WTF is a B Roll? Glad you asked.

via Agency Spy

I always enjoy the upset/frustrated background people in commercials, the best are in infomercials. I never really thought about where those scenes come from, and it would sort of make sense to have a company that specializes in those cheesy shots. This fake commercial also completely captures the tone of a lame local spot, which is awesome. Plus I know one of the actors which makes me very cool. In fact I’m so cool I smiled and my teeth twinkled, true story.

via

WE GOT THAT B ROLL!!

For all you video guys/gals – ever get frustrated because you didn’t have the ‘ideal’ B-roll? Of course you have. Here’s your answer.

I saw this on a TV website this morning. Funny stuff.

If I ever started doing fun little shorts in my spare time, I’d like to imagine they’d turn out a lot like this…

Until next time, keep writing!
-Steve

Oh man, this day is going by slowly. Is anyone else feeling the drag of this day? I guess it’s just the weather. So what better way to pass the time then by checking out what’s on the Internets:

• Do you guys remember Samurai Jack? Well, apparently, there’s talks of J.J. Abrams c0-producing a live action movie.
• Need random film of a man eating? How ‘about a man frustrated while finding a job? A depressed woman with her hand on the wall? We got that B roll!
• Some of these signs are…Oddly Specific…
• Remember when we told you about starlings and their crazy flying formations? Well, it seems like they don’t want you staring at them anymore. Sorry boids!
• As if things couldn’t get much worse, we present My Life Is Twilight (*groans*)
• And finally, I said I wouldn’t do it. But here it is: Surprised Kitten

Surprised by something crazy or hilarious on the internet? Let us know on the comments below and we’ll put it up.

Missed yesterday’s It’s the Internet? Click here to check out what you missed! Hasta la pasta everyone!

TONS of footage for today. Got about 5 interviews today and about 2+ hours of B-Roll footage.

The interviewees were absolutely fantastic and had awesome opinions on the subject in question. I just want to thank the employees over a D-Tox for their time in sharing their opinions, as well as Laura over at Billabong.

I also want to put out a huge thanks to Andy (the artist) for sharing his thought provoking opinions. Pure gold man, pure gold.

I got another interview tomorrow, and I also need to phone a bunch of people to schedule in more interviews. At this rate, filming might just hit my deadline of 2 weeks, then on to the enormous task of editing.

In early April of 2009, I began my training as a White House booth producer.  I came over to the White House, and first and foremost, received a tour of the facilities that the press are allowed to roam: I saw the James S. Brady Press Briefing room; I saw the Lower Press offices and got to meet Bill Burton; I saw the Palm Room, which acts as the gateway for the press to access the South Lawn; I saw what is called ‘The Pool’ – what used to be an underground swimming facility had now become a storage full of servers, phone lines, and fiber optics for the press booths, camera locations, and tape racks to function; and, I saw the stone patio known as Pebble Beach where all the networks and cable networks have their North Lawn liveshot locations.  It was a great tour.

But, something was slightly awry that day – there was some commotion at Pebble Beach during that portion of my tour.  It was a slow news day, so this was really the only pressing matter that demanded the booth producers’ attention: our correspondents, and other network correspondents, were having trouble doing their live shots because Pebble Beach had become overrun by honey bees.  There is a bee hive on the South Lawn of the White House (Michelle Obama has created two White House icons in both her vegetable garden, and this new bee hive).  The original beehive must have spawned another queen bee, and that queen flew over to the North Lawn and created a ’satellite campus.’

The Press Office, spurred by our phone calls to do something, dispatched the White House beekeeper to box up the queen, and move her residence elsewhere.  Our North Lawn cameraman for that afternoon unplugged from lines, and shot tape elements of the ‘bee wrangling,’ which I have displayed below:

The tape elements were good – so good that a pitch was made to the Nightly EP to include it in a VO for Nightly News.  They didn’t bite, but the footage was fed to the entire NBC community, and our tape elements aired that evening on the local NBC station’s (WRC) 5pm broadcast.

Later that day, having fed the ‘bee-roll’ (get it?) to the NBC family, the booth producer and I co-wrote an editorial note for First Read, MSNBC’s political blog page about the happenings of Washington.  We called it ‘The Secret Life of WH Bees” – <http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/09/1887660.aspx>

On March 8, 2009, a few weeks after Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s (D-MA) 77th birthday, a belated birthday and Broadway musical tribute called “Some Enchanted Evening” would be held at the Kennedy Center for the Senate stalwart.  Kennedy himself would be there, as well as just about every other influential body in Washington, including the President.

It was in serious question whether Kennedy would be able to make another public appearance due to his deteriorating health, and that made this night all the more important.

In broadcast news, where everyone is in a scramble to break news first, if there is even slight word that a public official or major celebrity has a deteriorating health situation, an obituary piece is cut in advance.  As time goes on, that obituary piece is retracked, and updated with more current footage if it allows.  This glimpse of the Senator would be, possibly, the last glimpse anyone would ever have.  I was assigned to field produce the event, accompanied by two cameramen and a satellite truck operator, allowing us to turn tape very quickly right there at the event site.

The night began with various red carpet arrivals (as the actual event would not start until right after Nightly’s airtime on the East Coast, this is the only material that would make the first run of the show).  I had field produced the red carpet before (see ‘Alfalfa Dinner’ post), and was met once again with a star-studded cast, as you will see in this Weekend Nightly voiceover below:

But, there was still the West Coast update of the show, and anything of significance to come out of our material of the performance would make that airtime at 10pmET.  The initial bad news that I had to receive as producer was that no one, not even the Travel Pool crew that evening, would get a glimpse of Sen. Kennedy sitting with the President.  The First Family, the Vice President and his wife, and the Kennedy family, would be given balcony seating directly opposite the stage, and all camera crews would be given a head-on shot of the stage, under the overhang.  A visual would be impossible.

So, while my cameraman shot bits and pieces of the performance, I coaxed and cajoled the Kennedy Center press representative.  By the end of the performances, my efforts paid off: the press liaison told our crews to ‘hold on’ a little while beyond the final curtain for what she called ‘a surprise.’

When the final number was over, Bill Cosby (the Emcee for the evening) took the stage and urged a standing ovation for Sen. Kennedy.  Just then, the press liaison told our crews that our restriction was lifted, and that we could disperse into the aisles.  My cameraman was off his tripod like lightning, and shot these moments of Sen. Kennedy and the President.  It was a great get, a hard-fought get, a serendipitous get, and one that made air for the West Coast that evening, made the eventual obit for the Senator, and might’ve made history, as the two’s final public appearance.

Behind the scenes of SUITE 1000 with Director, Brian T. Nowac and Director of Photography, Ben Lunden.  Hear tips on how to effectively craft your message and learn about the creative process that was taken with this video.

A little sample of our work!

Want to see more? 

Give us a call! 415-222-6123

The abridge version of our promotional video.

COMING SOON! SUITE 1000

Sneak peek of the action pack evolution of BARS+TONE Media Agency.

It always seems to me as September arrives, it also announces the beginning of a new season.  We  rush to complete projects that were on the pipeline before the year ends, which in my field of expertise it means the fun has just begun: networking cocktails, new opportunities for business development, projects that require total implication for its success, and then… More celebrations!

In the upcoming week many projects are ahead: photo assignments, press conferences, B-Roll transmission, pitch for video production following an RFP, client meetings in Quebec City and most likely a networking event.

You’d probably wonder how all these is possible? Well, it is when you have the help of a reliable team of experts, and I do.  Never in past experiences was I able to delegate but now I can.  Kudos to the CNW Group Broadcast Team!

Here are some black & whites Corrina just sent me as well as few extra ones. Enjoy!

More pics after the jump!

Source: Corrina Spencer

Guitar Hero 5:Video Press Kit / B-Roll Package – Part 1

Guitar Hero 5:Video Press Kit / B-Roll Package – Part 2

When I posted some of these yesterday, I didn’t realize that many people hadn’t seen this set of pics. So here are more for you this morning.

More pics after the jump!

Source: RP Source

Following the Press Association’s dynamic re-brand in November when, for the first time, PR Services took a central role in the news agency’s portfolio, the Press Association’s communications consultancy, TNR has unveiled a re-brand of its own to support a range of new online services.

Formerly Television News Release and now in its tenth year, the highly visual re-brand to TNR Communications is a notable departure from the company’s original identity and follows in the footsteps of its parent company by putting multi-media at the heart of its brand. 

PR services including Online News Releases to get clients’ video on to editorial websites and video production designed to enrich communication via the web now sit synonymously alongside the company’s core range of broadcast, photography and training services.  

Press Association editor Jonathan Grun commented;

 ”The multimedia landscape is shifting dramatically and all of us have to find new ways of telling stories. We now combine words, pictures, video, interactive graphics and data as stories unfold. If you do not understand these issues you will really struggle to get your message across.” 

With the ratio of online readership to print now standing at 10:1 and with online users seeking richer more diverse experiences, the need for content to include a fluid combination of text, photos and videos has been the driving force behind the evolution of both companies.  The Press Association now services hundreds of online and digital platforms with the UK’s first domestic Video Wire service, launched in May 2009, which runs alongside the traditional text and picture wire. 

TNR’s unique position at the headquarters of the UK’s news agency has been a major factor in the company’s success.  However, TNR’s offer of free editorial consultancy and the commitment to advising against investment in campaigns that are unlikely to work is, according to TNR’s Managing Director, Claire Southeard, the main reason clients come back and why their media relationships remain so strong.

“Since TNR’s inception in 1999 we were determined to be different, by turning away business if our journalistic instincts tell us a story wasn’t strong.  It was a scary business model for a fledgling agency but the best thing we ever did.  The endorsement of the UK’s news agency through their ownership is testament to our consultancy’s integrity and I am very proud that ten years on, even though we’re a bigger, more diverse company now, that guiding principle of honest, journalistic advice still permeates everything we do.”

Jonathan Grun said of TNR’s re-launch: 

“It is increasingly difficult to navigate your way through the new multimedia landscape and TNR can act as a very useful guide for companies wishing to get their point across to the media.”