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Changing Times

Bill Ennis — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:00:00 GMT

As Bob Dylan once wrote, "The Times They Are A-Changin'." For the first 20 years of my career as an independent writer, producer & director, those words had little meaning in my particular field. The industry had some basic standards; and, though there were choices when it came to shooting and editing, everything fit pretty neatly within some very strict industry parameters.

Today, according to one source, there are more than 200 (yes, you read that correctly) types of video files in the wild. For those who are just getting their feet wet in this business (and for those who, like me, remember the "good ole' days"), the options are daunting.

So, how do you wade through the current chaos? In the I.T. world there's a phrase that I always try to keep in mind - and to avoid at all costs. It's called "Analysis Paralysis." It's easy to sit on the sidelines today and "wait until things shake out." The problem is, they won't. Those days are long gone. And, if you spend too much time trying to decide which option is going to come out on top, you'll never take the plunge into the waters of this Brave New World.

As a late adopter (I still shoot primarily on an old SD standard Sony D30), I'm being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. But, at the same time, my 25 years of experience has enriched me with the battle scars and "times of testing" that will help me move into this new arena with a little less angst.

Recently, I received a call from Crews Control, one of my referral sources to do a shoot for Kodak at The People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles. The caveat: they wanted to shoot 1080p HD using a Panasonic AG-HVX200; and, at the end of the evening, walk away with all of the footage neatly stored on an external hard drive.

First, I'd never even seen this camera up close. Second, I'd never shot using the P2 cards that this camera utilizes for acquisition. Third, I had no idea what the procedure was to transfer this footage to an external hard drive. So, of course I took the job!

Fortunately, I had time to do some research. Even more fortunately, I had a local vendor that allowed me to pick up the rental camera a day early. I spent that day testing the camera, experimenting with the offload process and familiarizing myself with the internal menu system. The advantage of 25 years behind the lens at least gave me a strong foundation from which to build on this new technology.

The shoot went off without a hitch (although a last-minute request by a PR person to offload some of the footage to a pile of USB thumb drives caused a stir - but that's a story for another day). And, today, I'm a bona fide member of the "Oh, yeah, of course I shoot HD" crowd.

Yesterday I got a call from an Executive Producer in New York who wants to shoot an interview with a PepsiCo exec out here on the Left Coast. They shoot with the Panasonic AJ-HDX900 to DVCProHD tape. Another day, another flavor. But now that my feet are wet, I know what to expect, and where to go to find the help I need for the technical issues.

So, my suggestion to you is to take advantage of the resources that are out there. If you have peers or vendors nearby, ask if you can test out their equipment. If you're shooting and editing for others, do some surveying to see if there's a preferred format. If you're doing your own projects for your own clients, the Format Wars really shouldn't affect you. Most clients simply want a great looking final product, and don't care about the technical aspects of how you delivered it. Today, creating that beautiful video can be done with a variety of tools, so pick the work flow that works best for you and your budget.

Most importantly, don't succumb to "Analysis Paralysis." Be willing to be flexible, and when the opportunity arises, jump in with both feet. It’s the only way you're going to make a Splash!

3-Mar-10 11:00 AM

MCA-I eNews for February 2010

Connie Terwilliger — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:00:00 GMT

February 2010

Benefit of the Month: Crews Control
March Member Madness Returns
President's Message
Member Profile: Randal Schultz
Thank You to Our Sponsors
San Diego MediaProCamp
Media Festival Winners Announced
Social Media Primer: Part 2
Renew or Join Today
Post Your Resume!
Follow Us
Calendar

Time to Sign Up Members!

Win Fabulous Prizes!

New Platinum Member Crews Control Offers Members a Free Lunch!	MCA-I Members: Book a crew with Crews Control and your teams’ lunch is on them! Current MCA-I members who book a crew with Crews Control for the first time will receive a $50 gift card to the restaurant or restaurant chain of their choice upon completion and payment of the shoot.* *New bookings only, one offer per member, maximum 5 per corporation. Offer good through March 31st. Crews Control, on-location camera crews is the newest Platinum Sponsor of MCA-I. CEO Andrea Keating founded the crewing industry in 1988 and was chapter president of ITVA-DC more than 20 years ago. “We here at Crews Control are delighted to support and be involved with MCA-I and are very pleased at how the organization has evolved the past few years. We are looking forward to becoming active members,” says Keating. Members, don’t forget to check out the member codes under the benefits tab on the website. Want the Los Quatros Benefits Team to look for specific discounts? Send along your ideas!
March Member Madness! March 1 – April 5, 2010 http://www.mca-i.org/joinus/	Know some great pros who would make great MCA-I Members? Then get them signed up - starting March 1, 2010. Not a member yet? Join today and refer someone else! If you are listed as the referring member on the application and you are one of the top three recruiters – you’ll win some fabulous prizes. - 1st Prize - Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium - 2nd Prize - $250 Best Buy card - 3rd Prize - $150 Best Buy card The true goal is to recruit members, so think strategically – who are the media communications professionals in your area who could really enhance the shared intelligence and energy of your chapter? Download the rules, get your referral forms, thumb through your contacts and get started recruiting!
New President: I'm Taking Names! Gary Shifflet MCA-I President My vision for the future is about the development of the Association and how the work being done will provide new opportunities for both personal and professional growth.	Here we are at the end of February and from all signs, it looks like we’ve weathered the storm and most of us are busy with paying jobs again! I know this because the volunteer time I set aside to handle my Presidential duties is becoming difficult to carve out. But as work goes, it is something I hope you take seriously with the help the Association is looking to get from our Membership and Leaders. Getting back to work for me is putting a group of motivated volunteers together with a common goal to develop new and exciting opportunities for themselves and the MCA-I. Currently, there are three very well defined Committees (outside of the LTGC) that are operating with direction and cohesion: The Web Committee, the Benefits Committee and the 501c3 Committee. These groups have formed and meet regularly using our association webinar account to discuss and research new ways to improve these assets of the Association. There are many more Committees in development that need support and volunteers to move them forward. I envision an MCA-I that boasts of providing opportunities to its Members through educational and technological grants that require production and creative help that can be found in our ranks. I see companies and institutions looking to MCA-I for leadership and guidance in providing assistance in writing these grants and being a large part of acquiring these funds that can inevitably benefit our Members. We need to develop professional training and coursework to bring our Members opportunities to grow in their trades and perhaps be the Leaders that bring this training to the field. And we need to pursue sponsorship and corporate membership leads to bolster the credibility of the MCA-I and show the value for their trust and participation. All of these things are possible with the help we can find in our MCA-I ranks. The real question is..who will raise their hand and join in the work? I’m taking names, hope to hear from you this week!
Member Profile: Randal Schultz "...I see the benefit of networking and maintaining industry contacts, finding out who's doing what and learning about new technologies. It's valuable in many ways."	*Randal Schultz* has produced broadcast and corporate video projects for such clients as Yamaha, ESPN, Disney, Nissan, 31 Flavors, UPN, PBS, Lifetime, Coors, Budweiser, AARP, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MagLite. He has also operated regional news bureaus for various programs, including 10 years with a nationally syndicated financial news show. He became an MCA-I Life Member 25 years ago, primarily to find more affordable insurance for his new production company. RS - I'm really more involved in MCA-I recently than I was back then, with my work at the college - John Coleman (Member Orange County chapter) is one of our instructors. I try to funnel students over there (MCA-I) and I've actually taken my classes to some meetings. So, I see the benefit of networking and maintaining industry contacts, finding out who's doing what and learning about new technologies. It's valuable in many ways. DR- Tell us about your work at the Santa Ana College. RS- When we moved into the new state-of-the-art facility - a new digital media center - a little over 3 years ago, I was involved with the planning. I teach a full load of production and post-production classes and manage the operation. It's a constant battle. This is my 14th year at the college. Prior to that I was at USC for 18 years. I was manager of broadcast operations there. DR - So you've spanned all those years as both an educator and a professional, operating your own production company. RS - I didn't have a much of a life. But it did provide me with the flexibility to do other things. Read the rest of the article online>>> Written by Dennis Regan, San Diego. Want to be featured? Contact Dennis.
Thanks to our sponsors...
San Diego MediaPro Camp Exceeds Expectations One of the most popular topics was social media for business with Terry Crosby and Philip Tanzillo.	The Art Institute of California San Diego was the perfect place for the first ever San Diego MediaPro Camp on Saturday, February 6, 2010. John Coleman and 3 other Orange County/LA Chapter members drove down to check it out. Four of us packed into a car, coffee in hand, and sped south into the early morning rain to attend the MCA-I San Diego Chapter's first MediaPro Camp. It was well worth the trip. The venue was one of the state-of-the-art education centers of the Art institute of California. And what we got was a wonderful day of collaboration with some top professionals of the media industry. The variety of topics was impressive. And moderators were uniformly good at getting everyone to contribute their knowledge as well as probe issues we all deal with. I found that easily two thirds of the topics were relevant to me. That's an incredibly high percentage, in my experience. In each discussion I attended, everyone contributed to the conversaton. And traded a few business cards as well! Read the entire Press Release...
MCA-I Media Festival Winners Announced Look for a special announcement about the NEW Media Festival Gallery	The MCA-I Media Festival Winners have been announced. This year, for the first time, all entries will be posted online in our Media Festival Gallery, hosted by Multicast and their Media Suite. This is a member's only Gallery and you will need to be logged in to view the entries. A special announcement will be coming shortly when all entries have been uploaded. Please join us in congratulating all of our winners and be sure to stop by the Media Festival Gallery when it is online to put yourself into the shoes of the judges. It is a great way to understand what resonates with a viewer so that you can create communications that connect. There will be an active link in the website navigation under Festival/Awards. View the complete list of winners.
What the %#!& is Social Marketing? Part 2 of 2 by Susan Soloman Atlanta Chapter	Relationships begin with conversations. With the advent of social marketing, technology has shifted the power away from editors, publisher and the establishment to the people. According to a recent Edelman Trust Barometer survey, people are saying, “I can no longer rely on a single source of information. The omniscient, all-powerful, single source – whether it’s a news anchor, doctor, CEO or government is gone.” One of the most trusted sources of information is word of mouth, from friends and family. When you develop a social marketing strategy for your product or service, think of it as a conversation - not a campaign. This second of our 2-part series will cover the broad functions of MySpace, Twitter and You Tube, within the social marketing landscape. (To learn more about the Uses and Returns for each - read the rest of the article online.)
Renew (or Join) Today	RENEW YOUR MCA-I MEMBERSHIP. It's more than a cost of doing business. It's an investment in yourself and your career. Log in and Renew today. Not a Member - click here to join.
Looking for full-time work? Post your Resume Today Have a job that needs to be filled? Post a Job Listing Today Resumes combined with Jobs = Success	Student Members and Members seeking full-time employment - check out the resume module. Click here now to add your resume. (Log in and your contact information will be auto-populated.) Have a job that needs to be filled? Anyone can submit job listings for free at the present time - members or non-members. As the board gets populated, you can choose to make the listing filter to the top with a premium listing. Active logged in MCA-I members can then see the details of the listings. Search Find a Job (Members Log In first) Post a Job Today (Non-member listings welcome.)
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Chapter Leaders - Remember to Post your Chapter Events and Meetings on the
MCA-I Master Calendar and it will show up here in eNews. Contact the webmaster if you need any help. http://www.mca-i.org/en/calendarevents/add.asp

Calendar Events for 19-Jan-10 to 1-Apr-10
OHIO VALLEY MCA-I Chapter Meeting
Speaker's Name:
Day: Tuesday 9-Mar-10 5:30 PM
Location: Waycross Community Media 2086 Waycross Road Forest Park, OH
Summary: What: Tour of Waycross Community Media When: Tuesday, March 9th Time: 5:30-6:30 social hour &nb...
Mapquest | Add to Calendar

Greater Wisconsin: Business and the Internet: Copyright. SEO.
Sponsor: Greater Wisconsin chapter, The Post House, JB Systems
Speaker's Name: Sarah Ruffi and Stephen Woessner, Ruffi Law, UW La Crosse
Day: Thursday 11-Mar-10 1:00 PM
Location: Banbury Place - Eau Claire Conference Room, 3rd floor Building 2, 800 Wisconsin Street Eau Claire, WI 53703
Summary: Business and ...
Mapquest | Add to Calendar

Orange County/LA: There's An App For That!
Sponsor: Orange County/Los Angeles Chapter
Speaker's Name: Panel Discussion
Day: Wednesday 17-Mar-10 6:30 PM
Location: Orange County Sound Stage and Studio 17518 Von Karman Irvine, CA 92614
Summary: Got a favorite APP for your smartphone? We're collecting a list of the most useful apps for media professionals to share with you at our March Meeting. We've already got some great apps for gaffers, editors, cinematographers and directors but none for writers or others. We need MORE! Email MCAI chapter President, Bil...
Mapquest | Add to Calendar

MCA-I Chapter Meeting: Best of NAB
Day: Wednesday 21-Apr-10 6:30 PM
Summary: Our Members review the best products and newest industry developments from the 2010 NAB show...
Add to Calendar

26-Feb-10 11:00 AM

What the #$%& is Social Marketing?!!

Susan Solomon — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:30:00 GMT

By Susan Solomon • susan@skscreative.com • www.skscreative.com

Relationships begin with conversations. With the advent of social marketing, technology has shifted the power away from editors, publisher and the establishment to the people.

According to a recent Edelman Trust Barometer survey, people are saying, “I can no longer rely on a single source of information. The omniscient, all-powerful, single source – whether it’s a news anchor, doctor, CEO or government is gone.” One of the most trusted sources of information is word of mouth, from friends and family. When you develop a social marketing strategy for your product or service, think of it as a conversation - not a campaign. This second of our 2-part series will cover the broad functions of MySpace, Twitter and You Tube, within the social marketing landscape.

MySpace

Use: MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, music and videos for people around the world. Profiles contain two standard categories: “About Me” and “Who I’d like to Meet” and include an “Interest” section and “Details”. All profiles also contain standard blogs (interactive areas) for content, emotional icons (emoticons), media and images. One of the images can be used as the “default image” that will appear on the main page.

Return: If you have content that is appropriate for anyone on the world-wide web, place it on MySpace. Freelancers as well as businesses can post their work with a link to their website. It’s great for indie movies, bands, videos of all varieties and photos.

Privacy Options: There used to be an absence of privacy settings, but predatory behavior changed that. Now there is some degree of security on the site. And you can “defriend” people. If mass awareness is your goal, it’s a great resource for potentially reaching millions of viewers.

Twitter

Use: Twitter is a micro-blogging platform which allows users to publish short messages or “tweets” of less than140 characters through different mediums like IM, cell phones and the web. Although a relatively new networking device, its users are increasing at a break-neck pace. In March of 2009, total accounts reached 1 million and this year, socialmarketingexpert.org reports 14,590,000 accounts and approximately 3 million active users.

This site is great for creating a personality on line that has the potential of generating enormous buzz. Again, it’s free, easy to sign on and all you need is an e-mail and ideally a photo or illustration of some kind – but you can begin tweeting without an image. Twitter is not a difficult tool so there is a low barrier to entry.

For business, it is another channel connecting current and potential customers with your product or brand. It allows infiltration into the lifestyles of interested participants, which helps build brand loyalty. It also creates something called “ambient intimacy” or a channel for keeping in touch with people with a level of regularity that normal life precludes.

Unlike Face book, there is no option to advertise within Twitter. Instead, Twitter marketing is a 2-way audience engagement. More like meeting a friend for coffee.

In its most obvious form, it is a traffic generation tool. By placing links within profiles, conversations can direct visitors to a specific websites. It is especially powerful if you pitch to early adapters and influencers.

Return: Here are just some uses: personal branding, quick feedback, source talent, make friends, network, and company intranet on group projects, client updates, customer notification of a new products or releases, event updates, find prospects. Two communal uses include brief live coverage of events and as a company intranet on group projects.

By simply logging in and updating activities or information, you can build an enormous following of people who are checking in by the hour, minute or even second to see what your company/character is up to. Maybe you are health care organization and “followers” watch your character address the challenges of trying to lose weight through the holiday season’s temptations. The creative possibilities are endless for attracting, directing and harvesting followers.

The most important thing to remember with all social marketing sites is that the quality of the information must be of interest to your target. Poorly communicated or irrelevant information will eventually fizzle – even in a “viral marketing” environment.

Privacy Options: Twitter gives you the option to lock your profile, keeping your updates visible only to the people you approve. This protects tweets from public view and search results.

YouTube

Use: Before the advent of YouTube in 2005, there were very few ways for non-professionals to post videos on line. With 60 million viewers watching more than 100 million videos each month, YouTube created a seismic shift in sharing and disseminating information. Because it is so user-friendly and widely used, it’s no longer just for home-made video blogs and funny animal videos. It has the potential to be a high-impact and surprisingly affordable marketing vehicle for any business.

Today this video sharing web site allows users to upload, view and share a variety of media. It uses Adobe Flash video technology to display user- generated video content including movie clips, videos and music videos. Amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos are also uploaded. According to YouTube home page, more than 100 million videos are watched daily.

Return: According to Darrell Zahorsky a writer on About.com, Blendtec, a small business based in Orem, Utah budgeted under $100 for a quirky video showing their commercial blender pulverizing iPods, golf balls and other everyday items. The funny viral videos were a big hit; driving millions of viewers to the Will It Blend website. Wall Street Journal reporter Laura Lorber wrote how Blendtec sales were up 43% in 2006 alone.

In order to work, on-line videos must be high on entertainment value with strategically executed production values and professionalism and finally, remain focused. YouTube’s privacy settings allow users to limit who is able to view their videos by designating who can watch or comment on them.

The downside is access. With the exception of Apple and Flash-based systems, low quality videos like these can only be accessed from computers. Most phones can not display YouTube videos. I-Tunes is a little better quality and can reach most portable devices.

Privacy Options: Unregistered viewers can watch most videos on the site. Registered viewers are permitted to upload an unlimited number which can be viewed across the internet, through websites, mobile devices and e-mail.

16-Feb-10 11:30 AM

MCA-I Member Profile: Randal Schultz

Dennis Regan — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:00:00 GMT

A Member Profile
By Dennis Regan, Writer and Voiceactor
MCA-I Member, San Diego

Randal Schultz has produced broadcast and corporate video projects for such clients as Yamaha, ESPN, Disney, Nissan, 31 Flavors, UPN, PBS, Lifetime, Coors, Budweiser, AARP, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MagLite. He has also operated regional news bureaus for various programs, including 10 years with a nationally syndicated financial news show.

He became an MCA-I Life Member 25 years ago, primarily to find more affordable insurance for his new production company.

RS - I'm really more involved in MCA-I recently than I was back then, with my work at the college - John Coleman (Member Orange County chapter) is one of our instructors. I try to funnel students over there (MCA-I) and I've actually taken my classes to some meetings. So, I see the benefit of networking and maintaining industry contacts, finding out who's doing what and learning about new technologies. It's valuable in many ways.

DR- Tell us about your work at the Santa Ana College.

RS- When we moved into the new state-of-the-art facility - a new digital media center - a little over 3 years ago, I was involved with the planning. I teach a full load of production and post-production classes and manage the operation. It's a constant battle. This is my 14th year at the college. Prior to that I was at USC for 18 years. I was manager of broadcast operations there.

DR - So you've spanned all those years as both an educator and a professional, operating your own production company.

RS - I didn't have a much of a life. But it did provide me with the flexibility to do other things. Those positions in education providing me with some sense of stability - medical insurance and so forth.

DR - At the same time it was nice to be able to work professionally. You could bring that to the classroom.

RS- When I was going through school as a student, I had some instructors who only knew theory. What they knew was out of a book. I think having that experience in the real world has enriched my ability to teach in the classroom.

DR – But let’s go back to the days when you were a student, and the beginning of you business.

RS - I started doing freelance work when I was a student at USC. Then, I was at the right place at the right time - ESPN was starting up and getting set to cover a Superbowl here in Southern California. They didn't have their people out here yet, so they asked me if I could shoot. I said sure. We shot some pre-game stuff, shooting during the day, editing in the evening and satellite out that night. Then they asked if I could edit.

DR - You said sure.

RS - I was pretty much a green horn, but there I was edited the Superbowl stuff for Sportscenter on ESPN

DR - Initiated into the business at the highest level.

RS - It was pretty cool, but they were just starting up too.

DR - So you built on that experience.

RS- I started doing other freelance gigs, and then started buying my own equipment. My business grew over the years to the point that I had multiple packages. When I wasn't shooting I had other crews going out. It was a real juggling act.

DR - Tell us about some of your clients.

RS - One of my longest running clients was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. I worked on a show they called Nation's Business. That was on ESPN, 5 days a week, 2 hours in the morning. We were generating business profiles from the West coast, doing 3 or 4 of those a week. And I did that for 10 years. I still did corporate videos and infomercials - did just about everything, training videos, marketing videos.

DR - Those are the kind of clients to have - the ones that go on for 10 years.

RS - Well, you know . . . you have a client for a couple of years, and you ride it as long as you can. They don't last forever, but that was a good run.

DR - But there came a time when you had to choose between your business life and your job as an educator.

RS - Yes, when we moved into this new facility at the school and I took on greater responsibility, plus the technology was changing. I had to decide whether I wanted to invest in new equipment.

DR - Is equipment a heavier overhead than in the past?

RS - In the early days when you bought equipment, it would last for awhile. Today when you buy a piece of equipment it becomes obsolete a couple of months later.

DR - That's a big issue today.

RS - Absolutely. To invest in it and recoup your investment, and then make a profit on it. There's a certain amount of convenience in having your own gear - not having to research who you're going to get it from, taking the time to pick it up and drop it off, and knowing that it's going to

work.

DR - And then there are the varying formats.

RS - You don't know what somebody is going to come in and ask for.

DR - And there's another factor isn't there. The equipment costs less, so there's a lower threshold for start ups.

RS - It used to be a camera was, at the bare minimum, $10,000. And so not a lot of people were making that initial investment. So people had to come to you, for the most part. But now the technology has enabled the quality to go up and the price go down, so it's affordable to most people. They don't have to go to outside production companies, they can do stuff in-house. The profit margin is not as great. The competition is much greater. You have people with less experience who try to undercut you. They buy a piece of equipment and call themselves professionals. My students do it all the time. And with the MTV model, even if it's rough, that's sort of the look now days.

DR - Is there a solution to that trend for the professional?

RS - I think that advancements in digital technology have resulted in significant changes in the video industry, which has not only altered the way we do business but has also created new opportunities. In order to capitalize on these opportunities, you need to keep up to date on new and emerging technologies and industry trends. That's not always easy to do, but MCA-I can be a tremendous resource for enhancing your knowledge and skills, so that you can maintain a competitive edge. I think there's still a difference to somebody who has experience - pulling projects together, knowing the ins and outs.

DR – So the professional has to learn how to sell quality and value of experience.

RS- There's value that a seasoned professional can bring that an inexperienced new comer won't be able to. They may know how to operate the equipment or the editing system, but there's a certain maturity level that can enhance the project.

DR - Let's visit your college life briefly. How would you compare your program with other schools? You've had experience at both USC and now Santa Ana College.

RS - Not to diminish the effectiveness of other programs, but we do have students who go to 4 year programs and come back to tell us that they really appreciate what they learned here because they got a lot of hands on practical information. Also we have students who transfer to a 4-year school and come back to tell us that they can't get in any production classes, and when they do they say they're much more experienced than students who have started at those 4-year schools.

DR - It must be gratifying to hear those stories.

RS - We had a student that won a position at FOX Sports. He said several of the candidates he beat out were UCLA and Cal State Fullerton grads.

DR - And you've had some celebrities among your students.

RS - Will Farrell, believe it or not, was here for a semester trying to figure out whether he wanted to be a newscaster or not.

DR - Of course, he got to be one, at least for the length of a movie.

Randall Schultz, we thank you for your time and your allegiance to MCA-I as a life member.

13-Feb-10 11:00 AM

MCA-I eNews for January 2010

Connie Terwilliger — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Read eNews Online January 2010

Benefit of the Month: LEIGHTRONIX
March Member Madness Returns
President's Message
New Board Announced
Thank You to Our Sponsors
MediaProCamps in SoCal
Media Festival Update
Social Media Primer
Renew or Join Today
Post Your Resume!
Follow Us
Calendar

Web Video Site Provides MCA-I Members with Common Location for Showcasing Work	LEIGHTRONIX announces the launch of a new exclusive Web media hosting and streaming video-on-demand site for Media Communications Association-International (MCA-I). http://mca-i.pegcentral.com is a new streaming video-on-demand site for the exclusive use of MCA-I members. The site allows MCA-I chapters to showcase video works in one central location, with delivery to a worldwide audience as streaming video-on-demand. Videos on the site will be organized on a chapter basis. Each MCA-I chapter has been provided a folder - including a Virtual Chapter for At-large members. Videos received for submission will be placed within the corresponding chapter folders. The site is intended to serve as the primary search and viewing site for MCA-I videos; however, videos from this hosting site can be easily embedded in personal websites. http://www.mca-i.org/en/cms/1670/#LEIGHTRONIX Members, don’t forget to check out the member codes under the benefits tab on the website. Want the Los Quatros Benefits Team to look for specific discounts? Send along your ideas!
March Member Madness Returns! Starting March 1 – April 5^th, 2010, MCA-I March Member Madness is back!	With your chapter’s help (and some fun incentives), MCA-I brought in over 100 new members during our March Member Madness event in 2009. It's back and what does this mean for you now? Leaders – make sure everyone in your chapter knows that March Madness is coming. Members – start looking at your contact management database. With your chapter’s Membership Director leading the charge, start inviting prospective regular and corporate members to come to your meetings in January, February and March. If you are listed as the referring member on the application and you are one of the top three recruiters – you’ll win some fabulous prizes. The true goal is to recruit members, so think strategically – who are the media communications professionals in your area who could really enhance the shared intelligence and energy of your chapter? Whether there is a media company, corporate department or an individual – focusing on the right member (not the most) should be your chapter’s ultimate membership goal Stay tuned for details, but in the meantime, get your chapter together and start recruiting!
Re-Inventing the Future Gary Shifflet MCA-I President	Like many of you reading this, I am looking for 2010 to be the year that turns it around for all of us professionally and personally, in our careers and home life. I know so many quality people with great skills and business sense who are without a regular job and income. It is very disturbing to see how the economy has put so many lives and families in turmoil. Here in Detroit, it is probably even more extreme because of the financial issues of the automotive industry. But as those companies have addressed their problems and tried to re-invent themselves, so have the people who are directly affected by these outcomes. Re-invention is about evaluating a current situation that is not working and trying to find a new way to thrive. In Detroit, new film industry incentives by the state are creating a whole new business climate that is bringing projects and jobs to our market that have historically not been available to us. As with anything new, there needs to be a process of education and training to make yourself eligible to be a part of these new opportunities. MCA-I is at this crossroad as well. We have begun to re-invent ourselves with our initiative of bringing the chapter leaders into the fold to help guide and lead us into the next decade. (Read more of Gary's thoughts online...)
Meet the New MCA-I Board of Directors	Gary Shifflet - President (Detroit Chapter) Steve King - President Elect (At-large, New Zealand) Jim Powell - Secretary (Atlanta Chapter) Mike Brown - Treasurer (Milwaukee Chapter) Lee Vogel - Past President (Kansas City Chapter) Board Members At-large - Erin Fergusson, Benefits (Madison Chapter) - Raegan Matthews (San Diego Chapter) - Dwyane Teskey (At-large, Canada) - John Coleman (Orange County/LA Chapter) - Donata Renfrow, Communications (Atlanta) - Peter O'Connell, Membership (At-large, Buffalo) Read the Release and get to know your board a little better. Click here for Contact Information.
Thanks to our sponsors...
Two MediaPro Camps Set for Southern California	Both the LA/OC Chapter and the San Diego Chapter of MCA-I will be holding *MediaPro Camps this year. MediaPro Camps are a new conference format where pros can train and be trained. San Diego’s MediaPro Camp*, their first ever, will be held February 6th at the famous Art Institute of California San Diego in Mission Valley. It will be catered by the Art Institute’s culinary school! “We got a lot of help from the OC Chapter,” said Phil Ferrari, “since they had been through this last June.” The LA/OC Chapter garnered much success with the first-of-its-kind event and is planning a second one in June 2010. “MediaPro Camp became the new standard for our chapter’s service to the professional community in OC,” related John Coleman, one of the original organizers. “Besides introducing us to lots of new faces, it became a vehicle we can use for marketing ourselves. Our next one is going to be even better known!” Read the entire Press Release...
Media Festival Update	The 41^st Annual Media Festival is in the final judging phase. Look for the Golden Reel Winners to be announced in February. All of the entries will be hosted online and made available to MCA-I members on demand for at least a year afterwards, thanks to Multicast’s Media Suite. Media Suite, considered the most complete, best integrated suite for using video, audio and rich media presentations to deliver messages that move people to action, will be the technology that provides access to MCA-I members’ best work. Look for details on how you can view the entries after the winner's have been announced.
Twitter, Snitter, DoshDosh….Oh Blog; What the %#!& is Social Marketing? Part 1 of 2 by Susan Soloman Atlanta Chapter	Think of social marketing as coffee talk - with more meaning, greater intimacy and the potential for profound impact. But like meeting friends at a coffee house, it takes planning and tending. It’s a completely different value proposition than mass communication. Are there places for mass media AND one-on-one exchanges? Sure. Should small and big businesses toss one in favor of the other? No. So, where do you employ which method? The answer depends on what you’re saying and who you want to listen. Sometimes called “viral” marketing, social marketing exchanges are the trails that blaze through this wide open cyber-world both directing and attracting attention and “harvesting” details about you. Since the field IS so vast, - and growing daily - for purposes of this 2-part column, we will start by exploring 2 basic social marketing tools - their uses and returns. 1. Facebook Use: The primary purpose of Facebook is to link up of with others who share your background & interests. That could include favorite, music stores or even restaurants. It’s free to sign up and all you need is an e-mail account. Although it can be used to target certain demographics, it is generally not the tool of choice with business-to-business communications. It's geared toward consumer to consumer (C to C) or busines to consumer (B to C)...although business to consumer can be a lead generation tool. (To find what the Return is for Facebook and learn about the Use and Return for LinkedIn - read the rest of the article online.)
Renew (or Join) Today	RENEW YOUR MCA-I MEMBERSHIP. It's more than a cost of doing business. It's an investment in yourself and your career. Log in and Renew today. Not a Member - click here to join.
Looking for full-time work? Post your Resume Today Have a job that needs to be filled? Post a Job Listing Today Resumes combined with Jobs = Success	Student Members and Members seeking full-time employment - check out the resume module. Click here now to add your resume. (Log in and your contact information will be auto-populated.) Have a job that needs to be filled? Anyone can submit job listings for free at the present time - members or non-members. As the board gets populated, you can choose to make the listing filter to the top with a premium listing. Active logged in MCA-I members can then see the details of the listings. Search Find a Job (Members Log In first) Post a Job Today (Non-member listings welcome.)
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20-Jan-10 4:00 PM

Three Steps to Delivering a Better Presentation

Connie Terwilliger — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:00:00 GMT

Tasked with giving a speech and feel the tension setting in? You know the subject matter, but the thought of doing it live in front of an audience makes your throat tighten? Here are a few tips to help you relax, breathe right and articulate clearly.

It’s not just what you say, but how you say it. The pacing, the inflection, the intensity, the attitude—these are just some of the things you need to consider when speaking to an audience of any size. But there is more. You must also be able to support what you are saying with sufficient breath control, effective articulation and a voice free of stress. Problems in these areas could cause your audience to focus on the way you are saying something, rather than what you are saying.

Ever been in a room where the person talking just doesn’t have enough breath control to push the words out. This thin weak voice is not only hard to hear, it requires constant breaths, which slows down the pace, which affects the content. In most cases it is simply poor breath control – a fixable condition.

Or how about the person who sounds as if they are talking with rocks in their mouth. Words are not enunciated clearly and become difficult to understand. Again, simply a matter of sloppy articulation – also generally not a fatal condition.

A final example we will discuss here is the voice affected by tension in the neck and throat. The voice begins to rise in pitch and possibly even squeak on certain words. This is definitely treatable.

Here are a few simple exercises to help you with these issues.

(NOTE: If you are reading this article on the subway or in the middle of a crowded waiting room, then you might want to consider the affect unusual body positions and making noises will have on the person next to you. While these exercises help overcome certain voice problems, there is little that can be done when compounded by a fat lip.)

Take a Deep Breath

Let’s talk about Breath Control. Singers know breath control, so if you sing, you probably know the basics of proper breathing. It’s all about using the using the diaphragm. A great many people do not use the diaphragm. Instead they take lots of little catch breaths that fill only the upper part of their lungs. They probably get tired easily. Their voices may start to crack or even squeak. An hour in front of an audience would drain the life out of them. You can easily check to see if you are doing this.

In front of a mirror -- large enough so that you can see a profile of your body from about the waist up – stand erect with your back straight. Place one hand on your abdomen (or side of your waist) and one hand on your chest. Lean forward slightly, keeping your back straight. Now -- breathe normally. The hand on your chest should not move. The hand on your abdomen should move.

If your chest hand is moving, you need to develop your basic breathing habits. First, you need to recognize what abdominal breathing is. Lie on the floor.

(NOTE: Again, this is probably not something you would want to do on the commuter train.)

Place a book on your abdomen just below your ribs. Breathe normally and feel the muscle activity. The book should rise and fall gently as you breathe.

So now that you have the concept of abdominal breathing reaffirmed, here’s an exercise to help you develop the feeling that you are pushing sound up from your abdominal area.

· Stand erect (getting your exercise aren’t ya) and place one hand on your abdomen.

· Inhale moderately and emit a series of short staccato “ha” sounds. Vary the force from strong to slight. Feel it in your abdomen -- not your chest.

Once you can recognize where your breathing should start, you can begin to work on breath control. When breath is released too rapidly, you sound “breathy." It lacks resonance and projection and it fades at the end of a phrase.

· Take a deep breath, then release part of it -- then stop the outflow.

· Release a little more and stop.

· Continue until you need to inhale again.

Inhale again, but this time release your breath with a “sigh." (haaaaahhhh) Note the difference in the feeling of controlling the exhaled breath and a simple release.

As a final breathing and relaxation technique before we move on to articulation, sit in a comfortable straight chair with your head dropped forward and your arms and legs as limp as rag dolls. Tense every muscle and then relax completely. Repeat this process a couple more times, concentrating on relaxing your head and neck muscles.

Wrap Your Articulators Around This!

This old tried and true paragraph is an excellent articulation and pronunciation exercise. It shall have to be credited to Anonymous, because I have no notes on where it came from. Anyway, read it aloud, with feeling. Recording it would be good, so that you can play it back and critique your effort.

Generally speaking the articulation of the population is terribly indistinct, inasmuch as it is hopelessly lacking in clarity and totally indistinguishable. Nevertheless, a veritable metamorphosis indubitably took place during the months of January and February, when several practitioners in the indescribably delicate art of elocution dedicated themselves to the rehabilitation of that characteristically particularly inarticulate percentage of our inhabitants whose inadequacies of self-expression form so wholly redundant and superfluous a stain on our otherwise ineffably immaculate national escutcheon.

Well, OK, you certainly aren’t going to let anyone write that into any speech you have to make, but you get the idea. And even the most practiced speakers would have trouble reading that paragraph without proper warm up of their articulators.

Here are some general limbering up exercises that will help you prepare your articulators for any speaking situation.

(WARNING! If the first series of exercises didn’t clear the area around you, these next just might!)

1. Spread your lips in a smile for “eeeee” and close them for “ooooo." (“eeeee” “oooo” “eeee” “oooo”) Repeat several times.

2. Now say “fud-dud-dud-dah." Follow “fud-dud-dud-dah” with “ira-ira-ira-ira-ira-ira." Over exaggerate the sounds.

3. Now make believe you’re a truck. (brumm, brumm, brumm)

4. Trill your tongue. (arrrrrrrrroooooo)

5. Be a rattlesnake (tchktchktchkthck).

Now, doesn’t that feel better. Got the blood moving around in all those articulators.

Lazy Lips + Idle Tongue = Poor Articulation

There are a few special articulation problems that may not be a result of failure to warm up. “Locked Jaw”, “Idle Tongue”, and “Lazy Lips”.

Let’s start with the “Locked Jaw”. If you wish to cultivate a certain affected sound, you might employ “locked jaw”, but most of us don’t want to sound that way. So, here’s some jaw opening exercises.

Repeat this list of words -- and exaggerate your jaw opening.

Hah Yacht Dot

Paw Yard Part

Tab Tot Dark

Hack Tat Lad

OK, these next words have diphthongs, which require the jaw to be open at the beginning of the word, shifting to a more closed position at the end.

High Tie Die

Lie Rye Kite

Howl Noun Loud

Coin Loyal Dine

So now that you have the lock off the old jaw, let’s work on that “Idle Tongue”. Say each of the following words 3 times, trying to keep the tongue forward, just behind the upper front teeth. Listen for a brightness and liveliness to the sound. Don’t let your tongue just lie there flat against the top of your hard palate. It needs to work!

Tea Deal

Tick Dish

Nape Table

“Lazy Lips” can cause sloppy articulation. Here’s a revealing exercise. Say the words “pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat” over a few times – at a slow to moderate speed. Try to pronounce the “P’s” and “T’s” very clearly. Now pick up the speed. “pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat” If what you just said sounded like “pi-pap-pi-pap-pi-pap” , then you have “Lazy Lips”. Try it again and remember to keep all the “p’s” and “t’s”. “Pit-pat-pit-pat-pit-pat”

Breathe, Relax, Articulate

Voice professionals use all of these exercises at one time or another, and everyone can benefit from their tricks of the trade. And there are lots more. Simply counting slowly from 1 to 25 – exaggerating the pronunciation of each number is a quick way to warm up your lips, tongue, and jaw.

Once you’re breathing properly, warmed up and relaxed, you will be able to deliver that speech, or make that important presentation – and everyone will hear what you want them to hear.

Connie Terwilliger, a San Diego based Voice Over professional working out of her home studio with ISDN and phone patch, has provided comprehensive critique and coaching for spokespeople, sports commentators, news readers, voice actors and others concerned about their performance or appearance in front of a camera, microphone or audience.

20-Jan-10 2:00 PM

Twitter, Snitter, DoshDosh….Oh Blog; What the %#!& is Social Marketing?

Susan Soloman — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:00:00 GMT

Think of social marketing as coffee talk - with more meaning, greater intimacy and the potential for profound impact. But like meeting friends at a coffee house, it takes planning and tending. It’s a completely different value proposition than mass communication. Are there places for mass media AND one-on-one exchanges? Sure. Should small and big businesses toss one in favor of the other? No. So, where do you employ which method? The answer depends on what you’re saying and who you want to listen.

Sometimes called “viral” marketing, social marketing exchanges are the trails that blaze through this wide open cyber-world both directing and attracting attention and “harvesting” details about you. Since the field IS so vast, - and growing daily - for purposes of this 2-part column, we will start by exploring 2 basic social marketing tools - their uses and returns.

1. Facebook

Use: The primary purpose of Facebook is to link up of with others who share your background & interests. That could include favorite, music stores or even restaurants. It’s free to sign up and all you need is an e-mail account. Although it can be used to target certain demographics, it is generally not the tool of choice with business-to-business communications. It's geared toward consumer to consumer (C to C) or busines to consumer (B to C)...although business to consumer can be a lead generation tool.

Return: For business-to-consumers, it can reinforce your brand and create connections to your loyal customers through games, group discussions boards, contests, video and photo uploads. “Target does a great job in leveraging Facebook by staying connected,” says Adam Rosenkoetter, partner and technical director of Soldesign in Atlanta, Georgia. Plus the data from those who visit the pages, joined the group and shared it, can be harvested for future marketing initiatives. That means if there is an interaction with an application such as the profile, interests or ads, not only the user, but their connections can be harvested and used to target a particular demographic in the future.

Social ads can be useful tools as well. When a Facebook user clicks on a user-generated social ad, it broadcasts that interaction in a mini-feed which can be seen by friends of that user. Social ads allow users to track metrics by monitoring campaign results in real time.
Privacy Options: Anyone who sets up a Facebook profile can manage their privacy settings. Control settings. Users can also control who is allowed access their information during a search.

2. LinkedIn

USE: LinkedIn is an online network of more than 30 million professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. This is the primary tool of choice for business-to-business advertising. Unlike Facebook, it’s strictly a business-to-business network.

With this social marketing tool you can create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. This enables you to find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can even add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and `the people they know -- potentially linking you to thousands of people.

Return: Using your network, you can find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended. In addition, others can find you for business opportunities, search for jobs, even uncover connections that can help you land jobs and close deals. It is also used to post and distribute job listings.

Although it is free to join, they also offer paid accounts that provide additional tools for locating people who may not be in your network.`

Privacy Options: All relationships on LinkedIn are mutually confirmed, and no one appears in the LinkedIn Network without knowledge and explicit consent. You can always control how much other see about you by monitoring your security settings.

Next month we'll review the uses and returns from MySpace and Twitter.

tv | video | print | e.media

18-Jan-10 3:00 PM

Re-Inventing the Future

Gary Shifflet — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:00:00 GMT

Like many of you reading this, I am looking for 2010 to be the year that turns it around for all of us professionally and personally in our careers and home life. I know so many quality people with great skills and business sense who are without a regular job and income, it is very disturbing to see how the economy has put so many lives and families in turmoil. Here in Detroit, it is probably even more extreme because of the financial issues of the automotive industry. But as those companies have addressed their problems and tried to re-invent themselves, so have the people who are directly affected by these outcomes.

Re-invention is about evaluating a current situation that is not working and trying to find a new way to thrive. In Detroit, new film industry incentives by the state are attracting a whole new business climate that is bringing projects and jobs to our market that have historically not been available to us. As with anything new, there needs to be a process of education and training to make yourself eligible to be a part of these new opportunities.

MCA-I is at this crossroad as well. We have begun to re-invent ourselves with our initiative of being a Chapter governed organization; trying to bring the Local Chapter Leaders into the fold to help guide and lead us into the next decade. With the new 501c3 status, we have created a Committee to research the potential options that are before us. The opportunities to write and receive governmental, educational and privately funded grants could be a monumental asset for MCA-I to help members find new employment and reach beyond their normal market boundaries. And our Benefits Committee continues to research and land new companies to become Commercial Members and provide new and relevant discounted services to our membership to enhance the MCA-I benefits package.

It’s a very exciting time to be part of this re-invention, I hope you all will join me and your Board of Directors to make this a year of progress and success. Take a chance and reach out to one of us to volunteer some of your time and enthusiasm for the cause. There are great needs for assistance in Professional Development, Sponsorship, Social Networking and the Website that could use some fresh hands and eyes to help out. Meet new people and develop some camaraderie; it’s one of the best benefits you can get from being part of the team! The fun has just begun…

18-Jan-10 12:00 PM

Drive Click-Through Rates with Video

Tom Morse — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:00:00 GMT

The numbers are almost meaningless… ≈ 170M unique web viewers/month, 14B streams/month, time per viewer up nearly 60%. The bottom line is that the growth of online video has exploded and will continue to grow ‑ becoming as ubiquitous as text on the web. Don’t believe this? Ask any IT manager responsible for data storage and content delivery.

The explosion of video has been driven by user generated content; commercial content distribution; and web-based video/multimedia, much of it supporting promotional campaigns. The naysayers point out that for promotional campaigns, overall advertising click-through rates are disappointingly low. Point taken. But, those websites and marketing campaigns that customize ads and multimedia content to fit individual customer interests have demonstrated markedly higher click-through rates. Two of the most well know examples of successfully tailoring content to the interest of their users are Apple, with the iTunes Store, and Amazon.com.

As video has become an accepted part of the web experience, marketers are looking for ways to exploit the engaging qualities of video. Video has the unique ability to convey a story through sound and motion – creating a more powerful emotional response among users. Results of recent studies by DoubleClick show that when used for direct-response online advertising –the click-through rate– online video ads perform extremely well. The data shows online video ads deliver click-through rates ranging from 0.4 to 0.74 percent depending on the online video format. By comparison, click-through rates for plain GIF or JPG image ads ranges between 0.1 and 0.2 percent. Given these data, it’s no wonder that in the troubled economic climate of the past year, marketers have rushed headlong to enrich their websites, direct mail campaigns, press releases, and corporate communications with various forms of digital multimedia.

A recent industry report from StrongMail Systems highlights the trend. As reported in BtoB Online, Kristin Hersant, StrongMail’s director of corporate marketing, the “2010 Marketing Trends” survey finds that online marketing spending will be up in the coming year, with video a key driver. “We also think that marketers will be able to increase relevancy by using video in e-mail,” Hersant said. “Video is going to make it a lot easier to promote the things that their customers are interested in, such as webinars, training, and product education.”

A report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC released US results for the first half of 2009, showing that online ad spending continues to experience robust growth, increasing 38% from the same period a year ago. As online advertising continues to draw spending away from other forms of traditional advertising, spending for online video is projected to reach nearly $500M in the US during the first half of 2010. In a similar report from Forrester Research, video advertising will grow to account for one-fifth of European online display ad spending – nearly €1 billion in 2012. Forrester Research also issued their US Interactive Marketing Forecast 2009 – 2014, showing 60% of marketers plan to shift marketing dollars away from traditional channels in favor of interactive marketing initiatives.

This move to interactive multimedia-supported marketing is not the sole province of big companies. In Chapel Hill, NC a local wine, coffee, and tea merchant is taking advantage of the click-through promotional power of video. 3CUPS is a business dedicated to bringing high quality products to their customers while stimulating them to learn more about what they sell… the really good stuff. They recently began adding video promotions as an element to their email marketing and on their website home page. “Using video allows us to show what it’s like to come into our store and learn about our business,” says Badi Bradley a partner at 3CUPS. The first promotion to include a video element delivered 600 views in the first several days. Following the success of the first video, 3CUPS has released three more videos and has five projects underway. Lex Alexander, owner of 3CUPS, believes video offers a unique way to differentiate the business. “Video allows us to entice customers with a story that demonstrates we are very knowledgeable about the items we sell. People don’t read as much these days; they’ve become accustomed to TV. It helps us personalize the business.” The video was produced in HD by Jim Fink of New Century Digital Media and shot and directed by Ken Peterson, SilverLight Productions. The HD Flash video is hosted by NCDM. According to Fink, “We support the concept of a full television experience that people have become used to in their home.” Fink provides clients with more than just production and hosting, he also provides access to stats on the performance of each video. “Clients have direct access to a lot of data about their videos. It allows them to better manage the use of video as part of their overall marketing activities.”

For a business like 3CUPS, customizing the content of promotional video as part of their direct mail advertising has proven effective. The high engagement factor of video, combined with better customer targeting and improved Internet tracking capabilities, offers advertisers a highly accountable way to improve response rates and deliver bottom line results.

11-Jan-10 10:00 AM

MCA-I? Who Are We Really?

Lee Vogel — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Sometimes we are a little too close to something to be able to define it. This past Thursday evening on the Leader’s Conference Webinar someone expressed concern over an inability to define who we are as an association. After five years on the board and 25 years as a member, these concerns trigger a tightness in my chest and shortness of breath. At this stage of my life, I no longer spend time arguing over questions like why air exists. I’m just glad it does and I hope it lasts as long as I do. In my all-boys high school, certain members of our faculty had a name for discourse like this; two words, both beginning with the letter “M”, the first one being “mental”.

After the meeting I changed shirts and attended a holiday party at the other end of my condominium. Now, given, probably all of these folks had at least a bachelor’s degree, each of those who inquired as to my avocation had no problem grasping the concept of media producer.

MCA-I is an association of media communicators. We are web designers, writers, videographers, even the people who provide the voice over-narration. We are story-tellers and not unlike the golden age of television, some of us are proficient at more than one of these disciplines. Now, we could create a different association for each of these crafts but who has the time or money to go out and hire an executive director and incorporate each group? Besides, part of the value of involvement in an association is to mingle with specialists in all of the craft. What do we have in common? We all contribute to telling a story, and we have a legacy that goes all the way back to when the only stories to be heard across the land and handed down from one generation to another were told around a campfire, under the stars.

It’s as simple as that.

For many, this time of year is when new resolutions are made. So, take a few minutes to remember who YOU are, WHAT you do and WHY you do it. Then figure out what you need from your professional association and resolve to GET INVOLVED in 2010. The opportunity lies before you and the clock is ticking. The most important benefit of involvement at the international level? It’s fun.

18-Dec-09 12:00 PM

MCA-I eNews for December 2009

Connie Terwilliger — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Read eNews Online November 2009

Benefit of the Month: Final Draft
Media Festival Entries Online for Members
President's Message
Did you Vote Yet?
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Member Profile: Fred Wyman
Brother Can You Spare an Hour
Renew or Join Today
Post Your Resume!
Follow Us
Calendar

Happy Holidays!

25% Off the Retail Prices of Final Draft!	Spend your time being creative instead of fighting your word processor. MCA-I Members receive 25% off the retail price of Final Draft and Final Draft AV. Final Draft is the number-one selling word processor specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays. Final Draft AV is the only dedicated full-featured scriptwriting software specifically designed for the professional writers of commercials, corporate and training videos, documentaries and presentations. Just another example of the great benefits of MCA-I membership. Members, don’t forget to check out the member codes under the benefits tab on the website. www.mca-i.org. Want the Los Quatros Benefits Team to look for specific discounts. Send along your ideas!
Multicast to Host MCA-I Media Festival Entries	The 41^st Annual Media Festival is in the judging phase, and this year, for the first time, the nearly 90 entries will be judged through an online competition. Continuing with online firsts, all of the entries will be hosted online and made available to MCA-I members on demand for at least a year afterwards, thanks to Multicast’s Media Suite. Media Suite, considered the most complete, best integrated suite for using video, audio and rich media presentations to deliver messages that move people to action, will be the technology that provides access to MCA-I members’ best work. Look for an announcement on how you can view the entries coming in the New Year after the judging phase is completed and the winner's have been announced. Read the rest of the Multicast Press Release here.
Who are we, really? Lee Vogel MCA-I President "...the most important benefit of involvement at the international level? It’s fun.	Sometimes we are a little too close to something to be able to define it. This past Thursday evening on the Leader’s Conference Webinar someone expressed concern over an inability to define who we are as an association. After five years on the board and 25 years as a member, these concerns trigger a tightness in my chest and shortness of breath. At this stage of my life, I no longer spend time arguing over questions like why air exists. I’m just glad it does and I hope it lasts as long as I do. In my all-boys high school, certain members of our faculty had a name for discourse like this; two words, both beginning with the letter “M”, the first one being “mental”. After the meeting I changed shirts and attended a holiday party at the other end of my condominium. Now, given, probably all of these folks had at least a bachelor’s degree, each of those who inquired as to my avocation had no problem grasping the concept of media producer. MCA-I is an association of media communicators. We are web designers, writers, videographers, even the people who provide the voice over-narration. We are story-tellers and not unlike the golden age of television, some of us are proficient at more than one of these disciplines. Now, we could create a different association for each of these crafts but who has the time or money to go out and hire an executive director and incorporate each group? Besides, part of the value of involvement in an association is to mingle with specialists in all of the craft. What do we have in common? We all contribute to telling a story, and we have a legacy that goes all the way back to when the only stories to be heard across the land and handed down from one generation to another were told around a campfire, under the stars. It’s as simple as that. For many, this time of year is when new resolutions are made. So, take a few minutes to remember who YOU are, WHAT you do and WHY you do it. Then figure out what you need from your professional association and resolve to GET INVOLVED in 2010. The opportunity lies before you and the clock is ticking.
Cast Your Vote for MCA-I Board of Directors	All MCA-I members with active email addresses should have received the MCA-I Election Ballot for the 2010 MCA-I Board of Directors. Take a few minutes and confirm the new board. Running for office this year: Steve King - President Elect Jim Powell - Secretary 3 Board Members At Large - Erin Fergusson - Raegan Matthews - Dwyane Teskey Please click on Vote to actually vote. If you click on View, you can read the ballot, but not complete the voting process. (Lose your ballot did you? Contact Lois for another ID number.)
Thanks to our sponsors...
Member Profile: Fred Wyman “I brought my resume to (an ITVA) workshop. When I returned home, I received a message with an offer to apply for a job at Ferris State University.”	San Diego MCA-I member Dennis Regan recently interviewed Fred Wyman, Producer and Professor and a member of MCA-I since 1984. Cutbacks recently forced him to give up the Ferris State University group membership. Rather than cut his ties to MCA-I, he renewed as an individual member. They chatted about his career and how the business has changed. DR: As a university professor of media, you see our business from a different angle than most. Tell us about your job at the university. FW: In the beginning, I served as a production coordinator. I like telling people what to do, but the University asked me to take on some administrative duties. I took on the program coordinator's role. I thought I would eventually rotate that to somebody else, but nobody wanted it. 5 years ago they renamed the position and called it program chair. I have administrative duties as well as teaching duties. I've been promoted to full professor, teaching two classes a semester. DR; When students come to you, are their career choices pretty well focused? FW: Most of our students come in with experience from High School. Probably 85 to 90% of the students have done video in some form. And they may think they know what they want to do for the rest of their lives, but many times after working with faculty, our facilities, and other students, they rethink what they can do. (In this business) much of what we do is part of a team effort. We rotate the students through all of the production positions, so all of the students get to do everything. This doesn't sound very sexy, but I like to think of our students as being generalists when they leave here. Read the rest of the article online... Want to be featured? Contact us and let us know.
Have a Couple Extras Hours a Month?	If you have a couple extra hours a month (and we all spend more than that cruising Facebook and LinkedIn), consider helping out with MCA-I. As a volunteer association, we need your support to help improve your experience, connections, benefits, and professional growth. Looking for members and potential members with skills in writing, graphics, organizational, sales, marketing, web, editing, etc. Join us to find more and better benefits, sponsors and advertisers, professional development opportunities. Adopt a section of the website and help organize and monitor Press Releases, Articles, Events, Jobs, Resumes, etc. Contact Connie Terwilliger and/or Lois Weiland for more information.
Renew (or Join) Today	RENEW YOUR MCA-I MEMBERSHIP. It's more than a cost of doing business. It's an investment in yourself and your career. Log in and Renew today. Not a Member - click here to join.
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18-Dec-09 12:00 PM

MCA-I Member Profile - December 2009: Fred Wyman - Producer and Professor, Member since 1984

Dennis Regan — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:00:00 GMT

A Member Profile
By Dennis Regan, Writer and Voiceactor
MCA-I Member, San Diego

“I brought my resume to a workshop. When I returned home, I received a message with an offer to apply for a job at Ferris State University.”

Fred Wyman is contributing to our industry as an instructor, mentor and student of the media. In addition to teaching, Fred serves as the Department Chair at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. Professor Wyman has gained national recognition as a producer of award winning DVDs, as well as a dedicated professor of modern electronic media.

Cutbacks recently forced him to give up the Ferris State University group MCA-I membership. Rather than cut his ties to MCA-I, he renewed as an individual member. They chatted about his career and how the business has changed.

DR: As a university professor of media, you see our business from a different angle than most. Tell us about your job at the university.

FW: In the beginning, I served as a production coordinator. I like telling people what to do, but the University asked me to take on some administrative duties. I took on the program coordinator's role. I thought I would eventually rotate that to somebody else, but nobody wanted it. 5 years ago they renamed the position and called it program chair.

I have administrative duties as well as teaching duties. I've been promoted to full professor, teaching two classes a semester.

DR; When students come to you, are their career choices pretty well focused?

FW: Most of our students come in with experience from High School. Probably 85 to 90% of the students have done video in some form. And they may think they know what they want to do for the rest of their lives, but many times after working with faculty, our facilities, and other students, they rethink what they can do. (In this business) much of what we do is part of a team effort. We rotate the students through all of the production positions, so all of the students get to do everything. This doesn't sound very sexy, but I like to think of our students as being generalists when they leave here.

They do have some elective classes from a list of classes they can choose. They can somewhat specialize, but they do have to have a strong grounding is all the skills associated with using a camera, recording audio and editing, single camera work as well as switched camera work. We offer a studio setting and a remote truck as well.

Most of the students find their niche once they're here, even though they might come in thinking they want to do film production, they may discover shooting commercials, editing promos or doing full length programs.

DR: It seems that without a basic knowledge of the whole field, a student really can't make an intelligent choice about what they want to do.

FW: I agree, but some people come and think that they want to sit in front of a computer all day, and even though they're required to go out and do other things, they stick with that. But it is a small percentage of people.

DR: It must be interesting to watch students change during the 4 years that they're here.

FW: Now, before they actually graduate, they have to do an internship, another element that forces them to think more clearly about what they want to do, at least for their first job. Our internship is 6-months long at 40 hours a week. So, it's like having an apprenticeship.

DR: Is it the faculty's duty to find the internship?

FW: Yes. Students confer with a faculty member who is responsible to find something that best matches the student’s career goals. We also have a student organization that calls itself the Ferris Media Communications Association.

That grouped evolved from the days that we had an ITVA chapter here. It has not been recognized as an official chapter for some years, but it basically serves the same function as it had previously. And because the organization is recognized by the school, this allows them to apply for student funding to sponsor events and do field trips and do production on equipment we no longer need for our classroom.

Also, this group sponsors the Ferris Annual Video Festival, now in its 10th year. Speakers are invited from all across the country. We had as many as 200 students involved in concurrent sessions as well. Beyond that involvement there is a chapter of the MCA-I here in West Michigan. Often students will make the 50-mile drive to these local sessions in various cities, when the feature speaker matches their interests.

DR: Since this is the age of Facebook and You Tube, students have access to all kinds of video, and an opportunity to display their own work.

FW: Obviously the industry recognizes that social networking is a way to get the word out about their organization, as well as build up the reputation of individuals. Email is actually being used less by students, in favor of the newer social media.

DR: As an educator how do you stay up with the trends in the industry?

FW: It used to be that that was only possible by attending the ITVA/MCA-I conferences. Over the years I have been able to sit in on conferences and learn what was new in the industry. But, that is not as important as it used to be - just because we now have the Internet. Also, vendors take advantage of email lists to send out information on their products. Beyond that, there's the legislative end of things, so I try to stay in touch with what's happening at the FCC, and pay attention to Broadcast and Cable. Our faculty comes at this from various points of view. One of our faculty is headed out on sabbatical to learn more about streaming technology, incorporating video into website and mobile delivery. We have a full-time engineer, as well, who stays up on the technical side of things.

DR: You've talked about the technical changes, how about on the business side. We just heard that Comcast is negotiated to buy NBC Television. Here’s a company on the distribution side buying a program producer/broadcaster.

FW: The word convergence comes to mind. At one time there was a direct correspondence between the technology and the content. All of that's changed now that we've become digital. Once the conduit is big enough and fast enough, then we can deliver video, audio and data over whatever the connection happens to be. I'd like to reflect back on the days when everybody recorded to tape and tape was -pretty interchangeable between machines.

However today, we're putting our video on servers and archiving it there and maybe even renting servers space when we need it for distribution over networks. I think that the cable industry and broadcast industry recognize that, as we move toward universal broadband, their function will change. Instead of paying a hundred dollars a month to cable, we might be able to pay smaller fees to watch content delivered over a broadband connection at home.

So Comcast and others look for ways to maximize their footprint in the industry, because the program producers are going to be the ones delivering their product over different conduit. If you've had your profit come from delivering other people’s product, that is going to become more shaky over time as competing technologies are providing greater alternatives for delivering your programming - broadcast, cable, satellite, Internet,, disc media and now mobile TV is part of that as well.

DR: And the production side is becoming more diffuse as well.

FW: Most of us are heading toward the High Definition production and some people moving toward low definition production for casual or personal use of video - You Tube and mobile devices. There can also be the development of tools to help aggregate content completely outside cable. As you know the phone companies are into the delivery of video as well. We have AT&T providing video over fiber to a network and directly into people's homes. So companies are scrambling for ways to solidify a profit base, and the production side is going to be that.

DR: Do you think the increasing number of distribution channels is driving down the value of content?

FW: Yes, I believe that is the case. Over the internet customer are accustomed to receiving everything free. Rupert Murdock, for one, would like to see that change. The Wall Street Journal, and other newspapers he owns, is looking for ways of charging for their content. If you want a high quality product you may be willing to pay for that.

And another element in this is that once a signal is digital, it is a lot easier to steal. After you put your time, effort and money into something it is out there for people to share. I think we have to revisit copyright, and think of it in a different way. I don't have the answers, but I see that as an issue that is ongoing. We make an effort in the classroom to make sure that the students are using their own video and not using copyrighted music. But, when they're doing their own work we're not in a position to monitor that. It's too easy to sample someone else's video or grab an image from the Internet.

DR: Let's close our conversation by asking you to share how MCA-I has made a difference in your professional life.

FW: I belonged to ITVA back in 1984 when I was a student at Emerson College in Boston. I worked in the area after that and benefited from being part of a large chapter. I took a job in Missouri at Southeast Missouri State and saw that the students there could benefit from a chapter, so I served as one of the lead people there in creating a chapter. All that time I attended meetings and workshops. To one of those I brought my resume, even though I had a solid position, and left it at a job exchange. When I returned from vacation, I received a message with an offer to apply for a job at Ferris State University. I came here and found it a perfect match for my interests. ITVA was really instrumental in helping me find work and advancing my career through professional development and networking. Now in the age of MCA-I, the major benefit for me has been at the local level, where I can make contact with friends and people with various expertise within this local region.

15-Dec-09 8:00 AM