Branding isn't Just for Cattle

When you are developing your company brand (overall look or design), be sure to include your multimedia assets. Branding isn't just logo, letterhead, and business cards. It is important to have a consistent look for all of your materials, both tangible and electronic.

Your website should have the same colors, fonts, layout, and imagery as your printed promotional items. The idea is for potential clients to instantly recognize your company when they look at your brochure and your website.

All digital presentations (PowerPoint, etc.) and videos should include these same elements. For a consistent look throughout your company, develop templates, a font and image library, color scheme, and a rule sheet for usage. Then, make your employees use them. The best branding progam won't work if your staff are allowed to vary as widely as they choose from your set standard.

At Totem Media, we understand that consistent branding is an important part of successful marketing. We work with our client's graphic designers and development managers to maintain consistent branding in a company's multimedia assets. We also can provide graphic design services for companies who want or need this service. We have the software, knowledge, and skills to provide elegant and professional videos, websites, and digital presentations, as well as printed materials (letterhead, business cards, and brochures).

www.totem-media.com

Pistil Shooting in Texas Caught on Tape!

"Flowers are rainbows on a sunny day." -- Elizabeth Maxwell



Video length: 1 minute 2 seconds. Larger Flash version available on totem-media.com.

I enjoy looking at flowers and other beautiful scenes of nature. It's relaxing and reminds me that God loves us. :)

The jasmine overgrew a tall dead stump in our yard. Eleven months of the year I don't notice the stump. It's either covered in the jasmine's green leaves or leafless and brown. Then, every April, the delicate white flowers open and release their wonderful scent.

It reminds me of the scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (movie) and The Two Towers (book), when Sam and Frodo are entering Mordor with Gollum. They see the head of an old king's statue, lying broken and defaced on the ground. The sun shone momentarily on a crown of flowers that had grown on the statue's brow. It gave them a moment of hope before facing the severe trials they would endure.

All video is from the Texas Hill Country, which is in the south central part of the state. I shot the jasmine and daisies in April 2008 using a Panasonic PV-GS320 mounted on a Velbon tripod. The bees were enjoying apple blossoms in February 2008 using a Sony DSC-W50 still/video digital camera. The two still shots of the purple vinca and the yellow cactus flower are from Spring 2007.

The song, Anjelica, is a royalty-free track purchased from shockwave-sound.com.

I edited the video using Adobe Premiere.

Pistil: Female part of the flower comprised of the ovary, style, and stigma.

RushCon 8 Facts in Fifty (seconds, that is)

I created this video using a "45 record" I created in Adobe Photoshop. (I learned the technique for making a record from the July/Aug 2004 issue of Photoshop User magazine.) The "record" is for the RUSH song, Far Cry, which is also the video's music bed.

The background images are from Artbeats. I edited the video and created the text in Adobe Premiere.

Here is the Far Cry record, with lighting effects and drop shadow.

Update on Video Contest

The finalists were announced for the Ultimate Stargate Atlantis Super Fan contest. Sadly, I am not a finalist. Five of the finalists were selected by most views and the others were selected by the contest creator. I think several of the finalist videos are very well made.

Still, I am glad I made the video. I learned even more about chroma keying (using a green screen to superimpose one video element over another), lighting, color correction and alteration, picture-in-picture effects, background music, and all of the technical details that go into a video production.

I am eager to use this knowledge in future video projects for my clients and myself!

Latest Video Contest Entry - Technical Report

I've entered the following video in the Ultimate Stargate Atlantis Super Fan Contest.



I recorded my portions using a Panasonic AG-DVC60 and a Sony wired lavaliere microphone. I edited the video in Adobe Premiere and added some FX with Adobe AfterEffects.

I had been using a Matrox RTX.100 video card and software in conjunction with Premiere, but had a software crash that caused me to have to reload Premiere, thereby losing the Matrox plug-ins. (There's a technical reason why I didn't reload the Matrox software.) I missed some of the transitions, color correction, and keying features of Matrox, but not enough to deal with reloading the software.

Currently, I'm using Premiere Pro 1.5, and I find the transitions lacking in scope and customizing. I purchased Pixelan's SpiceMaster, which has many of the transitions and effects I need, at the very reasonable price of $40 (plus $20 to get the extra transitions).

After the holidays, I'll be upgrading to Adobe CS3 Production Premium suite. This will help me provide even better quality products for my clients and myself.

NOTE: As I said before, I was happy with the features offered by the Matrox RTX.100 card, when combined with Adobe Premiere, but by not reloading the Matrox software, I had a significant reduction in software crashes. I would say at least a 75% reduction.

Wurst Fest 2007

A group of us went to WurstFest, a ten-day celebration of sausage (and all that goes with it) in early November. Wurst Fest is in the pretty small town of New Braunfels, TX. The gang we went with, as well as other friends we met at the festival, are all fans and friends of Saint Arnold Brewing.

We had a great time, listening to polka and German folk music, eating ham hocks, sauerkraut, and German potato salad, and drinking Warsteiner dark beer.

We drove our Jeep, with the top down and the doors off. I was at first a little nervous, despite I was wearing my seatbelt and holding onto the support bar, but it was fine. Driving home that evening was cold, though, because the air temps varied between 58 - 65. We had the heater on full-blast, which helped a little bit. It felt at least a little adventurous. :)

I filmed the video handheld with a Panasonic PV-GS320 mini-DV recorder and edited it in Adobe Premiere.



A slightly larger and brighter version of this video is on my personal YouTube channel.

Working Towards RushCon

Finishing up one Flash executable file for RushCon's Snakes & Arrows: The Game, a trivia/guessing game similar to Concentration.





When I'm done with Snakes & Arrows, I'm starting on a Flash file for Wheel of Tidal Fortune, our version of the popular television game.

Both games will be played at RushCon 7: Feel the Current Flowing. RushCon is North America's international RUSH fan convention, celebrating the words and work of the Canadian band RUSH. I've worked on RushCon since its inception, and it has provided me many opportunities to develop my web design, graphic design, and video production skills.

The convention's volunteer organizers do the full-time job of preparing a 2.5 day convention, as full-time jobs and families allow. I have the daunting, yet fun task of developing and maintaining all of RushCon's web assets (website, online store, newsletter, photo gallery, message board, YouTube video page), except the MySpace page, which is run by the Convention Manager. Our Graphics Coordinator designs and creates the Flash banners, convention program, and merchandise.

Additionally, I prepare all of the videos and presentations for the convention. I've prepared several PowerPoint and Flash presentations, as well as created videos (recording, editing, special effects) that were shown at the convention.

It's wonderful to have the opportunity to be creative, but it's even more special because I love the subject matter! I've been a RUSH fan for over 17 years, and enjoy meeting other fans at RushCon, local gatherings, and at the band's concerts.