EYAHT wanted a promotional video that would be different from other seminaries. So, I pitched a poetic concept that would focus more on showing the vision of EYAHT through text and visuals rather than on interviews and testimonials.
My only regret is that originally it said "love" instead of "devotion" which I think is a more meaningful word that lends itself better to the style of the piece. But, EYAHT was concerned about using the word "love". What can you do?
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
My Syrian Friend
Several years ago, Rabbi Noach Weinberg z"l told a story in a class which happened to be recorded. A few months ago we decided to take that story and turn it into a cartoon narrated by his recording. Without the budget to do a classic cartoon, I devised this style of animation, a kind of compromise between storybook drawings and 3D animation. I described the process in more detail in previous blog post from when I first started the process.
The film has finally been released online this week in honor of the one year memorial of Rabbi Noach Weinberg's passing.
But, it's never that simple. Aish HaTorah has also installed a high tech interactive tribute wall to Rabbi Weinberg with a 9x16 display and a separate touch operated keypad for exploring movies, audio, and written teachings from the rabbi. So, they also wanted a 9x16 version of the movie (not 16x9 which is the ration of the above video and most videos today).
Here is what the tribute wall looks like. That's the touch screen monitor on the right by the pillar and on the left is the tribute wall with a 9x16 video image displayed inside it.
So, after animating the movie the regular way, I went back in and animated it in 9x16. I tried a lot of different ways of doing it, but ultimately I just cocked my head to the left and edited it on a regular, 16x9 time line. (I can still feel the ache.) I've posted it below in 9x16 so that no one sues me for ruining their necks by watching this.
The film has finally been released online this week in honor of the one year memorial of Rabbi Noach Weinberg's passing.
But, it's never that simple. Aish HaTorah has also installed a high tech interactive tribute wall to Rabbi Weinberg with a 9x16 display and a separate touch operated keypad for exploring movies, audio, and written teachings from the rabbi. So, they also wanted a 9x16 version of the movie (not 16x9 which is the ration of the above video and most videos today).
Here is what the tribute wall looks like. That's the touch screen monitor on the right by the pillar and on the left is the tribute wall with a 9x16 video image displayed inside it.
So, after animating the movie the regular way, I went back in and animated it in 9x16. I tried a lot of different ways of doing it, but ultimately I just cocked my head to the left and edited it on a regular, 16x9 time line. (I can still feel the ache.) I've posted it below in 9x16 so that no one sues me for ruining their necks by watching this.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Chihuly Video in Short
We now have two versions of the time lapse video of the making of the Dale Chihuly sculpture. One version has been posted on YouTube (see below) and is just about how the sculpture was made. The second will be installed int he Aish HaTorah World Center, along with the sculpture, and gives a deeper explanation of the concept behind the sculpture and the name Aish HaTorah.
Here is the shorter one:
Here is the shorter one:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Making of the Flash Mob
With over 150,000 views in just over a week, the Nefesh B'Nefesh Flash Mob video seems to have gone totally viral. NBN has been receiving many questions on how the piece was put together, so we edited this short video about the process.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Hanukkah Flash Mob Update
While the people at Nefesh B'Nefesh seemed to think our flash mob video would get 300-5,000 hits in the next two weeks, I told them we'd hed 15k within 36 hours of posting the video. I was off by 3k... because we hit 18k within 36 hours of posting.
As of now we've also won in 3 youtube categories: Most Viewed, Top Favorited, and People & Blogs
We totally would have won in Pets & Animals if that damn orangutan hadn't overslept!
I also bet them that it would hit 60k by Hanukkah, so keep passing it around so I can get a free shawarma as my prize!
As of now we've also won in 3 youtube categories: Most Viewed, Top Favorited, and People & Blogs
We totally would have won in Pets & Animals if that damn orangutan hadn't overslept!I also bet them that it would hit 60k by Hanukkah, so keep passing it around so I can get a free shawarma as my prize!
Advertising Consulting for ASC
ASC, a company that specializes in retirement plan software, documents, and training, wanted an advertising campaign for a conference they would have a booth at, as well as for general marketing purposes. They came to me to design a campaign of print and video advertisements that would "sell the sizzle, not the steak" of pension administration software. Now, while some might think "pension administration software sizzle" is an oxymoron, for pension administrators there is apparently sizzle to be sold. The problem is that pension administration software is incredibly complicated, and a lot of the sizzle is in the details... details I couldn't possibly understand.
Case in point, I've been making videos for ASC for over a year. I've also been making movies for an all Spanish website. While I don't speak a word of Spanish, I actually understand more of the videos in Spanish because at least Spanish sometimes sounds like English, which is not true of pension administration software.
ASC's point about selling the sizzle was that consumers in their market already know what ASC does (i.e. the "steak") and so the sell had to be about how ASC doesn't just do all this complicated stuff, but they make it easier. Their software is (apparently) easy to use, fast, and they have great tech support.
The first thought I had was to look at Oracle's advertising. Why? Because I have no idea what Oracle does other then that it has something to do with computers and that they are the leader in whatever it is they do. How do I know that? Because their commercials don't tell me anything about what they do, they just show how cool they are. They do this because what they do is complicated, and they don't need to explain it to consumers in their market. The consumers know them, know what they do, and just need to keep hearing how cool Oracle is, which is exactly what we wanted for ASC.
What I also liked about Oracle's campaign was that it was super minimalist, as if they are saying, "we're so awesome we don't even bother trying to show off how awesome we are... Awesome, huh?" The other reason I wanted something minimalist was that the conference was only a few weeks away and we needed to make videos and print advertising which meant we needed something easy to execute in short order.
The result is ASC's "Click" Campaign: Ask what it sounds like to perform a complex task which usually can take hours or days of work. Then answer the question with a "Click." It tells you ASC makes it easy, ASC makes it fast, and the rest is commentary.
We ma
de several short videos that played on a loop at the conference on a giant HD screen as well as print ads and screen savers. Below is an example of a video. I posted the shortest one as they all followed the same format, though some had more clicking. Since it was designed to play on their giant HD screen you can't read the details of the software here. Though, even if you could, I'm not sure how many of you would understand it anyway.
Case in point, I've been making videos for ASC for over a year. I've also been making movies for an all Spanish website. While I don't speak a word of Spanish, I actually understand more of the videos in Spanish because at least Spanish sometimes sounds like English, which is not true of pension administration software.
ASC's point about selling the sizzle was that consumers in their market already know what ASC does (i.e. the "steak") and so the sell had to be about how ASC doesn't just do all this complicated stuff, but they make it easier. Their software is (apparently) easy to use, fast, and they have great tech support.
The first thought I had was to look at Oracle's advertising. Why? Because I have no idea what Oracle does other then that it has something to do with computers and that they are the leader in whatever it is they do. How do I know that? Because their commercials don't tell me anything about what they do, they just show how cool they are. They do this because what they do is complicated, and they don't need to explain it to consumers in their market. The consumers know them, know what they do, and just need to keep hearing how cool Oracle is, which is exactly what we wanted for ASC.
What I also liked about Oracle's campaign was that it was super minimalist, as if they are saying, "we're so awesome we don't even bother trying to show off how awesome we are... Awesome, huh?" The other reason I wanted something minimalist was that the conference was only a few weeks away and we needed to make videos and print advertising which meant we needed something easy to execute in short order.
The result is ASC's "Click" Campaign: Ask what it sounds like to perform a complex task which usually can take hours or days of work. Then answer the question with a "Click." It tells you ASC makes it easy, ASC makes it fast, and the rest is commentary.
We ma
de several short videos that played on a loop at the conference on a giant HD screen as well as print ads and screen savers. Below is an example of a video. I posted the shortest one as they all followed the same format, though some had more clicking. Since it was designed to play on their giant HD screen you can't read the details of the software here. Though, even if you could, I'm not sure how many of you would understand it anyway.Monday, November 23, 2009
Jerusalem Flash Mob
The wild and crazy people at Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that promotes immigration to Israel, decided that a flash mob was just the thing they needed to kick off their winter advertising campaign. You've got to hand it to them, they are completely outside the box when it comes to Jewish not-for-profit advertising! And only NBN could have pulled it off as they are built around organizing large events that involve hundred of people working on a tight schedule (I'm referring to their massive events when they welcome new immigrants to Israel along with hundreds of waving, screaming, crying people).
So, we scoped out the location a few days before, moved the stage from the bottom of Kikar Tzion to one block up on Ben Yehuda Street, and knocked on a few random doors to get our balcony shot. Friday morning 150 people showed up at 9 am to spend an hour and a half learning a dance, and then we headed to Ben Yehuda to surprise the few people who sit on Ben Yehuda at 11 am on a Friday morning (i.e. homeless people).
I brought 4 cameras, all hand held to keep it "real." One in a balcony, one up front, one roaming around, and one getting audience shots. With only one take, and only 2 minutes of dancing, the stakes were high. Here are the results:
Next time, I'm for sure using 6-8 cameras instead of just 4.... assuming there is a next time on something as weird as this.
So, we scoped out the location a few days before, moved the stage from the bottom of Kikar Tzion to one block up on Ben Yehuda Street, and knocked on a few random doors to get our balcony shot. Friday morning 150 people showed up at 9 am to spend an hour and a half learning a dance, and then we headed to Ben Yehuda to surprise the few people who sit on Ben Yehuda at 11 am on a Friday morning (i.e. homeless people).
I brought 4 cameras, all hand held to keep it "real." One in a balcony, one up front, one roaming around, and one getting audience shots. With only one take, and only 2 minutes of dancing, the stakes were high. Here are the results:
Next time, I'm for sure using 6-8 cameras instead of just 4.... assuming there is a next time on something as weird as this.
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