Journalhttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/en-US2010-03-11T15:55:21ZSquarespace Site Server v5.9.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Bloody Omahahttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/2/12/bloody-omaha.htmlRobb Boyd2010-02-12T11:48:03ZHere is a fantastic example of what a small team of dedicated creative people can accomplish. Three guys on a very limited budget needed to create a complex, expansive, war scene. Here is their description:

Bloody Omaha was created by Colin Thornton, Neil Wilson and Steven Flynn who run the graphics company Compost Creatuve . www.Compostcreative.com

The music used Is Two Tribes by Frankie goes to Hollywood.

Team Compost headed out to Omaha Beach for 4 days armed with a Z1 camera, a pop up greenscreen, some soldier uniforms and 2 rubber rifles (we couldnt afford 3), and begun the process of covering the beach (with camera on the cliff top), and re-enacting the veterans moving accounts. When back in London (and back in our real day job) we began to piece together all wed shot using adobe after effects, (and a little 3d modelling in maya) turning the 3 of us into the invading U.S. army.
6 Weeks later the work was completed and provides a moving insight to the U.S veterans memories of storming Omaha beach, for BBC 2's Timewatch: Bloody Omaha.

]]>Back of the Napkin - Style Examplehttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/2/11/back-of-the-napkin-style-example.htmlRobb Boyd2010-02-11T13:50:31ZI have read Dan Roam's book, Back of the Napkin...I just ordered the workbook as it appears that this might help me embrace a little practice that was missing from my first read. I love the look of hand-drawn diagrams. I love the simplicity of this kind of'visual explanation. This video below serves as a good example of the visual style Jimmy Ray and I are pursuing with a few projects as we seek to add some additional elements to our TechWiseTV production tool box. So look at this with both the content in mind (what Dan is saying) but also much of the style in which he delivers it within the video...the white background, the use of sound effects to bring some drawings to life, etc.

]]>How to make a News Videohttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/2/6/how-to-make-a-news-video.htmlRobb Boyd2010-02-06T16:03:31ZThis is both incredibly funny, instantly recognizable and yet somehow instructive for anyone looking to a simple model for building an interesting news package. Corporate video has not even gotten this interesting....but we are working on it. Kudo's on this fantastic roasting of the format. (click here if you can't see the video)

]]>Making of Assassins Creed 2http://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/1/30/making-of-assassins-creed-2.htmlRobb Boyd2010-01-30T15:14:55ZHere is a great look at story-telling as set up for a new version of a video game. From a technical perspective, a great 'behind the scenes' with green screen for all live action forcing all 750 shots to have backgrounds created in post. One of the most frustrating things is often the perception that green screen is the 'easy answer' to creating an environment and avoiding travel for a field shoot or challenging location. It is an option yes...but often it requires much more work. The specifics don't get very detailed on this aspect until about halfway through but notice the legions (legions...get it....never mind) of computer programmers and artists that are creating the backgrounds and tweaking the tracking to make it realistic.

(video)

]]>Don Hewitt: Tell me a Storyhttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/1/29/don-hewitt-tell-me-a-story.htmlRobb Boyd2010-01-29T19:00:19ZI can't tell you how inspiration and valuable this is. I was naive to who Don is or was....but the impact of 'Tell me a Story' is so on point. This is a great special edition of 60 minutes. I love the insight into the strucutre of how the stories are told, how the edges are pushed and the creative output that follows. What a life well lived. What a great set of guidelines and goals that can be pulled from this to say - how far can we go with how we tell stories on TechWiseTV? How can we change the way it is done? I love this. (click here if you cannot see the video).

Watch CBS News Videos Online

]]>More than Pro-Life - Pro-Discussion!http://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/1/28/more-than-pro-life-pro-discussion.htmlRobb Boyd2010-01-28T14:58:59ZRegardless of where you stand on the hot-button issues of murdering the unborn or Focus on the Family - this is good discussion. I don't know whether this ad will air on the Super Bowl and now at this point, I don't know if it matters. The great outcome of this is the discussion that is already happening and now has perhaps now done a better job of raising awareness and intelligent discourse than any 30 second ad will ever do. Well done.

]]>The Making of Avatarhttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/1/21/the-making-of-avatar.htmlRobb Boyd2010-01-22T01:55:40ZThis is a great 'making of'

]]>TechWiseTV Taking off in Indiahttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/1/21/techwisetv-taking-off-in-india.htmlRobb Boyd2010-01-21T18:21:26ZSo my kids thought this was funny...and with our success this week of the ISR G2 show going live in India with almost 4,000 customers it makes sense to say...what might the show look like down the road? I love this spot by MetroPCS and it does remind me of our show...

In fact, this particular episode (TechWiseTV that is) has been re-purposed in our global machine with versions in Spanish, Italian, French, Russian, Japanese and Mandarin. Wow. German is stil not on the list but I think they tend to watch it in English...I sure hope this does not hold me back on my career goal of eclipsing the HOF!

]]>"The Big Picture" beginshttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2010/1/21/the-big-picture-begins.htmlRobb Boyd2010-01-21T17:12:18ZI may be on camera a lot...but I am no actor. I am going to try however! I was cast (I believe I was the only adult who auditioned) as the father in the latest sitcom by the Prestonwood Creative Team (major pillar in the children's ministry). I am excited that I am able to work with some awesomely creative people like Robyn Collins (author/screenwriter), Brandon Carmichael, (Producer/Director) and quite a few cool kids that I am getting to know better. All of the writers, actors and most of the crew are voluntary.

I am in awe of what this team has done in the past - most notably the previous weekly sitcom, Wright's Direction which went well over 100 episodes. I can't tell you what an accomplishment it is to keep that kind of pacing. One would think the quality would suffer too but for an all volunteer program it is top notch. Here is one of the early episodes of the old show:

My original plan was not to be on this show without my own kids getting to do it with me. They did get the experience of a real audition but they did not get any of the main parts. Zack has agreed to attend the tapings with me as this is of course a VERY kid friendly environmet. He knows the whole crew and will jump at doing anything he is asked...in fact...he has a little cameo on episode one! Here is getting the shake down from the 'Scary Marys' as they seek a little more lunch money. (Gotta wait for the show to get the context!).

]]>Merry Christmas! Loving my new Kindlehttp://www.robbboyd.com/journal/2009/12/28/merry-christmas-loving-my-new-kindle.htmlRobb Boyd2009-12-28T15:22:59ZWhat did you get for Christmas? As a reader - this Kindle thing rocks. Although I can find little bits of fault with it (its not great for Bible reference...although it works well for Bible reading) I really think it hits the mark for a couple of reasons:

1. Less is more. There is always a tendency to keep adding more features to things...the Kindle may do this but I have to admit that one thing I love the most is that this is about reading. That is it. I have tried web-surfing on it and it sucks. The screen is made for the printed word and it excels at it. I applaud the simplicity of design that has made the iPod such a hit and I empathize greatly with how hard it is to avoid the desire to add every thing you can.

2. Less is More, Part Two: one big reason I can’t read stuff real well on my Mac is that I get too distracted. I LOVE my MacBook but because it can do everything...I get pulled into EVERYTHING far too easily. I enjoy a device like the Kindle that can do the thing I want the most really well and suck so much at the rest that I don’t even try. This allows me to focus.

3. Prevent Gadget Creep: I would agree with many out there that this is ‘yet another electronic gadget’ to carry around..however, it actually displaces a few things so the net result is that I end up carrying less. This solves an issue I have with my laziness around the house and for when I travel - I generally have two or more books going at any one time. One or more for work related subjects and at ideally at least one ‘fun’ novel...the kind of thing I can read at night to ‘cleane my mental palate’ (get my mind off work) and actually sleep.

What I don’t like (so far):
- The note/bookmark feature is nice but does not appear to be auto-time stamping...I like to know when something hit me...this should be easy to do (I may not have found this setting correctly either....)
- The note/bookmark feature does not seem to let me easily click through to the place in which the note was taken... duh?
- Poor keyboard utilization - this is most apparent with trying to use this as my Bible. One thing I need to do with Bible software is find specific passages easily. I can still do it MUCH faster with the actual book...there is too much clumsy clicking, page scrolling, etc with Kindle.... why can’t the full keyboard be used more intelligently here?

What’s on my Kindle right now?

Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible (NASB) - this Bible was rated highly for its Kindle integration but the reviews are still dead-on about navigation not quite being what it should be.

U is for Undertow, Sue Grafton - I bought this quickly from within the Kindle...almost purely based on the fact it was a top-seller. I am about 38% into the novel (Kindle tells me this as there are no ‘real’ page numbers).

Cisco TelePresence Fundamentals, ePub - this is in prep for our show taping in January. We will do a deep dive on TechWiseTV with a ‘behind the scenes’ on telepresence. This is a good book and another good test for a style of read on the Kindle.

USA Today, Kindle Edition - this is only day 2 of my 14 day free trial. I had tried the USA Today mobile edition on my computer and have hated it...infinite difficutly in scrolling and reading stuff in order...plus the distraction of my computer in general when trying to read the paper...too much other stuff I get reminded to do and CAN do because I am on my computer... ugh. So far, I am liking the kindle edition...no graphics, no color...but I love the fact that the ‘newspaper’ is sitting ready to read when I wake up and I can read in a very linear fashion and get a quick feel for the major stories.... Time will tell... If I pay for the subscription we will know won’t we!

What did you get for Christmas? If you got a Kindle, what do you like/not like?

Merry Christmas!

Robb

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