Dec. 14th Meeting
Annual Holiday Party
Photos
It was a dark and stormy night........
Actually, it was a warm night and the weather couldn't have been better! Festivities started at about 5:00, and by 5:30, the party was in full swing. Drinks were being drank, munchies were being munched, and everyone was talking, laughing, and having fun. There were games, lots and lots of games. Power cards were handed out until there were no more to be had.
Good friends, good times. What more could you ask for? Like all good things though, this too had to end. and about 8:00, we parted ways, with the memories we made, and the hopes for a great 2008.
Everyone had a great time, and guess what? We'll do it again next year!
Nov. 28th Meeting
Special Effects - Animation
Photos
The November 28, 2007 meeting of the San Diego MCA-I involved a panel discussion of very talented motion graphics experts who showed the audience of about 40 some amazing stuff then answered some planned questions by moderator Jim Staylor and questions from the audience. The goal was to help video professionals find effective ways to use on-screen movement and strike the right balance between having animation for a purpose and just plain wowing a viewing audience.
The panel included: Cameron MacMillan, Mavis Davis, and Andres Zapata.
Cameron MacMillan of MacMillan Biotechnology Imaging has worked for the EPA, Forbes Inc, Medtronic, Allergan – the makers of Botox (check his face for wrinkles), GenProbe and dozens of TV stations, such as HBO and Cinemax. He was schooled in animation at Sherman College in Canada; New York Institute of Technology; and MIT – where he attended a 3-month program on Symbolics.
Mavis Davis owns Mavis Media Inc. He used to be a Director at Transistor Studios in Los Angeles, where he mainly directed TV commercials and created Graphics Packages for TV shows and networks. Mavis’s high-profile clients include: MTV, Nicktoons, Travel Channel, Budweiser, Verizon Wireless, Quiksilver, and Vans. He has a Bachelors Degree in Television Broadcast, forming a solid foundation for creating animated art for television. Otherwise he is mostly self-taught. Though he has performed work for a variety of industries, Mavis primarily serves a fun, youth-oriented market.
The name of Andres Zapata’s company is Stellarum, Inc. He previously worked for Compton's New Media, nu•millenia, and Ayres Group. Clients include: Bechtel, McDonnell Douglas, Siemens, and Pantech – these last two through an agency called, “Sulic Worldwide.”
Andres has a background in Architecture. He got the 3D bug in college. Andres enjoys that his business serves a variety of areas like Architecture, Development, Products, and Technology.
The meeting covered such topics as:
l Starting a career in animation or motion graphics
l The thought process while working
l Communicating with clients
l Stories of the “client from hell”
l What makes a good client, and
l Creating value in client’s minds
Everyone in attendance thoroughly enjoyed and gained value from this presentation.
Special Thanks to James Kunitz of DV Creations for feeding us and hosting the event in his newly renovated stage. Visit www.dvcreations.com for more info.
September 26, 2007
MCA-I Member Showcase
Photos
A crowd gathered to celebrate an evening of the finest visual communications produced by our members - showcased on a big screen in Studio A at KPBS. Not only was there a big screen, but a stage and colorfully lit set pieces, providing a first-class setting to show off our work
After some great networking (and food provided by KPBS), our Master of Ceremonies Bill Menish, morning news anchor from KNSD 7/39, masterfully guided us through the presentations.
Click Here to go to the interactive version of this announcement, to view the many video submissions from our Multimedia Showcase.
Here are the presenters
Awesome door prizes were provided by KPBS (sweatshirts, fleece jackets, blankets, duffle and tote bags, and more) and Bob Gardner (Planet Earth DVD boxed set!).
The meeting was coordinated by MCA-I San Diego Boardmembers Craig Bentley and Jim Staylor, with a big assist from Shawn Pollack at KPBS.
Thanks again to Bill Menish for his great work, and to KPBS for being an incredible host!
August 22nd 2007 - Pictures
Sparkle in Your Market:
Making Your Mark and Marketing Your Make" Aug. 22, 2007
Photos
The Marketing and Promotion themed meeting began with networking at 6:00 and a delicious spread of sushi, snacks, beer and wine provided by our generous host Chris Michaels of Ray Street Studios in North Park. The program began at 7:00 with a welcome and announcements from board President Mark Shulze along with past President Craig Bentley, and International news from Past International President Connie Terwilliger. At 7:30 the meeting planners, board members Jeff Gelder of GelderHead Productions and Marti Krane -- both professional voice talent -- introduced the first of three speakers.
First, Liz Goodgold of DUH! Marketing spoke about how to develop winning names, taglines, and branding strategies with guaranteed flawless recall. Liz's key points: Publicity works - the media needs a story every day. Help them by giving them something. It just has to be sexy with a hook and a headline. Study the tabloids for headlines; Star Magazine, National Enquirer, Cosmopolitan are all great for teaching how to do headlines. Her closing thought: "People do business with people they know, like and respect. People want to hire the familiar. Try to connect the unfamiliar with the familiar. Connect what they don't know with what they do know." Also, "If you have a tagline that works - keep it," and, "find people to have strategic alliances and market together and cross market."
Next, Grant Reinero, the Senior Art Director at Geary Interactive spoke about how Web 2.0 involves user generated content whereby users can upload their own content then host it on social network sites such as facebook and myspace. He said, "It's all about being found out on the web. If you can - place it on YouTube or Google and send it."
The last speaker, Alex Funk, Marketing Manager of Digital Telepathy described how Web 2.0 is perceived as the 2nd generation of web-based communication and how it is all about community. He explained how to embrace 2.0 technology - Blogging and Vlogging (video+ logging) by talking about yourself and your experiences. Alex's advice: "You have content, stories and experience - put it out there - create a YouTube account, submit to Technorati - let people find you!" Be authentic. It takes time - it's not done overnight. Don't spam. Give and ye shall receive. Track your results - know where to spend your time (try google analytics.)
Door prizes:
Member Bobbin Beam donated boxes of "Bobbin voice over sampler" chocolates
Speaker Liz Goodgold donated her CD - "Why Your Customers BUY and How to Get Them TO BUY MORE!"
SDMCA-I purchased and donated a copy of the book DUH! Marketing by: Liz Goodgold
Board member and voice talent Jeff Gelder of GelderHead Productions donated 5 CD's of Sheryl Crow and Jackson Browne and a Santana Collectors Edition compilation for the grand prize!
The theme of this year's SDMCA-I Summer Beach Party was D-I-Y (Do It Yourself!). Instead of renting awnings, tables and chairs, we brought our own. Instead of renting an expensive volleyball net, we bought our own! Instead of hiring a fancy caterer, Bill Manning (despite being under the weather) made a Costco run, Luke Jungers transported Craig Bentley's B-B-Q, and cheeseburgers and hot dogs were enjoyed by all! With some scrumptious side dishes from the other attendees, everyone went home with full stomachs and sore forearms!
Thanks to Beverley Woodworth for arriving early and staking out our usual spot.
If you were looking for a new camera, and your HDV and HD trigger finger was itching to shoot, then this was the place to be! Our hosts Michael Stewart and Ray Pernot of Broadcast Rentals supplied the food, the cameras, and the knowledge and led us through a good old-fashioned camera shootout.
Cast of Characters was as follows:
JVC GY-HD 100
CANON XL-H1
SONY HVR-Z1U
SONY HVR-V1U
& PANASONIC HVX-200
with P2 Memory Cards & Firestore
Also: F900R, Varicam & HDX 900
They treated us first to a fiesta of Mexican food, including chips, guacamole, quesadillas, burritos, taquitos, and more – ¡muy delicioso!
Aaron Houdashelt and Walter Dutra then presented an overview of the HDV Format (Camera’s, Tape, Workflow), and provided enlightenment with answers to the following questions:
How is this HDV Format getting HD?
Is there a need to use the HDV tape?
What do I need to put this in my Workflow?
Will this format match with HDCam/DVCPROHD? (Can I use it as B-roll for HDCam or DVCPROHD?)
Kent Hughes provided an extensive side by side comparison of footage shot with most of the cameras at this meeting. He showed the good, and maybe not-so-good points of each. Kent really knows his stuff!
Last but not least, it was playtime, where everyone had a chance to put their hands on the cameras, and “play with the toys”! All in all, another excellent meeting!
Many thanks to Broadcast Rentals for a job well done!
May 30th 2007 Meeting
Monetizing Streaming Media
Over 40 people were at Vortex Data Systems on Thursday, May 30 to learn about “Monetizing Streaming Media”. MCA-I would like to thank Catherine Bristol and the Vortex Data Systems team for their generous hospitality while hosting this event.
Chad Reese, New Media Producer for Insurance Journal, opened the meeting with introductions and provided an incomprehensive list of video aggregator and advertising links to meeting attendees.
Next up was meeting co-producer Beverly Woodworth of Artisan Digitalworks. Beverly highlighted a few new media trends as discussed in Scott Kirsner's book “The Future of Web Video: Opportunities for Producers, Entrepreneurs, Media Companies and Advertisers”.
Following Beverly's presentation, Chad suggested a few simple ideas that independent content producers can use to provide immediate exposure to their media. The suggestions include using Amazon.com as a storefront and cross-linking products with PayPal and content aggregator websites. Chad used Staylor-Made Communications as an example of simple and practical steps every content producer can employ to monetize their content. Staylor-Made is the company of MCA-I board member Jim Staylor.
The second presenter was Josh Carlson, VP of Technology for Insurance Journal. Josh spoke about the success of Insurance Journal webcast projects over the last two years, attributing the insurance news company's webcasting success to niche-casting to their core audience and following up with surveys and participant tracking metrics.
The keynote speaker was Stephen Condon, VP of Marketing for Entriq Pay Media Systems. Stephen showed the audience a bit streaming media's future with customer examples during his formal presentation. Entriq's corporate goal is to “deliver a single end-to-end solution that takes care of all the complications in the background and makes Pay Media transactions quick, easy and worthwhile for everyone involved”. Stephen followed his formal presentation with a long Q&A covering a wide range of topics provided by meeting participants.
May 9th 2007 Meeting
"NAB Showcase - Tales From The Show Floor!"
An overflow crowd gathered at Video Gear Rental for a buffet social hour before heading across the street to the studios of Ferrari Productions.
Representatives from some of the biggest equipment names in our industry gave brief presentations of their product lines and the latest innovations in video capture. The reps all provided displays with hands-on demonstrations.
Presenters and the companies they represent:
• Joey Sherman - Matthews Studio Equipment / Photoflex
• Tom James - Panasonic
• Ken Yas - Grass Valley
• Brian Valente - Red Rock Micro
• Lee Turvey - Quantel
• Val Reynolds - Sony
• Jung Ahn - Canon
• Steve Milley - JVC
• Karla Walters - Manfrotto/Formatt/Kata
The reps gave away many valuable door prizes -- including swag from Sony, Photo Flex, Mathews, a Hum-Buster, and the grand prize, a $1300 Red Rock Micro lens adapter system, won by Mark Maisonneuve of Multiimage Productions.
Many thanks to our great local reps for their insightful presentations, and to Martin Banks of Video Gear Rental for the scrumptious Mexican buffet. Additional kudos go to Phil Ferrari of Ferrari Productions for hosting the NAB Showcase.
April 2007 Meeting
TV 3 & Apple TV
Photos
An overflow crowd gathered at Crywolf's new location to get a peek at the latest technology - Apple TV - and learn about “Television 3.0”.
Greg Hamyak of Crywolf demonstrated many of Apple TV's features. Using iTunes, this new technology wirelessly delivers media content from your PC or Mac to your television. View photo albums, podcasts, downloaded movies, TV shows, and more.
Podcaster and managing editor of Creative Planet's Digital Production BuZZ, Philip Hodgetts, explained the history and projected future of television - what he calls “Television 3.0”.
In the TV3 era, Philip sees the “middlemen” in broadcast television being squeezed out in favor of a direct “producer to viewer” model, with “push” technology. He illustrated how our current television model has a major disparity between broadcasters and the people creating audio and visual content who are unable to monetize their offerings.
Enter KLICKTAB. The new media aggregator designed by Philip and his partner Greg using push technology and a subscriber service. Planning to unveil KlickTab at this year's NAB Conference, Philip previewed it for our audience. He described how by charging low fees (10 cents to 1 dollar, for example), producers who have an audience of 100,000 or more can earn substantial revenue per episode via this type of pay-for-play model. (Klicktab's cut is 15%). Potentially, shows without a large enough audience for network TV could operate profitably under this type of business model. Philip encouraged us to watch for this future transformation and look for possibilities to participate as content suppliers.
Many thanks to Crywolf for their hospitality, refreshments and door prizes. And thanks to Philip Hodgetts for the mentions in his latest Creative Buzz Podcast! Subscribe to Philip's podcast.
February 2007 Meeting -
"Shooting Reality Shows"
• Meeting Photos •
A full house of 50+ gathered at Jack-in-the-Box's Innovation Center in Kearny Mesa for an informative and entertaining presentation from reality TV shooters Russ Fill & Ryan Powers. Russ and Ryan spoke about shooting for large, elaborate programs like Survivor and Big Brother. They revealed what goes on behind the scenes and on set at these types of shows.
“Survivor” has on-site production staff averaging around 400 people - 60-80 in the art department, 20 or so camera crews, tons of equipment, ancillary staff, and more - a virtual “production city”.
Russ told how a rapport (and competition) develops among the camera crews. It helps them anticipate what each will do when framing or shooting scenes. Shooters try to outdo each other for the best shots, but they also share shooting tips and tricks.
They shoot Survivor participants with cameras out in the open. Filming for Big Brother, however, includes the use of curtains and peepholes. All crews maintain little or no contact with show contestants.
Shooters for both shows stay in constant communication with each other to choreograph shot coverage much “like a dance”. Russ detailed how they set up shots and scenes using many different cameras and angles. (It's Russ' camera work as Survivor's host, Jeff Probst, tells the person voted off that, “The tribe has spoken”.)
For audio, Survivor primarily uses boom mics while Big Brother depends on the wireless variety. Survivor's art department assists in innovative ways to mic some of the tougher scenes, e.g. - mics hidden in seaweed for swimming shots.
Russ showed his DVD of time-lapse using digital still photography and discussed advantages of this technique over overcranking film/video. Russ also showed beautiful night shots (including star shots), and breathtaking nature scenes.
To help cut down on the fatigue of long handheld shots, Ryan recommended the “HIPSHOT” or "Fig Rig" by Manfrotto Bogen.
Our thanks to Curt Betcher and the JITB staff who were most hospitable. They donated sandwich coupons and antenna balls as door prizes. Thanks also to Broadcast Rentals for their contribution of a $50 gift certificate to Black Angus and flashlights.
|
