Joe Monahan

There’s a revolution happening right before our eyes.

And it’s almost science fiction-like.

Actually, not too many years ago, it was science fiction. The fact that we can consistently, successfully, and frequently watch high quality, engaging and useful video on our phones or other mobile devices has changed everything — from how we learn, how we watch movies to how we watch what used to be called “television.”

When I was a kid, this was something only Captain Kirk could do. Yet, here we are. The mobile phenomenon is changing the landscape of video consumption. It’s affecting all areas of advertising, marketing, web development, social media and video production. Businesses and “creatives” are having to change the way they do things.

It’s an exciting time, but it’s also a competitive and challenging time. Traditional mediums are decreasing in efficacy and now, more than ever, content and message are king. In addition, the way you deliver that message is of vital importance.

An established principle of advertising is that it’s important to think about your message and to communicate it in a creative and memorable way — a way that’s tailored and targeted to your audience. Attention spans have become very short, so you’ve got to be on your game. And adding “mobile” to the equation creates an entirely new dynamic.

People are now consuming content from more places and in very different ways, more than ever before. It’s becoming the norm – no, it is the norm – as users find the mobile experience better fits their busy, on-the-go lifestyles. They want more of the mobile experience and they expect more. WordStream stats show YouTube has over a billion users, almost one third of total internet users. Those users consume 500 million hours of online video every day. More video content is uploaded in 30 days than the major U.S. television networks have created in 30 years. I’d be willing to bet you’ve watched an internet video at least once, if not multiple times, in the last week. It’s what we do.

For your advertising to be truly effective, you need video content. Yet you need well thought-out, creative and engaging video content.

Once that’s done, you have more choices than ever to deliver it. Gone are the days in which families gathered around the TV at 8 p.m. to watch shows together. Watching video content during lunch breaks, while waiting for appointments, during travel, in line at the grocery store or any spare moment is the new norm.

Production and delivery in this new world can be both challenging and confusing. It can also be quite effective when handled properly. At Wheelhouse Creative, we live in this world. We not only create the content; we show you where to place it for maximum effect.

If you want to join the revolution, give us a call. We’re here to help.

Too often, individuals and corporations get stuck in a certain look because “That’s the look that everyone else in my industry goes with.” We see this most often in well-known industries…doctors wear white lab coats and look at x-rays, bank loan officers sit at computers and talk with people, real estate agents parade a couple through a house, etc. Certain industries have understood imagery and practices, I get it. It’s not that there is anything inherently wrong with these things, but to me, it looks as if someone at some time in the past framed a few shots of what they thought people in a particular profession did, and everyone else simply said, “Yes. That is what a banker does. Yes, that is an image of a realtor at work. Our TV ad should look like that too.” The goal in TV commercials, especially in your local market, is to stand out. Video is an incredibly effective medium, but for it to be at its most effective, it must cut through all the other noise, and it should be as polished and creative as possible.

Take our version of a real estate ad, for example. Everyone knows what a realtor does, and many agents advertise, so how does one go about producing an ad about listing a home with an agent that will stand out from the crowd? How about a short storyline about many of the problems people who try to sell their own homes encounter, but produced in the style of film noir? With a little scripting and creativity, you get “Agent Noir”…not your typical real estate ad, yet, within the storyline, we were able to work in all the things that the realtor wanted people to know about the pitfalls of trying to sell their homes themselves.

Political ads are another genre that tend to follow a formula. Have your candidate talk with people and deliver the message on camera…perhaps animate a few photos. That’s fine, but what if we used metaphorical imagery to illustrate the message to the viewers? One of our clients, who was running for judge, decided that he would like something different. His message was that he would work hard to get criminals off the street. This is a pretty typical message for a candidate running for judge, and as such, it has been put into a television format before. For most production teams, this means shots of jail cells, criminals behind bars, and judges hitting their gavels. For Wheelhouse’s production team, this meant that we needed an atypical way to illustrate a typical message. Take bit of outside the box thinking with a little visual effects magic mixed in, and you get the “Safe Streets” ad. The visual message is simple. The crimes that would have been are prevented by electing a particular candidate for judge.

Producing ads that are outside of established industry norms may be outside the comfort zone of many clients. That’s understandable, but as the saying goes, “fortune favors the bold.” The Wheelhouse production team is not afraid to push the envelope of creativity, and when you couple that with the sheer ability we have on staff, the results can be wonderful. If your goal isn’t to stand out, why bother at all? Of course, not every ad has to be a visual effects bonanza. Sometimes, a message presented with simple imagery can be quite effective…just ask Brian Prim how proud he was of his “Load of Bull” ad. Simple. Clever. Effective. Let us help you to stand out.

The title says it all. Those dreaded words have been uttered by many a parent, with the general goal of keeping your childhood self from doing something silly that you really wanted to do, but they knew you shouldn’t. This phrase is likely only trumped in the parental handbook by the phrase, “If so and so jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?”

I must admit, I have used the title phrase quite a bit in my career. The main difference is, I’m usually talking to a client, and I am, of course, referring to using a green screen. Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should.

What is a green screen? It’s a wonderful production tool that has been around for some time. It allows you to place people and objects, real or imagined, into environments that may also be real or imagined. Used properly, it can transport you to worlds, or help to achieve shots that would either be impossible, too dangerous, or flat out too expensive to achieve in any other way. Used improperly, well, let’s just say that it can provide a cheese factor to a production that would embarrass even the Cheetos Cheetah. Unfortunately, green screening is one of those techniques that I see misused the most, especially in advertising. How many times have you seen a local business owner green screened badly into a shot of the front of their own business? If you’ve seen it once, it’s already too much. Shooting such a scene for real is not only quite practical, but it would also look much better.

The green screen should be used to enhance a production when necessary, or when a concept calls for a shot that isn’t otherwise achievable. In other words, there should be some specific reason that it is used. Shooting green screen simply to avoid the effort of being on location to shoot a perfectly practical scene is the mark of the inexperienced. I regularly see producers and creative directors use green screening as a crutch for when there isn’t much of a concept for the shoot, or as a method to keep shoot costs down, as studio shoots tend to be less time consuming than shooting on location. The problem with this practice is that without a real plan for shooting on green screen, the process of post-production becomes far more time consuming and expensive, as ideas must be built around whatever footage happens to come out of the shoot, good or bad. The post-production costs associated with this “make it up as you go along” approach often tends to completely negate the lower cost of the shoot itself.

Our studio invested a fair amount of money in a partial wrap around green screen for effects work. Odd as it may seem, we spend a fair amount of time talking clients out of using it. We prefer to shoot a scene for real, if possible, saving this tool only for when the shot calls for it. Our most creative visions often call for some form of green screening. Everything else can and should be achieved the “old fashioned” way…by being on location and taking the time to shoot it properly.

Shoot on a green screen when necessary, not because you can. If I green screened you onto a bridge, would you jump? You would if the shot required it.

-Joe Monahan

As a production professional, one of the first questions I am always asked by clients is, “How much will video production cost?” Although this question is important and valid, one might as well ask what the weather will be like in the United States tomorrow. Without narrowing down some variables, the question is impossible to answer.

Video production costs come down to two driving factors:

1. Time
2. Resources required to complete the project

Both factors depend on the concept or idea that needs to be executed. If your project needs to look like Star Wars, it’s a safe bet that time and resources, and therefore costs, will be much higher than say, shooting a 30-second monologue in a studio against a white backdrop. I’ve personally encountered many creative ways for pricing production, from flat fees to all-inclusive, per minute rates. Most of these methods are problematic, as pricing a project based on final run time has no basis in reality, and nearly always fails to accurately account for time and resources. I could shoot a client talking for 30 seconds in front of a white wall. I could also recreate that client in 3D as an avatar and let the avatar speak the same 30 seconds of material. Both ads are 30 seconds in length and have the same message, but the cost of the second version is going to be much higher than the first, based on the time needed to create it. This is where I offer free advice. If anyone can confidently tell you that 30 seconds costs X, and 60 seconds costs Y, and 10 minutes costs Z…RUN! Run far and fast in the opposite direction. At best, flat fees limit what can be done for you. At worst, you overpay for inferior work. You’ve been warned!

My preferred method for pricing production, now and forever, is to custom quote each project based on the scope of work. This method ensures that the price you pay is in line with the level of production, i.e. time and resources required, to produce your final video. All videos are not created equal. A particular production may require only a single camera operator. Another may require multiple cameras and an entire crew to cover properly. We prefer to speak to you about your project to determine not only what needs to be done, but also what I like to call your “production tolerance.” The vast majority of clients do not have exactly what they want mapped out in their heads. This is perfectly ok, as we are quite adept at brainstorming ways in which to accomplish your goals. Once we determine the level of production you are comfortable with, pricing becomes quite accurate.

In the end, productions can range from hundreds of dollars to millions of dollars depending on the concept. A good rule of thumb is to enter into a video discussion with a realistic budget that you are comfortable with in mind. The higher the budget, the greater the possibilities. Knowing your budget also keeps us from offering you the top shelf filet mignon of ideas when all you can really afford is a great burger. We can also likely show you project samples that are within your budget range. Good, effective productions aren’t limited to high budgets. High concepts are limited to high budgets. When you contract your video production with us, you only pay for the level of production that you require. Call us to discuss your particular project. Our production crew is highly capable. Just keep in mind that Star Wars requires a lot of time and resources.

Parenthood. For some, it is something they’ve always known they wanted. For others, the thought strikes fear into their very soul. For years, I considered myself among the latter. Why would I want to give up doing whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it? It took me 42 years to get here. I’m set in my ways. I don’t want the complications, the responsibility or the extra work. Suffice to say, when my wife began to press me about having a child a few years after we were married, I was dubious to the whole proposition.

Having worked in video production for the last 17-plus years, I am very used to doing research…I research equipment, I research software, I research the clients that we work for in order to come up with ideas to get their message right. In my field, I can’t afford to make bad decisions.  Bad decisions are costly, and deciding to become a parent is one of the biggest decisions one can make. So, I began to do what I do. I started speaking to friends, family and anyone else I could find who had done the parenting thing. Overwhelmingly, the reviews were positive. No parent that I knew said they wouldn’t do it again, but every time I was about to walk away feeling better about the whole parenting thing, they would have to throw in the part about my life never being the same, and what a commitment it was, both emotionally and financially, and how they rarely had time for themselves anymore. I’m sure they all meant well, but that last part always put me squarely back on the fence.

In the end, I realized that no amount of research would lead me to an answer. I’m either going to do it, or I’m not…but it still scared me. What if I don’t? Will I regret it someday? Will my wife resent me at some point? How bad could it be? Am I destined to keep talking to myself like this? Fine. I’ll do it.

Two years later, my daughter was born. I had heard all along what a joyous occasion it would be. When she finally arrived, honestly, I felt, for lack of a better description, shell shocked. Wait…I’m supposed to be overjoyed. Why am I not overjoyed? Am I destined to become the worst dad ever? Am I going to be talking to myself like this again??? Now I was worried.

Eventually, all the noise and activity of the event had passed and we got her home. As she was lying in her crib looking up at me, I finally saw her for the first time. I mean, really saw her…without someone shaking my hand in congratulations, without a nurse telling us what we needed to do for her for the first few months and without all the activity of the hospital setting. I stared into those deep blue eyes (which 16 months later she has managed to keep), and wondered why I hesitated. If I might borrow a line from Axl Rose, whom I don’t believe I’ve ever quoted about anything…“I’d hate to look into those eyes and see an ounce of pain.” I have to admit I was completely unprepared for the power she would have over me.

A year and a half into the fatherhood thing, I have very little time to myself. I don’t do all the things I want to. When I come home from work, the evening hours are ruled by her until she goes to sleep. My life resembles nothing of what it used to… and I wouldn’t change any of it. I am not the same person I was before. She has changed me in ways that I am only beginning to discover and now I cannot imagine life without her. So do the things that scare you. Often, you come out better than you were before. Gratuitous photo attached. Hey! I’m a proud father.