is. Lots of folks helped tighten, and having just taken a FCP class I've had the opportunity to learn everything I could have done more efficiently ;-)

Also had much fun working with my friend Addison Brady on the music and mix for this - the feedback so far has been positive, and we had a lot of fun doing it (also looks like a cut-down will be airing on WVPT next week). If you're coming to Charlottesville in June, be sure to drop me a line!

Famous Person Sighting #1

2008-03-16T19:32:00.002-04:00

Actually, I thought his performance in Best in Show was far stronger.

I'm hanging it up.

2008-03-12T16:06:00.001-04:00

Really - who NEEDS a movie?

Opportunity Knocks

2008-02-29T16:36:00.005-05:00

It's usually the case that the busier I am, the less time I have to write about the work. I'm taking a breather this weekend to add OK Radio to the show roster on this blog, as I've been working with Host/Producers Joe Folan and Lynne Norton for several months to put the pieces together for this new series.

I can't describe it better than they do, so I'm just going to steal the description directly from their website:

Welcome to OK Radio, podcasts designed to provide real world insight and context from leaders and experts in the nonprofit community.

Opportunity Knock’s mission is to bring nonprofit professionals and organizations together. Through OK Radio’s interviews we not only provide valuable information on everything from career matters to sector trends, but also learn some fun facts about the thought leaders that are featured.

Pretty cool, no?

I've worked with Joe in the past and really appreciate the work he and Lynne were willing to do even prior to the first interview to get the right strategy and voice together for this podcast. It's a good listen no matter what line of work you're in, so enjoy the show!

Call Recording with Rondee

2007-12-28T22:26:00.000-05:00

The recording feature is in beta, but phone recording is perhaps one of the easiest ways to acquire audio for your podcast and this new company has a free service (you'll pay a toll charge to dial in to the 619 area code at the moment) for connecting conference callers, which would work great for distance interviews or simply simplifying your podcast recording.

Rondee CEO Andre Vanier talks to Robert Scoble in his latest, and typically (occasionally painfully) unedited/raw vids for PodTech. Note to Robert: if you're going to spend all that time on the graphics, would a few edits kill you?

http://www.podtech.net/home/4795/talking-about-free-conference-calls-with-rondee

Bethlehem Steel

2007-11-28T23:32:00.000-05:00

A few images (pulled from video in my room at the historic Hotel Bethlehem, pardon the resolution) from this week's doc shoot at Bethlehem Steel, perhaps one of the most amazing feats of human engineering I've ever experienced. It's not every day you get to wear a hard-hat to work; thanks Charlie! (and thanks to the Smiththsonian's National Museum of Industrial History for the tour).

Puh-leaze

2007-11-19T10:13:00.000-05:00

via

Converting files using iTunes

2007-11-12T10:45:00.000-05:00

Sending audio files can be a cumbersome task. I edit a lot of dialog that’s delivered via FTP, YouSendIt, etc., and have found the following process can make the task a bit easier on the uploader. In this "lesson", we'll take a fairly cumbersome WAV file, and convert it to a more manageable MP3 file that retains most of the quality of the original, using iTunes:

1. Open iTunes, then from the top Menu select Edit, then Preferences… (the keyboard shortcut for Apple is Command + “,”, for PC it’s CTRL + “,”)

Click the “Advanced” Tab, and then select the “Importing” Tab in the menus below the top row of tab options.

The second option in this menu is “Import Using:” – from the drop-down menu, select “MP3 Encoder”:

Immediately below, select a “Setting” option. For dialog, I recommend “Higher Quality (192 kbps)”:

Click OK at the bottom to save these settings.

Now, iTunes knows what to do, but we’ll also have to tell it WHERE to do it.

Import your file to iTunes; the easiest way to do this is to find the file and drag it into the iTunes interface. Depending on your settings, this will either
Make a copy of the file or add it to the iTunes index. Either way, this isn’t too important for today’s lesson.

OK, now your file is in iTunes:

Right-click the file (command-click on a Mac) and from the menu select “Convert Selection to MP3”. Once you click, the operation begins…

And when the operation is finished, you end up with a copy of the original file, with much smaller file size. The quality is only slightly diminished and for most dialog work, wouldn’t be noticed at all!

(Still having problems finding the file to FTP, email or YouSendIt? Just right –click the new MP3 and select “Show in Windows Explorer”).

Embassy Kitchens

2007-11-08T19:56:00.000-05:00

From the archives: I had the fun pleasure of working as production manager on this pilot that, in truth, never went anywhere. Found this vid as I was cleaning off an old drive last night and thought I should put it somewhere I can't lose it (again). Aside from getting to meet Jeanne Moreau and Mayor Williams, the real highlight was spending the full day at the Ambassador's Residence in the company of their wonderful staff, and the special lunch the kitchen prepared for the crew. Best Craft Services - Ever. My favorite line, of course, is "This carpet drink the most vodka in the world!"

So why didn't it go anywhere? Mostly because you wouldn't believe how hard it can be to get clearance to film in an embassy, even in the kitchen. Shooting the pilot (for a French producer)was a cinch - getting other locations? Not so easy.

Hoos TV

2007-10-29T16:08:00.000-04:00

I haven't placed much of my broadcast work on this blog. This summer I had the opportunity to co-direct (with UVA's Rob Smith) a few new image spots for The University. If you're watching any UVA Football or Basketball this year, you'll be seeing these.

Go Hoos!

UVA Faculty:

UVA Students:

Riding the HughTrain

2007-10-24T15:20:00.000-04:00

I ran way behind on work yesterday as I had the good luck/bad luck of having a trip canceled last minute - but I was able to sneak in to the Online Marketing Update @ Darden and meet both Rick Klau of Google (né Feedburner), and Hugh MacLeod of GapingVoid.com. Special for me as I had the good fortune to work with Feedburner prior to the Google acquisition, and Hugh's blog is a daily read of mine. Both gave great talks, and Rick's overview of RSS - in a sophisticated, "what it means to your brand" context, dovetailed quite elegantly with Hugh's discussion of the Social Object in the context of marketing and, more importantly, customer relationships.

First point observed: being a cartoonist really spices up your PowerPoint.

Second point observed: don't assume that your audience understands RSS, and don't go too deep in attempting to explain the technology. When necessary, set aside four minutes to show your audience the wonderfully simple video, RSS in Plain English.

Next point (from both speakers) is the importance and benefit of being engaged in the conversation with your customers. This resonated with me, and the work we’ve been doing with PodSquad, because I grew up watching my father foster first-name relationships with his customers in his retail clothing stores; Rick realizes (and demonstrated) the value in continuing this practice in the online medium, and Hugh detailed the successes his clients and partners have experienced doing the same.

Hugh abstracted the concept of the "Social Object", which he explains, in my opinion, as clearly as can be done. Where Hugh is gaining traction in this theory is in the thesis of his talk: "Web 2.0 was invented circa 1917 in the South Pacific". His point isn’t 1917 – it’s that this is when modern anthropologists began documenting the importance of interpersonal relationships. In the marketing world, it boils down to very personal commercial interactions – in other words, every relationship is personal.

So this takes me to the next step and, likely, what will be the next entry here: how, exactly, does podcasting play into all of this? Not to mention another question was raised in one of our sessions: what makes a good podcast? I think they are one and the same: I/we were optimistic at the outset of this endeavor that this medium (the social web), and the podcast audience, represent an opportunity to return marketing communications (especially of a multimedia nature, which is simply our specialty) to the honest conversation of the most primitive commercial interactions. It gives both parties a chance to learn and to do better, and to participate in a Virtuous Circle of growth.

We still haven't asnwered the question that applies to PodSquad though: What makes a good podcast? I have some thoughts on that and would be happy to include yours.

It's on: Innovation Challenge 2007

2007-09-11T13:13:00.000-04:00

click above to watch the video
Chic Thompson was in the studio to shoot this video invitation to the 2007 Innovation Challenge, final rounds to be held at Darden in November of 2007. I had covered this event doc-style last year and was looking forward to doing some fun (and useful) work with that footage in anticipation of the upcoming event. Some of that work appears here, but more of it (with context) will be coming out soon in a series of video podcasts we put together to help teams sharpen their skills in brainstorming and presentation.

What was fun about this piece was the idea I stole for the backdrop. Yep, I said it, and freely admit, that this was an instance of Picasso's axiom "Good artists copy. Great artists steal." I've been watching a lot of Sundance Channel's "The Green" and loved these talking head shots:

The wide, "behind the scenes" shot used in the same piece revealed that this wasn't a chroma setup, but simply a projector sitting on the floor hitting a white paper background. Since we had zero time for post on our Innovation Challenge piece, we had to pull off everything in-camera and this seemed a great way to do it.

This idea, thanks to the fact that we had a great PhotoShop artist on staff at the time, took just an hour or so to set up (with appropriate time given to tweak the lighting for the talent) and I couldn't be more pleased with the result. The funny thing is, if this had been suggested to me verbally, I would have dismissed the idea immediately - a way of thinking I try to avoid, but we all have our personal traps, especially when it comes to creative. Anyway, in the upcoming Video Podcasts you'll learn how to avoid that trap, and many others.

Victoria's background plate, for the record, was this:

And again, for comparison:

It's amazing how the background shifted blue in the shot - but it was another fortunate, "just go with it" thing - the kind of thing it helps to stay open to!

The Panic of 1907

2007-08-27T12:39:00.000-04:00

Shot in the Studio at Darden, we went for the "Movie Junket" look - a decision arrived at as soon as the poster arrived ;-)It was a real treat to read a book over the weekend and then have the opportunity to sit and pick the author's brain on-camera.

(by the way, the book is a great read - check it out here)

Look3: A Huge Success

2007-07-09T16:23:00.002-04:00

Charlottesville's Downtown Mall was transformed this summer by the amazing photography of Nick Nichols, and for three days (June 7-9) we had the pleasure of welcoming thousands of photogs and three very special guests to the Paramount Theater. Walking on the mall over that weekend you felt like you were suddenly in a different country - kind strangers from around the world descended on our hometown, and it seemed like every other person had beautiful new M8 slung around their neck.

We also had the good fortune to welcome NPR's Alex Chadwick who performed live interviews with this year's guests of honor: William Allard, Sally Mann, and Eugene Richards. When I got a call to "run the video" for this event, I had no idea I'd be directing a shoot with such legends. You've gotta love a little town like Cville where a "community event" like this can take on such a life of it's own. All in all, it was a great way to make some new friends and reconnect with some folks I hadn't seen or worked with in ages.

Sound Men: Alex Chadwick and Gary Green

We shot HDV (1080i) on four rented Sony HVR-Z1U's; my first work with that format. The few bits we've looked at (out of 32+ hours of interview footage and 16+ hours of on-the-street tapes!) seem to befit the subject - the color is great in the theater, the images sharp and detailed but very kind to the subjects. Even with nearly no prep time, the camera menus were easy to navigate and the displays were clear, providing a great deal of confidence without clutter. Even in low-light audience shots the noise was quite acceptable and I'm looking forward to seeing how far we can push some of that in post. We just picked up the Canon (XH-A1) flavor of this camera at work and I'm looking forward to shooting our first project with it next month, a series of video podcasts for the Batten Institute.

Of course, I'm just realizing it's taken me a month to post this, and I think that's because I'm still recovering from 8+ hours of crouching under the curtain of the stage to get our talent's "beauty" shot, above. I am way out of practice on the yoga, but this has me encouraged to get back in to it.

Many thanks to our sponsors at National Geographic, Apple, and Canon (and I'm sure there are many more) as well as the numerous wonderful volunteers that helped make this event happen. The end product? The festival returns for Round Two next summer. In terms of the video, I'll definitely post when there's an answer on that, but right now there is a whole lotta footage to sift through. Definitely look for DVD's in time for next year's festival. Likely too, some broadcast versions of the wonderful interviews. I'm crossing my fingers on that one. Stay Tuned!

Some other cool festival pix, done by what looks like real photographers:

(fotonorth)

(cmak)

Bart Cleveland: How Small Agencies can Think Big

2007-06-27T14:02:00.000-04:00

Bart Cleveland is Partner and Creative Director at Albuquerque’s McKee Wallwork Cleveland. Over the last two decades, Bart has specialized in working with brands that are dedicated to their own unique voice. His work includes branding campaigns for Coca-Cola, CNN, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Cartoon Network, and Dow and has appeared in markets across the globe. Bart strikes a chord with his work by appealing to human commonalities.

Bart’s unique approach to creative solutions has made him a sought-after speaker and creative show judge across the country. His work has received hundreds of awards for creativity both nationally and internationally including The One Show, CA, D&AD, and Clios.

Bart is frequently published in the advertising industry’s most highly regarded publications, including Communication Arts, Creativity, and One, a magazine. His industry perspective is often cited in business publications such as Fortune and Advertising Age. He is a writer for Advertising Age’s Small Agency Diary blog. Bart is a frequent guest lecturer at many of the country’s leading advertising creative schools and sits on the advisory board for the Creative Circus Advertising School in Atlanta. He is a frequent guest speaker at advertising clubs across the country.

Bart is a “Southern” guy with a gritty wit and edgy perspective. He is a popular interviewee because he says what he thinks (for better or worse) and loves to play devil’s advocate.

Listen to the Interview
(Length: 32:13, Size: 14.7 MB)

The Day You Became A Better Writer

2007-06-19T16:18:00.000-04:00

Amen, Scott Adams.

You wish you worked for this guy

2007-06-15T10:31:00.000-04:00

Bobbin has a fascinating discussion with Dr. Robert Sutton, author of the New York Times bestseller "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't". Bobbin and Robert discuss the genesis of the book, how to deal with, erm, difficult people and clients, why audacious book titles need to also be accompanied with great content, the most asshole-ish thing he's ever done—and more.

Fortunately, all of my clients are fabulous.

No A**holes here.

Rewarding

2007-06-15T10:23:00.000-04:00

It's nice to get an award, especially when you didn't know the work had been submitted. The Darden BusinessCast has received a Gold Hermes in the Podcast category!

Congrats to Ken and the rest of the crew I've worked with on this show over the last year. If you want some behind the scenes info on the show, don't miss the Case Study we did on it a few months ago.

Experienced (have you ever been?)

2007-06-14T20:15:00.001-04:00

It's a must-hear. Here.

I've seen Jim's presentation, and it's fantastic. There's something for everyone in this show.

Does your voice need more than... a voice?

2007-05-23T16:22:00.000-04:00

My morning RSS reads took me to the (relatively) new Odiogo Voice App (thanks to The Official Lair of Daniela). Odigo claims:

Turn readers into listeners, and transform your blog into a high quality, ad-supporting broadcast that can vastly expand your audience reach!

Automatic podcast generation
“Near-human” quality text-to-speech
Drag-and-drop integration on your blog
Detailed download statistics
Make money from embedded ads
Leverages RSS feeds of all blogging platforms such as Typepad and Blogger

In truth, I can't really take exception with any of this, and I was pleasantly suprised at the quality of the robot-reader. We've come a long, long way since Ray Kurzwiel first brought us in to this territory, nearly half a century ago.

Love the "Near-human" voice. Love the automagic nature of converting text to voice. Love that I can listen to your blog while I'm cruising the highway. Well, at least I love the idea.

What strikes me almost immediately is the subtle, yet severe difference in writing for voice vs. print. The Odiogo reader sounds good - don't get me wrong - it just doesn't sound quite right. I can tell in the first sentence or two that, while this is being read well, it was written to be read - but not read to the reader or audience.

Take the example of how even the best book requires the intermediate step of going to a screenplay before it can be produced for film. It's not because it has to be trimmed down to 100 pages - it's because people just don't talk that way (notice I didn't say speak that way - Odiogo speaks fairly well). The auteur is generally a master of her medium, and understands that when you have a book (or a blog) in hand, the audience will bend their mind to that way of "listening". When you're really listening (with your earholes), you expect it to be natural, to be involving, perhaps to be conversational - all things one can pull off in print just as well, but have to be pulled off... differently.

Some of the best print writers I've known have had trouble making the jump to broadcast (and now, podcasting) for this very reason. It's not for lack of great ideas and strong creativity, but working under the assumption that the delivery (one's voice) isn't nearly as important as the package being delivered.

The good news for writers is that the fix is easy: practice, practice, practice. Unfortunately, a robot can't get you there (yet), but if you're trying and it's not working, you'll be able to hear it.

There's a lot more to be said about Voice, but in the voice of a blog, my gut tells me that I should keep it short.

Scott Donaton: AdAge Stripped Naked

2007-05-10T16:05:00.000-04:00

Follow the amazing career and insight of industry reporter-turned-editor-turned-publisher Scott Donaton of Advertising Age, Creativity, and AdCritic.com - all part of The Ad Age Group, the world’s leading source of news, information and data on advertising, marketing and media. In this phenomenal interview Scott and Sally discuss everything from the inner workings and strategy of the group's publications to what it takes to get your story in Ad Age, along with interesting reflections from the intersection of Madison and Vine.

Topics include how AdAge faces the same obstacles as the companies it reports on, the insider scoop on how to pitch stories, and what it takes to become the next Crispin Porter + Bogusky. (Scott even submits to a pop quiz on agency mission statements.) Working on this show was a blast, and guaranteed, you'll learn a lot about the business of publishing AND advertising from the listen.

Listen Here.

Wiffiti: file under I wish I'd thought of it

2007-04-20T18:19:00.000-04:00

Thanks Jayne for turning me on to this.

From the Wiffiti website:
A new technology called Wiffiti is spreading across the country, enabling people to send text messages to large flat panel displays in social venues such as cafes, bars and clubs. Wiffiti is grounded upon the premise that sending messages to a public screen rather than a private phone will resonate with both the location and its community.

Messages sent to Wiffiti screens are also visible... more

We Are Virginia Tech

2007-04-18T00:17:00.000-04:00

Thanks, Nikki.

"We are better than we think, and not quite what we want to be... we will prevail... we are Virginia Tech."

BMA - MVB

2007-04-16T19:58:00.000-04:00

Our friends at Beyond Madison Avenue have been voted Jaffe's M(ost)V(aluable)B(log). Love the blog, love working on the podcast with Jaynie.K and big ups on the blog bling. All well deserved!

more details from Mr. Jaffe:
http://www.jaffejuice.com/2007/04/congratulations.html

add to your daily feed:
http://www.beyondmadisonavenue.com/

Recording Skype Calls for Podcasts

2007-04-15T10:09:00.000-04:00

I'm going to take a moment to rave about a product some of our clients are using to record their Skype calls for podcasts. It's called Call Recorder (http://www.ecamm.com/mac/callrecorder/) and what's wonderful about this product is that it records each side of the call in a separate channel, which makes editing, sweetening and cleanup a breeze. The output of the recording sessions is a MOV file, and the good folks at Ecamm also make a few free utilities for extracting the audio so you can work with it in the app of your choice.

So yes, it's a great product - moderately priced, works as promised and is highly effective. What makes it an amazing product, though, is the support you get from folks like Glen (see above). I usually only have time to send my dumb questions to tech support on the weekends, so I was amazed to get such a quick response to my question on a Saturday afternoon (I had fallen into an old habit converting some files and forgot that, yes, one does need to use the Ecamm "Split Tracks" utility to get the call files split as needed).

So Glen, thanks for the great product and the wonderful support. I promised I'd rave about it, and here you go ;-)

Good Experience, Live!

2007-04-08T11:40:00.000-04:00

Our latest edit for the Naked Career.

via Talentzoo.com:

Widely credited for popularizing "customer experience" online, Mark Hurst has worked since the birth of the Web to make Internet technology easier to use. In 2002, Hurst was named "one of the 1,000 most creative individuals in the U.S." in Richard Saul Wurman's book 1000. InfoWorld magazine named Hurst Netrepreneur of the Year in 1999.

Mark Hurst is the founder and host of the Gel conference (Good Experience Live), which was first held on May 2, 2003 in New York City. Gel 2007 will be held on Thursday and Friday, April 19-20, 2007 in New York City.

Hurst is also known for founding Creative Good, the world's first user experience consulting firm, which he runs with Phil Terry in New York City.

Hurst's Good Experience newsletter has tens of thousands of subscribers worldwide. (Sign up for free.) The Good Experience newsletter and Gel conference are owned by Hurst's and Terry's media company, Good Experience, Inc.

Welcome Back! Go Away!

2007-03-30T22:14:00.000-04:00

For the life of me, I can't imagine why this would be a problem. While this could have been an opportunity to increase the use of their service, I'm ready to cancel because of this ridiculous detail.

Naked and Sticky

2007-03-07T11:48:00.000-05:00

(via RTZ) What is the common ground between the Kentucky Fried Rat urban legend and JFK’s Man on the Moon speech? They both stuck.

Some ideas — a great book, a worthy public health initiative, a history lesson — sometimes have a hard time succeeding in the world. Meanwhile, some shoddy ideas — urban legends, product slogans, rumors — often succeed with no trouble at all. Why? Why do some ideas work while others don’t?

In this interview, Sally explores stickiness with Dan Heath, author of MADE TO STICK: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. Dan shares why some ideas stick, and how you can make your own ideas stick, too.

Listen here.

Seth: Even Smaller

2007-02-22T17:55:00.000-05:00

Great show and even better shows in the cue from Sally - click here to listen.

2007-02-14T18:14:00.000-05:00

You’ve read his books. You’ve read his blog. Now hear it straight from the Purple Cow’s mouth. In this exclusive interview, Seth has strong words and big ideas for how advertising needs to change, pronto.

Seth is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change.

Godin is author of seven books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change and work. Permission Marketing was an Amazon.com Top 100 bestseller for a year and a Fortune Best Business Book, and it spent 4 months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list. It also appeared on the New York Times business book bestseller list.

Check it out here. Great insider perspective from Sally here as well.

Mad (Money) Jib Shot

2007-02-08T19:00:00.000-05:00

Every now and then you need to get out of the studio. Kinda.

Good friend Victoria gaf-taped a mini-DV cam to the jib just prior to a rehearsal. The Director and I (unwittingly, if not handsomely) show off our thinning hair in the foreground of the first audience sweep. Doug, Jib op and owner of Bird's Eye Crane and Victoria are the first voices you hear. Doug did a brilliant job during the show.

Mad Time Lapse

2007-02-08T13:14:00.000-05:00

click here for the higher quality WMV video.

Case Study published on FeedBurner

2007-02-02T12:18:00.001-05:00

The FeedBurner Case Study is up! My thanks to Jessica at FeedBurner who put in a lot of effort to make this happen.

A little dryer than I would tend to make a podcast, I think this one gives some good info on how a podcast can help an organization reach the market in a win-win kind of way. Ken White of the Darden School also gives a great interview on some simple things you can do to push through a new marketing initiative like blogging, podcasting, etc.

Again, big ups to FeedBurner. If you're not using them, check out their site to see what they can do for your feed. it's pretty amazing stuff.

Maybe we should do more of these?

Listen Here.

and for all of our friends and family in Chicago - Go Bears!

Saftey First: Always Wear your Podcasting Helmet

2007-02-02T11:04:00.000-05:00

I think the little gafs that work are a big part of the charm that make a good podcast. This one has got to be one of the funniest things I've heard in a podcast since the last American Copywriter. Or maybe I've been up too late editing this week. Just wrapped Jaynie's third show for Beyond Madison Avenue, BAMCast #3.

Highly entertaining - give it a listen!

Talkin' 'bout Boston

2007-02-02T09:41:00.000-05:00

Just finished editing a great show from Danny G at Talent Zoo on the beantown fiasco (and much more). Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, has some wonderful insights into where it all goes wrong and how things are changing for marketers. Listen Here.

Case Study: Darden BusinessCast

2007-01-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

Another Draft for the upcoming Feedburner case study - what was interesting to me about this is how the creative team of a large institution can put "boutique" services like Feedburner (although Feedburner certainly offers enterprise-class services as well) to help them work around the red tape so often present in a large organization. I also just wrapped a great interview that will be included in this podcast - we'll let you know when it's posted. Here's the script so far:

So what if you work in a large institution, you've got the go-ahead on a podcasting initiative, and your IT department is handling the considerable effort of maintaing the back-end support services? I also spoke to some of the folks who produce the Darden School's Business Cast, and found some not-too surprising challenges.

Given the show's success as a key part of the school's communications strategy it's not surprising to find that the program receives input and support from resources throughout the school, not the least of which comes from the IT department who acts as the web host for the audio files. However if you've ever worked with an IT department in a large institution you surely know and likely understand that access to webserver details and statistics are heavily guarded by permissions and security settings, and for good reasons. On of the initial problems the creative team at the Darden school ran into was getting meaningful statistics on the show.

While they were working with the web team to figure out a way to get the on-demand statistical feedback they were also investigating Feedburner as an option to solve the problem of browser-unfriendly RSS files. After burning their feed to solve this problem they pleasantly discovered that their feedburner account was supplying them the stats they had been seeking, and they could get full accounts of show activity without having to trouble the IT Staff. The Darden creative team also enabled email-subscription to their feed and are able to see who amongst their various constituencies is subscribing to the show.

Case Study: Canine Campus

2007-01-10T09:41:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on a few case-studies for a Feedburner podcast and thought this would be a good place to share a rough draft (comments welcome). Will post part two when that's done, and well as give you a link to the finished show when we have it!

Canine Campus is a local dog-training organization with a global reach. Deven began the show in March 2006, has been releasing new material on a monthly basis and in under a year has brought in over 10,000 listens with little active promotion outside of listing the program in the iTunes podcast directory. The initial goal for Deven was to basically spread the gospel of positive reinforcement dog training in a similar method to the email list her company was running at the time.

One of the problems any small enterprise faces on a regular basis is the challenge of resources – time taken to create promotions takes time away from revenue-generating opportunities, but opportunities become limited if you're not running some kind of active public campaign to get your name out. Canine Campus faced the challenge of promoting its classes and seminars while fulfilling its core mission of educating the public on the benefits of positive-reinforcement training. Having faced the challenges of operating an email campaign and keeping a website updated with fresh content to promote the mission was conflicting with time resources allocated for simply running the business.

So the canine campus podcast began as a bit of an experiment, the first three episodes created as self-contained program recommended to all of their new students to help them prepare for strong start to a new course – outlining the philosophy and science that motivated Deven's training techniques. The episodes got positive feedback not only from students who were preparing for their first training course but from trainers and students around the world that holds an interest in the subject.

The challenge at this stage was how Canine Campus could continue to maintain a website and an active email campaign while taking on the additional responsibilities of creating a regular podcast, and if you're a feedburner user you probably already recognize some of the solutions they might have used. After doing a little research to see how they might leverage the effort they were placing in the podcast toward other requirements for their ongoing work, CanineCampus employed Feedburner's FeedFlare to automatically transfer the text entries they were entering on their Libsyn-hosted podcast site to the main page of the Canine Campus Website. With a simple piece of code they were able to assure that as they entered content into their podcast-hosting system is would show up automatically on their home page.

A surprise benefit CanineCampus discovered was that Feedburner offers a related service for managing email subscriptions and content. Where the company had been placing 16-20 man hours per month toward the management and publication of their growing email program, utilizing Feedburner's Email Subscription program automated the process of converting their blog content directly to HTML emails, automatically sending new posts out as they're published, and all according to the user's individual preferences.

The benefit has not been hard to track – for a small company, the savings of several day's work per month has given Deven more time to work on the podcast and the content, and taken the testing and leg-work out of the delivery process. You can listen to more of the canine campus podcast by visiting caninecampus.com, and my thanks to Deven Gaston for detailing some of her experience for us.

Thoughts on podcasting and how it relates to our world

2006-11-04T15:52:00.000-05:00

Ed. Note: We started this company with an email, our "podcast manifesto" (text excerpted below), and now that we've refined the idea thought it would be good to share it with you, warts and all. Just keepin' it real.)

I believe that podcasting is a remarkable opportunity in the world of advertising. A good many people are trying to figure the "medium" out right now. There are a lot of models popping up, from automated ad insertion (a la traditional broadcast) to brand co-hosting (http://www.talentzoo.com/lounge/radiotalentzoo/) to brand-generated content such as Whirlpool's "The American Family Podcast" (http://www.whirlpool.com/custserv/promo.jsp?sectionId=563). Then there are the Podcast "networks".

I don't think the money's in the ads with these.

I think where this technology will have the most payback for marketers is in generating content that connects with their customers for the long haul - the kind of small investment for a brand that establishes a higher level of trust and commitment from the client by connecting with them. Platitudes aside, an advertiser can't make the same kind of connection in a TV :30 than they can with a 10-20 minute show on, for example, Accidental Carbon Monoxide Poisoning, whether you're an appliance company or big pharma.

This is an important medium for marketers and it needs to be done well - and by pros.

The aesthetics and mechanics are easy for us: research, casting, producing, writing, recording and editing. We're doing three weekly shows right now.

The point: the creative agency/production company/studio that can supply AND place the finished product – the branded podcast - is going to do well.

The sell: whether it be to agencies or Brand Managers, is still a tough one – but so were Google's contextual placements, 5 years ago.

We know our advantage is in production quality and media savvy.

So my question for you is, where do you see this going? What do you want to be doing?

Holla.

Remember Full House?

2006-09-28T19:18:00.000-04:00

Remember the TV Show "Full House" from 10 years ago?

The #1 Network show today has FEWER viewers than Full House did 10 years ago.

It's getting harder for marketers to connect with consumers - or have the channels simply changed?

It's not about us...

2006-09-28T19:05:00.000-04:00

So you won't be reading a lot about us in this blog, but about the people we're working with and how we're helping them reach their market.

We're a group of ad/marketing/production pros that have embraced podcasting as a way to help our clients connect with their customers. It doesn't hurt that we've got some damn fine writers, producers, and researchers on board, and in coming entries we'll be telling you about the projects we can tell you about, what we're learning about the "space", what we're finding works, and what we're finding doesn't. Very Web 2.0, no?

Stay Tuned, there's a guy telling me something right now that's blowing my mind.