Mattie Rhodes Art Center video

The Hallmark Cards Hispanic ERG sponsored a great volunteer project for the Mattie Rhodes Art Center in 2011.  The kids created beautiful tiles that were then used to decorate an outdoor table and benches.  This is one of my favorites.

I handled all post-production on this project.  Produced, Directed and shot by Ken Ridgeway.

Chris Duh Creative Video Project

Produced and edited this project for Chris Duh Creative at the end of 2012.  Chris and his team specialize in art for children's spaces, public art and donor recognition.  Check out his work at http://www.chrisduhcreative.com/
Photography by Ken Ridgeway and Chris Duh.

Blended Screen Projections 2012

Udate:  Hallmark issued Ipads to all attendees, allowing the meeting to go paperless and also introduce retailers to using tablet technology in their business.  Very successful. Bizbash selects the event as one of the top 15 innovative meetings of the year.

http://www.bizbash.com/most-innovative-meetings-2013-12-hallmark-gold-crown-retail-summit/chicago/story/26969#sthash.f6wV78Ki.dpbs

The summer of 2012 our creative services group created and delivered content for two large retailer meetings.  This year we used blended screen projection as staging for executive general sessions and entertainment.  The "Get Connected" theme and style guide, developed for one of the events at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, incorporated a network of dots and lines in "the hand of the artist."  I was able to use the Plexus plug-in for After Effects to make the network come to life as a background element and used Turbulance and Distort to give it a slightly rough, hand drawn look. Attendee engagement survey results scored in the upper 90's.  I thought it turned out quite nicely.

AVID connection for Fusion

Just as I come to terms with the inevitability of my migration to Adobe Creative suite for post-production, Eyeon and AVID put this together and make me want to stay with the devil that I know.  The node-based workflow is so familiar and flexible.  Just might have to push for a seat.

Hallmark artists show how "Life is good"

Here's a Hallmark video that has been submitted for a Telly award.  If you like it, you can vote for it in the People's Choice Telly Awards.  I work for a great company.

Ken Burns on Why His Formula for a Great Story Is 1 1=3 - The Atlantic

Ken Burns on Why His Formula for a Great Story Is 1+1=3 - The Atlantic

I've worked on a few short docs for work related projects and continue to mull over the difficulties in commercializing such projects produced for streaming.  Obviously, it's a storytelling style that inspires and motivates, but finding funding is difficult and the end result is not commercial but aspirational.  It will be interesting to see if Hallmark's new relationship with SpiritClips http://spiritclips.com/ creates a new place for such projects.

Poptent's amateurs sell cheap commercials to big brands

Poptent's amateurs sell cheap commercials to big brands

I had forgotten about the Doritos Superbowl Ad that was produced for peanuts in North Carolina by a few talented vid kids. A few of my pals from the Avid|DS editors list posted this update.  The shift to crowdsourcing for commercials and web video production is a boon to major brands.  As one member from the list put it, "Somebody's getting rich, and it's not the content producers."  Once again the low cost of entry, and enthusiasm for the medium blurs the distinction between professional and amateur.  The tools and the talent are secondary to the "Big Idea."  I'm always interested in the "Big Idea" and I'm working to make sure my talents are where they need to be make it a reality for my team and our clients.