Showing posts with label paul dewey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paul dewey. Show all posts

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Makeup for the Video Production Camera

CNN anchor Sean Callebs is a great friend. I was his producer. Alas Sean had one extremely annoying habit: he enjoyed torturing me on air. He was also a huge flirt. When I finally reached my tipping point (at lunch time), my revenge was often to point out the fact that he was wearing makeup to the cutest girl nearby. It worked. They would take a second look and see a man wearing a LOT of makeup b/c he was made up for work. Not that there's anything wrong with men wearing makeup!

The point here is that video and film do not see makeup the way the human eye sees makeup. An incredibly smoked up room will often barely look smoky on film. The art of makeup in television is rarely subtle. Enter the HD camera and now aging actresses (and actors) who have been relying for years on film tricks like silks (they soften the light and fill in those rascally nooks and cranneis) now must get their makeup spray painted prior to going on camera at the academy awards.

While the consumer loves the HD (high definition) cameras, the on camera talent does not because these HD cameras see everything... spying into those little age lines, wrinkles and smile lines never seen by prior generations of cameras. According to a recent Trendcentral, story, cosmetic makers such as Christian Dior, Smashbox and Cargo have now introduced every day lines of cosmetics that are HD friendly. So rest easy the next time you are out with Paris Hilton partying and the Paparazzi starts to swarm, if you are wearing the right makeup, the HD camera is going to love you!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Click Here for a Ride on the Emotional Roller Coaster Amigo

Let's look at some videos and then examine the emotions they create, as well as which are most memorable. We'll start with some funny stuff. You'll see why soon.

The first two are a little racy friends. The first one is built off an old joke. Keep Your Trojanz in the Car

No surprise that this one -- a contraception commercial -- was banned. DUREX

This one will tear your heart out. I am reluctant to share it for fear that viewers will 'kill' the messenger, but here it is. NEWBORN -- I think this one is for a life insurance company, just like the next one.

WARNING, this one's another heart wrencher. More Time - Japanese Life Insurance Spot

Let's finish with a lighter piece to drive the point home. Levis - High Speed Change (UK)

So, are you tired? Which of these commercials was most memorable? Probably not the funny, lighter videos. The heavy ones are really draining. I have seen them probably six times now and it doesn't get any easier. They exhaust me. The emotional roller coaster is one name for the ride you just took if you watched the NEWBORN or MORE TIME. That doesn't mean your brand needs to take a heavy, emotional ride, but remember, emotion is what works on film and video... not PowerPoint slides.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Great Commercial & Great Golf, Sketchy Video

Every once in a while the commercial gods come up with a spot that makes you proud to be an Amercian. Look for a lot more of this during the Olympics. Anyway, I ran across this old favorite in my archives... it's called the "Quiet Commerical" created the much embattled beer maker, Anheuser-Busch. It's pure beauty.

If you watched the U.S. Open yesterday playoff this past Monday between Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods, you were gifted with an amazing match. The big question is what did you actually see on the web? For most of my watching time the video and sound were dramatically out of sync by as much as 30 seconds or more! Clearly MSNBC could not handle the viewing burden, although the PGA site fared a lot better keeping the video and sound in sync in real time. It will be interesting to see the traffic numbers for the site... not everyone could take the day off yesterday.

For golf lovers make sure to check out some technique PGA video tips on the site.... good stuff. I hope to put them to work this weekend!


Sunday, June 8, 2008

Where are they watching video online?

So who scored more than 50% of online video viewing sessions in April of '08? It should come as no surprise that they are flocking to Google's YouTube, but 50.4% of the market? That's a BIG number. Perhaps not as much as the +70% of ads in the online universe that are served up by Google. Anyway, as Google gains in month to month figures over March of '08 (up from 48.1% in March of '08), who are the also-rans in this universe, and what kind of viewing numbers are they pulling down? In the #2 spot in online video viewing sessions is Yahoo with 8.2% of the market (April of '08), down from 8.5% in March. Then comes Fox Interactive Media at 6.6%, Microsoft at 4.1% and TimeWarner at 3.6%.

What amazes me is that only one of the networks even ranks in the top 5! ABC was #7, CBS Interactive #11 and Hulu (NBC and FOX) at #14. No doubt about the fact that the online video universe is not run by the traditional TV media world.