blog

Music to our ears

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:41:00 GMT

Screencraft is very proud to announce our newly built, state of the art, audio facility. Enabling us to provide high quality audio mixing and mastering for our TV, radio, and web projects. With a dedicated creative space, our audio suite is also able to produce music to go with your TVCs, radio ads, documentaries etc. Our talented and accomplished composer/musician Johno Harries can write and perform music to meet your needs, which is pretty cool.

Our audio suite software provides a seamless workflow between video and audio editing, reducing time and cost to the client. With high end microphones, outboard gear, and first class audio monitoring, we are able to provide a solution for your needs.

Life's Better in Boardshorts

Mon, 21 May 2012 05:01:00 GMT

In February earlier this year, we were lucky to have been a part of the very first Australian Open of Surfing held at Manly Beach. The event took us to one of Australia’s famous beaches for 9 days of surf and sun.

Presented by both Hurley and Billabong; the competition hosted both a women’s and men’s division which featured some of the top surfers from around the globe. Australia was well represented with the likes of Josh Kerr, Mitch Crews and Laura Enever; Sally Fitzgibbons took the cake at the end winning the first ever Australian Open of Surfing crown.

The live broadcast was for our client IMG World commissioned us to produce a webcast and a telecast for Fuel Channel. We teamed up with our friends Milkmoney Films and a team of 45 crew to produce the coverage.

If the beach wasn’t packed out enough, the world famous custom-built monster skate bowl hosted many spectators to watch the Skate Pro. With $50, 000 prize money up for grabs, the crew definitely brought their best tricks.
To top off each day, the event was rocked from the channel [V] live music stage which hosted some of Australia’s biggest bands including; Sneaky Sound System, Bluejuice, Children Collide and the sisters from Stonefield.

The famous Grim Reaper

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 10:59:00 GMT

Its been ten years since one of Australia's most famous ad men Siimon Reynolds masterminded a campaign to reduce AIDS infection in society. As a result, despite the disease gaining an early hold in at-risk groups, the country achieved and has maintained a low rate of HIV infection. The first recorded case of HIV/AIDS in Australia was 1982 and this campaign became one of most successful public information campaigns in the world.

The Creative Process

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 06:52:00 GMT

Geoff Crabtree from Sydney has written a book about living with a creative mind. Stumbled across a series of videos he's made about the creative process. I found it very interesting and relatable.

Take a look at his website http://livingwithacreativemind.com/

Jeff Crabtree is an award winning composer, producer and musician who specializes in the diametrically opposed fields of acid gospel blues and film scoring. He is equally at home on the stage or in the recording studio. He has performed in large and small venues all over the world in the last thirty-five years. He has production and songwriting credits on a truckload of recordings including two live albums in his blues alter ego state. His friends describe him as a musical alchemist – a magician of sound.

The Future of television... where is it going?

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:37:00 GMT

Well, it is a good question. With the advent of IPTV and the advertising dollar going to online its going to be interesting to see how this plays out.

Obviously the linear model is dying, by catch up TV.

Advertisers, be aware!

Address Is Approximate

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:54:00 GMT

Google Street View stop motion animation short made as a personal project by director Tom Jenkins.

Story: A lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View.

Music by the wonderfull Cinematic Orchestra and the track is Arrival of the Birds.

All screen imagery was animated - there are no screen replacements.

Produced, animated, filmed, lit, edited & graded by Tom Jenkins (theoryfilms.co.uk / facebook.com/theoryfilms)

Work it right

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:12:00 GMT

In our ever demanding creative industry, we need to have the right tools and the right environment to support and enhance the creative process. We know our team needs a good place to work, not only for those late night gigs but year round. We know its important for our team to be able to drape over the couch when rendering for an hour. Or to be able to take a caffeine hit on our gorgeous new espresso coffee machine.

Over the last six months we've invested heavily in building our brand new purpose built facility. To create a space that helps creativity and work efficiency. From edit suite and design spaces, to break out spaces with a main "light well" in front. The key was to create a space that the business could call home for at for an extended period of time. With refurbished polished wooden floor boards from a sheep station in Sydney and contemporary Eams furniture, the office is a pure joy to work from.

Too many cooks...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:12:00 GMT

I think the ad agencies, the production industry and client teams should stick to their areas of expertise and responsibility. Advertising agencies producing ads, clients producing scripts and some production companies offering a turn key service for the whole lot.

Before you agree or disagree to quickly, lend me an ear.

Move away from the big end of town for a minute and look at the same premise but within a film crew structure. Most of you already know that, in the absence of a First AD and when on set the Director rules the roost, the Producer has some serious clout and the DP and some other select crew members carry some major responsibilities and the right to an on-set opinion that goes along with it.

These people, the crew - have the responsibility, the support and unlimited blessing of the client and agency team to go out and blow 30k, 50k, sometimes 100K a day – all the time working to the premise of ‘adding value’ and bringing the ‘wow factor’ to the fore.

Making decisions on the spot, overcoming unforeseen challenges in the heat of battle and always dealing with the unknown are common place…. collective experience counts and so does the cohesive nature of your team.

Just imagine for a minute, the DP thought he could direct better than the Director, the lighting dept thought they were better Art Directors than the guy that’s been doing it for ten years, the grip was telling everyone he was a much better Producer than the one who employed him for that day !

Sounds a bit silly doesn’t it, why would you do it ?

The answer is of course… the lolly, or as we all like to call it – the budget.

Good or bad, silly and sad or clever and frugal – just like every single production project, the best solution is yet to be designed. Every brief, budget, script and or production project should be managed in a fashion that best suits the individual challenges of the job and to best deliver the desired outcome.

Then there is the next question… who is going to do that ?

Are you investing in your brand?

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:12:00 GMT

Branding – no, not burning your initials into a steers backend but rather the development, maintenance and strengthening of your companies no 1 asset in the eyes of the marketplace – your brand. The brand and the promises it makes should be sound and stable but first you need a brand.

Budget pressure is the enemy of your brand and the desire to do something new and fresh doesn’t always help – the building of your brand requires discipline, consistency and investment but first one little issue – do you have a brand ?

A brand is a customer’s mental point of recall, your brand is your products first and second name, phone number and address all wrapped into one. It’s how people mentally file your product, coca cola = cool drink, Porsche = fast car.

The more a customer understands about your brand, the clearer their understanding is of your product and it’s benefits… and the relationship between themselves and your product.

In the ACT market there are a few companies that successfully manage and project their brand into the marketplace, how can you pick them – it’s easy, we all know them, what they look like, their logos, the corporate colors and even if we don’t like them we can tell you most things about them. This means their brand is an asset, it is worth money, lots of money in some cases, not because (exclusively) their products are good or bad but because their brand has a relationship with the marketplace… and you.

Changing this message or sending mixed signals confuses the marketplace – customers are no longer as sure about their interpretation, their lack of connection may result in another brand becoming more associated with your customer.

Many organisations have now recognised that brand is directly related to their vision, purpose and the proposition that sits at the centre of what they do. The future for branding is most likely a holistic attitude across your entire business, which is the pivotal point and stabilizing anchor in a world that’s characterised by constant change.

The challenge is, on every level to align your creative communications and advertising with your brand and it’s promises.

Written by anon, Screencraft

Images courtesy of Best Affiliate Marketing

Our Carers NSW project wins Mental Health Award

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:12:00 GMT

We're excited to announce that the DVD we produced for Carers NSW won at the 2011 Mental Health Matters Awards.

For the category of Indigenous Social and Emotional Wellbeing, the DVD was called Looking After Ourselves.

The program is a training resource that aims to increase the capacity of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal service providers to support and maintain their own health and wellbeing. It also aims to provide training and support for Aboriginal carers, facilitating delivery of the Looking After Ourselves training program in their local communities with Aboriginal carer support groups.

Screencraft is pleased to be associated with Carers NSW and congratulate Carers NSW on receiving a 2011 Mental Health Matters Award - a project Screencraft scripted, produced and directed.

A segment from the Exercise session of the DVD can be seen here www.screencraft.com.au/Projects/looking-after-yourself-dvd

The Top 5 Qualities of Productive Creatives

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:13:00 GMT

by Jocelyn K. Glei

A recent BusinessWeek article reported that, “According to a new survey of 1,500 chief executives conducted by IBM's Institute for Business Value, CEOs identify ‘creativity’ as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future.” While the study’s results will come as no surprise to hard-working creative professionals, they do raise an important question: How do we identify – and hire for – the qualities that add up to creativity? By our lights, the notion of “creativity” can’t be separated from the skills required for creative execution. So our analysis of the characteristics crucial to creativity focuses particularly on the skills that facilitate putting ideas into action.

Below, we outline five key qualities of particularly productive creatives, followed by some recommendations for how to uncover them in potential hires, co-workers, and collaborators.

1. Communication skills. As Albert Einstein said, “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” Whether you’re leading a team, managing clients, or training a new hire, the ability to communicate clearly and concisely is an absolutely essential skill. We must all develop the capacity to efficiently manage our communication channels (email, Twitter, Facebook, etc), to rally people around our ideas, and to play well with others – our coworkers and our clients.

How to test for it:

One easy way to test this ability is by having a candidate explain a simple task. If you were hiring a Systems Administrator, for instance, you might ask something like, “Walk me through the process of setting up a web server.” It doesn’t have to be a hard question; the point is to get insight into their ability to communicate clearly.

2. Pro-activeness.

We tend to judge people based on their experience. This is, of course, the whole basis of the resumé. Yet, while on-the-job experience is valuable, we must dig deeper. A better indicator of productive creativity is one’s willingness to act, to take the initiative to put an idea in motion. As we’ve written elsewhere on 99%, “Those who take initiative possess tenacity and a healthy degree of impatience with idleness.”

How to test for it:

Inquire about past instances where the candidate was proactive. Have them explain how and why they started that club, magazine, or film series listed on their resumé. You can also get a glimpse into their future willingness to take initiative by asking questions like: “If I put you in charge of the company today, what would you do differently?” or “What are some things that you would change about the product (or sales process, or website, etc.) if you had the chance?”

3. Problem-solving.

“Thinking outside of the box” is really nothing more than creative problem solving – the ability to arrive at new solutions by looking beyond obvious or traditional approaches. As designer Michael Beirut taught us at the inaugural 99% Conference: “The problem contains the solution.” In this way, successful creatives don’t see problems as problems at all – they see them as opportunities.

How to test for it:

Aside from using Karl Duncker’s classic “candle task” to test problem-solving abilities, there are a few other options. When interviewing candidates for your creative team, don’t focus on leading questions. Instead, ask questions that emphasize shades of grey, and offer insight into the candidate’s thinking. For a Community Manager position, a good question might be, “How would you deal with an irate customer who won’t stop posting negative comments on message boards?”

4. Curiosity. “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” So said French philosopher Voltaire. As anyone who’s had a “Eureka!” moment knows, daring to ask a new question goes a long way toward finding the right solution. What’s more, a high level of curiosity – the hallmark of an inquiring mind – is typically indicative of other good qualities, such as inventiveness, resourcefulness, and fearlessness. It also tends to ward off boredom and apathy – sentiments that will poison any creative endeavor.

How to test for it:

When interviewing a potential hire, note how many unprompted questions they ask, and how much they’ve already learned about your company. You can also ask simple questions like, “Tell me about something outside of your area of expertise that you recently learned about?” or “What was the last book you read, and why?”

5. Risk-taking.

Being open to risk (and thus failure) is crucial. We can only truly learn and develop when we push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. According to choreographer Twyla Tharp, "If you only do what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won't fail. You'll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that's failure by erosion.” For Tharp, inventor James Dyson, and innumerable others, failure is a badge of accomplishment because it means that you took a risk, that you tried something new.

How to test for it:

Chief executive of The Limited, Linda Heasley, likes to ask, “Give me an example of a situation where you think you took a risk or took a controversial point of view.” Or, for a sneakier approach, you can inquire if there’s anything the candidate regrets not doing at their previous job. As psychologist Daniel Gilbert points out in this article on risk, people usually regret the things they didn’t do, more than those they did. Thus, regret and risk-taking usually work (loosely) in inverse proportion to one another.

Article courtesy of 99% by Behance

Ecology Of Love

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:13:00 GMT

A stylish romance centering on a brokenhearted urbanite who, only after breaking down and getting stranded in the desert, unearths the resources to woo a French-speaking woman at a lonely motel.

Starring Pharrell Williams and Dania Ramirez, this beautifully shot short film was written and directed by Brin Hill. Set to Sades - 'By your Side'; the film isn't new (completed in 2004), however is newly discovered.

When you have a moment (17 minutes and a half to be precise) it is definitely worth watching!

Office warming party

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:13:00 GMT

Well, it was a lovely night. Thanks to all that came.

See photos from the night on our facebook here

Countdown by Desrumaux Celine

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:13:00 GMT

A lovely animation by Céline Desrumaux with music by "Granulard bastard" from Apprat for your Friday afternoon. Enjoy.

Hello

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:14:00 GMT

Welcome to our new site! Have a look around, make yourself at home.