All posts in Musings

13 Posts
NAB2010_jfh_-4
April 8, 2013 · Musings

NAB 2013 Predictions

It’s that time of year again. No not an Apple announcement (where the heck is the new iPhone by the way), the 2013 NAB Show. This is where the National Association of Broadcasters tell us that the future of broadcasting is technology and methodology that has been around for a year. But seriously the exciting news that will be coming out is going to be all about hardware and software. New cameras and production devices as well as cloud software that finally realizes the state of modern digital filmmaking, this is the hope anyway.

I’ve thought about this long and hard and here are my hopes predictions:

Read on…

November 21, 2012 · Musings

Black Friday will eat your leftover turkey this year

Black Friday can certainly be some good materialistic fun when enjoyed in moderation. I always get a little excited when I see the electronics deals begin to tickle my inbox. Personally, I’ve always got my eye on TVs, internet tv connected devices, and tablets. But this year, there’s a new twist on this celebration of consumerism that I’m not sure I like.

I googled “Black Friday” in preparation for this blog post and immediately ran into one of the more important aspects of this year’s Black Friday event.

From Wikipedia:

Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

Apparently, “the day following Thanksgiving Day” was not soon enough for Walmart, and others, who decided to kick things off a little early this year.

Walmart Black Friday

Read on…

November 19, 2012 · Musings, Promotional & Informational, Tips

If you’re buffering you’re losing customers


A great article here describes the danger of customer engagement on your website if your video buffers. The important part:

A new study by Ramesh Sitaraman, of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Shunmuga Krishnan, of Akamai finds that the exact amount of time before viewers begin to abandon online video as a result of buffering is two seconds. After two seconds, the abandonment rate is reported to increase at roughly 5.8% per-second; meaning that after eleven seconds you will have lost over half your audience.

Read on…

November 1, 2012 · Movies, Musings

5 Reasons to Watch Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

I’ve been in and out of the office this week with a cold. Naturally part of resting and recovering at home is watching movies. This time around I only watched one: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, and I had a blast. Perhaps it was my cough-medicine-induced haze, but i thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Here’s why I may recommend it to someone else:
Read on…

August 27, 2012 · Musings

Shia LaBeouf has come a long way… Or has he?

In 2003, Shia LaBeouf landed himself in a desert juvenile detention center for stealing some sneakers. (Holes) Nine years later, the law is after him again for bootlegging. (Lawless) Has he learned nothing?

Kidding aside, what are your thoughts on the direction he has taken his acting career? Is the lawless transformer wrangler more appealing than the hole digging even Steven?

January 10, 2012 · Graphics, Musings

Backflip Logos 2007 – 2012

The New Year and the new developments on the horizon for Backflip Films inspired me to dig through some of our old logo designs this afternoon. I suppose the nostalgia that I feel won’t be shared by those of you that haven’t known our company as long, but I hope you enjoy this glimpse back into our past. The designs show an interesting shift in trends as well as a development in our style through the years.

Sometime in the spring of 2007, a good friend named Heather (now married to one of Backflip’s Founders, Aaron Wimmer) took a crack at Backflip Film’s first logo. This logo was never used officially and was retired before the company formally incorporated late that year, but it got the creative wheels spinning and got us excited enough to engrave this logo on a piece of plastic.

*Fun Fact: John and Aaron used to work at the campus engraving shop.
Read on…

November 18, 2011 · Graphics, Musings, Tips

Storyboarding tips

 

We purchased a Wacom tablet this afternoon to streamline our storyboarding process a bit more. I was really excited to test it out but ended up having to scrap a half hour of work because I made a few mistakes. Here they are, learn from them:

  • read the script – i thought i had the right idea/text in my head, it turns out that I didn’t. The script was a little different than what I used and I ended up going in the wrong direction with the storyboard
  • label correctly – i labeled the job the wrong, too excited to be bothered with correct title
  • read your notes – again, i went in the wrong direction because i didn’t look at our original sketches
  • read the script – yeah, i feel dumb for missing this ;)

We bought the ‘Bamboo Capture Pen & Touch’ model and so far love it. Once I setup the software and preferences it really helped streamline our process. Anyone else have examples of storyboarding that caused a palm-to-forehead experience? Share it in the comments.

October 5, 2011 · Musings

Thanks to a visionary: Steve Jobs


I was notified by Twitter just before 7:00pm that Steve Jobs had passed away. Whether Apple Fanboy, or Google Gearhead, Steve Jobs has touched each and every one of our lives. He brought computing into the home and made it fashionable. Computers and mobile devices, whether they’re from Microsoft, Google, Apple, or elsewhere are what they are today because of this visionary man.

Here’s to the amazing life of Steve Jobs.

October 5, 2011 · Musings

A Video is worth 5 million 760 thousand words

You’ve heard it said that “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well at 24 frames per second, a 4 minute video contains 5760 pictures. Multiply THAT by one thousand!

Haiti Music Video Shoot

Really, what I mean to say is this: All of that beauty, emotion, and extra meaning that can be captured in a picture can also be captured in video. In fact, many times video invokes a deeper emotion or feeling of connection to the subject. The tools that an editor uses – music, color, pacing, transitions, order – add to the meaning of the piece. Read on…

August 5, 2011 · Musings, Video

“Trim” video goes viral!

UPDATE

Petey Boy’s viral video was played this morning on the Today Show as part of their “Webtastic” video segment. Well done yet again!

Our friend Peter “Petey Boy” Simon created this great reverse stop motion of his friend Tom shaving off his beard and hair.

Trim from Petey Boy on Vimeo.

If the video wasn’t cool enough on it’s own, it went viral over night and Peter woke up this morning to features on several well known websites.
Read on…

« Older Entries

Commercials & Advertisements

For any medium, broadcast, web, etc.

Whether you want to produce a 15, 30, or 60 second spot, Backflip Films can help you out from your very first brainstorm, to the final distribution on broadcast, cable, hulu and anywhere else. Let’s talk about your next project today.

Read more ยป

open