The “DDA Effect”

Over the weekend, I traveled to Boston to attend my brother’s college graduation. Despite cold and rainy weather in the stadium, we were still able to enjoy Monday’s commencement, and I especially enjoyed the guest speaker — Ken Burns.

Burns is a famous documentary filmmaker, who has created lengthy series on important topics in American history, including the Civil War, Jazz Music, and Baseball. But last week, when I told Carrie — our lead graphic designer here at DDA — who was speaking at commencement, the first thing she thought of was the so-called “Ken Burns Effect.” I had heard of it before, but never really understood it. So I turned to my friend Wikipedia.

As it turns out, the “Ken Burns Effect” refers to a technique used by filmmakers to create the illusion of motion when using still imagery. For filmmakers like Burns, this is crucial, since many of his film topics pre-date video (and often, even color photography). It basically involves panning around and zooming in on old photos to create a dramatic effect, even though the photo is faded and static. The technique was used long before Burns ever made a movie, but due to the popularity of his films and his extensive use of it, his name has unofficially been attached to it.

Upon returning to DDA, I thought about how Wikipedia might define the “DDA Effect.” Here at DDA, we put our distinctive stamp on every project that comes through the door. Quite often, it’s something that makes clients say “Wow”, and makes our projects stand out from the crowd. Whether it’s that extra twist added to a 3D Animation, the added feature on a website, or the snazzy introduction to your training video, DDA always takes the extra step to create customized marketing and advertising projects that not only make our clients happy, but make us proud.

In fact, the thing that makes this possible at DDA is our unique and diverse staff. From animators and graphic designers to creative copywriters, programmers, videographers, and search engine optimization (SEO) specialists, DDA offers the kind of talent no other marketing or advertising agency can match. We each have our own “Effect” on projects. Whether it’s the “Carrie Effect” or “Judy Effect” creating a perfect design that knocks your socks off, or the “Amy, Reggie, or Tyler Effect”, which turns miles and miles of complex programming code into an easy-to-use custom application, DDA has it all.

Now I doubt any colleges or universities will be inviting us to speak at commencement any time soon, we are more than happy to show your business or organization just what the “DDA Effect” can do for you.

Entry by: Steve