Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Lingerie to Tractors

That is what I did last Wednesday and Thursday.  In my sometimes odd line of work, I sometimes get a call from Comcast to take on a side project.  A week ago it was a video production consultation with a lingerie boutique in Seattle.  The next day I caught the Bremerton ferry to do a consultation with a truck / tractor dealership.  The people were very different, and great to meet.

What is a video production consultation? I wear strictly the Producer hat, meet with a potential new client, learn about their business, their clients, and who they want to attract, and let them know how the video production process works.

I take notes, and when I get back home I draft scripts for their tv commercial, make sure the concept fits within the client's budget, then send the scripts to the client for review.

We revise, we change things on paper, and when the client is satisfied they sign off on it.

Next, the video production machine swings into action.  A video shoot is scheduled and executed if needed.  Graphics are purchased and/or created.  The voiceover is ordered.  Everything arrives in the editing booth at the appointed time on the scheduled day.  3 hours later we have a first draft.

I don't suppose that shifting gears from lingerie to tractors in a day is something most people are used to.  In local advertising it's nice to have a whole day to shift gears.

And so it goes.  It's a nice machine.  ....And last week Bremerton has some fall leaves left in spite of the wind.

Scott Bell
http://MediaDesignSeattle.com
BLOG: http://mediadesignseattle.blogspot.com/ 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Graphic Recording


For 4 hours last Friday, Mark Behringer, Anna Ulanova, and I did the shoot for some graphic recording. We were a bit pressed to cram it all into 4 hours, and even more pressed to cram everything that we needed onto my 64gig card. But we made it. The footage is now transferred to my computer, and I plan to chop it up over this week.

I expect it to be a very cool production. The art behind graphic recording is something that we’ve seen more of over the last couple years, and it’s quite amazing to witness. Like a “live” flip book? Perhaps it’s even more amazing because we all wish we could illustrate so easily.

The shoot went well. Mark and Anna were terrific. I didn’t yell at them too much, so far as I can tell. And we barely squeaked out of Mark’s daughter’s home before she had to get her children fed and out the door. Always something cool about tearing a room apart and putting it back together. Watch Mark’s site for the finished product.


Scott Bell
MediaDesignSeattle.com

BLOG

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

planning and relationships will take you further than....http://ping.fm/UilRt

Fundraising by Shotgun

When it's phrased that way, it even sounds unpleasant, doesn't it?

We're lucky enough to currently live in an economy where funds are precious. They seem tightly held and difficult to extract. I work with only a couple of non-profits, and the approaches that worked in a good economy are not making a dent right now.

I'm not going to offer any solid solutions in this post. I am going to offer caution.

The heartstrings of benefactors checkbooks are not easily tugged when they are bombarded by funding requests and see neighbors lining up at food banks.

Do not spend your non-profit's money just for the sake of trying to do something that you hope will raise money and and awareness. When you're strapped for cash and digging, do not advertise just for the sake of advertising.

Do not fire your shotgun into the bushes and then go poke about, hoping that you hit something. You'll get a bunch of leaves and a cloud of dust. And them squirrels you were hoping to nail?...they will run for the trees.

Plan your moves, build relationships, and then move forward.

One solution that is frequently reviewed and even more frequently shot into the bushes is SOCIAL MEDIA. OOOooooooooooh. So shiny and pretty. All the cool kids are doing it. And they look so cool and popular.

Here's an article that I recently enjoyed reading, "Facebook and Twitter are Stupid." It's a shock value title, but makes some very good points.

If you're a non-profit (or even a small business) currently paying anything for social media, stop right now and evaluate your expenses. Because one of the great benefits of social media - one of the reasons everyone is doing it - is because you can do it yourself.

I absolutely hate to see money wasted. I hate it more when it's a non-profit throwing precious funds into the prevailing wind.

Where is this coming from? Partly because yesterday I received my Northwest Harvest mailer and spent some time reading about food banks in the state going broke, functioning purely on volunteers, etc. Several times in the flyer, and in the envelope in front of me reminding me to donate, it mentions that NWHarvest can provide a family of 3 with one meal for just 67 cents.

If your non-profit is paying someone $500 to create or maintain a social presence, or advertise, or something along those lines, please don't be paying this if you're a flat broke non-profit. Look at the work that you do, look at what you want to achieve, and remember that the same $500 could potentially be providing 746 meals - 248 days of food - to a hungry family.

NWHarvest has extensive relationships and is very well-run. They are a shining example of how a non-profit can benefit people through structure and resources.

I'll generalize that every non-profit does need to attract attention and grow to some size that allows the organization to be one of action.

I'll also generalize that becoming an organization of action will not happen without a structured approach that builds relationships and from those relationships, builds attention and the money to get things done.

And I'll stretch this over to business. We all know that we/you do business with people that you trust, that referrals are golden, all that good stuff. To this day, in my freelance work, my most profitable projects have been with people who have a history with me and trust my work. 2nd most profitable: referrals.

I don't buy advertising. I maintain an online presence as a tool; I know that it's a good thing to have, I know that it allows me to be "found," and I also know that I cannot directly trace any revenue entirely to my online presence. Not a penny.

Non-profits (and businesses) should not and cannot rely soley on their online presence, their social media, to bring them money and attention. I've noticed that they place a lot of hope that social media will be their silver bullet. It's not going to work that way.

Think for a moment about business networking groups. A bunch of people just like you get together and talk and exchange cards. It's good commaradarie. It's a pleasant time. Do you keep going back if you don't develop any business from these business networking groups? Are you able to pay for the roof over your head because you're trading services with this and that fellow professional? Or are you actually building relationships that are leading to mutual revenue generation?

To attempt to bring this back around to the point; over the last year I saw several socially promoted events that were attended only by the people running the booths. The events still looked like they gathered a good crowd. Everyone had a good time. But there was nobody bringing in money from outside of the vendors. Because it relied soley on social media promotion and people patting themselves on the back for setting up their multiple social presences, while absolutely no relationships were developed.

Just because you or your organization is able to throw something together and advertise it socially (or advertise it at all) does not mean that you will achieve beneficial results.

Just because you have a cause does not mean benefactors will see your logo and instantly care.

Just because you have fired a shotgun into the bushes does not mean you will feed your family, or any family, tonight.

When was the last time your read about Bill Gates or Paul Allen finding something really cool on facebook or a blog and deciding to invest a chunk of cash because they felt so giddy and touched?

Create a plan. Develop relationships. Use the plan and relationships to invest in the proper tools. Then you'll end up benefiting people.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Quick Video Blog



This is kinda silly, it's just me holding my smartphone, using the videocamera app that's built into it, and talking. Only reason to post: you can do this too....in any situation, from anywhere.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Simple Is as Simple Duz

I'm probably not to say this "as a video professional," but I am continuously blown away by iMovie.  Windows Movie Maker too, for that matter.

Here's where this is coming from.

I found an old MacBook Pro on CL over the weekend.  It had the specs I wanted, so I picked it up and now I'm as portable with everything as I want to be.   As I was updating the software, iMovie updated.  And the current version looks quite different from what I would dumpster dive down to a couple years ago.  But it's still simple.  It's still intuitive.  It still lets the home movie-maker get the movie made with as few headaches as possible.

Those in the blogging group already know that I like things to be kept simple.  While there's something to be said for the small business owner who learns every in and out of Final Cut Pro or Premier so that they can represent their business, that's a lot of brain bandwidth, and that's kind of silly.  If you're selling widgets, sell widgets really well so that you can let someone else help you advertise widgets.

Most people walking down the street are never going to consider editing the videos they shoot.  And why should they (simple)?  There are few things more beautiful than a single piece of video with zero cuts.  That's why we appreciate movie directors who know "how to move the camera."

If you are walking down the street and have a sudden urge to edit video, you have two very accessible very simple ways to do it.  iMovie and Windows Movie Maker.

Why should you edit?  Because nobody gets it right the first time.  And few people have time to do 30 takes.

I'm in Portland currently thru Thursday night.  I'm going to do some simple video blogging while I'm here.  I'm going to use two methods:  1) webcam with iMovie, and 2) smartphone with iMovie.   (I'd use Windows Movie Maker, but my PC doesn't have a webcam....and therefore it gets more complicated than necessary for a blog.)

I still have little to no idea what these v-logs will be about, but that's normal.  If you've read this far you know that I have no idea what this blog post is about, yet I'm almost done with it!


I am participating in a November blogesphere event over on Tuesdays With Deborah. November is National Novel Writing Month, so several of us have committed to blogging something like 100 words a day.  My apologies in advance.
Til tomorrows entry…

Friday, November 4, 2011

Youtube or Somebody Else's Tube? http://ping.fm/AvhAl

YouTube, or Somebody Else's Tube?

If you read my post on TV yesterday, you know that I watch nothing regularly.  Looking at your comments (and THANK YOU VERY MUCH for participating - - feel free to continue to do so), if you're watching TV in the traditional sense, you're watching Sports or Drama with whatever regularity you choose.

Knowing that I watch little - to - nothing regularly, if we / I don’t watch much traditional tv programming, in traditional ways, what do we / I watch?

Other Stuff.  Other Stuff?!?!?!   Other Stuff.

Today I want to talk about online viewing, specifically, YouTube.  And I'll preface this, if it's not too late to do so, by saying that I've had two cups of coffee but would still not classify myself as "awake."

How many YouTube links did friends forward to you this week?  

I bet the description was "This is funny." or "This is cute."  or "This is highly motivational."  And then you clicked on it and laughed a little.  Or in the motivational situation, you quickly hit delete and moved on with your day :)

I watch Phillip DeFranco sometimes LINK.  He’s like John Stewart, but in under 10 minutes you get "Philled In."  And he's just about the only thing I’ll watch for more than 2 minutes, due to the fast edits and witty comments.  (“I just wanted to be more excited today.”)  Phil gets to the point (ok, many points) quickly.  And he has a monkey in his short opening sequence.  Can’t go wrong there.

I mentioned in yesterday's comments that I have zero patience for online video.  If you're going to try to make me watch a commercial before showing the content that I'm interested in, it better be a commercial that's about 5 seconds long.  Why?  Because that's the rough amount of time it takes me to realize that a commercial is loading, reach for my mouse, and close the window.

In the same sense, I completely avoided online video for years because it didn't load fast enough.  I could read 3 paragraphs before a video would start playing poorly.  Now that has changed, and as long as people don't muck up their content with garbage, I'll be patient enough for it to load.

Anyway, the title of this blahg:  YouTube or Somebody Else's Tube.  Are you watching other peoples content, or are you taking advantage of the opportunity to have your own channel?

Notice that I'm not putting channel in quotes.

If you don't have your own channel, you are missing out.  You are not taking advantage of a huge opportunity to display any side of your life to whomever you like.  At the moment it doesn't matter if you're late to the party....you are not instantly going to get 78+ million channel views like Phillip DeFranco.

Why are you missing the opportunity?

Everyone has their reasons:  Video is hard.  Video is scary.  I look awful.  I have to wear makeup and put on a nice outfit.  I don't know what to say.  It won't be perfect.  It'll take too long.   It's too expensive.  I don't know where to start.  I tried it once and it didn't do anything for me.  Or the most ridiculous, My video didn't go viral like it was supposed to.

All of these "reasons" (quotes) resemble the exact same reasons why Tuesday's 'Reticent Bloggers' don't start their own blogs.  Don't they?  Right?

I don't really have a question to wrap things up today....because I'm sleepy and I really need to get moving for an 11:00 appointment.  So I'll be very upfront that I'm drafting this live as part of a series that I started drafting in August.  November's Blogarama is effective for me in this way!

I will say that, like blogging, the only hard part of video is finding the motivation to get started.

Next week I'll be in Portland Tuesday thru Thursday, and plan to do at least one video blog (with transcript) using my smartphone.  Because it does have a full 1080p HD camera.  

So I'll end today's post by simply saying C'mon people, what's getting in your way?

I am participating in a November blogesphere event over on Tuesdays With Deborah. November is National Novel Writing Month, so several of us have committed to blogging something like 100 words a day.  My apologies in advance.
Til tomorrows entry…

Thursday, November 3, 2011

What does "TV" mean to you?


I'd like to start this one with a poll.  Leave your answers in the Comments, and please include your age.

     How much "TV" do you watch:  On your Television?  On your computer?  On a mobile device?


     What do you watch the most:  Movies?  Sports?  Traditional network shows (ABC NBC etc)?       Subscription shows (HBO)?  Kid's shows?  Educational programming?  No pattern, whatever interests you?

The vast majority of my own viewing is on my computer.  It's either movies or kid's shows, with subscription shows mixed in, as long as I can watch them for free online (Wilfred anyone?  Always Sunny.  Community.)  Watching scheduled shows on network or cable TV is of absolutely no importance to me.

My actual Television Set is powered "on" when my child watches a DVD.  OH!, and I had it on for a half hour in August when I was drained and found a cute little anthology about Westerns on some channel....public television piggybacking on the Cowboys and Aliens movie.

Back when I had a free Comcast DVR, I loved it, and watched a lot more TV because of it.  Since giving that up, my viewing habits have dropped off and changed quite a bit.

(Now, I get annoyed when I can't watch a newly released movie for $4 on my computer.  Or for any price on my computer - -Why isn't it offered?  I get more annoyed when I see movies that came out 2 or more years ago categorized as "new arrivals" on Netflix...gimme a break.)

"This is all almost interesting, Scott.  What's the point?"  Point is, that as a 35-year-old male, I'm gonna say that I'm at the tail end of a generation that watches, or watched, TV on an actual television, using an over-the-air or cable signal.

None of this should be news to anyone.  Over the last several years you might have read articles from adverntureous technology writers who tried to consume media only over the internet for one week.  Now it's common and easy.  Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Youtube, Vimeo, etc etc etc.

So please, take my Poll, leave your answers in the comments, and please include your age:


     How much "TV" do you watch:
On your Television?
On your computer?
On a mobile device?



     What do you watch the most:
Movies?
Sports?
Traditional network shows (ABC NBC etc)?      
Subscription shows (HBO)?
Kid's shows?
Educational programming?
No pattern, whatever interests you?




I am participating in a November blogesphere event over on Tuesdays With Deborah. November is National Novel Writing Month, so several of us have committed to blogging something like 100 words a day.  My apologies in advance :)
Til tomorrows entry…

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Punch My Ticket, Lunchlady

And then Chris Farley says something really loudly and falls down.  And we all smile.


My child-thing Harrison had his first school lunch yesterday.  It's something he's been asking for off and on since school started.  With day after day of un-masticated healthy packed lunch coming back home, I finally said OK. He, of course, completely enjoyed the experience and gave me a full report when he got off the bus, "I ate healthy food today!  I had fruit and chocolate milk and a sandwich with green salad stuff on it."  "Lettuce?"  "Yeah."


Yes, that's a full report from a 6-year-old.  Imagine how talkative he'll be in the teenage years.  (Oh, the expectant quiet.)


So he enjoyed it and the chocolate milk was a given.  Hell, it's what I choose when I eat lunch with him at Einstein Elementary.


The whole school lunch thing got me thinking about my own experiences with school lunch.  At Lincoln Elementary in Western Nebraska, I lived a block away from school and took my lunch pretty much every day.  I didn't have a regular lunch ticket until junior high, I rarely bought lunch in elementary school.  My Snoopy (and later, Transformers) lunch box had a variety of sandwiches depending on what was leftover and what my dad was taking for his own lunch....cold meatloaf sandwiches, picante loaf, chopped ham loaf....yeah, I grew to really hate each of those!  Ugh, just the thought of a chopped ham sandwich right now makes my stomach do a flip flop.  The greasy pressed texture.  Nasty.  


Of course I looked enviously at the rectangular pizza slices or "soy burgers" and after enough whining persuaded my mom to give me a dollar on the bi-weekly pizza day.  THAT, was awesome.  It was freedom from my parents, it was joining a crowd, it was the community of being able to trade pears for a cookie or vice versa (like that would happen - cookies rule!).


It was a right of passage.  Just like learning to ride a bike or getting the car keys.  


Granted, I bet I brought home a lot of barely eaten meatloaf or chopped ham sandwiches, and that was likely, easily my mom's motivation to fork over a dollar on pizza Fridays.  AND granted, in Redmond you see kids bringing a Trader Joe's buffet in their lunch bags; enough to feed at least four children.  But in all, there is a huge sense of community that comes with buying your food and enjoying it with you peers who also bought food.


Think about your first job, or your current job.  There are people who bring their lunch, and they tend to hang out together or enjoy some quiet time alone.  And then there are the people who go out or order in, as a group, publicly exchanging money for food, and hanging out together, building that rapport.


Even as an adult, it's been a occasion of sorts when I've ponied up to buy lunch with people.  It's been a moment to enjoy freedom and community and all that good stuff.  And there is a difference between sharing thoughts on butter chicken all around the table, vs being the odd man out with a bologna sandwich while others Ooooo and Ahhh over butter chicken.  


So school lunch for the 6-year-old....I'm all on board with that now.  Especially if he keeps coming home with happy news of "I ate a healthy lunch and I didn't get sent to the office today!"  (insert beaming young smile at the statement of these two accomplishments.)



I am participating in a November blogesphere event over on Tuesdays With Deborah.  November is National Novel Writing Month, so several of us have committed to blogging something like 100 words a day.  My apologies in advance :)
Til tomorrows entry…

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Hey, it's November.

Wow everyone, it's NOVEMBER.  You know, that great no-man's wasteland between Halloween and Christmas.  November has the unfair disadvantage of landing with a harsh thump on the day after one of the greatest holidays of the year.  If you're reading this on November 1st, I'll wager you're hung over from one form of sugar or another.  The six-year-old absolutely did not want to get out of bed this morning, and we made it home and into bed by about 9:15 last night, with an awesome haul.

I'm pretty sure that Charles Schultz labeled November with piles of leaves and football....because what else is there?  Deborah Drake would tell you "Gratitude Gratitude Gratitude."  And I'm definitely feeling grateful this November; with two online training contracts underway and a third in gestation, with fun video productions coming up for Mark Behringer and Gerald Grinter, with 4th quarter opportunities springing up hinter and nither and my home life coming into its own week by week.  There's always a lot to be grateful for, in and out of November.

However, as a month, I just don't care for Nov.  It gets cold.  Cold er.  Out here in the Pac NW it gets more rainy or misty or something precipitous.  The freekin month starts with the word NO.

The retailers don't really even try to pretend November is anything other than a time to put away your Halloween junk (in easily identifiable orange containers) and get ready for Christmas.  Discounted Halloween items were already stocked right next to Fred Meyer's Christmas decor.  ...it made me a little excited and happy.  And I must remember that the snow will start falling soon, which means SKIING!

I won't be participating in No-Shave-November, or Movember (to grow a moustache).

I am participating in a November blogesphere event over on Tuesdays With Deborah.  November is National Novel Writing Month, so several of us have committed to blogging something like 100 words a day.  My apologies in advance :)

Til tomorrows entry...