OT: Self Promotion

[Eli Mavros]

Hi Todd,

Thanks so much for the kind words; I am very flattered. Also, thanks for the trivia, I had no idea there was a name for that type of shot…trombone…I like it. Next update of the site, which should be sometime this week, I will change the description on Shark Week to include that.

About the size of the site, yeah, I am not so good with the web stuff…I had tested it and thought it worked on most monitors, etc…but I guess not. Could you happen to tell me what size your screen was you were looking at it on? Also, were you on a mac or PC? Hopefully this doesn’t happen too often.

Cheers,
Eli

Eli Mavros

[Eli Mavros]

Hi Larry,

Wow! Those were some very nice compliments. I really appreciate that people enjoy these spots as much as I enjoyed making them. Even though I worked on them, I still get tingles watching them sometimes, because these movies are so great and so important…doesn’t it make you want to just stay in and watch old movies all day? It makes me want to.

These two spots were quite a big undertaking as you thought. I did them with two friends of mine who have a small Brooklyn-based studio, Fresh Paint. They are both Maya guys and did all the 3D and compositing (working around the clock for over a month). The compositing was all done in After Effects. As far as editing hours go…well, it took a long time. I think the 2008 spot may have taken longer, as we were in chartered territory. The 2009 spot posed an entirely different challenge…to keep it feeling fresh! We were very careful not to just rehash the same spot and ideas from the year before. There are, of course, some similarities in places, but we were happy in the end that it felt different than the previous year’s.

Both years presented the unique story telling challenge of not only developing a two dimensional narrative of classic movie clips, but also of moving that narrative into a three dimensional space. At times it was a maddening task, to not only have clips play off each-other on screen, but to figure out how their placement and relationship to each-other would create environments that seamlessly transition from one vignette to the next.

As for shooting, all of the stagehands in the 2008 spot were shot over the course of a day on green screen. We recycled the stagehands for this year’s spot, except for a couple…which I shot one afternoon with my girlfriend. In the war scene I’m the stagehand that hides behind the sandbags with a rifle, and my girlfriend is the shadow that walks off stage and waves at the end. Those were last minute additions that I did for Fresh Paint for no budget and no pay…they did not have any time or money for it, but I just wanted them in there so I took it upon myself to make it happen, haha. I don’t know what the overall budget was, but I know that there was less budget for this year’s, even though the previous year’s spot had swept the BDA awards. It was especially strange that there was less budget,seeing that they wanted the 2009 spot to be a full :30 seconds longer than the 2008 one. Oh well…I guess it is just the economy.

Hope that clears things up!

Cheers,
Eli

Eli Mavros

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Larry Melton] “I’d pay twice what Ron charges to read that.”

Heck, I’d pay three times what I charge to read it.

So, do you see my raise and are you still in the hand, Larry?

;o)

Ron Lindeboom

[Ron Lindeboom]

[Eli Mavros] “I think I submitted my website to the reels section of the cow some months back.”

They would be appearing on your profile page if you had added them, Eli. So I think you are recalling another site to which you have added them.

If you add them here, you can upload a video that is up to 900 pixels wide and up to 100MB. If you export them as 720p HD, the site will support them. Render using AAC audio settings.

Best regards,

Ron Lindeboom

Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
– Antoine de Saint Exupéry

[Jodi Kaplan]

Hello Eli,

First of all, your work is stunning!!

Secondly, I found this forum through LinkedIn (attracted by the name) and thought I could help. I agree that you should add the award more prominently to your site. A press release can be a great way to get attention, but it can’t be a fluff piece about your company.

When you stitched together those unrelated clips for your ad, you had to put them together and connect them in a way that told a story, and that made narrative sense. The same thing applies to a press release. Nobody will read it unless it tells a story – not about what you’ve won, but what about the award, or the circumstances, or the process was special.

There has to be a hook that draws the reader in. For instance, “child makes paper airplane” is not a story, but “3 Year Old Girl Sails Paper Airplane to Record 500 Foot Flight” is.

Also, do not email blast people about your award; they won’t care. The award is great, and you deserve it, but potential clients want to know what can you do for them. What about you is special, and how will that help your clients to save time or make more money or reduce stress? You’ve got to build up trust and credibility before asking for the sale.

Hope this helps.

Jodi

Jodi Kaplan
https://www.kaplancopy.com/blog