Mobile Demand - A study at Ben E. Keith – Here Comes the King – Excellence Winner
Mt. Mercy University - David – Distinction Winner
Tipton - Welcome to Tipton – Distinction Winner

The Communicator Awards are judged and overseen by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), a 550 + member organization of leading professionals from  various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media.  The competition received over 6000 entries this ear.  The Communicator awards is the leading international awards program honoring creative excellence for communication professionals.

“We would like to thank our clients for giving us the opportunity to produce some really fun and creative video projects for them.  They are a pleasure to work with.” Stated Jeff Zahrt

YouTube is getting 3 Billion views a day.  Yes, “Billion”, with a “B“.  The population of the entire world as of right now is a tick over 7 Billion.  That means that the entire population of the world is logging on to YouTubes site every 2.5 days.

The site is no longer just for quirky little videos.  Businesses have dedicated channels, individuals have dedicated channels, Much like a TV channel.  As a matter of fact, there is more video uploaded to YouTube in a month than the three major networks created in the previous 60 years.

You can really focus in on the topics that you want to see.  Find those companies or individuals that are talking about or showing something specific that you are interested in and focus in on those topics.  You can then subscribe to their channel, and whenever they post something new, you will know about it.  For many, this is not new news, but surprisingly enough, it’s still news to some.  And, if you can’t find the exact video topic you want, you can create one and upload it.  Chances are, someone else wants to see it.  And you never know. It could bring you some business.  Google is even searching YouTube now.  So the more relative video content you have on your YouTube channel, the better.
So the question is really, “Do you have a YouTube Channel”? If not, why not?  Create your own channel.  What are you waiting for?  3 Billion views a day!

One more note about YouTube, watch the video below

Click here to view the embedded video.

Kirk was awarded three Silver ADDY’s for elements of advertising.  They were:

- Cinematography – Virginia Gay Hospital : Matt
- Cinematography – Eastern Iowa Airport : Take Me Away
- Special Effects – Eastern Iowa Airport : Take Me Away

Congratulations to our very own Kirk Monson for his great work on these spots.  Well deserved praise.

The pieces that we initially found

Who says that GoPro camera’s are indestructable?  We have proof that they aren’t.  Especially when being run over by a really really big Fire Truck.

Our task – show the underneath side of a vehicle (specifically a fire truck along with a couple of other vehicles), using a product that a local company makes.  This product, is a device that when activated flips down to the wheels, and spins in conjunction with the wheels, and spins around chains that fly under the vehicles wheels giving it traction in the snow and ice.  Pretty cool huh?

Well, the hurdle was how do we film under the vehicle and see the product working.  Kirk didn’t really want to be strapped under a fire truck driving through snow, so we had to get a camera under the truck.  Enter a GoPro HD camera.  Perfect!  It’s little, easy to position and shoots in HD.

Well, after some maneuvering, we got it attached to the underside of the truck.  Unfortunately,

GoPro versus Fire Truck

not good enough.  On one of the trips out, down went the GoPro and since it was basically right in front of the wheels, it got run over, and batted around by the chains.

As it would happen, we still needed the card out of the camera, and it looked like the card may have survived.  So we had to tear apart the camera.  It was trashed anyway.  So, now you can see what the inside of a GoPro looks like.  As it turned out, the SD card did not make.  DOA.  We tried several times to revive it, but alas, it was not meant to be.

As a follow-up.  Kirk did get a second GoPro HD camera rigged underneath the truck, and we got some great footage!  Pretty cool what it looks like under a fire truck.

More carnage

Carnage!

More Carnage

Firetruck 1 - GoPro 0

It was a jam packed day that started early and ended fairly late.  The crew was great to work with.  Our talent was a good sport all the way through the day.

You can see the spot on the local TV stations as well as some of the cable channels.  It’s airing now!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We filmed the spot a few weeks ago, when it wasn’t all that cold yet, and Jenna was a great sport.  We were assured of her accuracy so we naturally had her throw the Javelin at the camera for a couple of shots.  20 to 30 feet, was no problem.  So, we upped the challenge for Jenna, and Kirk moved down the field a good 100 feet or so.  then we had her throw it again, and again and again.  Great accuracy!  A fun afternoon working with a National Champ.  And as usual, Mount Mercy were great hosts.

Hit the link below to see how the spot turned out.

But, we did get an email today from Isaac, our Intern from the past three years, who is now at Stanford.  Seems the young lad has landed himself on the student Senate, as well as is writing for the Stanford Daily.  To see his first article that got published in the Stanford Daily, click the link.

And, it has come to our attention that he is attending the Jay-Z / Kanye West concert as press for the Stanford Daily.  Way to go Isaac!  We are sure he will have a blast!

Kirk and Kent take a break for a picture - yeah, that's Sean Astin on the monitor

Kent Stock, for those of you who don’t know was the subject of the the film “The Final Season” staring Sean Astin and Powers Boothe.  The movie is about the last season of baseball at storied Norway High School.  Kent was the last baseball coach and took the team to being the the State Champions for the 20th and final time.  The movie is based on Kent’s final season and his book that he wrote “Heading For Home”.

We had the luxury of working with several of the clips directly from the movie as well as some footage from some of his speaking engagements.

It was great having Kent in studio, and of course being the Cardinals fan that he is, it’s all about baseball right now.  Go Cards!

He shot us an email the other day about one of his classes in particular – it’s a humanities course that focuses on the journeys and ideologies of four ancient and classical historians and philosophers.  A major theme of the course is the ethnographic accounts of these historians.  The focus on these ethnographies caught his eye, as we at MVP also have experience in the ethnographic field.

Ethnography is the detailed research and study of a particular culture or group of people.  Isaac read Herodotus’ the Histories, which studies the interactions of the Ancient Greek and Persian empires, their geographical layouts, military conquests, and cultural interactions.  Herodotus describes their cultures and customs in great depth, true to the ethnographic style.

2500 years later, these same ethnographic accounts are still in use.  Here at MVP, we utilize ethnography to capture the behaviors, preferences, and buying habits of consumers.  We capture, on film, the behind-the-scences actions of consumers for large advertising firms like BBDO in New York. Working with anthropologists, we use this video to supply useful information to these advertising agencies.

The medium has changed, as video has fulfilled the demands of a faster moving world, but the overall essences of the art is still the same.  Centuries after Herodotus, the same ethnographic studies are in full gear at MVP.