Wheelhouse Blog

Cell phones and digital cameras have made photographers out of everyone. Technology has certainly taken most of the learning curve out of the craft. It used to be that you had to learn things like shutter speeds and aperture settings, exposure and reciprocity. Now all you have to do is point and shoot and the camera does the rest. That doesn’t mean that all photographers are created equal. A good photographer can take a fantastic photo with a cell phone or an oatmeal box pinhole camera. The vast majority of those taking pictures are by no means photographers. Most people take crappy photos. Trust me. I’ve studied this for over 30 years. This does not mean that all is lost. With a little instruction and some trial and error anyone can learn to take a great shot.

Let’s say you have a company, or that you represent a group that has a social media presence. If you are social media savvy at all, by now you have realized that anything you post on Facebook with a photo is going to generate more interest than a post without a photo. The same goes if you post something with a really good photo – you will get even more looks, likes and shares than if you used a bad photo. In this blog we will give you a few tips that will allow you to get really great shots and that will mean that more people will look at your posts.

Let’s start with the distance between you and your subject. Most people want to keep their distance from their subjects. It is almost as if they want to stand in the background and not be seen. That doesn’t work very well. Don’t be afraid. Be bold. Get right up there, fill your frame with your subject or subjects, and take a photo that doesn’t show the ceiling, the floor and all the rest of what is in the room that has nothing to do with your photo. Sure you can crop afterward, but that means you are enlarging a small part of the photo. This translates into a soft or noisy image. Stop thinking of your phone’s zoom feature as a tool to use while taking the photo. Whenever possible, walk up to your subject and fill the frame of your camera. This one tip will change your life forever.

Next, decide if the shot should be vertical (up and down) or horizontal (side to side). I like to shoot a vertical if I am shooting one or two people and I want to fill the frame with them. Verticals are great for waist up, knees up or full length. Groups of three or more usually cause me to shoot horizontal. What you are trying to do here is fill your frame with only what you want to see. That doesn’t mean that you always have to follow this suggestion. Sometimes I like to shoot one person horizontally from the chest up, place them to one side, and allow the other side to fill the space. This is good if you want to show the subject’s surrounding area.

Just a couple more things and you will be well on your way. Hold your camera – phone level at all times when photographing people. Aiming up will make them look tall and aiming down will make them look short. Shoot straight ahead. Chest level is usually a good spot from which to shoot. One last thing. If the exposure on your phone is too dark or too light, try touching the part of the picture that you are concerned about. By doing this your camera will change the exposure automatically. You can also tweak your final photos with the editing software that comes with your phone.

Creating blogs can be time consuming. Sometimes it is difficult to come up with original content. I am sure every company has thought about just grabbing some content from another blog. This can save you time, but did you know that Google could potentially penalize your site for doing just that? That’s why original content is king.

Having your website penalized can cause you to come up short when consumers are performing an organic web search. Instead of coming up as one of the first page listings in Google, your business can potentially be buried. Also, if you keep copying from different websites, Google could possibly remove your site from their results, which would be a very bad thing for your site. The purpose of blogs is to increase web traffic to your site, not shrink it. 

With that said, Google is very smart and will determine the original creator of the copied blog content and will reward that site with a successful rank. In other words, if you copy content you will get no mileage out of it and it could potentially hurt your web presence.

Coming up with unique and creative content that engages your clientele will drive traffic to your website with the hopes of converting that traffic into leads. A blog will give your company a human voice and let the general public see into your business’s personality. By doing this you create a stronger bond with your clients and hopefully repeat customers. Creating a high-quality blog will help increase the value of your site, in turn creating more value in your business. It is a win-win.

If you are having trouble coming up with unique, creative content for your blog, give Wheelhouse a call and let us help you come up with a marketing plan and some creative writing for your company.

A while back, I worked on a video that required the subjects of an interview to talk directly to the camera. The people being filmed weren’t paid actors or on-air professionals and you could tell they felt uncomfortable speaking to the lens of my camera and you can’t blame them.

With some coaching and a few extra takes they grew slightly more comfortable, but they were never as relaxed as they were before we started filming. We eventually got the subjects to relax enough to tell their story, but often times the shooting schedule doesn’t allow for as many takes that’s needed to pull off this technique.

Now, of course, the simplest solution to this problem is to have your subjects not look into the camera, but to be honest, that can be quite limiting. In my situation, the project I was working on was a video honoring a beloved employee who was retiring, so I wanted it to feel as if the testimonials given were being said directly to the person of honor. This interview technique is prevalent in modern day advertising and entertainment.

Go to YouTube and look at what videos are trending. What’s one thing that helps make those videos so popular? The answer is that the speaker looks the viewer in the eye. From the days of Billy Mays’ OxyClean commercials to the viral video for Dollar Shave Club or even the very popular Old Spice commercial, the on screen talent speaks directly to the customer.

“If you’re a customer and you speak to a salesperson, do they look over your shoulder and just talk about themselves? Of course not. ” – TubeBuddy and Hey.com

According to a recent study by TubeBuddy and Hey.com, videos that have the talent speaking to the audience and looking at the camera are much more effective as opposed to videos where the talent is looking off screen.

Ironically, what seems unnatural during production, ends up creating a very natural and engaging final product, connecting you to the viewer.

If you’re the President of the United States or a news anchor, a teleprompter is used where the words from the speech or news script is projected onto a reflective glass in front the camera’s lens. While reading the script, the eyes focus on the words crossing over the lens giving the appearance that the speaker is talking directly to the audience.

A teleprompter, for the most part, is only helpful with scripted productions and won’t help you during interviews.

So, how can you pull of this look quickly when your talent is not used to talking to the camera?

A few companies have come up with some interesting and innovative solutions to this problem, the first one coming from the company EyeDirect. They have created a photographic device that guarantees contact from any subject. According to EyeDirect’s website, their products will “guarantee an authentic connection”. Here’s how it works:

EyeDirect “How does it work?” from Steve McWilliams on Vimeo.

It’s essentially a sideways periscope that will overlay the interviewer’s face in front of the lens, naturally drawing the eye of the subject to the camera, whether it be a professional actor, business owner or your dog.

This technique has been used for various programs including ESPN’s documentary series 30 for 30

Whatever method you choose to use, the important thing is that you need to engage with your customers. Use video to start a conversation with your audience. Speaking directly to them shows that you care about each one of them individually. They know they can trust you, because you’re looking them in the eye.

When scrolling through my personal social media I cannot help but stop and watch the recipe ideas from Facebook accounts like Buzzfeed Tasty and Goodful. At the beginning of the year I made a resolution to focus on making healthier lifestyle choices. For example, parking at the far end of the parking lot to get in extra steps, turning my phone on “Do Not Disturb” mode after a certain time at night for a more restful night’s sleep, drinking more water to stay hydrated and choosing to eat fruits and vegetables as much as possible for a healthier diet. After seeing a number of different recipes created in videos on social media, I finally decided to give a few of them a try!

My first step was making a grocery list of the items I would need to make these recipes throughout the week. Next was the preparation (the recipes I chose had a lot of items that needed cut up). The final step, of course, is putting it all together. I was a bit leery on how the final products would turn out. We’ve all seen or experienced those Pinterest fails. I am pleased to share that all of the recipes were a success, my favorite being the avocado salad dressing.

I encourage all to give the Tasty, Goodful and any other recipes you see on your Facebook timeline a try. While some look very complex and time consuming they are definitely worth the end result. Tasty recipes are so popular that they have released a customizable cookbook. I definitely see an investment in my future. I have shared the three recipes I have tried below. Bon Appétit!

Roasted Veggie Salad With Avocado Dressing

FULL RECIPE: http://bzfd.it/2jR9RKb

Balsamic Chicken & Veggies Meal Prep

FULL RECIPE: http://bzfd.it/2ku93ZG

Fast & Easy Breakfast In A Mug 4 Ways

FULL RECIPES: http://bzfd.it/2jFzJpy

(Image Source: BuzzFeed, 2017)

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

My old man was a junk man his whole life. He started out as a rag picker in 1929 when he was 13 years old. He would pull a wagon through the streets of North, East, Center and South Wheeling, as well as the Island, Claytor, Elm Grove and Woodsdale, calling out for rags. These rags would be added to a giant hopper, shredded and sent to textile and paper mills by rail. I asked him once if he felt ashamed pulling that wagon. He quickly said, “Hell no. I had a job. It was the Great Depression. Many had it rougher than I did.”

By the age of 18, my dad worked his way up to scale operator in the scrap metal part of the yard. This was the most coveted job in the whole junk yard. People would give the scale man gifts, little favors in hopes that he would weigh their loads a little heavier than they actually were so that they could get more money. It was not uncommon for a scale man to fake the load weight and then demand part of the over payment as a kickback. My dad decided he wasn’t going to do that. Even at 18 he was no pushover. He made it clear from day one that he would accept no gifts and everyone would get a fair weight.

He knew he could do this job. He could do the math in his head. He knew metal and he knew how to deal with people. He was not at all worried that he would fail, but he wasn’t sure that would be enough to keep that coveted position. He needed an edge.

Believing that doing a good job was not necessarily good enough to keep a job during these though times, he wanted to do more. He wanted to impress his bosses and try to assure his job placement. He came up with an idea wherein he could buy bulk graphite, pour it into paper tubes and sell it to the folks who came in to sell their junk. He approached his boss and asked if he could start doing this. He told them he figured that everyone of their customers would buy the graphite because every one of them had a use for it. He said he could sell it for 10 cents a tube cash, or 5 cents a tube if they took it in trade with every load they brought in. His bosses said that they didn’t think they were interested because people might think that they were trying to extort patronage from their customers. Instead, they told him he could run it as a side business while he was also working for them.

Eventually my old man was selling tubes of graphite all day long. Still wanting to show his self-worth to his employers, he came up with another idea. He figured that just like the graphite, oil was something his customers could use, too, as were tarps and tie down straps for the trucks carrying the loads. So, one day, he approached his bosses. He told them how well he had been doing selling his graphite and said that he was sure he could sell oil, tarps, rope and even chain. He said that customers could bring in their own oil cans and he could fill them from the oil drums in the yard. He said that they could salvage old chains from the junk and have their welders put hooks on them. This would be money for nothing. The ropes and tarps they would have to buy wholesale. Before they could say no, he pulled out a wad of money – all he had made selling graphite. He offered the money to them and said they could use that money to purchase the materials.

The bosses thought it over and asked him what he wanted in exchange, or what he hoped to gain. He said that all he wanted was to get to remain the scale man and to be assured a job. They took his money, and agreed to his new idea. Soon the scale room looked like a store front. They sold all kind of necessary items to the men who brought in scrap for cash. They also kept the profit. My dad didn’t get a cent of that money.

Then one day in December of 1944, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The next week, my dad and his cousin walked into a recruiting station and joined the Navy. Soon he found himself in the South Pacific on an LST. He saw much action in those campaigns. Many died around him. Fear was a constant companion, but one thing he never had to fear was whether his wife was doing without, if she was going hungry or in fear of losing their home. This was because his employers back home never failed to deliver a paycheck to his wife. Even though he was not there, even though he was not working for them, they paid him every two weeks and delivered that check in full to his wife.

When my dad got back from the war, he went back to his old job. He thanked them for not only keeping his job open for him, but for sending a check to his wife every two weeks for two years. He swore that he would pay them back for every cent. They told him that he had already paid it back to them. They informed him that they not only made money selling merchandise that they never would have sold had it not been for him, but that there was a bigger reason that they had never told him about. It seems that soon after my dad took over the scales, the company found that their scrap intake weight, their weigh in, was down, but that their outgoing, or weigh out had stayed the same. It took them a while to figure this out, but eventually it all came clear. Every scale man before my dad, had cheated the company by claiming weigh ins were higher than they were. They did this to get kickbacks from the customers. All my dad did was mark down the exact weight, and pay out accordingly. This money added up, so much so that when my dad was in the Navy, his employers continued to pay his wages to his wife.

My father worked there until 1967. The last of the three Laffer brothers, for whom he worked his entire life, had passed away by then, and my father no longer felt obligated to stay. I remember his boss at his new job gave him a brand new car as a signing bonus. It was a 1968 Olds Cutlass, the first and only new car he ever had.

My old man was a smart man with a great work ethic. It is my hope that not only some of that rubbed off on me, but that perhaps some of that can rub off on my fellow compatriots here at Wheelhouse.

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.

Sixteen was the age of my first tattoo experience. But as bad as that sun and moon (with some Thomas the Train-esk features) may have turned out, I was hooked. I enjoy all types of tattoos, my personal collection is an array of milestones in my life, moments that I never want to forget or reminders of people who have influenced my life in remarkable ways. Being able to express the type of person I am and what I believe in through art is who I am. Tattoos don’t just help me express my personality, they help me define it.

Being in the creative industry is a unique lifestyle which has helped influence me to become a visual character. I look at things differently in life – some days I see beautiful art on billboards other days I see the spacing between letters and I think to myself, well that particular designer forgot to pay attention to their kerning and I want to scream. Either way, being able to visually express myself with tattoos is something that I adore.

Now trying to decide whether to ink or not to ink, that is definitely a personal preference. I would suggest researching different parlors and, obviously, the artists. They have a saying in the industry – cheap tattoos are no good and good tattoos are not cheap. These are words to live by and if you want a lasting beautiful piece most definitely do your research. A lot of times if you have an idea of what you want, go to the artists and give them a concept, print off the styles that you personally like and let them be the artist. They will do their best work if you give them room to do what they do best, tattoos.

Painful? Absolutely… but with personally 40-plus hours sitting in that chair, I get to carry a badge of courage and pride that I can wear on my skin for the rest of my life. You walk away with an everlasting keepsake that nobody can take from you.

If getting inked is something you have been thinking about, but you are on the fence, if you go through with it and decide that it is not for you, there is always tattoo removal, so you have options, but if you are anything like me you will be hooked for years to come!

Tattoo Statistics below to help you make your decision slightly easier!

Before we can explore into the vast realm of visual effects, we need to understand what a visual effect actually is. Once this is known, we can explore how an effect is graded upon, and whether it is Hollywood quality or not. My end goal with this blog entry is to convince you that you don’t necessarily need to contact Hollywood in order to obtain high-end visuals. They are now being produced much closer to you than you think.

There is a certain amount of confusion when it comes to effects in film, for example the difference between a visual effect (also known as a CGI) and a practical effect (also known as a special effect). A special effect is the act of creating through camera illusions, like using a prosthetic to chop off a limb, or designing a car to handle jumping 20 feet into the air and landing while retaining its ability to be driven far enough to finish the scene. Imagine just how many “General Lee’s” they had to make. Yes, Dukes of Hazard, I’m looking at you!

Then there are visual effects, in which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside of the context of a live action shot, sometimes to the point of overuse. Let’s take the most obvious example, the “Star Wars” prequels. Come on, George! Why not use live extras for storm troopers?! Did you really need 3D storm troopers for the entire movie?

Why did I choose to use these movies as an example? Because while watching them, you can immediately tell that elements were created and then added to the film. The holy grail of visual effects is to be able to add them to a sequence but not notice them at all. This creates what is known as a “suspension of disbelief.” Visual effects artists strive to be the ninjas of film making. We hide in the shadows trying to not be noticed. Our job is to make you forget that many of the elements on screen do not exist at all, allowing you to be completely absorbed into the storytelling of the film. Freddie Wong from RocketJump said it best: “Visual effect artists combine incredible artistry and technical skill, toiling over shots for hours or even days! If they do their job well, nobody even notices, but they still do it. If that’s not the definition of love for your craft, I don’t know what is.”

So now that we have a firm understanding of what a visual effect is, we can begin to grasp how hard it was to implement a visual effect nearly 50 years ago, and how smaller studios and individuals began gaining access to the power Hollywood enjoys thanks to the progression of technology. What if I told you it was practically impossible to fake what was seen on TV in 1969… the year we landed on the moon? That’s right, it was easier to actually send three people to the moon than it was to fake the moon landing with visual effects! I’ll explain that perhaps in another blog entry.

It wasn’t until the release of “Star Wars” in 1977 that practical special effects began to be combined with visual effects. After the mass success of “Star Wars,” the very first visual effects studio, Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), fought to have the larger studios acknowledge the powerful tools that could be used in film, but many studios didn’t see the benefit. So, ILM decided to make a movie that would be packed with visual effects. The purpose was to challenge prevailing thought by using subtle effects that would add to the story without calling attention to themselves. In “Forrest Gump,” ILM digitally extended sets and manipulated backdrops that were not quite photogenic enough. At one point, they even made Tom Hanks appear to shake hands in a scene with JFK. Point taken! After “Forrest Gump,” studios everywhere began taking advantage of the powerful tool set of visual effects. This, in turn, spawned other developers to help push the technology further.

From the creation of the first lightsaber, we have gone from work that would take an entire team of individuals to create to today’s software that can be used by a team of only a few, or even one, to create visual effects. Don’t get me wrong, you still need the technical expertise and know-how to best utilize this powerful technology. As a visual effects artist, I study my craft, and this is a discipline that constantly changes and evolves. You are never finished learning, and I don’t expect to ever know everything. Each year, there is a new breakthrough in technique and technology. Staying ahead means constant study and little downtime.

The next time you think that your crazy idea for a commercial or any video project cannot be done because major visual effects studios are too expensive, just send your idea to us! We love being challenged, and no idea is too big…unless you want a film full of animated storm troopers…Why George!? 

I remember it like it was yesterday, I was sitting in my first grade classroom and we were discussing where we wanted to go for our “senior trip” after our future graduation. At that point in time, I’m not even sure if we knew what year we would graduate, but there we sat making BIG plans. The plans were finalized and the girls in that small, first grade classroom made plans to hop in a car and drive to the biggest mall in our country, the Mall of America (MOA). While it all sounded great, and we talked about it for the next 10 years it unfortunately did not happen. When all was said and done, I ended up going to California with my best friend and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This past February I thought about the trip, and how determined I once was to shop at the MOA. I had a chat with the three biggest shoppers (and more than likely the ones to blame for my shopping passion) in my life- my mom, my aunt and my cousin, and the plans were made! My mom and I would leave from Pittsburgh while my aunt and cousin would leave from Ft. Lauderdale, and we would meet in Minneapolis for a fun weekend of shopping.

We arrived in Minneapolis on a Thursday and we were ready to shop ‘til we would drop! We took Thursday night easy, got settled in our hotel and spent the evening mapping out our strategy to make it through the mall. You’re probably thinking, “Why would you need a strategy for a mall?” Take a quick glance at the following fun facts from the MOA website, and you will immediately understand.

“MALL OF AMERICA® BY THE NUMBERS

• 15 miles: Walking distance around one level of Mall of America
• 8 acres of skylights: What allows about 70% of the natural light to enter the Mall
• 4 out of 10: Visitors to Mall of America who are tourists
• 9: Yankee Stadiums that can fit inside the Mall
• 27: Rides and attractions in Nickelodeon Universe®
• 43: Boeing 747s that could fit inside the Mall
• 65: How many semi-trucks were needed to transport trees to the theme park to create the outdoor feel of an indoor park
• 70 degrees: Temperature inside Mall of America whether its spring, summer, winter or fall
• 100+ pounds: Amount of food fed daily to animals at SEA LIFE® Minnesota Aquarium — plus 90 extra pounds on the days the sharks are fed
• 347: Statues of Liberty that could lie inside the Mall
• 400+: Events held at Mall of America each year
• 520+: Stores located in Mall of America
• 8700+: Weddings that have been performed at Mall of America
• 11,000: Year-round employees at Mall of America (13,000 during peak periods)
• 12,750: On-site parking spaces at Mall of America in two ramps
• 30,000+: Live plants in Nickelodeon Universe® — plus 400 live trees climbing as high as 35 feet tall
• 32,000+: Tons of trash recycled each year
• 170,000+: Legos that have been lost in the LEGO® play area
• 3 million-gallons: Size of the aquarium at SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium
• 6 million: Square feet of gross building area
• 40 million: Visitors annually which is more than the combined populations of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa…and Canada
• 174+ million: Number of rides ridden in the park since opening
• $650+ million: Cost to build Mall of America
• Nearly $2 billion: How much Mall of America generates in economic activity annual for the state of Minnesota”

Come Friday morning, I felt like a kid on Christmas. Our strategy consisted of completing the first two floors on Friday and the second two floors on Saturday. We did just that and were exhausted by Saturday night. I now know the real meaning, and feeling, of the “shop ‘til you drop” saying. When arriving home, my boyfriend asked, “Did you buy anything that you couldn’t have bought around here?” The answer is no. There were better options than here and there was no tax on clothes and shoes! In the end it was a fun experience and I can officially say that I made it to the Mall of America. Yes, I traveled 902.4 miles to shop, and I encourage all my fellow shopping addicts to book this trip too.