There's nothing good about a bad economy and people losing jobs. If you can't make the economy better and you can't hire everyone that has been laid off, the only thing you can do is try to help people find new jobs. One of our clients, Navigator Executive Advisors (http://www.navexec.com/), does just that. The Navigator Career Institute serves as an online career transition support system for corporate and individual clients participating in the outplacement programs of Navigator Executive Advisors, Inc.
We created a media-rich eLearning course that featured an on-screen narrator, and video-based drill downs featuring helpful tips and techniques. The eLearning course is supported by a database where learners can answer reflective questions and work with career coaches to reach their goals and work through their career transition. The objective of the course was to provide users/learners with the specialized coaching and technical expertise necessary to improve their ability to engage in effective and successful job searches. Whether they are just graduating and have never yet had a job, are presently in a job and want an employer or career change, or are “in between” jobs, the online instruction and guided exploration via database questions and interaction with professional coaches will help them navigate through their career transition.
In the end, this is a project that has taken on much larger importance since we started. We can't fix the job market on our own but we can help people get back out there when they need to.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Emmy Awards Review
Here's what I thought of the Emmy Awards last night. First, Neil Patrick Harris was great. Since he started on How I Met Your Mother he has gotten increasingly silly and I don't mind it. With everything going on in the world I don't mind a celebrity that acts like a sophomore sometimes and isn't afraid to poke fun at himself.
I found it very interesting that a couple of the shows thanked the geographic area in which they shoot. I heard a specific mention of Hawaii, New Mexico and NYC. Coincidentally those places have very aggressive incentives for production. I hope the state if Florida did the math: Major Production Incentives = Big Time Productions.
I follow the ratings of prime time shows pretty closely. It's amazing to me that a clever show like 30 Rock still struggles in the ratings. Here's the confusion for me: people complain that there's no good comedies anymore but when we get some no more than 6, 7, 8 million people watch. Last year a big complaint from people was that there were too many crime dramas on that were all about violence. OK, I agree with that but those shows still get 15, 16, 17 million people. I am reminded that Seinfeld didn't start out as a huge ratings show but grew in to it. I hope shows like 30 Rock and Big Bang Theory continue to grow to the level of Two and a Half Men and beyond. We see enough violence on the 11:00 news, it would be nice to see some people smile on TV.
And the Kanye West jokes were flying. I couldn't decide whether it was good or not. On one hand, it's nice to see that nobody supports what he did and maybe he and young kids learned something about being a mature professional. On the other hand, we're still talking about him so did he really win in the end? He obviously likes attention so was this a stunt to get us to talk about him?
I found it very interesting that a couple of the shows thanked the geographic area in which they shoot. I heard a specific mention of Hawaii, New Mexico and NYC. Coincidentally those places have very aggressive incentives for production. I hope the state if Florida did the math: Major Production Incentives = Big Time Productions.
I follow the ratings of prime time shows pretty closely. It's amazing to me that a clever show like 30 Rock still struggles in the ratings. Here's the confusion for me: people complain that there's no good comedies anymore but when we get some no more than 6, 7, 8 million people watch. Last year a big complaint from people was that there were too many crime dramas on that were all about violence. OK, I agree with that but those shows still get 15, 16, 17 million people. I am reminded that Seinfeld didn't start out as a huge ratings show but grew in to it. I hope shows like 30 Rock and Big Bang Theory continue to grow to the level of Two and a Half Men and beyond. We see enough violence on the 11:00 news, it would be nice to see some people smile on TV.
And the Kanye West jokes were flying. I couldn't decide whether it was good or not. On one hand, it's nice to see that nobody supports what he did and maybe he and young kids learned something about being a mature professional. On the other hand, we're still talking about him so did he really win in the end? He obviously likes attention so was this a stunt to get us to talk about him?
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Emmy Award Memories
Sitting here watching the Emmy Awards brings me back a couple years when a miniseries we worked on, Elvis, was nominated for 6 Emmy Awards. I don't even remember all of the categories but I do remember the one we were most proud of, Best Miniseries.
We got a phone call from a friend in December of 2004 and he said he was working on a miniseries and they needed some post help. We said sure send us the script and we'll do a proposal. A couple weeks later we were contracted to do the final video (on-line, color collection, etc.) and post audio (Foley, sound design, mix, etc.) for the 2 part miniseries that would air on CBS during the May sweeps period.
As luck would have it, the schedule was a suicide mission to begin with then it got delayed in off-line so we had even less time. We used 2 HD Avid systems and had a D5 deck in for 6 weeks since all the source material was transferred from film to D5. I lost 15 pounds in the 5 weeks we were doing post and spent more nights in our building during that time than during any other project in the time I've been with IDEAS.
In the end, we delivered Part 1 on Friday morning and it aired Sunday night with more than 13 million viewers, the most watched non-series program of the week. Part 2 was delivered Sunday, a day early, and it aired Wednesday. The work we did on Elvis opened the door to the movies and miniseries we have done since then. Including Elvis we have done 13 movies since 2005. We have obviously learned a lot in that time but we have also proven one important thing- that we can execute Emmy and Golden Globe winning work at a price worth coming to Orlando for.
By the way, Elvis did not win an Emmy but did win a Golden Globe. Go to http://www.youtube.com/ideasorlando#play/uploads/36/v0L7wjP7Y-o for one of our favorite clips.
We got a phone call from a friend in December of 2004 and he said he was working on a miniseries and they needed some post help. We said sure send us the script and we'll do a proposal. A couple weeks later we were contracted to do the final video (on-line, color collection, etc.) and post audio (Foley, sound design, mix, etc.) for the 2 part miniseries that would air on CBS during the May sweeps period.
As luck would have it, the schedule was a suicide mission to begin with then it got delayed in off-line so we had even less time. We used 2 HD Avid systems and had a D5 deck in for 6 weeks since all the source material was transferred from film to D5. I lost 15 pounds in the 5 weeks we were doing post and spent more nights in our building during that time than during any other project in the time I've been with IDEAS.
In the end, we delivered Part 1 on Friday morning and it aired Sunday night with more than 13 million viewers, the most watched non-series program of the week. Part 2 was delivered Sunday, a day early, and it aired Wednesday. The work we did on Elvis opened the door to the movies and miniseries we have done since then. Including Elvis we have done 13 movies since 2005. We have obviously learned a lot in that time but we have also proven one important thing- that we can execute Emmy and Golden Globe winning work at a price worth coming to Orlando for.
By the way, Elvis did not win an Emmy but did win a Golden Globe. Go to http://www.youtube.com/ideasorlando#play/uploads/36/v0L7wjP7Y-o for one of our favorite clips.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Audio, Science & Navy
This was an interesting week at IDEAS, although not that out of the ordinary when it comes to the varied types of work. Except for the ceiling, we have a fully framed Audio A mixing room built inside our stage. There have definitely been bumps in the road over the last two weeks but we have a room framed out so that's where we wanted to be. By end of day Wednesday we'll have the ceiling and rough electric done.
One of our clients is the C-iT corporation. Their goal is to help teach science in a fun way using characters. We're at the beginning of our work with them but it's a really cool concept that we hope to be a part of for a long time.
Tuesday & Wednesday we had a large group of people in for a development conference for the game we're involved with based on the BattleStations 21 Navy training simulator we helped create. It was great seeing so many members of our team work with so many people on something that most of them haven't been involved with. Some of our team really had no background on the project before last week and to see them jump right in and be able to add value is a real tribute to our team.
One of our clients is the C-iT corporation. Their goal is to help teach science in a fun way using characters. We're at the beginning of our work with them but it's a really cool concept that we hope to be a part of for a long time.
Tuesday & Wednesday we had a large group of people in for a development conference for the game we're involved with based on the BattleStations 21 Navy training simulator we helped create. It was great seeing so many members of our team work with so many people on something that most of them haven't been involved with. Some of our team really had no background on the project before last week and to see them jump right in and be able to add value is a real tribute to our team.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
IDEAS Helps BattleStations 21 Redefine Navy Training
Battle Stations 21 utilizes storytelling techniques and tested immersive technology developed in the entertainment industry. By delivering the Battle Stations 21 training content inside a rich story and a high fidelity, immersive environment, the U.S. Navy achieves better retention, comprehension, and integration of key training objectives.
The objective of the Battle Stations 21 Program is to provide Navy recruits with the culminating physical training exercise in the final phase of their training. This entire Battle Stations Exercise is comprised of 14 scenarios each containing specified events (e.g., move aboard a ship) and scenes (e.g., small boat attack) that push recruits to their physical, mental, and emotional limits, requiring them to draw on multiple aspects of their basic training curriculum.
The recruits must utilize the skills and knowledge they obtained during recruit training in an environment that approximates the stressors that can be encountered in the operational shipboard environment. Immediately after the successful completion of Battle Stations 21, there is a graduation ceremony where recruits are designated as sailors for the first time. A successful completion of Battle Stations 21 is required for graduation from recruit training.
The objective of this program is for an enhanced, World Class Battle Stations Exercise that will produce a sailor that is team-oriented and better prepared with more confidence to meet the challenges that may be faced in today's uncertain environment. All Battle Stations 21 events/scenarios are designed and located such that the recruits will not be required to exit the facility to transit between events/scenarios.
The Phase I Conceptual Design of Battle Stations 21 was developed by IDEAS along with a team of outstanding companies and was completed in July of 2003. As part of Phase II, IDEAS was responsible for the entire 12 ½ hour on-board audio experience. Field production, sound design and Foley was all part of the post audio process. The audio production portion of Phase II was completed in February 2007.
Today was day one of a two day of a developmental experience design conference with our partners on the VESSEL team. We are planning how to make the Damage Control Trainer Game more engaging. This serious game is training all US Navy recruits how to appropriately respond in the event of an emergency on board a warship. That's right, we're working to expand the original physical training simulator to a game. The more practice and training recruits get, the better trained and safer they will be.
To learn more about BattleStations 21, visit http://www.youtube.com/ideasorlando#play/user/5D974BAA47A212B4/5/jibm7kyIGcM to see the story from CNN.
The objective of the Battle Stations 21 Program is to provide Navy recruits with the culminating physical training exercise in the final phase of their training. This entire Battle Stations Exercise is comprised of 14 scenarios each containing specified events (e.g., move aboard a ship) and scenes (e.g., small boat attack) that push recruits to their physical, mental, and emotional limits, requiring them to draw on multiple aspects of their basic training curriculum.
The recruits must utilize the skills and knowledge they obtained during recruit training in an environment that approximates the stressors that can be encountered in the operational shipboard environment. Immediately after the successful completion of Battle Stations 21, there is a graduation ceremony where recruits are designated as sailors for the first time. A successful completion of Battle Stations 21 is required for graduation from recruit training.
The objective of this program is for an enhanced, World Class Battle Stations Exercise that will produce a sailor that is team-oriented and better prepared with more confidence to meet the challenges that may be faced in today's uncertain environment. All Battle Stations 21 events/scenarios are designed and located such that the recruits will not be required to exit the facility to transit between events/scenarios.
The Phase I Conceptual Design of Battle Stations 21 was developed by IDEAS along with a team of outstanding companies and was completed in July of 2003. As part of Phase II, IDEAS was responsible for the entire 12 ½ hour on-board audio experience. Field production, sound design and Foley was all part of the post audio process. The audio production portion of Phase II was completed in February 2007.
Today was day one of a two day of a developmental experience design conference with our partners on the VESSEL team. We are planning how to make the Damage Control Trainer Game more engaging. This serious game is training all US Navy recruits how to appropriately respond in the event of an emergency on board a warship. That's right, we're working to expand the original physical training simulator to a game. The more practice and training recruits get, the better trained and safer they will be.
To learn more about BattleStations 21, visit http://www.youtube.com/ideasorlando#play/user/5D974BAA47A212B4/5/jibm7kyIGcM to see the story from CNN.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Construction & MegaStructures
This week was busy, and it was a short week. We stepped up the social networking marketing. While we continue using Facebook quite a bit (www.facebook.com/ideas.orlando), we are stepping up the Twitter page (http://twitter.com/ideasorlando) and we have started our own You Tube Channel (http://www.youtube.com/ideasorlando). As of today we have more than 50 video clips of our work on our channel. We talked long time about whether to use You Tube or keep all that content on our website. In the end we decided that You Tube is hugely accepted as a content source and it's just so easy to use that we figured why not use it instead of having to set up our website for that much content.
Tuesday construction started on our stage to build our post audio mixing suite on one part and our insert stage on the other side. Lots of progress was made but it was a bumpy first week of construction. Our acoustical designer was meticulous about the details in order to ensure a perfect acoustical room. Making sure all the little details are followed by the contractors is a big deal. If one thing is not followed it could potentially hurt the acoustics of the room. Rob Hill has already gotten to know the crew very well and I imagine they'll get to know eachother even more over the next 2 months.
We finished our post production work on the MegaStructures episode about the UK Train for a new client. There were a couple bumps in the process but considering this was our first project with this client I believe overall things went well. We are looking forward to working more with this client in the very near future.
Lots of other good things happening during the week as well. Key is converting good conversations and meetings in to good projects and happy clients. Lots of work on that over the next couple weeks.
Tuesday construction started on our stage to build our post audio mixing suite on one part and our insert stage on the other side. Lots of progress was made but it was a bumpy first week of construction. Our acoustical designer was meticulous about the details in order to ensure a perfect acoustical room. Making sure all the little details are followed by the contractors is a big deal. If one thing is not followed it could potentially hurt the acoustics of the room. Rob Hill has already gotten to know the crew very well and I imagine they'll get to know eachother even more over the next 2 months.
We finished our post production work on the MegaStructures episode about the UK Train for a new client. There were a couple bumps in the process but considering this was our first project with this client I believe overall things went well. We are looking forward to working more with this client in the very near future.
Lots of other good things happening during the week as well. Key is converting good conversations and meetings in to good projects and happy clients. Lots of work on that over the next couple weeks.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Audio A Construction Begins
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that as part of our relocation to Downtown Orlando, the facility owner agreed to pay for most of the build out of a state of the art audio facility for IDEAS. Today, construction officially began. Around 9am the contractors arrived and demolition of the stage began. There wasn't a lot of work done today but what was done was significant to us. Miscellaneous things in the ceiling were removed. All the walls were drawn out on the ground so we could clearly see where the "hard walls" and "soft walls" will be. Where the one wall currently is will be punched out to be the entrance to the mix room, the door is outlined with lines and measurements. Inside the current closet that will be closed off from the stage and will go out to the back hallway has the same outline and measurements. Like I said, there wasn't a ton of work done but any work signifies construction has begun. Pictures from the progress from today have been posted on our new home website www.ideasorlando.com/ideasnewhome then click on the pictures & blog tab. With any luck, within months construction will be done and we'll have an awesome post audio mix room and a nice insert stage.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
The Week That Was
Nothing major this past week but a lot of little things. We spent the week in the Symphony with our client that is producing Megastructures for the National Geographic Channel. We were supposed to be done by the end of the week but mid-way through the on-line edit the client realized additional changes needed to be made. We quickly went from on-line/color correction mode to off-line edit mode. Instead of finishing this past week we'll finish this coming week. We continue talking with the client about additional future work which we look forward to.
We sent a team to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this week to do two site visits for future resorts. Over the past couple years we have grown our Experience Design business. We work with clients to ensure the best guest experience possible. We do this for hotels/resorts, museums and even hospitals. While people don't necessarily want to be in a hospital the end result should be that guests (patients) enjoy their stay as much as possible. The overall principals are the same so our goal in Mexico is to begin formulating what the best possible experience can be for the guests before the resort is even designed and built. For more about our experience design work, visit http://www.ideas-innovation.com/innovation/innovation_experience_design.php
We had a team from Ascension Health in this week for a day long session to work further on the eLearning course we are creating for them. The course will combine teamwork training and simulation exercises in order to improve communication and teamwork skills and in the end, ensure the safety of expecting mothers and their babies. Our team then went down to Miami to experience the physical simulator at work. Ascension Health is the nation’s largest nonprofit health system.
We also spent a good amount of time this week working on our You Tube channel. We created a channel to make it easy to upload samples of our work for clients to view and/or people to stumble upon our samples and learn more about us. More on the channel later.
We also completed the prep work to start the audio build out next week. Our architect finalized the plans and our electrical engineer finalized the complicated electrical plans. Demolition work starts this coming Tuesday. Obviously more on that later.
And finally this week we celebrated College Colors Day Friday by people wearing their favorite college colors and we had a little tailgate bar-b-que for lunch. All to celebrate the opening of College Football season. Nothing like watching college football in HD with picture in picture.
We sent a team to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this week to do two site visits for future resorts. Over the past couple years we have grown our Experience Design business. We work with clients to ensure the best guest experience possible. We do this for hotels/resorts, museums and even hospitals. While people don't necessarily want to be in a hospital the end result should be that guests (patients) enjoy their stay as much as possible. The overall principals are the same so our goal in Mexico is to begin formulating what the best possible experience can be for the guests before the resort is even designed and built. For more about our experience design work, visit http://www.ideas-innovation.com/innovation/innovation_experience_design.php
We had a team from Ascension Health in this week for a day long session to work further on the eLearning course we are creating for them. The course will combine teamwork training and simulation exercises in order to improve communication and teamwork skills and in the end, ensure the safety of expecting mothers and their babies. Our team then went down to Miami to experience the physical simulator at work. Ascension Health is the nation’s largest nonprofit health system.
We also spent a good amount of time this week working on our You Tube channel. We created a channel to make it easy to upload samples of our work for clients to view and/or people to stumble upon our samples and learn more about us. More on the channel later.
We also completed the prep work to start the audio build out next week. Our architect finalized the plans and our electrical engineer finalized the complicated electrical plans. Demolition work starts this coming Tuesday. Obviously more on that later.
And finally this week we celebrated College Colors Day Friday by people wearing their favorite college colors and we had a little tailgate bar-b-que for lunch. All to celebrate the opening of College Football season. Nothing like watching college football in HD with picture in picture.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Communication Tools for Children’s Cooking Utensils
The neat thing about working at IDEAS is that we get the opportunity to work on so many great projects that are nothing alike. One day we're doing an eLearning course for Hill-Rom, a major innovator in the medical technology field, providing medical equipment and health care solutions to enhance outcomes for caregivers and their patients with more than a million of their hospital beds in use around the world. The next day we're doing post production on made for TV movies for Lifetime or direct to DVD movies for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Then the next day we work on marketing for Children's Cooking Utensils.
The Head Chefs are a revolutionary new line of children’s cooking utensils by Fiesta Products that are "Cool Tools For Kids". The client asked us to create a suite of communication tools to be used at their trade show that would assist them with buyer relations, media relations, and brand support for their product launch.
We started by using our 2-day STORYJAM™, as a starting point of a total BRAND RING™ concept for the products. From the STORYJAM™ session, we were able to develop the core story of the brand and create names and character traits of each product. We began production of 3 key products necessary for a successful launch. These products included a character-branded web site (http://www.head-chefs.com/), a product video that included a 30 second 3D CGI animation and original production with the creators of the Head Chefs, and a full-color print piece for distribution at their trade show.
We created a web site that included descriptions of each product as characters, giving each of them a back story. Downloadable audio interviews with each of the 5 characters are available for users. The 30 second animation was also utilized in the web site. A unique spot on the web site was created to accommodate the future development of age specific games for children and a “Vote for Your Head Chef” allows visitors to participate in naming their favorite. A store locator allows consumers an opportunity to find retail locations where they could make their next purchase. The video includes interviews of the products’ developers and was integrated into the 3D animation to promote the whimsical and mischievous brand of the Head Chefs. The animation was so well received that we were asked almost immediately to translate it into several languages including Japanese, German, and French.
In the end, this is one of those projects that you just shake your head and say "wow, that's really cool." It's not the largest project we have ever done or even the most visible one, but my 5 year old will tell you, the products are some of the coolest things we've ever been involved with.
The Head Chefs are a revolutionary new line of children’s cooking utensils by Fiesta Products that are "Cool Tools For Kids". The client asked us to create a suite of communication tools to be used at their trade show that would assist them with buyer relations, media relations, and brand support for their product launch.
We started by using our 2-day STORYJAM™, as a starting point of a total BRAND RING™ concept for the products. From the STORYJAM™ session, we were able to develop the core story of the brand and create names and character traits of each product. We began production of 3 key products necessary for a successful launch. These products included a character-branded web site (http://www.head-chefs.com/), a product video that included a 30 second 3D CGI animation and original production with the creators of the Head Chefs, and a full-color print piece for distribution at their trade show.
We created a web site that included descriptions of each product as characters, giving each of them a back story. Downloadable audio interviews with each of the 5 characters are available for users. The 30 second animation was also utilized in the web site. A unique spot on the web site was created to accommodate the future development of age specific games for children and a “Vote for Your Head Chef” allows visitors to participate in naming their favorite. A store locator allows consumers an opportunity to find retail locations where they could make their next purchase. The video includes interviews of the products’ developers and was integrated into the 3D animation to promote the whimsical and mischievous brand of the Head Chefs. The animation was so well received that we were asked almost immediately to translate it into several languages including Japanese, German, and French.
In the end, this is one of those projects that you just shake your head and say "wow, that's really cool." It's not the largest project we have ever done or even the most visible one, but my 5 year old will tell you, the products are some of the coolest things we've ever been involved with.
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