Expand Interactive » thomas

AirBP

thicks — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:18:47 +0000

Had an excellent shoot with Walter and Greg for an AirBP customer service training course. I never really thought about how a person’s response to “Thank you” is interpreted. Apparently Ritz-Carlton, however, has considered it. A lot. So, for anyone who has ever thanked me before, “It was my pleasure.” Oh, and try providing customer service to people who teach customer service some time, it’ll keep you on your toes.

Companies cannot live by work alone…

thicks — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:38:55 +0000

So I brought my mountain bike in to work finally. Everyone else here at Expand seems to have figured this out and maybe I’m finally getting it, too- you can’t stare at a monitor all day long, no matter how much you like what you’re making.
Eric, Jon, and Juniper run. Will and Steve work out. I crash bicycles. There’s definitely something to be said for breaking up your day with some somewhat strenuous activity. Your brain gets recharged and you come back to your project with more energy and creativity, plus you don’t get afternoon zombification.
So, get off your chair and go do something. Your work, and your brain will be better when you get back.

Practice makes perfect (and annoys Jon)

thicks — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:19:06 +0000

Testing the jib in the office proves successful. Didn’t knock anything over, didn’t break any windows, annoyed Jon and Will… Thus, successful.

Boom!

thicks — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:02:02 +0000

…or jib, or crane… Today we shot a segment for the Cleveland Clinic in the deep dark woods. So deep, in fact, that they had to build these really cool bridges across the really deep parts. And dark because the sun that was supposed to come out at 9:00am didn’t show up until sometime around 12:30pm. But the shoot will look great anyway, in part because of the camera boom that we used. Basically it swings the camera around on the end of a 12 foot armature that holds the camera at a constant level no matter how far around, up, or down you swing it. Pretty much every movie you’ve ever seen uses one for the big sweeping establishing shots. We used ours to chase Scott McFarland around (on a side note, Scott always wears the best belts). So if we’re shooting some video for you, insist that we use the boom. A little boom makes everything better… Oh, and, if you could be any one of the X-men, which would you be?

Nature Hike

thicks — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:27:34 +0000

Eric and I spent the morning making joggers and walkers on the walking trails at a nearby state park nervous while we did some test shots for an upcoming Cleveland Clinic shoot . It’s funny how different people react to a camera. Some run right over and want to know what you’re doing and if they’re going to be on TV, others shift their gait from a pleasant jog to a dead-run… I’m not sure if that’s to look good if they appear on camera, or to get away as quickly as possible. Some put their hand up as if to say, “Please– not another lens pointed at me today…” but the best are the ones, that while your subject is addressing the camera, stare directly into the lens the whole time they are walking by, thus, ruining the take. I’ve never understood this. There’s nothing going on in the lens that will tell them what this is for, certainly they can’t see a reflection in the lens that shows them how they look on camera, and, yes, the camera CAN see you staring straight into it.. or maybe they just like to hear the word, “Cut!”…ha.

Today was good, we got some great location and test footage, and all the people who’s walks we interrupted were very pleasant. And honestly, even if it had been difficult, a morning hanging out in the woods with a friend is always better than a morning spent staring at a computer or in the studio.

Jedi Sales

thicks — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:04:16 +0000

I spent the day shooting John Hirth, of Selling Dynamics, for part of a sales channel training package we’ll be offering on the L-train soon. I was impressed, not only because he could rattle off 10 minutes of dialogue without a teleprompter, but also because the content was quite cool. The psychology of sales is really interesting. At the end of the day I felt like I had useable knowledge about helping clients discover what they really need… And I’m not even the intended audience!

Sales training that was easy to remember, logical and genuinely interesting. Who would have thought!

John Hirth, Jedi Sales.