Lenses, Lights, and Wires

A couple of days after my first webcast, I helped with a far bigger production. This time, we had a bona-fide, Live-action Company Vice President, embedded video interviews with Recorded Vice Presidents and Regular Joes, as well as four Departmental Spokespersons (who just by pure coincidental chance and no other reason whatsoever...just happened to be women who represented 4 different ethnicities). The Veep would set the tone by first talking about how dreadfully important the topic was, and how deeply the Executives were committed to its implementation. The Spokespersons would then tell personal stories to illustrate each of the Important Bullet Points, and the Veep would wrap it all up with a song and dance duet with Marie Osmond and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra.

OK, I made up the part about the song and dance number...but you get the idea. This show was a real production, and would require a whole bunch more equipment, operators, and expertise than my previous webcast. We had telecom and IT guys, a technical director, a floor director, a sound engineer, and an experienced camera crew. We had giant floodlights, multiple cameras, a teleprompter, and a bunch of cue-card-type signs the director could hold up to tell the speakers how much time was left. It was a thoroughly professional setup with an expert crew, and the final product reflected that excellence.

The speakers all did well, and the topic was communicated with great sincerity and effectiveness. I'm not sure how many people actually watched the webcast, but we put a good product out there, and I'm proud to have been a part of it. I'm looking forward to taking more and more responsibility for future productions...and someday might get to be the one on camera, making the inspiring speeches for the corporation. (And maybe I could tell a few jokes along the way, eh? See...this guy walks into a bar with a giant amoeba sitting on top of his head, and he says to the bartender...well, never mind. You'll just have to help me make it to the big-time if you want to hear all my jokes. I got a million of 'em.)

In the meantime, I'm sure you're curious how my personal video-making career is going, right? Well, it's, um...slow. As excited as I am about my day job right now, the simple truth is that going to the office every day continues to impede my ability to crank out creative products of my own. There are projects in the works, of course -- including segments with ventriloquism, mimery, and pyrotechnics. And swimming instruction, too, as you might expect. But until I win Lotto and can afford to work on my pursuit of Spielbergianism full-time, the offerings shall come at a rather restrained pace. The only thing we've done recently are a few updated shots of my kid playing the piano, which I'll confess don't require a whole lot of cinematic genius input from his father. I'll let you know when there's other some other video content available. In the meantime, please enjoy a tune or two, and have a great day!