Vic DiGital had a successful awards season, bringing home a total of six Addy Awards for work done in conjunction with Healthy Image Marketing Agency.  Winning awards at the Lake Charles Addy Awards were spots for the Eye Clinic, Cameron State Bank, and Thrive TV.  

In addition, the spot for the Eye Clinic went on to win a Bronze in the Regional Addys.  

Thanks to Healthy Image for the opportunity to work on this spot.  

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The Eye Clinic - Image

EyeClinic_General_Image.mpg Watch on Posterous

This was a fun challenge as we were basically given a couple of logos and some photos to create an identity spot for The Eye Clinic.  It was tricky coming up with something that matched the music but wasn't repetitive.  The end result turned out even better than we expected.

Thrive TV show - Open

Thrive_TV_-_Show_Open_for_review_2.mov Watch on Posterous

Healthy Image produces a magazine and TV program called "Thrive", which covers health, money, and a variety of useful topics.  I created the open for the show, where I tried to represent the light and fun nature of both the program and magazine.   On a couple of these animations, there were more than 400 layers.

LA Fitness - I Am

LA_Fitness_-_I_Am.mpg Watch on Posterous

Similar to the Eye Clinic spot, this one required a creative way to present photos.  The first version we did of this that matched the storyboard ended up being way too static, so we came up with an entirely different way to show the same images, and this version really worked out great.

Cameron State Bank  - Patriot Checking

CSB_Patriot_Checking_30.mpg Watch on Posterous

This one went through a variety of edits until we had the right mix of informational text and patriotic imagery.

Cameron State Bank - Rock Solid

CSB_BrighterSide_RockSolid.mpg Watch on Posterous

The challenge for this one was finding an actual rock wall in the Houston area.  The few we actually located wouldn't let us shoot there.  We ended up finding this rock 'wall' in Montgomery, just north of Houston.  Most of this was accomplished Batman-style, by shooting sideways and our talent, Marc Isaacs, pretending to climb up.  Worked out great, and we won an Addy for this.

Cameron State Bank - Grass is Greener

CSB_BrighterSide_GrassisGreener_REVISED.mpg Watch on Posterous

This was the first fully animated spot I'd done in quite a while and it was also a fun challenge.  The first idea the client suggested was to attempt to shoot this as real footage, but composite in the butterfly and other elements.  I convinced them that it could be done entirely as an animated spot and that it would actually match the storybook feel of the script and audio much better.  Another challenge successfully met, and another Addy Award.

Cameron State Bank - Overflowing

CSB_BrighterSide_OverflowingREVISED.mpg Watch on Posterous

A second spot in the "Brighter Side" campaign, this one presented the challenge of making a stationary shot of a glass of water interesting for thirty seconds.  Interesting lighting, and the tension created in the viewer by having them watch the glass overflow seemed to do the job just fine.  An added challenge in this one was a late decision to have the water pouring happen all at once.  As shot, there was an initial pouring and then a pause, and then it filled up and overflowed the rest of the way.  Took some of my best compositing work to make it look almost seamless that the pouring happened all at once. This one also won an Addy Award.

More Healthy Image commercials on the way and I'll post them as soon as they're clear for release.

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While TMZ Superfan took first place overall, and TMZ Roadshow took the Zooppa award, it was TMZ Toyz that got the most attention.  TMZ aired it more than any of the other spots, and even put up an informal poll the week prior asking visitors to the website if the Toyz spot was too controversial.   Check it out here.  The comments are especially interesting.

Once again, we want to thank TMZ for sponsoring it and for Zooppa.com for facilitating the contest itself.  Zooppa always has a few great video contests in the works, and we'll definitely be entering more.

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TMZ_Superfan_1_for_uploading.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Houston actor John Goad was the talent.

And here's the fourth place entry.

TMZ_Roadshow_1_for_uploading_B.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Houston actor Dave Maldonado was the primary talent (with myself, Justin and Evan all appearing as one of the guests.)

We produced a grand total of six spots (three in one series, two in another series, and one stand-alone), and all six ended up in the top nine.

Here's the longer version of the genesis of this project.

In late July, my apprentices (Justin Raschen and Evan Sivil) and I decided a fun training project would be to enter some online video contests.  Entering an online video contest in this way does a great job at simulating a client experience.  You get the specifications about the contest, and then you start brainstorming ideas.  We considered several contests and brainstormed ideas for many, but quickly realized that we had some great concepts for the TMZ on TV video contest.

TMZ (for those of you unfamiliar) is an irreverent celebrity news website that also has a successful daily TV show.  TMZ is most known for being the news source that first announced that Michael Jackson was dead.  Their mandate for this contest was to create a :12 or :27 second promo for use around the country (on shows like "The Simpsons", at least according to their promotion of the contest).  The theme of the spot needed to be "We love Hollywood, we just have a funny way of showing it."

We spent an afternoon throwing around potential ideas and ultimately settled on the ones you see.  Over the course of the discussion, it was clear that each of us had one idea in particular we were most passionate about, so I took TMZ Superfan, Justin took TMZ Roadshow, and Evan took TMZ Toyz.  Over the next couple of weeks, we each developed our ideas and contacted talent for the spots and then the week before the contest deadline, we set about shooting and editing the spots in between production of real client work.  It was a challenge, but we managed to get everything shot early in the week and that gave us a few days to edit.

We uploaded on deadline day and waited.  We really liked the spots we had put together and felt confident about our chances, but as with anything where there are people judging it, anything can happen (we've done lots of video contests and had yet to win one, so we were confident, but pessimistic).  We had better hopes for this one because we knew the judges would be the producers of TMZ itself, including the founder and president, Harvey Levin, and we were pretty sure we had not only matched the criteria they had laid out for the contest, but had done so in extremely creative ways.  Because we knew who the judges were, it allowed us a slight bit more leeway on how specific and/or obscure we could make the references in the spots.  We knew THEY would get and appreciate all the little details we included.  

The contest deadline was Monday, August 9th, and they said they'd announce a winner by the following Monday, but that day came and went.  We spent a lot of time refreshing the winners page, but they eventually put up a notice saying that it would be an additional week due to problems getting the contest entries to the TMZ people for judging.

We continued to wait and refresh the winners page all day the following Monday, but still nothing.  Finally out of the blue on Wednesday the 25th, the winners page started filling up, and TMZ Superfan #1 took first place!  We were pretty excited then, and even more excited now.  

Even if we hadn't won, we would have been extremely proud of the work we had done.  Great jobs by Justin, Evan, John, Dave and everyone else who helped out in front of or behind the scenes.  

Here are the other spots that made the top nine, but didn't win any prizes.  These additional TMZ Superfan spots and additional TMZ Roadshow spots were made using extra footage and ideas that weren't used in the primary spots.  We had additional gags for the TMZ Toyz spot, but not enough to produce an additional version of the spot.

TMZ Superfan

TMZ_Superfan_3_for_uploading.mp4 Watch on Posterous

TMZ_Superfan_2_for_uploading.mp4 Watch on Posterous

TMZ Roadshow

TMZ_Roadshow_2_for_uploading.mp4 Watch on Posterous

TMZ Toyz

TMZ_Toyz.mp4 Watch on Posterous

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It was two years ago today that I entered the club of people who have inexplicably wasted hours and hours of their lives combing through SuperFriends footage to create a parody video.  My unique contribution to the meme was to cross SuperFriends with the Watchmen.  The ultra-cool trailer to Watchmen had just come out (in that innocent era when we still thought the movie was going to be really good), and for some reason I can't remember anymore, the thought occurred to me, "Wouldn't it be funny if all of this cool Watchmen stuff was the SuperFriends instead?   And it turned out that it was pretty funny.

But it also turned out to be a LOT of work. Way more than I had anticipated.  But I didn't realize that until about halfway through, and by then it was too late to turn back.  All told, it probably took me the better part of four days to put this together, from locating the episodes of the show, to going through every episode with an eye for potentially usable clips, to finally settling in and recreating the Watchmen trailer shot for shot.  My favorite moment from the whole process was discovering the shot of Zann from the Wonder Twins exploding in a hail of ice cubes in a way that perfectly matched Dr. Manhattan getting disintegrated.  And then later, the totally coincidental shot of Robin mouthing the word "No" at the perfect time.  That wasn't planned.  And judging from most of the comments I've received, that's the favorite moment for most viewers.  

Happy Accidents.  

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It's by take180.com who do tons of videos like this, but are pretty hit or miss.  This one is a definite hit.

Especially brilliant is the "Can you say, BRRRRR?"

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More info on this project as we get everything ready for the big premiere.

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So there I was, sitting on one side of a see-saw, wearing a chicken costume while on the other side was Winston Churchill. At first, anyway. Then he turned into the hot Latin woman from "Modern Family." But then it wasn't me on the see-saw, but my dog, and I was now watching them through binoculars from on top of Mount Rushmore.  And you know who the dog turned into?  YOU!  That's right.  Why were you in my dreams?  And then suddenly we were playing soccer.  And then I fell off of the top of the soccer field and that's when I woke up.  But I was still wearing the chicken costume!  But then I woke up again.

And then the other night, I saw a film about my dream!  Sure, the details were different, but it was totally just like the dream I think I had recently.  And what's even weirder is that my friends all say that it's just like THEIR dreams.  

This film is, of course, Christopher Nolan's "Inception."  Easily the best film of the year and I have a feeling it will only grow in stature as the newness wears off and we all start to truly appreciate it for the masterpiece (yes, I said masterpiece) that it is and debate it endlessly.  

Any detailed description of the film will only serve to ruin the many many surprises and twists and turns that await the viewer.  If you've seen the trailer, you haven't seen anything.  It only gives you a tiny fragment of things that happen in the film, but the film is not about anything in the trailer.  

In fact, I'd go so far as to say even if you HAVE seen the film, you haven't seen anything.  More than any film since "The Prestige," I can't wait to see this again to attempt to unravel the movie's many secrets.  This film isn't like "Sixth Sense" where knowing the twist takes all the air out of the viewing experience.  Even warning you going into this film that there is a lot to see and a lot to pay attention to won't help you recognize the clues that (I think) are planted throughout.  It's more a desire to see it again to have my theories confirmed or shattered.  

After seeing the film at a midnight screening, the group I was with (which included several filmmakers as well as our kids) gathered at a Denny's for a solid hour doing a detailed post-mortem on the film, and what we discovered was that we each had a slightly different, but equally valid, interpretation of the events we witnessed on screen.  We were each forced to question if we were even remotely correct about our perceptions.  I can't stress enough that this film is truly a mindbender, and I can't wait to see it again.

While the film is packed with Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated actors who turn in award-worthy performances, the true star of this film is Christopher Nolan.  This is the work of a master at the top of his game.  As a writer and filmmaker, I stand in awe at the flawless structure and execution of every aspect of this film and feel my heart sink as I contemplate trying to make any of my projects as airtight and resonant as "Inception".  

I'm on record as saying Nolan is the best filmmaker going right now.  He has yet to make a single turkey, and most, "Memento", "Dark Knight" and "The Prestige" among them, are some of the strongest films from the past decade.  This is the first film he's done where he was sole writer and director, and what he's created is a new mythology and probably a new franchise that we'll .  After the film, the group I was with were immediately using the concepts and terminology from the film, like "inception" and "architect" and "totem" like it was second nature.  I don't see that happen as often as I would expect (or as often as I'm sure the studios would like).  It'll be interesting to watch the process as this film's concepts seep into pop culture.  

As a budding filmmaker, it's easy to watch a film or TV show and pick it apart and discuss how I'd do it differently (or better), but "Inception" is that rare film that completely defies peanut gallery second-guessing.   And while I look forward to Batman 3 in two years, I'm more anxious to see what original ideas spring forth from Christopher Nolan's mind.  

Well done, sir.

Now excuse me while I climb into my giant french-fry helicopter and head off to my childhood basement where me and John Mellancemp are singing to 40,000 adoring fans who are now turning into babies and/or hockey players.  

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Old Spice has stumbled upon an insanely brilliant and popular marketing idea with the Old Spice Guy, and are jumping into it with both feet (that's a clever reference to their last commercial).  Apparently what they are doing is responding to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube comments in short 30 second to 1 minute videos like the one below.  Most of them are from regular folks, but there are a smattering of celebrity commentors, such as Alyssa Milano, Christina Applegate, and Demi Moore.  

I've only watched about half of them, but they are almost all hilarious and warped. They remind me of a video version of "Deep Thoughts" (and that's a good thing).  Hopefully someone will create a randomizer for these clips so I can just put them on autoplay in the background while I work.

Looking at it from the nuts and bolts creative side of things, this is a brilliant campaign on multiple levels.  It takes an already buzzed-about viral campaign and builds on it with immediacy and personalization.  The Old Spice Guy isn't just a commercial entity anymore.  He's a character that is active RIGHT now.  Not just active, but interacting with real world people.  He could be doing something interesting at ANY TIME from here on out.  

Through those interactions, a new mythology and history is being created for this character.  Most of the answers are random goofiness, but it's fun to see 'facts' from previous answers returned to and expanded upon.  

I'll be curious to see how well this little experiment does, and if it's just intended to be a one-time event.  I wonder if we'll see any of this incorporated into other marketing, or even into broadcast commercials.  I would imagine so, as the people behind this campaign seem to be on top of how it's being perceived at the user level. They seem particularly agile at creating a new wrinkle at the drop of a hat.  

From a practical production standpoint, it's also brilliant.  Spend a day on a single set (with one backdrop) and a stationary camera, and just shoot video after video.  I'll be curious to see if they had all or most of these responses scripted out ahead of time, or if they were writing them on the spot as the comments came in.  But something like this should be easily replicate-able for anyone that wants to do the same with their company.

I can see the Progressive Insurance woman doing something like this.  Maybe Jack from Jack in the Box.  Or the World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World.  Or even Brock Lee, Male Spokesperson.  Might have to give this a try with one of my clients or web characters.

So, here's one of my current favorites of this series of videos.

If you like this, they are still (as of this posting) releasing a new one every fifteen minutes or so. There's currently nearly 200 videos.  Look at them all right here. http://www.youtube.com/user/oldspice

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See the full gallery on Posterous

That's why I'm very excited and honored to be able to work with two churches in the Humble, TX area, producing videos for them.  One, Northeast Houston Baptist Church is the church I call home, and the second, Lake Houston Church of the Nazarene, is the building where my office is located. The people at both churches are fantastic and sincere in their desire to both spread the message of Jesus and make a difference in our community, and I am proud to be associated with both of them.  My fervent hope is that the videos I produce for both churches are helpful in some way towards bringing people to Christ.

By nature, I'm not a vocal or extroverted person, and sharing my faith with strangers is something I find nerve-wracking.  If someone ASKS me about my faith, I can blabber on for hours, but just walking up to someone?  I'm just not built that way.  So when I get a chance to express my faith using video, I feel like I'm finally DOING something with the meager creative gifts God has given to me.  Even though the two videos I'm embedding below aren't exactly videos that share or explain theology, they are both videos done in service to God, and I'll trust that these videos will be used by God in ways I'll never quite see.  

The first one I'll show is a promo for NEHBC's "Get in the Game" Sunday coming up in a couple of weeks.  This is the annual Sunday where members of the church are able to lend their talents or time to a ministry at the church.   This promo aired last week, and we'll be shooting a fun new video this week, a parody of a big budget Hollywood movie trailer.  But here's the first teaser, posing the question of what things would be like if various sports heroes decided they didn't think they had what it took to "get in the game".

Get_in_the_Game_Promo_2010.mpg Watch on Posterous

The second video I'm going to show is for the Open of a stage show that was performed every day this past week at LHCN's church camp.  The theme of the show this year was "I AM", and we created a fun video opening that featured all the hosts and characters of the show.  Had a great time putting this together and I'm just sad that I didn't get to see the kids' reactions to the open, however I'm told it was a big hit.  

I_AM_open.mp4 Watch on Posterous

Both churches are really just entering the world of more complex video, and it's going to be a fun ride as we all expand our imaginations and expectations of what we can accomplish as "small" churches.

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After several years of almost total silence, we finally know what filmmaker Shane Carruth is up to.  You probably haven't heard of him, nor have you probably seen his brilliant sci-fi film that came out a few years ago called, "Primer".  It was a great little film, but it holds a special place in my heart (and in the hearts of many aspiring filmmakers) because it was purportedly made for only $7000 or $9000.  Carruth wrote, directed, edited, starred in, and did the music for the film.  He did it in his spare time and with the help of countless family and friends.  He had a fantastic idea, and pulled it off, and it showed everyone (especially me), that if you have a really good idea, and pull it off, it doesn't matter what the budget on the film is.  "Primer" is what pushed me over the edge from being a commercial video producer to wanting to (and believing I can) make films myself.  If you've never seen Primer, go rent it immediately. It should be available on Netflix and at most Blockbusters.  I won't say anything more about it except that it involves time travel, and it's a film you really really have to pay attention to, but it's totally worth the investment of that attention.  If you're a budding filmmaker and haven't seen it yet, you're doing yourself a disservice.   

This film got lots of attention when it came out (and was featured at Sundance), but from that point on, there's been virtually zero about Shane Carruth.  Nothing about what he's doing, or if he even WAS ever working on a followup.  But finally today, I started discovering some tidbits about his new film.  It's called "A Topiary", and even those who've read the script are at a loss to describe it.  I'm curious, but cautiously optimistic.  The image at the top of this post is from the official film website, and is thus far the only anything we have.  Carruth says it's just a placeholder for the moment, but even so, it's an intriguing statement.  I'm not sure if he's planning on an elaborate viral marketing campaign, but I'd be all over it if he does create one.  

If you're interested in following some of the early buzz on this film, here's a list'o'links.

The Playlist

io9.com

comingsoon.net

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Yes, it's Canada Day, the day we Canadians (I'm Canadian by birth) celebrate our independence.  My Canadian readers know this history well, but my American readers probably don't know the whole story.  It was nearly 1000 years ago that Cånute the Great led the small Viking colony of Törvöntö in revolt against their Danish homeland.  On July 1st, 1016, Cånute gathered his ragtag fleet of longships and smaller trading vessels in what is now known as the Bättle of Hüdsøn Bay (as immortalized in Thorvaldson's classic painting, pictured).  Cånute's superior (and revolutionary for the time) naval tactics made swift work of the Danish flotilla that had come to Törvöntö to quell the growing unrest.  Törvöntö is better known today, of course, as Toronto.  And it's from Cånute's name that the nickname "Canucks" comes from. 

I'm always amazed that there's never been a movie made of Canada's fight for independence.  There were many heroes that fought on many fronts, any of which would make for a great film such as Gæirmund the Håmmer leading the Siege of Ført Øubæc (what is now known as Montreal, Quebec).  Maybe it's something I'll just have to write myself.

I leave you now with a modern rendition of the original Canadian national anthem (before the current "Oh, Canada" was adopted in 1939.

Ballad_of_Fort_Øubæc.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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Once again, Old Spice knocks one out of the park.  I still love the last commercial they did (I don't acknowledge the screaming guy commercials), but this one takes it up a few notches in difficulty.  While the first one was supposedly done in one take (well, 53 takes, but in one shot), and only minimal CGI at the end, this one clearly has a lot more effects going on.   Some wire removal if nothing else.  UPDATE!  Actor Isaiah Mustafa breaks down the commercial a little bit. And here's a much longer version (8 minutes) of the same interview.

While these are great from a technical level, I continue to be highly amused by the series, and whenever I see a commercial or even see the words "Old Spice", I immediately think about being on a horse and/or smelling good. I guess the branding is working.

How were they able to accomplish this transition into total silliness?  Was it AXE that paved the way for completely making fun of the entire deodorant industry and it not be seen as a negative?  If you're an advertiser or commercial producer, does the existence of commercials like these make you more or less likely to try to pitch something like this to your client?  Would they ever go for it?  

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Geeks are losing their minds today.  You could almost say they've got their panties all in a bind.   Why?  Because Wonder Woman changed her costume today, and took with it her star-spangled panties.  Some folks might call them pantaloons or swim trunks.  Others might call them Underoos.  Anyway, for a character no one cares about, it sure is causing a fuss.  Gone is the old costume that was silly in 1941 and even more silly today (and that even takes into account Black Canary's costume from the 90's).  In its place is something I think is actually pretty nifty.  It keeps the feel of the original costume, with most of the overall colors, and the tiara and wristbands, but adds some slick black to the ensemble.  I have no problem with this as the new definitive Wonder Woman, even though I know that it's only temporary, both from a fan outrage standpoint, and from a storytelling standpoint.  Once this current time-altered story ends, I'm sure she'll go back to her original fetishistic costume.

The other part of this geek outrage that makes me shake my head is that it's over WONDER WOMAN.  I mean, c'mon kids.  When was the last time anyone read a Wonder Woman comic?  I challenge you to give me any details about the comic or character that you aren't actually remembering from the TV show from 30 years ago.  There's a reason why they can't get a Wonder Woman movie off the ground.  She's a cypher as a character.  I've been a comic book fan since 1975, and if a million bucks was riding on it, I don't think I could correctly name ten facts about Wonder Woman.  

Anyway, I'm all for anything they can do to make this character relevant and interesting.  I think the new costume is a great first step.

(P.S., as I am in the process of creating a couple of comic books, as well as a screenplay that centers around comic shops and comic writing/drawing, I'll be examining the entire industry of comics from time to time, especially the costume design side of it.  Lots of cool stuff about this topic to share.)

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No, the real reason for this post is 1) to make fun of Twilight and 2) show a really neat, underused feature of YouTube that I'm surprised more filmmakers haven't taken advantage of.

This series of 14 short videos are on the surface an 8-bit biting parody of Twilight, but underneath the hood, they form a really clever interactive story.  At the end of each video, it gives the viewer a few seconds to choose one of two options the story can take (the colors of the video make it difficult to see the hotspots, so be sure to hover your mouse over the two boxes).  The resulting video shows you the next chapter of the story (and half of them lead to dead ends).  It's a really fun little sequence of videos, and I ended up watching each of the videos, backtracking from dead ends to watch the alternate route.

My surprise comes from how rarely I see this interactive storytelling put to use.  Granted, you have to make twice as many videos (or more) to account for every branch the story might take, but the viewer engagement numbers have to rise significantly.  It works for general storytelling, but I wonder how much more effective an online advertising or promotional campaign might be for a business?  Personally, I'd like to give this type of storytelling a try, and if you have any potential clients that might be interested in giving this concept a try, let me know and I'm sure we can work up a significant "experimental project" discount.  

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Amidst the other productions I'm working on this week, I've also decided to do a revision on a short film script called "Carbon Dating".  This is a light romantic comedy that was originally written for a contest in New York for a company called Pavaline.  I didn't win, but I did make the top ten finalists.  

There's a similar contest taking place here in Houston sponsored by WIFT (Women in Film and Television), and I'm going to try to revise it to work with this contest.  The basic story is about a single woman who meets a man who is big into the environment and going green.  However, she could care less about the environment.  So over the course of the film, she starts to learn just enough to fool him (she thinks) into thinking she also cares about the environment.  Hilarity ensues! 

The original contest was for a film set in New York City and starring a specific actress who is in her late 40's.  I'm going to write it much younger, for someone in their 20's, and taking place in Houston.  We'll see how it goes.  I'll post the script on this blog for anyone who's like to read it.

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I'll be using this blog to discuss not only the commercial projects that I'm working on as Vic DiGital, but anything else media or creativity-based.  This could include anything from movie reviews (with a practical production slant), to tutorials, to interviews with creative types, to films and videos I produce for myself or in conjunction with groups such as Irony Coast Productions (my narrative filmmaking banner).  

I'll try not to bore you with anything mundane, such as what I'm eating (unless it's AWESOME), or what I found under my couch cushions (hint: "Oh, THERE's that popsicle").  I know a lot of really creative people, and I'll post a lot of cool stuff they're working on as well.  

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For a couple of days at the end of last week, I was privileged to visit the set of "Sick Boy", an indie horror film shooting in Austin, TX.  I won't say much else about the plot of the story except that there might be zombies involved.  There was some wild stuff shot the days I was there, and I'll post more photos later once the initial marketing has been released.  To follow along with the production, you can "like" the movie's Sean Cunningham, and Producers Blayne Gorum and Heather Tucker for facilitating my set visit.  Shooting wraps up next week (last week of June) and post-production will begin over the remainder of the summer.  Updates as they become available. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

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