Communicating in the City

Hollywood Comes to Bay Ridge

Street closures aren't too unusual in Brooklyn, but when a quiet post-July 4th Monday is suddenly interrupted by a sea of trailers, you know something is up.

Yesterday, locals in Bay Ridge got a taste of Hollywood as Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan came to town to film scenes for the upcoming film, "A Couple of Dicks" (yes that is the title). As I watched lights and mics being set up in the July heat, I could fully relate to the hot and tired crew, as well as requests from polite young PA's asking people to move out of the shots and keep quiet on the rather large set.

The warm temperatures made it an ideal day for ice cream - even the film's director Kevin Smith had to stop for a vanilla cone - but not before popping in to a local trattoria where my friends and I were having lunch.

Filming continued well into the night and consisted of multiple scene set-ups and several takes; this caused many onlookers to comment, "There's so much waiting around. Where's the glamour in that?"

Welcome to the world of Production!

A Close Call

I've flown back and forth to London a number of times over the past several years, but yesterday's flight to Newark will always remain vividly in my mind.

At about 6 hours into the Continental flight, everything was fairly routine - people were watching movies, listening to iPods and sipping their various beverages - when all of a sudden the plane started to shake violently. Turbulence is not uncommon when flying over the Atlantic but the concern in the pilot's voice could not be ignored: "Everyone get back to your seats and fasten your seatbelts - we are experiencing severe turbulence!" he shouted.

If that wasn't enough to make my stomach jump, I was then grabbed by a nervous flight attendant who was holding on to my arm for dear life as she crouched on the floor. Her other arm was busy securing the beverage cart so it wouldn't go flying down the aisle.

As frightened as I was, I kept focused and talked her through the situation; I also started chatting with my seatmates to keep our minds off the unpleasant condition we found ourselves in. I even quipped that we earned ourselves some wine to ease our jittery nerves.

While I may have put up an encouraging exterior, inside I was quite worried. The flight attendant admitted that we were already past Newfoundland and the usual turbulent flight paths; so what on earth was this patch about?

For 30 minutes, we continued to shake and sway, much to my (and others' discontent). Even the burliest of guys looked alarmed as they held their heads and knocked their knees.

So would this be it? Was this how it was all going to end? And if it was, would the pilot at least be able to steer us above land so we wouldn't end up as shark food in the Atlantic?

I kept thinking of the people I needed to say goodbye to and who I would leave behind; I thought of all the things I had experienced in life and the things I still wanted to do.

All my loved ones came to mind and I held out hope that the pilot would land the plane safely so I could see them all again.

Thirty-five minutes later he did.

This blog is for anyone who's ever ridden on a scary flight unsure if they'd make it home again.

Talking comms on a rainy NY day

How do you know that Twitter has really taken off? When you try to log on and you get a message that says "Twitter is over capacity. Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again."

If that weren't enough, even my brother uttered the "T" word at dinner last night. This coming from someone who only uses his laptop twice a week.

Where were you bandwagon Tweeters when my simply colleagues and I discovered the social networking tool two years ago?

On the subject of simply-communicate, our June edition is hot off the press (or shall I say keyboard). Yours truly wrote an inspiring case study on Aon UK - they're a shining example of how measurement can lead to great communications inside a company. 

Check out my article and a bevy of other good pieces on simply-communicate.com. Happy reading!

Video to "Flip" for

For those of you who still haven't checked out May's edition of simply-communicate (I don't know where you've been), here's an excellent case study written by yours truly of how companies are successfully using video in their internal communications:

http://www.simply-communicate.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1177

Con Edison - along with several other companies - are realizing just how easy shooting and editing have become, thanks to handy tools like the Flip Ultra video camcorder. This little camera is revolutionizing the storytelling process and is turning everyone into videographers - no longer is it necessary to purchase a posh, pricey camera if you're just looking for quick sound bites.

I carry my Flip wherever I go - it slides easily into my purse amid all the pens and lipsticks.

Do I still use my other video cameras? Of course I do - I'm a professional; companies will still pay for high-quality videos if the situation calls for it. But for an average person looking for simple, stop-and-start type shooting, down-and-dirty editing and easy uploading to the Web, you really can't beat the Flip. And the price? Very affordable.

For more buzz about the Flip cameras, be sure to check out my co-review with Daniel Penton in the July edition of simply-communicate.

I've Seen the Light!

People say my life is sometimes like a soap opera, and a few weeks ago, I stepped right into one. I went to Springfield.

Yes, I'm talking about "Guiding Light" - the long-running CBS daytime drama which (unfortunately) is scheduled to go off the air this fall. Shame on you, CBS!

As a video person, it was fascinating to see how compact sets and control rooms have become...and to learn just where the spiral staircase in Alan Spaulding's study leads to.

While it was great stepping onto sets I've watched since my youth, it was even more nostalgic catching up with some of my old friends and colleagues at CBS. Technology may have changed over the years but happily, many of the names and faces behind the scenes remain the same.

So long Seattle

Great visit, more details to come soon....

Blogging on the Go

Stuck in traffic at the USA-Canada border crossing: what better time to write a blog! Quite a big accomplishment these past few days - I went on holiday without my MacBook and barely looked at my BlackBerry! However....I am doing a little work tomorrow: I'm off to the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA to shoot some video interviews for simply-communicate.Keep your eyes out for that one folks... Speaking of Simply, we published last week to record numbers. For a really cool case study on using video in internal comms, be sure to check out my article/video on Con Edison; which reminds me, it's time to pay my monthly electric bill when I get home from the West Coast!

Better late than never

I don't know what took me so long but I finally installed a DVR. My friends have one, my brother has one, even my parents beat me to the punch and ordered one.

Now that I'm in the DVR club, I can't get enough. No longer do I have to worry about going out and missing the latest actions of Jack Bauer or Michael Scott.

Hell, I record everything - not just my Top 3 or 4 favorite shows. If a program looks even remotely interesting, I'll decide to tape it. After all, I can always delete it if it's not.

In the shower? On the phone? You can be sure that red light is going on. 

While I continue to enjoy the freedom of being able to watch a show whenever I want (and fast forwarding through annoying commercials), there's also a flip side to all this: the DVR has become part of the information overload that we experience every day.

In the morning, I weed through emails in a very full inbox; in the evening, I scroll through an ever-growing list of television programming that I need to go through. In other words, you have to make time to sort through your leisure time. And let's not even get into the amount of time needed to actually watch these programs. An email only takes a few minutes to read (more or less); a TV show generally takes 30-60 minutes to watch. And if it's a movie, you'd better have 2 hours to spare.

As I ponder the time managment issues that now arise with my new electronic toy, my fear of DVR burn-out should undoubtedly ease thanks to the summer hiatus soon approaching for many television shows.

Perhaps I'll be caught up with my programming by the Fall...

The month that was...

Wow, I just realized that I haven't posted any entries in about 3 weeks. Sorry, folks. Guess that's what happens when you're trying to juggle multiple freelance gigs - jobs that I'm grateful to have considering the crappy economy.

While things continue to be busy at simply-communicate (check out the new teasers on the home page written by yours truly), I've been balancing the remainder of my time at an innovative ad agency in the Village where I've been helping to oversee various audio and video projects.

Now that I'm back in an office environment, I've come to appreciate just how precious certain items can be, namely staple removers (when you need to FAX or copy 23-page documents), blank interoffice envelopes, as well as those much-coveted bathroom keys!

It's also been interesting experiencing a role reversal where vendors call me to inquire about payment for services they recently provided, or to see if there's any future work available. As a freelancer, it's usually myself who does the inquiring!

While on the topic of vendors, people can't do enough for you these days - from hugs, smiles to Starbucks gift cards, it's nice to see that people appreciate the business. Now if only customer service can always be like that!

And lest I forget just how small the corporate video production biz really is, how great it was running into several of my old colleagues at a mini-reunion that took place last week at a classic Chelsea watering hole. It may be 3 years since I've gone freelance, but that night it felt like old times!

As for next week, I'll be busy starting my next (independent) video project - producing a new fundraising piece for a New York State not-for-profit client of mine. Time to get out my new shotgun mic and begin prepping for what should be another busy week...

Annie Get Your Gun??

On late night television, you might expect to find ads for chat lines and other "adult" products from time to time, but boy, did I have an eye-opening surprise while viewing an old "Newhart" re-run the other night on the "AmericanLife Network".

The cable channel has been my guilty pleasure ever since discovering it last year. Airing classic programs like "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Hill Street Blues", it has been the source of great nostalgia for me and a reminder of how just how good television writing was back in the '70's and '80's. (Take that, you crummy reality shows).

Belly laughs aside, I wasn't chuckling when I witnessed a troubling commercial aired during "Newhart" advertising a company that manufactures rifles. Yes, it was a gun commercial. (Of course, I'm not going to mention the name of the company).

What was particularly troubling to me about the ad was how they referred to the gun model as an "American classic" and a part of American history.

With the TV network's corporate headquarters located in Dallas - a city which offers multiple rifle ranges just minutes from the airport alone - perhaps the airing of gun commercials shouldn't come as such a shock.

However, during a week which saw 3 horrible shootings - in Oakland, Binghamton and Pittsburgh - the network still ought to have known better than to air a commercial glorifying the use of guns.

What's even scarier to me is the thought of who might be watching these commercials and what they might be inspired to do with the guns.

I can only hope we've seen the last of these rifle commercials and that the "AmericanLife Network" sticks to more safer infomercials. Give me a Snuggie or Mighty Putty anyday.