Posts filed under 'video production'
Conquer the Youtube Monster
Where do you think YouTube is heading next? As a marketer, how do you feel about online video?
The steady growth in personal video provides creates a challenge for marketers. How to you reach people on youtube? How about street team videos about the brand? One video can hardly make a difference, there is a lot of noise online. But hundreds or thousands of videos about the brand may make a dent. Online video advertising is still young, and people are still trying out approaches to create the best results for advertisers and consumers. As video production continues to increase, marketers are challenged to have targeted advertising opportunities.
How big is youtube? YouTube announced a major milestone. Every minute that goes by, an entire day of video is added to its site. Yes, you read correctly: 24 hours of video are now uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds. Since being founded in early 2005, the site has been the market leader in video sharing and consumption online. With a market share of more than 73%, the service dominates all the other online video competitors.
Video is a big growing piece of online content and companies should consider incorporating video as part of online marketing strategy. As online video matures so will the need to produce professional video productions for this medium!
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Add comment June 4, 2010
Favorite Video of the Week
Credit Unions are a different kind of fighter. Underdogs? Maybe. Champions of a cause? Most definitely. But what is certain, is that the ground has shifted, and your corporate-driven opponents have lost their footing. Now is the time to fight for your share and differentiate yourselves from banks. Now is the time to tell your story. Because you are a different kind of fighter.
Congrats to Third Degree for great concept and creation!
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1 comment February 5, 2010
Our favorite funny video to date
Humor is like walking a a bleeding edge. When Tool of North America Director Erich Joiner’s comedic storytelling was used for Bud Light’s latest viral video from DDB they have a humorous winner at the expense of offending the status quo. The result is an video of amazing awkward moments that make this clever video every very memorable.
We need more humor in advertising! Real humor communicates and connects – humor works on radio and video, with and without proper attire. I recently attended the British Addy Awards (see previous article) and it was full humorous advertising. I hope we see more humor in American advertising.
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1 comment January 26, 2010
SoundWorks adds a new DO
SoundWorks is beginning the year with new audio talent. We are committed to continually building our team with fresh ideas and great skills.
SoundWorks welcomes Dee Oberle to our staff. Dee brings her expertise in audio engineering–specifically post-production, video game development, live production, and video editing —in addition to knowledge in a variety of software applications to our vivid mix.
Like many people in the industry, Dee was inspired to pursue a career in audio after working with the sound team in her junior high youth group. She jumpstarted her career by receiving training from veteran engineers at Madison Media Institute.
On staff at Post Effects/Answers Media, Dee worked alongside Halo Composer, Mike Salvatori, on a series of projects including podcasts for Accenture and redesigning the audio on the Wide Load logo.
Dee’s audio portfolio with Dallas Audio Post Group includes Foley for Catacombs: Directors Cut, editing for educational company Voyager Learning, and third party post-production support on Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood.
As a sound designer, Dee worked with Gearbox Software under the direction of internationally acclaimed composer for Doom III and the Brothers in Arms Series, Ed Lima. She earned a credit on the AAA title Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway. Other products developed at Gearbox include: Borderlands and several yet to be released projects.
Additional work as freelancer includes the Lil’ Flip- Kim Kardasian video shoot, worship services at Willow Creek Community Church, TV Man, Inc. and several short films.
Software expertise:
- · Pro Tools
- · Sound Forge
- · Logic
- · Final Cut Pro
- · Soundminer
- · Vegas
- · Reason
- · Radar system
- · XACT
- · Nitro-SoundMaker/Composer
- · UnReal Editor
- · Photoshop
- · DreamWeaver
Please leave Dee a welcome comment below or welcome her in person at the next Sound Works mixer coming soon.
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3 comments January 20, 2010
British Advertising 2009 Awards
The Houston Museum of Fine Arts recently showed these winning pieces of Advertising. I love a creative commercial, especially if it hits a bulls eye with a message. Many of these winning ads use humor in a way only the Brits can do. It’s worth viewing!
Remember you have to watch a lot of bad TV to see a good commercial.
See the British Advertising Award Winners for 2009 http://bit.ly/8sfiRJ Great Stuff
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2 comments January 14, 2010
3D TV Production is Here
At this weeks CES show 3D is all the buzz. Many booths are touting 3D TV’s and production systems. The movie Avatar and other productions draw big crowds so we can now expect it on the small screen soon. But how do you 
produce it?
Congrats to Digital Jungle, a Hollywood post-production studio who had the distinct honor of being one of the first post production houses in the world to create a 3D workflow for the new Panasonic Viera active 3D television set, debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. Read more about Digital Jungle here.
Get ready 3D is coming!
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Add comment January 10, 2010
Keep Your Audio In-Sync!
I once had a film cameraman tell me that sync was not important only to get a call later to fix his production. That was many years ago when audio was recorded on a medium called magnetic tape or film. Remember? Now it’s all digital. I really thought that digital audio would resolve issues but now there are a few more details to consider.
Digital audio is recording in slices or audio samples regular time intervals. This is called the sampling rate. The standard for recording digital audio for picture is 48 thousand times per second or 48K. The 48K rate is used because it is mathematically compatible to picture formats. If there is a variance in the audio sampling rate then the sound can drift in relation to the picture and create chaos in the editing room. Even minor drifts can create problems. Basically there will be more or too little audio for a given scene. I am pretty sensitive to this and I see one or two TV commercials weekly with bad lip sync.
Here are some common causes of drifting audio:
- The recording was made at the wrong sample rate, not at 48K sample rate.
- Multiple cameras and audio recorders and no external master sync source.
- No time code is used.
- Delay induced by a digital console without external sync.
- A mistake in the editing room.
- An unexpected equipment failure.
We all know things go wrong so some proper planning and redundancy may save the day. Always test your setup before recording the final product. Digital recording does not mean good recording. I have had to fix many digital recordings that were noisy or distorted. After you do a test recording make sure your location sound man listens to what is being recorded in headphones and listens to the recording of each scene after a take.
If problems do arise, the drift may be resolved by adjusting the playback to match the picture in an audio post house or editing room. Some productions require frame accurate recording and this adjustment is not acceptable if there is budget to re-shoot the scenes. Happy shooting and may the sync be with you.
3 comments December 17, 2009
Help a Genius Who Paints Sound
As many of you may know, the DREAM Fund was developed to assist people in advertising, public relations and media industries whose lives have hit unexpected difficulties. Today, we have a special need in the Houston Area; a need that requires immediate assistance.
Mark Meyer works as an audio engineer at SoundWorks. He has been diagnosed with lung cancer and unfortunately the chemo treatments have not helped; thus, the current prognosis isn’t favorable. For the past 6 months, he has worked on a reduced salary and is the primary provider for his family. Mark has been labeled as a genius at painting sound; however, he is also a master of not making a sound when needing help. To fight this battle, Mark needs not only encouragement but monetary support for his mounting medical bills and for the care of his family (wife, two daughters and grandson).
Should you wish to make a tax-deductible donation to assist this family in their time of need, please logon to: http://www.dreamfund.org/
click on: DONATIONS
select: Donate online
Fill-in all required areas (*) on the form, uncheck any pre-checked selections and under DIRECTED DONATIONS type: MARK MEYER
Once the donation transaction is complete, you will be able to print your donation confirmation and receipt.
Again, please spread the word and help a colleague in need. Thank you for your support.
To send a note of encouragement to Mark – visit The Mark Meyer Fund on Facebook or Mark Meyer on Twitter.
Add comment November 18, 2009
Are TV Commercials Too Loud?
Why is the volume of TV commercials so much greater than the program? I get this question all the time. Would you be surprised if I said there is no difference, they are the same volume. With audio there is a difference between loudness and volume. Although the volume is the same, the apparent loudness is not the same. How and why?
Broadcasters have specifications that set the volume limit to a value below digital zero, below the digital maximum (-10db below 0). Volume is measurable and it is the same because broadcasters and cable channels require the peak audio volume of both commercials and programs not to exceed this level. In a commercials the volume is near the limit more often than during the program material. Commercials stay close to the maximum volume from beginning to end. This is done with audio processors that maintain a higher average volume level – so it sounds louder than the movie or TV show. So what can you do about it?
Here is a device that regulates the apparent loudness – a TV volume regulator to the rescue. The problem is caused by technology – so why not defeat it with technology! I have not tried the device, but I am willing to try it if they send me one. Personally I’m not buying one. I make commercials and marketers want consumers to pay attention when the commercials come on. Besides the intermission reminds me to stretch.
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1 comment October 27, 2009
Internet TVs beat 3D sets
Global shipments of Internet-Enabled TVs (IETVs) will reach 27.7 million units in 2010, according to a report from iSuppli.
In contrast, 3D set shipments will total only 4.2 million this year. Although 3D television shipments are set to soar in the coming years, said the iSuppli report, the biggest near-term growth story is in IETV.
If you have priced 3D TV you know how expensive this technology is and it requires 3D ready receivers and recorders. Just the glasses alone will set you back hundreds. But this is new technology. What’s next 3D internet-enabled TV? Perhaps smell-o-vision?
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Add comment August 3, 2010