Thursday, April 25, 2013

Then and Now: Spot Delivery

THEN:

Overnight delivery to stations using Beta SP tapes or via expensive 3rd party digital services that required specific equipment and added costs. 



NOW:

Similar to audio, we create high-resolution MOV or AVI files and upload them via Internet delivery.



Thursday, April 18, 2013

Then and Now: Script Delivery


THEN:

Scripts were either sent to us via overnight delivery or faxed. 

NOW:

Digital files are delivered to us via email. 



Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Kmart “Ship My Pants” Ad: Childish Humor Brings Grown-Up Results


Some have called it childish, immature, and even vulgar.  The rest of the online world calls it over 11 million views on YouTube and one of the more successful and hilarious viral video campaigns to occur in this generation.  Kmart’s most recent ad, “Ship My Pants” is focused around a play on words where “ship” sounds like a much more inappropriate word.  It’s a quick paced ad about Kmart’s online free shipping with some childish sleight of mouth that is guaranteed to make any 12 year old boy crack up.



                
But the thing is that this ad didn't just hit the funny bone of middle school students.  It has lit up the social media world, taking off from its reveal on April 10th to spiral into a massive viral campaign.  It has been shared over 18,000 times on Facebook and has received over 53,000 “likes” on the YouTube video (as compared to the 2,000+ “dislikes”).  Articles on the controversial ad have appeared CNN, ABC, and USA Today among many other well-read sites.  Immature humor or not, the fact is this ad got people laughing and, more importantly, got people talking.
                
Kmart took a big risk by doing such an out-of-character ad.  No matter how funny or clever, an ad that breaches the accepted image of a company can have a serious negative impact.  A 30 second dirty word joke is quite a step out of the family friendly style that Kmart has been known for, and they have certainly lost some fans from it.  However, the good greatly outweighs the bad here.  The risk certainly paid off, showing two things: that sometimes taking that leap towards edgy and controversial can be exactly the right move, and that one should never underestimate the simplicity and strength of a bathroom humor joke.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Then and Now: Video Production


THEN:

Propulsion’s first TV spots were produced using a clunky Avid digital work station.  Avid systems tended to be slow as they required constant rendering.


NOW:

Propulsion uses Final Cut Pro and After Effects.  These programs have tons of features and a simpler to use format which gets spots done much quicker. It also can process a video at considerably faster speeds and allows us to use more transitions.



Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Automotive Web Page Tutorial

Here's the last part of our webpage tutorial series! Corey guides you through the new promedialabs.com one last time, this time through the Automotive Database:



Thursday, April 4, 2013

Then and Now: Audio Editing and Mixing


THEN:

Up until the mid 90’s, radio commercials were produced using an analog multi-track.  A typical 60 second radio spot with more than one music track and multiple SFX/Vocal effects might take several hours to finish.


NOW:

Producers use Pro Tools.  Radio spots are created digitally, much like a word processor.  This cuts the average production time to minutes instead of hours.



Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Video Web Page Tutorial

Corey's going to walk you through the Video Database in this week’s promedialabs.com tutorial