Category: Marketing

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Golden Ration and now THIS!

(AKA say no to vertical video)

Golden Ratio in opposition to ever changing ratio for SM and hand held devices.
Golden Ratio vs. New Ratio

For millennia, learned men (and women, no doubt) have been infatuated with the mathematical beauty in music, art, architecture and geometry.

The name they gave to it:  The Golden Ratio. 

Fast forward a few decades and we get this mess:

I’m only being facetious.    I’m sure this lady does grand work.  It seems to be the case.  But as a film school graduate and incurable cinemaphile, I’m still a hard line 16:9-er  (cinematic  ratio for wide screen).     It’s simply more dramatic and artistic.   Not to mention being  the new norm after the 50 year pan/scan abortion  which was 4:3 box TVs, pft!

I’m curiously looking at these ratios and sizes and how best to display them on the de-facto device,  your fondle-block.   The little wonder in your pocket.  You know,  your phone.  (Have anyone noticed we don’t even call them smart phones any more?)  Where will it end?

For now, I’m drawing a hard line at vertical video.  HARD NO! from me.

IDK man.  Ask me again in 30 years. 

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Ethnography

Ethnography is the systematic study of people and cultures. It is designed to explore cultural phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study.   An ethnography is a means to represent graphically, through video documentation or in writing the culture of a group.
 

Who has read the book by Paco Underhill, 
Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping?

There is a revised edition  out for the internet-era.  I cannot wait to get my nose in one.   Having said that, the new edition is already more than a decade old.    It will be a curious read.  

After disruption there is a reversion to the norm. 

For TV and video producers this is the worse of times and the best of times.    Tech is cheap, the tools of the trade is great and the resources on how to use them is ample.    But what is missing?    Experience, maybe?   A deeper understanding of the old systems gave form to the new?

Let me break it down for you

Before we shoot a single frame, we take keywords from the provided script and see how they will behave as search phrases.  Below is a screen grab from a company that we used to do work for.    This company;  like many others at the time, moved all their media in-house.  There is nothing wrong with such a move per say, as long as it works.  In this case, it seems to me,  that it does not.

The Production value is great, but the view count tells a different story.

 

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Mind Snack

There exists, in this magical era of technology, great tools for creatives. Yet, the barrier to entering the market, in cost and learning curve, have caused over-saturation in the market. The only way to get ahead of the pack, other than working harder (and that is a good thing), or being better than the rest (also a good thing), is more, /better and /intense marketing. Even if you work harder, thought, and are better at what you do, it does not help you much if no one knows about your skills. But focusing on any other aspect of your art or trade steals you away from doing that which you love. What if there is a better way? What if you can work along with your competition instead of against them.

In a practical sense, marketing effort and the mundane things, like admin or training can easily be co-opted. Co-opting is great for cross-exchange of information and technique. Co-opting is great for apprenticeships, market stratification and accreditation. The best value add is giving your client the peace of mind that there is a support structure in place. Hell, it might even help you to sleep better at night.