For those of you who forget birthdays and anniversaries, the Rubik's Cube turned 30 this year -- and our camera crews were in Manhattan to celebrate with some of America's rising stars in puzzle resolution.
Most of us on the Award Productions creative team consider the Cube a pivotal toy from our childhoods, so it was an absolute honor to witness a competitive tournament.
It was also a bit humilating to see the kiddies solve the Cube in mere seconds. Because we have no formal training in the Rubik Arts, it can take many of us hours to reach completion. (For the record, we do have formal training in video editing, shooting, producing, writing and graphic design).
Back in our wonder years, we recall the strategy of forcing one cube block to pop out and then having a pile of Rubik's pieces to rebuild like LEGOs. You could always tell the cheaters because their Cubes were always loosely rattling from having been taken part too often.
Check out these brilliant kids:
Turns out that there is also another kid who can do it blindfolded.
And if that isn't impressive enough, check out these amazing artists who craft mosiac murals out of disassembled Rubik's Cubes!
Perhaps there is no other group of people who are more stereotyped than the American cheerleader. You've heard all the remarks before. Perhaps you've even helped to spread them. Cheerleaders are all looks, no brains. Cheerleaders are snobby and superficial. Cheerleading is just a way to get guys to look at you.
Just the mere question "Were you ever a cheerleader in high school?" comes with heavy insinuations and baggage. See any episode of "Glee" for clarification.
"Blood Sweat & Cheers," our documentary film about the subculture of competitive cheerleading, takes a step away from this universe. The Pop Warner girls are still somewhat insulated from the inevitable pressures of dating and the sexual connotations that the uniform carries at an older age.
The film is aimed at a general audience, particularly at parents who place a high value on the character lessons of youth sports. We went into the film assuming the world of cheerleading was a casual activity like taking tap dance lessons or aerobics. We wrapped up our year viewing these girls as having the same kind of dedication and drive as Olympic athletes.
So it's extremely gratifying to get the stamp of approval from the cheerleading community.
In the latest issue of American Cheerleader Magazine, writer Alison MacQuarrie praises BSW for its gripping portrayals of long practices, self-disciplinary challenges, injuries, team comaraderie and meeting fan expectations. We are absolutely flattered by the sports movie comparisons she makes to support her endorsement:
"For every mainstream sport, Hollywood has produced some sort of heartwarming drama about a team’s emotional journey to the championships. Basketball has Coach Carter, Hockey has Miracle, Football has Friday Night Lights and the list goes on. Of course we couldn’t forget about the classic Bring It On
series—which drew people of all types and opened the public’s eyes to the gravity-defying acrobatics that cheerleaders perform.
But as entertaining as Bring It On is, its light and comedic storyline still puts it in a different category than deeply inspirational movies like Remember the Titans.
Ever since I started cheerleading I’ve been waiting for a television show or movie that takes you behind the scenes of a competitive squad to show cheerleaders’ hard work and true athleticism that is often overlooked. Finally, Blood, Sweat & Cheers has done just that."
...The story keeps you on the edge of your seat when the squad faces injuries and other obstacles as they pursue a national title under intense pressure. After witnessing the girls’ hard work, ambition and yearning to win, as well as the support and involvement of their families and teachers, it’s almost impossible not to root for Burlington."
Thanks to Alison and American Cheerleader Magazine for such a spirited endorsement!
The special limited edition DVD of "Blood, Sweat & Cheers" is now available at CheerleadingFilm.com or at Amazon. (See the movie trailer HERE!)
One of the bonuses of working as part of a camera crew is the opportunity to sample gourmet cuisine at the end of the shoot. Oh, it doesn't always happen. Many a time, our camera crews live on Powerbars and Gatorade.
But producing how-to cooking demonstration videos -- such as this assignment for New Hampshire Magazine -- is always a pleasure.
What can we say? Folksy restauranteur Jim Borbotsina's classic Saganaki dish melted in our mouths and got us hooked for life. The Greek delicacy is "Flaming Cheese," and the kitchen theatrics is half the fun.
Do you have a product or service you'd like to promote in a how-to or demonstration sales video? It need not involve either fire or cheese, but if it does, expect our camera crews to stick around a little longer off the clock!
(Jim Borbotsina serves up Saganaki and a variety of Greek/Italian specialties at The Way We Cook restaurant in Manchester, NH. Download a free copy of the Saganaki recipe here).
Great news for fans of NBC's hit reality show "The Biggest Loser."
Viewers will be able to cheer on contestants from the Boston area when Season 10 begins in the fall. Award Productions recently had the pleasure shadowing the local hopefuls as they began their adventure in shedding the pounds.
We're looking forward to rooting for "our" contestants in September. Stay tuned here for details as soon as they are released...
Whenever our camera crews and producers are working out of the office, one of the most stressful parts of the day is trying to agree on just one take-out restaurant to provide lunch.
During this documentary video shoot about herbal medicine in the South Pacific jungles of Vanuatu, there were no such arguments. The choices were coconuts, tarot root and whatever animals happen to be killed that day. Killed in front of you.
We have tremendous respect for vegetarians, but we deliberately didn't send any on this assignment.
Cameraman Peter Koziell almost looks like he's ready for some Rocky Balboa-style training with raw meat. However, we typically train with DVD and on-line tutorials when it comes to learning the nuances of new video production technology.
Whether you need to travel around the world, or just next door, to tell your story, our HD camera crews are used to delivering the goods on tight deadlines.
Drop us a line to share your upcoming projects and your advice on lunches everyone can agree upon.
Joe White, executive producer of our Emmy-nominated documentary "Beyond Kitty Hawk," was just recently honored with the coveted President's Medal by the Aero Club of New England (ACONE).
ACONE is the oldest aero club in the Americas, predating the first Wright Brothers flight, and is globally renowned for its efforts to promote aviation history and educate the public about the value of general aviation.
White, a recreational pilot, oversaw production of our "Kitty Hawk" film and dedicated it to the unsung heroes who helped advance flight technology from the invention of the airplane to the Space Age.
Besides appreciating this well-deserved recognition by his professional peers, we candidly think this medal is one of the coolest-looking awards we've ever seen. Medals have an Olympian aura, far more than a traditional plaque or trophy.
Congratulations, Joe!
As in many professions, having eight arms would certainly make life easier in the world of television and video production -- especially when we are at the airport. However, based on this amazing footage taken by a kleptomaniac octopus off the coast of New Zealand, we're sticking with human cameramen.
At the risk of sounding judgmental, the footage from this octopus is a bit too shaky and randomly scattered for our tastes. If he or she (how do you tell the gender of an octopus) truly wanted to capture the scene, we would have seen some wideshots and closeups of the diver chasing after his precious camera.
We do have tremendous admiration for the diver, Victor Huang, who was not intimidated by the ocean beast and fearlessly chased after his equipment despite the octopus' obvious superiority in swimming and upper body strength.
It's the kind of never-ever-quit attitude that would make him a great fit on the Award Productions creative team.
The price of HD camera equipment has dramatically dropped over the past few years as the quality has significantly risen. Consequently, there are hardly any barriers anymore to making a documentary film -- except, of course, the all-encompassing time and money.
Student filmmakers are blessed with unlimited time, but naturally lack experience. Here are a few tips for those of you about to take the plunge into your first documentary film:
1. Get out of Talking Head Land as soon as possible. Sit-down interviews are fine for background and to string together missing pieces of your narrative. BUT, if you happen to be following your subject for an extended period of time, try to get a series of shorter interviews with them commenting on events IN THE MOMENT.
2. Creatively Frame Your Interviews. Getting people sitting in a chair with a lamp or books in the background provides boring visuals, regardless of how fascinating the material is. If you have a scientist, interview him in a lab and frame the shot with beakers. If you are with a yoga instructor, have her sit on a giant rubber ball. Be creative but not goofy.
3. Start living with your subjects. There are two schools of thought on this, and some filmmakers warn about the dangers of becoming "friends" with your film's characters. We say that you can always be "friendly" without ever dropping your role as an outsider, as an observer.
If you are documenting the lives of a construction worker, a politician, a daredevil or a paramedic, what do they do when they are not on the job? Just shooting some token b-roll of them having breakfast with their family doesn't do it for us. Put an HD flip camera in your pocket and go socialize with your subjects. Soon, they'll lose the distinction from when the camera is turned on or not. And you'll capture the most precious stuff of all.
Good luck! Documentary filmmaking is all about spending countless hours waiting for stuff to happen, with the hopes of getting a few minutes of footage that viewers will never forget. Your patience will pay off in dividends.
(At Award Productions, we've made six documentaries -- one which was nominated for an Emmy, four which premiered on PBS, and one that was optioned as a reality TV pilot for Country Music Television. Check out a few of our select documentary clips.)
Do you ever do a web search for restaurants in your area and find that some don’t have an online menu? You immediately skip over them and deem them unworthy of your business, don’t you? This is the same reaction a potential customer has if a company has an unprofessional logo, or worse yet, none at all.
At Award Productions, we work closely with marketing departments and public relations companies to develop brand identity and promotional videos. We are frequently asked to incorporate 2-D logos into moving graphics for an opening video sequence.
With poor or unprofessional company branding, customers will feel uneasy about your reliability, expertise, and overall commitment to getting the job done. So just how do you make sure you have an effective logo that is both appealing and memorable?
Here are a few tips to guide you through creating and choosing a logo that is right for you and your business:
1. Know Your Company.
Write out a short description summarizing your company. Are you a family-run corner shop spanning multiple generations, a multi-national corporation, or somewhere in between? What are your company values and goals? What is your product or service? How do you differ from the competition?
Answering these questions will help you define your image and understand what “feel” you need to portray to potential customers through your logo.
2. Know Your Customers.
Identifying your target audience is possibly the most crucial piece of information needed when branding your company. Who are the people you need to impress? What do they value the most out of your products/services – quality, efficiency, cost, dependability? And how do you show this attribute through your logo?
Upon figuring out these circumstances, an appropriate logo will reflect the persona of your company, giving your customer confidence that you will succeed for them.
3. Know When NOT to Do-It-Yourself.
Before you do anything, it is important to realize that knowing how to throw together a simple Photoshop image does not mean you should create the company logo. Whether you hire a graphic designer or have one on your team, you need to have someone skilled at understanding both the concept of a logo and the design execution.
Professional designers understand color, line, and text in a way that visually connects your company overview with the needs of your target audience. And it aesthetically represents this combination in a way that is eye-catching, yet simple enough to be easily memorable and recognizable.
4. Know Your Instincts.
A professional graphic designer will give you 3-5 initial designs to select the path for your logo. These should have a wide range of variation, showing different directions in which you could take your logo while still maintaining the characteristics you had outlined earlier. Choose the one that stands out to you, because ultimately you must feel confident in the design that represents your company.
After the initial design is chosen, the graphic designer should take this as a building block from which to create a few logos in the same spectrum. Looking at these, pick your final logo that you are most comfortable with and proud of. Even though someone else may be doing the design work, stay involved with the process. It is your voice and your company that is being evaluated by customers looking at your logo, and it will help make your business successful in the end.
The process for designing and choosing a company logo may seem daunting and time-consuming, but it is also a great lesson in defining your business, understanding how your company is perceived by the public, and making sure this is the identity you wish to portray.
You should feel confident when displaying your company logo and know that it is a great fit to match your company profile. When customers see your logo, it should make them want to learn more about you and try your products/services. The anonymous restaurants in the Yellow Pages could be gems, but I know I wouldn’t risk the time to find out.
By now, many of you have watched the awkward scene of the sassy film producer hogging the microphone at the Academy Awards after practically giving her colleague a body block. Here's how the Miami Herald described the Miss Manners Teaching Moment of the Year:
"A day after the Oscars, the Internet was blowing up with all sorts of snark directed at former Miami Herald features writer Elinor Burkett.
You know, the loud redhead who pulled a Kanye West, providing the one quirky moment in an otherwise tired telecast. Those who remember Burkett from her Miami days were hardly shocked by her outburst.
There was director Roger Ross Williams, a few words into his acceptance speech after winning Best Documentary Short. Then out of nowhere, Burkett's butting in: "Isn't it just like the man to never let the woman talk?"
The woman went on and on, unintelligibly, not letting the man get another word in."
Salon Magazine got the scoop and interviewed each filmmaker about their interpretation of the incident. Turns out they are not on speaking terms and split up almost a year ago over creative differences about the focus of their film, "Music by Prudence."
Award Productions takes no sides in this dispute. But we do regard this scene as a valuable example of how NOT to act at a prestigious documentary film event.
We believe in creative collaboration. And here's our promise to you:
When you hire our HD camera crews and editors -- either to capture a corporate event, a breaking news story or an educational seminar -- our directors and producers will be on speaking terms.
When you commission our Reel Profiles filmmakers to create a personal documentary, we will not embarrass you at your tribute dinner or film premiere with childish microphone-hogging antics.
We promise.