Going Global

The year 2009 saw a big increase in international clients for CrashBang Digital. As the map above shows, they're located from France, England, and Romania, to Malaysia, Australia, and Singapore (that one dot isn't in the middle of the Atlantic - it's the island of Aruba. I was really hoping for an on-site meeting there... ) I suspect it's because we offer one thing that can't be outsourced overseas: an American accent. Most of the clients are building Internet businesses that need an average American spokesperson (me!).

To aid in my goal of teletransporting myself internationally, I set up a "green screen" studio here. That way I can easily switch backgrounds in my videos. It's a large (5x7) backdrop that's hung behind me. It's the same technology that the TV weather guy uses to point out things on the weather map. Now if I could just get the teletransporter function working. Aruba - here I come!

The Heart-Healthy Avocado?

When you think of healthy foods you don't normally think of avocados. But maybe you should! According to a video I just produced for www.all-about-lowering-cholesterol.com, the avocado can actually help you reduce your cholesterol level.

Although the avocado is high in fat, it's mostly mono-unsaturated fat (the good kind that helps lower cholesterol). The government recently revised its nutrition guidelines, and now encourages Americans to eat more avocados.

The avocado video (below) is just one of 12 I've produced for Artin Vaqari at www.all-about-lowering-cholesterol.com.

Sailboat Secrets

I've always had an interest in sailing, so this project seemed a natural. Matt Sims of the East England Company in London hired me to create multimedia content for his website, www.Sailboat-Secrets.com.

I created several audio interviews with experts in the field (a marine surveyor, a yacht broker, and a sailboat dealer). I asked them pointed questions about buying and maintaining a sailboat. We also produced a video that recommends the best boat for a beginning sailor. Here's an excerpt from the video:




If you want to find out which boat Don recommended, you'll just have to visit www.Sailboat-Secrets.com!

A Service Station Where It's Needed

A company in Saskatchewan, Canada has a great idea for remote or small communities who don't have a gas station. It's a self-contained, unattended service station that can be drop-shipped to a site and set up in days. It's the Ghost Station from AGI Envirotank.

They've installed about 40 of these true "self-service" gas stations across Canada. It's a real life-saver for small towns that have lost their only gas station. Jeff from AGI shot some great handheld video that I combined with product photos to explain the concept.

Multimedia to the Max

We just shipped the master discs for another financial course for Wealthpire, Inc. The Last Hour Trading course consists of five DVDs, five audio CDs, and two printed volumes. It's based on the book by Josh Hawes, and we incorporated webcam interviews with Josh to enhance the content.

We did editing and layout for the two volumes of the book, recorded voiceover, created graphics, edited the videos, authored the DVDs, and even created the artwork for the packaging (I guess we did it all - except for developing this unique method for trading stocks during the last hour of the trading day).

Get Healthy While You Wait

It was our pleasure to produce two DVD programs for a pediatrician's office in Phoenix, Arizona. One DVD program provides an assortment of health tips interspersed with fun facts. It plays continuously in the waiting room of the Desert Ridge Children's Center.

The second DVD program is being given to new parents as a take-home resource. It offers guidance for new mothers on everything from breastfeeding to vaccinations. We created the scripts based on content already available from the center's website. I think what made the programs really engaging were the great photos that Dr. Ajarwal had taken of his clients and staff. The doctor is also an artist, and had decorated the waiting room with animal illustrations which we used as the basis for the fun facts on the DVD.

Fight Fog Eating

I just finished editing a series of audio podcasts for weight-loss coach Brooke Castillo. The podcasts consist of actual coaching phone calls with Brooke's clients. In the premiere podcast I learned about "fog eating." I think it's the act of subconsciously eating just to be doing something. The next podcast touched on the sensuous subject of licking your fingers after eating ribs. Here's a link to Brooke's podcasts so you can hear for yourself!

Charlie Black - Undercover Agent

I just finished creating interstitials and foley for five more episodes of the audio dramedy, The Adventures of Charlie Black.  The creator of the series, Xavier Paul Cadeau, is a nationally known voiceover talent.  He not only writes the scripts, but also provides voices for some of the characters.  Terry Derkach recorded the sessions and did the final mix at his studio in Manhattan, Vrtcl Entertainment.  

BTW:  Interstitials are the music clips that tie the dialog together.  And foley are the sound effects.  Let's hear more chainsaw!

Pennsylvania Oil Town

My great-grandfather created illustrations for newspapers in the late 1800's. One of the stories he contributed to was about an oil boom in a small town in Pennsylvania (McDonald, PA). I created a short video, based on his drawings and text from the newspaper article, and posted it on YouTube a few years ago. Since then, I've gotten some thank-you emails from residents of the town. This week the president of the McDonald Borough Council get in touch. It seems that they have a Welcome Station & History Center there, and wanted a copy of the video they could play there. I sent them a DVD for that purpose today. They are also requesting the state erect an historical marker on the site of the oil field, commemorating what the residents back then called "the great excitement!"

Real Relief

A medical practitioner contacted us about creating a DVD mailer. We worked with him on the script, recorded voiceover, and edited the video.  
The video featured interviews with patients and the tag line: Real People. Real Pain. Real Relief.  Here's an excerpt from the DVD:

Training for a Triathlon?

Not me.  But maybe you?  If so, here's a great training tool from fitness expert Ben Greenfield:  The CEO Triathlon Dominator Package.  It's targeted at triathletes who have a life outside of athletics; maybe a family or a job that they don't want to neglect.  You get a training plan that gets you in shape to cross the Ironman finish line, without spending a good chunk of your life getting ready. Learn more about the product by visiting:  http://triathlondominator.com

Sharing Photos

Do you have digital pix and vids trapped on SD cards? If so, FOTOBOX from Honestech may be your solution. It converts your digital media to cool slideshows.

We just created this video for our friends at Honestech down in Austin, Texas:

To Serve and Protect (and Be Protected...)

John Meyer and his wife Michelle operate an e-commerce site dedicated to providing emergency services workers with the equipment they need to do their jobs safely.  They asked us to create a web video to promote their site, MJ's 911 Store.

Maximum ZZZZ's

We just finished another video for CloudNine Lifestyle. This one for an herbal remedy for insomnia. The video combines stock video and photos with my voiceover and graphics. I'd tell you more about it, but I feel a nap coming on...

It's Here...

Based on the success of the teaser video for the High Velocity Market Master, Netpicks asked me to create the marketing video for the product:

It's Coming Soon...

I've always wanted to create a "teaser" video, and just got my chance thanks to NetPics.com. They are releasing a new software system shortly to help traders profit from any market. NetPicks wanted to generate some excitement prior to the product launch, so I worked with their marketing specialist, Suzanne, to create this video:

A Little Help from Mother Nature

We just completed a marketing video for a herbal supplement that helps you fight anxiety, stress, and depression. They say the natural ingredients in Mood Relief help you feel great, sleep well, and enjoy life again. You can learn more about the product at www.CloudNineMoodRelief.com.

Optimize Your Conversions

That's Internet marketing talk for increasing the percentage of people who visit your website, and then actually buy something. If you'd like a quick lesson on affiliate marketing, squeeze page development, and "hero shots," you might visit FabianTan.com. Fabian is an Internet marketing guru who provides a lot of good tips and techniques on his website.

We created a video for Fabian based on his article on three simple steps for building a profitable home business:

The Impact of Obamanomics

If you'd like to hear what the experts think the results of President Obama's economic policies will be, there's a conference this September just for you: The Underground Trader's Conference. The keynote speaker will be CNBC's Guy Adami. The focus of the conference will be on the Wall Street and the stock markets. To learn more, visit www.UndergroundTradersConference.com. Or watch the video we just finished:

Economy Got You Down? Time to De-Stress!

Did you know that you have 60,000 thoughts a day? And most of them are negative...

If you're looking for some practical tips and techniques to change your thought patterns and reduce the stress in your life, you might try the new book, D-Stress by Meiron Lees. We just finished the "book trailer" for it. This is our second marketing video for an Australian client; word-of-mouth must travel fast down-under.

If you'd like to read a sample chapter from the book, just visit www.innercents.com.au.

Texans Trapped

The new term I learned this week was Deferred Adjudication. I created a video for a group in Texas that is advocating reform in the judicial system there. Over 2 million Texans have accepted Deferred Adjudication for an alleged crime, with the understanding that their case will be dismissed when a probationary period is over. It seems it doesn't quite work out that way. Learn more by viewing the video:

Getting Back to my Roots

I got my start in voiceovers back in the late '70s. I was working at a radio station in Daytona Beach when I got a call from a local military contractor. They hired me to record narration for their training videos. (If you were training to be a naval aviator in that period, I'm sure you suffered through some of them.)

This week I returned to my roots by recording voiceover for a training video on how to operate a cool piece of equipment that picks up shipping containers and loads them in aircraft. The script was so well written that I feel I could operate the "CLT Dolly Set" sight unseen.

That's a Lot of Discs!

Manny Backus at Wealthpire sent me this photo of the DVDs and CDs we produced for his multimedia day-trading course, The Morning Hours Trading System. It totals five DVDs and five audio CDs, plus two volumes of the book, written by Bob Joiner. You can learn more about this approach to trading stocks at www.MorningHoursTrading.com.

Trading Stock Options

My financial education continues, thanks to Manny Backus at Wealthpire. I'm creating a new multimedia course for Manny, based on a book he wrote about trading stock options. I'm producing a series of DVDs and audio CDs designed for those just getting started in trading options. Options present an opportunity for higher profits than trading the underlying stocks, but at a higher level of risk.

The multimedia course will join an alert service on options, also called Options Insider. I'll provide a link for more info when the products become available. In the meantime, here's the opening animation for the DVD:

YaTrader, you bet.

We just finished two tutorial videos for the new website, YaTrader.com. If you have a passion for financial markets, YaTrader was created for you. When you join their global community, you can meet other YaTraders in your area, compete in free weekly contests, and win YaDollars (virtual money you can redeem for some very cool prizes).

Here's one of several tutorials we produced for new users of the website (many more can be viewed at YaTrader.com/tutorials.php).

Morning Hours Trading

I learned about a new strategy for day trading recently when I produced a new multimedia course for Wealthpire, called Morning Hours Trading. It's based on finding stocks that show a large gap in price between the previous days' closing price and the opening price the next trading day. Typically these stocks are good candidates for day traders (folks who buy a stock and then sell it the same day).

The Morning Hours Trading course consists of five DVDs and five audio CDs, and is based on the two-volume book written by Bob Joiner. You can learn more about the concept by visiting www.Weathpire.com. Here's a short clip of the introduction from the program:

Laptops Gone Missing!

Now there's a solution to the 12,000 laptops that are lost or stolen. SafePatrol Solutions is offering a line of cutting-edge products that helps you locate your laptop, recover important files, and then destroy confidential documents. Mobile SafePatrol will even remotely activate the webcam on your missing laptop, and send you a photo of the person trying to access your files. Cool stuff.

We produced a marketing video for SafePatrol Solutions that tells the story with animated graphics, audio, and photos. You can learn more about Mobile SafePatrol by visiting LaptopMobileSecurity.com.

Click the Red Record Button

Video tutorials on how to use a software product or website can be fun to create, particularly when the product is as cool as VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe. It converts all your old media, such as VHS tapes and vinyl records, to a digital format and then burns DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and CDs.

We used the Jing software to capture the VHS to DVD application screens, and then combined HD footage shot by the client (Honestech, Inc.) with voiceover and LiveType in FinalCut. When I produce tutorials or screencasts, I usually record the narration first, and then match the action to that (as opposed to talking while using the software). I think it makes for a more professional video (that, and I can't walk and chew gum at the same time...)

Unlock and Share the Memories

We just finished a marketing video for our friends at Honestech, Inc. in Austin, Texas. The spot promotes the latest version of their consumer electronics product that converts old VHS tapes to DVD (and now Blu-ray discs too). If you'd like to see how it works, I'll be demonstrating the product on the QVC network next Saturday morning (June 20th).

The folks at Honestech shot the HD footage for the spot, and we recorded the voiceover, created the animated titles, and edited the video. The clip was designed to take advantage of the high-def video player now available on YouTube:

Affiliate Marketing Resource

If you're considering entering the world of affiliate marketing, I know of an excellent free resource: the Affiliate Marketing Answer Book. It was written by James Martell, the affiliate marketing guru, and is available from www.jamesmartell.com/newsletter.

I worked with James to create a video to promote the book. He scripted the video and provided the voiceover; I did the video editing. It's great to work with a client who knows what they want and knows what works.

Do You Know Where Your Customers Are?

We just completed a series of eight video tutorials for a unique web application that helps companies locate their customers on an online map, and then route their delivery trucks. MobileIQ's Headlight is an online suite of fleet intelligence tools that service and delivery companies use to take better care of their customers, manage their fleet and routes, and grow their sales.

The project also introduced me to a new screen capture tool, ScreenFlow, that I found more intuitive than some of the competing software products for creating software tutorials. You can see the results in a tour of Headlight.

Recording Studio Summer Camp!

I wish someone would have offered this when I was a kid. Instead I hammered leather to make were supposed to be wallets.

JT of the Music Technology Tour hired me to do the voiceover for a video to promote the summer camp he runs out of his recording studio in Maryland. He focuses on helping "at-risk" youths by getting them involved in creating music and videos. Learn more about his efforts at www.musictechnologytour.com. And sign up your kid at StudioSummerCamp.com. What a cool idea!

Arrange Your Vacation

I'm working on a series of marketing videos for ArrangeYourVacation.com - a vacation rental portal that provides free listings for vacation home owners. I always love projects where I can include photos I've taken on my vacations - see if you can spot them in the video:

The Top 100

This week I broke into the "top 100" service providers in the multimedia category on ELANCE.com. I've found many of my clients (or they found me) on this website for freelance service providers.

This week I was ranked #100 out of 16,398 multimedia freelancers on ELANCE. Credit actually goes to my clients, since the scoring criteria are things like client recommendations, repeat business with clients, job acceptance rate, and total earnings. Thanks, guys!

Don't techno for an answer!

I've had some techno audio loops hanging around in my GarageBand library waiting for the right project. HeadsUpPro is it! Sean wanted a propulsive audio track for his web marketing video, and I think I met the goal.

HeadsUpPro.net provides personalized coaching to those who play online poker games. Since most online players have only a basic understanding of the game, a little help from HeadsUpPro will greatly increase your chances of winning. (And you get to wear those cool wrap-around shades!)

Fountain of Youth

We just created another web video for Nathan's Natural, the nutritional supplement company. This spot was for their anti-aging remedy, Vitager. I combined some photos of a public fountain we'd taken in Paris with artwork of a fountain of youth from the 1500's to tell the story.

Vitager is said to help your body produce more HGH, a growth hormone that is winning the battle against aging. Visit Vitager.com for details.

Free Tub of Worms!

I now consider my career complete. I finally had the opportunity to say "the first 150 families get a free tub of worms." It was in a voiceover for a spot for the Missouri Department of Conservation being created by Wooly Bugger Productions.

If you want your free tub 'o worms, show up early for the Kids' Fishing Fair, May 16th in St. Louis.

Look What's Hatched...

I'm working with the staff at Prometheus Research to create a video presentation that highlights the features of RexDB, the Research Exchange Database. Biomedical researchers across the country use RexDB to keep track of the data from their longitudinal studies. The video combines animated graphics and screen captures to demonstrate the power of the database.

Hollywood's New Slimming Secret

Here's another genre that I've always wanted to create a video for: the faux news report of an amazing scientific breakthrough.

This week I got my chance. It's a web video for Crevax, an all-natural weight loss product from Nathan's Natural. They provided some great footage, and I created the "breaking news" report. You can learn more about this revolutionary fat burner by visiting www.Crevax.com.

Solution for Depression

I suspect that more and more Americans are suffering from depression these days. We just finished a web video for an all-natural solution for depression: ViLift. It helps boost the levels of serotonin in your body, without all the nasty side effects of prescription drugs. Take a look at the video, and if you'd like more info, visit ViLift.com.

Portfolio Problems?

If you're like me, your stock portfolio has taken a nosedive over the past year. One of our clients has a solution: swing trading. This is the alternative to the "buy & hold" approach that has hurt so many of us recently. Manny Backus at Wealthpire creates a custom portfolio of stocks to buy and sell. If you copy his trades, you're much more likely to profit in these turbulent times. We produced a web video for Wealthpire that describes the approach. You can learn more by visiting PortfolioCrafter.com.

Wanna Be a Landlord?

I've started recording interviews with folks who are investing in multi-family real estate (think apartment buildings). The First Cornerstone Group provides guidance to investors looking to enter this lucrative field. I talk with their clients, who share their first-person stories about becoming landlords. Listen to one of the interviews, and find out what they do about those 2AM phone calls from tenants with a backed-up toilet...

Marketing Video for Book Release

We just finished a video for our first Australian client - Ian Segail of McKenzie Sales Tutor. He's written a book to help companies increase (or at least maintain) their sales during these tough economic times. Entitled "Bulletproof Your Sales Team," the book provides the five strategic strategies that business owners and sales managers should implement to weather the economic storms ahead.

Do You Know Mac D?

No, you didn't go to college with him. MAC-D stands for Moving Average Convergence Divergence. It's one of the indicators that traders watch when selecting a stock to buy. And it's the subject of the latest edition of the Trading Tips Video Newsletter.

We are producing periodic editions of this video podcast for Manny at Wealthpire, Inc. Each newsletter covers a topic of interest to swing traders in the stock markets.

Flash and DVD Tutorials

We just completed a 6-video tutorial and DVD for a web-enabled application that helps organizations manage their mentoring and coaching programs. COMP (The Complete Online Mentoring Program) matches mentors and proteges within an organization, and then monitors their progress in the coaching process. You can view the six videos on the clients' website.

We used the JING technology to capture the screencasts, and then edited in FinalCut so the videos could be rendered either in Flash for the web or QuickTime for the DVD. If you'd like to try out COMP, there's a 15-day trial available from Predictable Success.

Affiliate Marketing Videos

I've been working with Ross of STG Limited to create a series of marketing videos that will drive web traffic to some of his affiliated sites. Although I don't totally understand the details of affiliate marketing, I think you get paid for selling product from someone else's inventory. Kind of like the "per inquiry" spots that run on late night TV. At any rate, Ross, who lives on the island of Aruba, is selecting affiliate opportunities that he thinks will generate enough cash so he can spend more time on the beach (or at least less hours at his day job). We've designed videos that are very inexpensive to produce, but hopefully will divert enough eyeballs to the affiliate websites. Here's an example (gotta love the '80s disco synth bass):

Going Thru My Second Childhood By Playing With Action Figures

We just produced a series of three video tutorials for a software product called Claymation Studio 2.0 from Honestech. It's a fun application that lets you easily create stop-motion animations using your PC and webcam. For the tutorial, I played with action figures. Then added backgrounds, dialogue, and sound effects.

This project was produced in HD format (1280x720) to take advantage of the higher-resolution videos now possible on YouTube. I also used Jing by TechSmith which allows you to do video capture of on-screen action like mousing, clicking, menus, and value selection.

Just who would win in an ultimate deathmatch - GI Joe or Gumby?

You Can Take the Day Off!

That's the promise made by Manny Backus' First Hour Trading System. Many of his subscribers make enough in the first hour of trading on Wall Street to take the rest of the day off. Some have called First Hour Trading "training wheels for day traders." The premise is straightforward - you buy a stock when Manny says buy, and you sell it when he says sell. And it all happens within one hour, each day.

I've provided a variety of multimedia services to Manny over the past couple years, including authoring educational DVDs, creating Flash tutorials, and hosting weekly webinars. This week I created a marketing video for First Hour Trading. Now that YouTube is allowing HD videos, I've started producing web videos in the 16:9 format.

Nifty-Clicking for Fun and Profit

I've been creating short video tutorials for a website called NiftyClicks.com. NiftyClicks is the creation of maverick marketing guru Andrew Lock. It offers video reviews of hundreds of web resources to help entrepreneurs get more done. Each video provides a guided tour of a web resource using screen grabs and informal narration. Frankly, a Nifty Click video is fun for me to create, and I usually end up learning about a web resource I can use. NiftyClicks.com is a membership site, but Andrew has allowed me post one of my videos here to give you a feel for the site.

Time is of the Essence

Most of our video projects are for the web, and run a couple minutes in length. If the client wants to add something to the copy, the video just runs a little longer. But for broadcast spots, 30 seconds is 30 seconds (actually 00:29:29). We've produced several TV spots for Danielle of Exigent Productions. They run in the Chicago market on the Comcast and Viamedia cable channels.

There's a couple things we can do when the copy runs a little long. First, I remove all the breaths from the narration. If that doesn't do it, I can speed up the audio a little (while digitally maintaining the pitch). Here's a spot that uses both techniques. Can I take a breath now?

But why do they always come at dinnertime?

We just finished producing a marketing video for a system that automatically places out-going telephone calls. The message in the video is that now you too can profit from telemarketing. The cost-effective video was created with still photos and "live" text composited over animated backgrounds. You can learn more about the product at www.themagicbuttonbook.com.

The Roadkill Cafe

Hungry for some possum stew or cockroach soup? Just mosey on down to the Roadkill Cafe in Elberta, Alabama. You can learn more about this epicurian oddity in a video podcast we just created for the website, RVingAndMore.com. Our favorite snowbirds, Jerry and Linda, head south with their RV every winter. They love eating at mom & pop restaurants. Linda talks to the owners and takes some photos and videos with her Flip camera. And the results are posted as video podcasts on their website. I just help out with the audio and video editing. You'll have to view the podcast to find out what's actually on the menu at the Roadkill...

Making Your Mortgage More Manageable

The self-help program we produced for Loan Relief Services is now available. It consists of a DVD, two audio CDs, and a printed guide on how to modify your mortgage. We created the DVD and audio CDs based on the printed guide provided by Justin of Loan Relief Services.

If you're having mortgage problems, this program might make sense for you. It provides tips and techniques on how to lower your mortgage payments and hopefully avoid foreclosure.

Here's a short video clip we produced to promote the program.

You Pay Only Shipping & Handling!

It's the type of commercial I've always wanted to create: a new, amazing breakthrough helps you live a healthier life. Toby at Wonderful Wellness, Inc. hired me to create a web marketing video for his all-natural sleep aid, Wonderful Sleep. It was fun incorporating all the cliches of the genre into the spot. BTW: My free sample is being rushed to me right now - I'll let you know how I like it!

Going to the Chapel...

You're going to get married? You might want to attend one of the Bridal Sampler wedding expos, happening this spring in the Chicago area. Exigent Productions had us create the 30 second TV spot for the Bridal Samplers again this year. Catch it on one of the Cablevision channels in greater Chicago-land.

My Great-Grandfather on FOX TV

I was contacted by the art department of the FX TV show Damages, asking if they could use an illustration created by my great-grandfather about 100 years ago. It's a drawing of the New York Custom's House that appeared in Harper's Weekly. They wanted to enlarge it, and hang it on a wall of a judge's chamber behind Glenn Close. I guess they contacted me because I maintain a website dedicated to the artwork of my great-grandfather (www.ejmeeker.org). Unfortunately, I don't hold the rights to any of his work; it was all work-for-hire, mostly for the newspapers and magazines of the late 1800's. I was tempted to give them permission (not for the usage fee, but for my great-grandfather's memory), but thought better of it. I don't need any lawsuits for copyright infringement.
UPDATE: The FOX copyright clearance guy confirmed that Harper's still holds the rights to the drawing - so they used a photo of the building instead. Sorry, E.J.

Green Marketing a Podcast

The latest edition of the GetEcoNow podcast has been posted. In this one I had the pleasure of interviewing the person who wrote the book on green marketing... literally. Jacquelyn Ottman is the author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation. In the podcast she talks about companies who have successfully marketed their products to ecologically-minded consumers. And the companies who failed at it. Learn the five simple steps your company can take to connect with earth-friendly clients. Just don't be guilty of "green-washing."

Kickboxing Video

I'm starting the new year with a new project - a marketing video for a kickboxing school. Absolute Martial Arts in St. Louis provided me with some great photos of kickboxers. But I was also able to incorporate some photos that I had taken in Thailand about ten years ago. Muay Thai kickboxing dates back about 1,000 years. It originated in the ancient Thai capitol of Ayutthaya. While working in Bangkok on a United Nations project in the 1990's I was able to visit the ruins of Ayutthaya, and take some photos. They seem to blend well into the marketing video.