I color-code the projects in my task list depending on their status and the green projects are those that need my attention. Tasks are piling up today and turning green. The project that is on my mind the most is the DDA Poster Designs I wrote about earlier this week. This is the perfect example of a graphic designer acting as problem solver.

The problem: Design 7 posters that are timeless, informative, all encompassing, and (dare I say) sexy. They need to visually scream that we are (pardon the overuse of these phrases) “A one-stop shop,” with “everything-under-one-roof,” or a “full-service” advertising agency. We are talented beyond belief, customer-service oriented (no voice mail here, thank you), motivated, intelligent, and professional. Our services range from 3d animation to 2d illustration, corporate and medical training tools to photographs of garden tools, and much more! There are a handful of talented copywriters just upstairs and an entire video studio equipped with a sound booth and video/audio editing services. Need a custom logo design?… no problem. Want your logo animated?… again, no problem. The posters need to share a common design theme, work together, and be able to stand alone.

The solution: stay tuned!

Moving an office with 21 people and not disrupting the work flow takes organization and juggling. As an experience, it is both traumatic and cathartic. It seems that at the old Dynamic Digital office, we saved everything that had to do with advertising. We filled a big dumpster with our throwaways.  I saved proofs of all our projects, as well as samples of brochures, postcards, and posters of companies - even those that are no longer in business. But most of all, we saved every marketing and promotional item about our digital services.

I came across one of our first letterhead designs that we used to sell our services to local businesses. It had seven thumbnail images stacked down the left margin and included digital photography (with a Lumina scanning camera) which today is obsolete. Since it scanned in three passes (RGB) the resulting image was a photograph. Today, if you go into our video and photography studio, the sophistication of digital cameras from that first clumsy Lumina is dramatic. The images our photographers and videographers produce with our up-to-date equipment are crisp, the color is very accurate, and the results are akin to film output.   

Since those early days, we have pushed the envelope constantly in all the areas of our services. Our clients, new and old, discover over and over again that there is nothing we cannot do at Dynamic Digital Advertising. We chose the road of complexity and steep learning curves so we could become a truly full-service shop. And we are proudly that, and pushing some more. Stay tuned. 

One of my favorite poets said it best, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I…I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” 

Recently, an actor came into the studio to record a short audition tape for a client in California. It was simply a close up shot of him introducing himself and then reading a 15 second and 30 second script. After all was said and done, he told me that the client request that he upload the video to YouTube. I found this strange considering that we always upload our proofs to our own personal server. The more I thought about it however, the more I realized that it was truly the best option for both client and actor. The video would be searchable, so anyone who wanted to see it would not have to know a specific URL, but just search the actors name. People could leave comments if they desired and are given links to other relevant videos. Even if things did not work out with the client, the actor would still have an example of his work to easily show others.

With thousands of videos being added each day, it can sometimes be a daunting task to sift through all the uninteresting, irrelevant content. But make your video truly stand out from the rest and it will certainly be recognized. These videos are called viral videos and it is just another service that DDA offers. The object is to create a short, entertaining video that people enjoy so much that they want to show their friends. The video spreads like wildfire and in no time has millions of views. People enjoy the video so much that they want to learn more about the product or service featured in the video. This method has been used successfully by companies such as Burger King and Honda. It is the future of advertising!

I am finally coming to the end of my 360-degree rotation jewelry videos. Over the past few months I have filmed and processed over 850 spinning pieces of jewelry and prepared them for web. It would have been impossible to get such successful results had I not had the help of an amazing program called Adobe After Effects. The features in Adobe After Effects are pretty much endless and it allows you to manipulate video in ways you could only imagine. Aside from color correction and moving masks, one of the most helpful features during this project was the motion tracker.

Since a motor was spinning a string that was attached to the jewelry, the subject had quite a bit of movement to it. I was able to reduce the movement by using the motion tracker. You simply choose 1 or 2 distinct points in the video, hit play, and let motion tracker do the rest. It will follow the points and move the video accordingly. 2 points were needed for these particular subjects since they were rotating, but it was still quite effective. With Adobe After Effects motion tracker, say goodbye to shaky video forever!

Over the weekend our green screen track was hung, thus completing the additions made to the video studio. This track wraps around more than half of the shooting space and will allow the green screen to easily be moved and stored out of the way when not in use. This will allow us to shoot full body green screen shots with lots of motion.

Another addition to the video studio is a sound booth for recording voice-overs. This will be extremely helpful because shotgun microphones pick up the faintest background noises and sometimes our office can get quite noisy. The sound booth isolates the talent so that only their lovely voice can be heard.

The studio also has a separate area for still photography, complete with any color paper imaginable able to be hung from the wall. This is useful because it allows us to share the studio space without having to take down video or photography set ups. This is a big time saver.

With these new additions the video production possibilities are endless down here at DDA.

Here at DDA, many of our video shoots that take place in the studio utilize a green screen. A green screen is just that, a large, bright green piece of cloth that is hung in the background that easily separates the subject from the background. In post production, the green is removed and virtually anything can be inserted in its place. Green screen technology has practically eliminated the need for a built set because there are far more options, including animated backgrounds, when using a green screen instead. Green screen technology is not just for backgrounds however, it can be used in smaller portions of the screen in order to put something on a monitor or crop out unwanted visuals. Through the use of green screen technology, DDA has put video spokespeople in animated worlds that could have never been built!

DDA’s recent move into a great new facility is the culmination of a year long search that taught us a great many things about our strengths, opportunities, staff, and ourselves.

Ironically, after many building visits, in a quite large swath of Bucks County, PA and the Philadelphia Metro Area, we ended up with the most perfect state-of-the-art digital advertising facility imaginable just about two miles from where DDA has been located for almost fourteen years.

Things we learned:

1.) If you care more about keeping the staff you have, and accommodating their commute travel needs, than you care about the building itself, the universe will reward you with both the perfect location and the perfect building.

2.) You can’t have too much office space, video studio and photography studio space, or closet space.

3.) If you have never had a real, really big office kitchen before, then you won’t believe how wonderful it is.

4.) Really small bathrooms are OK, if there are enough of them.

5.) The phone system cannot be up soon enough or the Internet connectivity fast enough no matter what you do. Thanks Tyler!

6.) Really high ceilings are really nice.

7.) A beautiful piece of property with great trees makes coming to work more joyful…especially for Indie.

8.) A fresh coat of paint and clean carpets are small miracles.

9.) As close as all 22 of us are, and as well as we all get along, it is really nice to each have enough of our own space.

10.) We are very lucky!

Right as we figured out how to assemble our crane another package arrived down here at the video studio. This time it was our dolly. This is another piece of equipment that you may find on any given Hollywood movie set and now you can find it at the DDA video studio. This dolly system puts the camera on a platform that runs on a curved track and allows the camera to move in 3d space around the subject smoothly and silently. Most of the time this will require two crew members to operate as one person actually sits on the moving platform and adjusts camera position and focus, while the other pushes the rider at the appropriate speed and distance. The whole set up only took about a half hour to assemble and we anxiously tested it out with the XL1. This is another piece of equipment that I cannot wait to use for it will add to the already professional look and feel of DDA’s video production projects. And like the crane, the dolly and track fit conveniently into two bags so we will be able to take it on location as well.

Yesterday our crane arrived here at the video studio and I couldn’t be more excited to put it into action. All your favorite films use cranes to get those high up establishing shots, smoothly follow a character, or create dramatic sweeping shots. Now DDA has the same capabilities as a Hollywood director. This will allow us to shoot from extremely low and high angles as well as create smooth, fluid pans that can move any direction. These shots will definitely add to the already professional look and feel of our video production projects. The crane also folds up to fit in a bag for easy transport so it can be used on-location as well. Keep an eye out for some very cool shots in the near future!