R|com Creative Blog

As 2009 comes to a close, many of us are probably feeling some degree of relief. It has been, by all accounts, a challenging year. I know that our family, friends, and clients have spent considerable time dealing with the stress of economic, military, and other challenges. We all know someone out of work. We have all read about the conflicts that are continuing in multiple arenas. Emotions have been running high – and the challenges we all face, regardless of position or wealth, remain enormous.

This holiday season, our team is focusing on looking forward to a better 2010 for our clients and personal relationships. It is our wish that all of us can collaborate on things that will help us see these challenging times through – and will ultimately lead to a better future for those we love and care for. Regardless of religion, ethnicity, employment or political affiliation, there is plenty of common ground on which we can stand together.

Nearly 100 years ago, the world was at war. In 1914, the British and French were engaged in what would soon be outdated combat with the German army. The loss of life was beyond comprehension, and the most tragic battles were still to come. Yet, something remarkable happened at Christmas in 1914.

photo credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

In many places, beginning on Christmas Eve, enemies and combatants stopped fighting. It is now historically referred to as, “The Christmas Truce.”

In the Ypres area of Belgium, Germans and British soldiers were hunkered down in trenches just hundreds of feet from one another. During the early evening, Germans began decorating their trenches. They put candles in trees and began singing Christmas carols. As their voices carried across the battlefield, the British were amazed to hear “Still Nacht” (Silent Night). The British responded with their own rendition of the much-loved song.

Singing escalated into holiday greetings shouted across the “no man’s land” of the battlefield. And shortly thereafter, soldiers from both sides climbed out of their trenches, walked exposed and without shelter into the night and began to greet their “enemies” with handshakes and in fact, gifts. Whiskey, bread, jam, chocolate and cigars were traded, along with more song.

The truce spread along the lines. Wounded soldiers left on the battlefield earlier in the day were rescued and removed to have their wounds treated. And the dead were buried. Proper burials for soldiers on both sides were performed, and both sides stood, side by side, to pay their respects.

It has been reported that on that Christmas day – December the Twenty Fifth, Nineteen Hundred and Fourteen, instead of firing bullets and shells at one another, the British and Germans played football. Apparently, there were many matches played all along the lines, and more food, song, and drink were shared. So too were addresses, as many soldiers befriended those they were shooting at just days before – and promises were made to visit once the war was over.

Although there is no concrete evidence to support the length of the truce, some written reports indicate the cessation of hostilities lasted until New Year’s Day.

The following year, a similar truce occurred, this time between French and German troops. A repeat of the previous year’s truce took hold in some places, and in fact, through to the end of the war, soldiers collaborated in multiple areas with informal armistice agreements. While the politicians and senior commanders were continuing to plot war, the combatants were plotting peace.

An unknown British soldier wrote home about the truce, and in part, his letter reads:

This will be the most memorable Christmas I’ve ever spent or likely to spend: since about tea time yesterday I don’t think there’s been a shot fired on either side up to now. Last night turned a very clear frost moonlight night, so soon after dusk we had some decent fires going and had a few carols and songs. The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us, wishing us a Happy Christmas etc. They also gave us a few songs etc. so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went to over to their lines. I think they’ve all come back bar one from ‘E’ Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir.

I exchanged one of my balaclavas for a hat. I’ve also got a button off one of their tunics. We also exchanged smokes etc. and had a decent chat. They say they won’t fire tomorrow if we don’t so I suppose we shall get a bit of a holiday… perhaps. After exchanging autographs and them wishing us a Happy New Year we departed and came back and had our dinner.

We can hardly believe that we’ve been firing at them for the last week or two. It all seems so strange. At present its freezing hard and everything is covered with ice…

And so, in this new century, with new challenges and obstacles to overcome, I would like to wish you the happiest of times possible. Reach out and find someone in need of a smile, and share something festive with them. Their smile will certainly be contagious and hopefully we can all enjoy the holidays together. And may 2010 bring you new prosperity, hope, and good health.

Kind regards,
David Barrett & everyone at R|com Creative!

P.S. If the Christmas Truce is of some continuing interest to you, the “Truce” is dramatized in the 2005 French film Joyeux Noël (nominated for “Best Foreign Language Film category at the 78th Academy Awards). The Christmas Truce was also briefly portrayed in Richard Attenborough’s 1969 film Oh What a Lovely War.

A number of books have been written on the Christmas Truce, including Stanley Weintraub ’s Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, which chronicles the event itself from first hand accounts.

An example of web design, including specific theme, function, and purpose.

Our people are often asked, “What’s your design style?” We have many pat answers, including, “your style is our style,” and, “whatever you want it to be,” and my favorite, “crayons.” But the key point we try to make is: design is totally subjective, so the bottom line is that it had better work.

There’s no point to any design if it doesn’t accelerate an idea, a product, a service, or a person. There are plenty of designs that are drop-dead gorgeous, but ten minutes later, you can’t remember what the purpose of the design was – or what it was about. This is especially true for the Internet, as many print designers have stepped sideways into the World Wide Interweb (apologies) and their ideas are as 2-D (read flat) as a sheet of 110lb matte stock.

We design for results. That means we are concerned that our client’s requirements be met not only in the boardroom, where satisfaction has no relationship to market success, but in practice, too. If our client’s don’t see a spike in sales, or an increase in website visits, we haven’t done our job.

Many people think design is all about looks. It really isn’t. Design involves how things fit together. How things work. How easily they are understood. I’ve seen people take other people’s designs and stamp their own logo on top, giggling at how they were able to leverage someone else’s work product. While that’s certainly both lazy and unethical (without permission), it does speak to the potential effectiveness of the design.

Design should either be timeless or totally time-based. When was the Coca Cola logo invented? Who cares? It’s timeless. What about Google’s logo? It’s freakin’ ugly, but it’s also effective – and it speaks to a specific time – and it will likely evolve over time as well.

The timer on your grandparent’s VCR? Bad design.

The iPod. Great design.

No matter what the product, service, or purpose, good design isn’t good at all unless people react to it. We’re very sensitive to that issue – and it’s one reason we enjoy every new challenge we’re presented with. Have a design idea? Let us mull it over and give you some comps.

Canon HV20 handheld HDV camcorder

There is an interesting balance when it comes to gathering material for any project. The time you spend translates into expense. Even if it’s just your time, wear and tear on the gear, and the cost of media, there is a cost. At the same time, it’s important that you give yourself the best chance to be prepared to take advantage of any situation.

In this case, I’ll refer to video/film. Our team is working on developing a documentary about the history of the Los Angeles Fire Department. It is centered in the present, with flashbacks through history. We must cost every hour of production. So, we typically are careful about how and when we’re spending time or money.

At the same time, I always keep a camera with me. This past Friday, I was in Los Angeles, attending several meetings, including one at a fire station. In the car, I had my firefighter protective gear and a small Canon HV-20 HDV consumer camera. The last thing I was planning on was needing to use it. That alone should be a clue.

During my meeting at Fire Station 76 in the Cahuenga Pass, the Captain noted it was starting to look foggy outside, and it was a sunny day. We opened the front door, and across the Hollywood Fwy, the shoulder of the freeway was ablaze. The Captain picked up the mic on the PA and told his crew, “still alarm, guys. We’ve got a grass fire across the freeway!” I grabbed my gear and as I climbed into my seat on the fire engine, I was thinking, “why am I stuck with this little camera?”

I started rolling tape before we rolled out of quarters, and as we made the turn down Cahuenga Blvd., you could see what looked to be a “nothing fire” across the way. 75 seconds later, as we spotted the rig to block the road and protect the firefighters, the wind was whipping the flames up and potentially threatening brush and homes nearby. This spot was less than a mile from the origin of the large and dangerous Hollywood/Barham fire from March of 2007.

David Barrett gets a muddy face, and camera, while shooting on-scene at a small grass fire in Hollywood.

Because I had a small camera, I felt I was going to be limited in what I could capture. While the camera does shoot HD quality material, it uses a single 1/2-inch CMOS sensor, and the camera itself weighs less than two pounds. So, I decided to focus on POV material, getting tight on firefighters as they attacked this small fire that was trying to become a big fire. I even got directly into the spray from a 1.5 inch line and had to stop for a minute to clean the camera, which was completely covered with mud.

The overall results ended up pleasing me very much. I got some great shots of a firefighter using his line to work through thick smoke to get to the base of the fire. And, as the incident unfolded, I began to test the camera’s capabilities – and while movement is something to be careful with, I was consistently surprised by the image quality.

While still not my first choice for a primary camera, the reason our team has kept it was for this exact purpose – when not expecting something, be prepared to get the unexpected. So, at the end of the day, I got some big shots from a small camera. Watch the video clip below:

Even the Canon HV20 can be built-up into a full cinema rig. But Why?

The footage above was imported into Final Cut Pro, and compressed in HD using Compressor. It was not color graded, so what you see is what the camera delivered.

Now, before signing off, note that the Canon HV20 is a highly regarded little camera. We acquired it for use in our production of a cross-country racing documentary in the fall of 2007. We used the camera as an in-vehicle mount, while our larger cameras captured the majority of the action.

As camera technology improves, people are beginning to use these little cameras more and more. In fact, if you want, you can totally lose your mind with these little cameras. The camera rig shown is using a Canon HV20, and includes railing, a matte box, follow focus and even a Marshall monitor for preview and monitoring. The rig costs three times what the camera does, and the 35mm lens conversion device close to double the cost. Imagine that.

One of the more difficult things to do smoothly is to capture rapidly moving aircraft. Our projects with the Los Angeles Fire Department often get us hooked up with the Air Operations Unit at Van Nuys Airport. And, not including air to ground footage, getting the shot of the Bell 412 airships from the ground is not an easy task – not if you want to be smooth and get the right perspective.

These sequences were shot during actual emergency response incidents, or at Van Nuys Airport responding to a call. Sony HD Cameras were used, and all content was edited in Final Cut Pro. This material is not graded, although we may come back and do some color adjustment in the future. These shots should just be considered a montage, as the elements will eventually find their way into our documentary on the history of the department, Smoke Eaters.

One of our clients decided this would be a great time to upgrade the wireless network in his home. So, as a courtesy to a good client, we agreed to help install the system.

Based on what he had in place and the size of the home (large), he determined that he’d need three Apple Airport Extreme devices, mounting kits, plus two Airport Express devices. All in all, the cost was about $1,000, plus labor.

When we arrived, our first step was to review what had to be done, and that included some mounting of support plates, crawling through the attic, sweating in the basement, etc. The next step was to transfer all of the data to the initial wireless box, a new Apple Airport 802.11N device.

Once completed, I had an idea. Before installing anything else, I decided to walk around the home with my laptop, to determine where the signal faded. Surprise, the new model of the Airport was powerful enough that it covered the entire home. Wow. Well, almost wow. When we walked down to the basement, we found that only half of the underground “man-room” was receiving a signal. So, we popped an Airport Express into a wall socket and voila! Total coverage.

As a result, we get to return two airports, one express, and several mounting kits. Net savings of nearly $650 on the deal. Not a bad way to support your client…

One of our biggest ongoing challenges is coming up with effective methods of helping our clients promote their websites, videos, and products. We are often hired to help take a website and revise it into a revenue stream. Often that not only includes changing the technical functions of the site, but making certain it complies with the latest Web 2.0 capabilities as well.

Now, here's an ad that will get your attention (said in a John Madden voice).

At the same time, it’s easy to get carried away and to throw too many things at the wall, hoping everything will stick. As such, we try to focus on those things that will make a difference – those things that get noticed. And, when we travel, we try to keep our eyes open for advertising and promotional displays that are localized – meaning their appropriate for a local audience. There’s no better test of a product’s success or failure than to see how it works for someone else.

So, it goes without saying that the most simple and direct tactics are often the most effective. Take this Hyundai advertisement. Well, it isn’t really an ad for the car company. It’s an ad – wait, it’s an anti-ad for the retailer from whom the owner of this Hyundai made his or her purchase. I love this ad. It gets the message across without too many words, simple graphics, and an ideal backdrop. Using the car as the mechanism for delivery to the public is also ideal – everyone gets to see the object that is referred to, even those the dealership isn’t there (or in the picture, so to speak).

It’s brilliant – and I hope this person is driving a newer (better kept?) car now. And, by the way, it’s cool that the ad wasn’t anti-Hyundai. They’re a pretty hip automobile manufacturer and we’ll be seeing a lot more of them in the coming years.

One of the things I love about our team is their ability to adapt to changing situations. In 2005, we produced a one hour documentary on a cross country solar car race. The North American Solar Challenge took our crews across the U.S. and Canada as well. We were shooting on public highways, covering 20 teams, and each hour of each day brought about unexpected surprises.

Cameron Barrett focuses on the action

It would be easy to miss key events, and we probably did miss a few. Overall, however, combining the use of radios, text messaging, and multiple camera crews, we were able to stay on top of the action. This was also our second one-hour HD production, and we shot more than 150 hours of video. If only today’s tapeless workflows existed for a reasonable price back then!

Every time I see this show, I think about how important it is to have talented shooters. Cameron Barrett was fantastic at knowing how close to get so the action lept into the lens – without her intereferring with team, drivers, or safety issues. Our assignment shooter, Jim Lahr, was terrific with motion shots, and overall, being able to grab what we needed, when we needed it was a joy to behold.

The key to this show was taking the time in pre-production to assess all of the possibilities that could arise while on the go. We often shoot in a run and gun style, so it’s important to know that we might run into. The experience of this cross country jaunt will help us with a variety of new projects as we move forward. There’s no replacement for experience.

I’ve always wondered what to expect when visiting the promotional-style websites of various entities. Some sites are polished, and some are filled with products and services. Often, the Internet eliminates the instinct one gets from in-person experiences. Does this feel right? Is this a good fit?

To help our clients and prospects better understand why working with us can be a positive and beneficial experience, we’re launching a blog to share our experiences in video, web, and related services. Follow along as we describe what we do and with whom. Our team travels all over the world, so that in and of itself makes our company a bit different than many boutique production and service organizations.

And, we welcome your comments and questions, too. So, browse away, and we hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,

David