News at Furman Pictures

Furman Pictures recently completed three videos featuring Skamania County. “Portraits of Skamania” has been selected by the Skamania County Chamber of Commerce to be honored at the 2012 Annual Dinner and Awards on January 20 in Stevenson, Washington.

The ninety second video features portraits in motion of people and places in Skamania, from views Mount St. Helens and the fishing villages in the Columbia Gorge to local business owners and the swans on Franz Lake.

Furman Pictures completed production and post production for Matt Brown’s “I’ll Be Here” music video. The project filmed last week and edited week prior.

Brown found that music alone wasn’t cutting it because people often wanted to see video of his work. He tried shooting a video on his own several times, but it just didn’t have the polished feel he wanted. Brown came to Furman Pictures wanting a simple theme that would give potential listeners and venues a good taste of his style.

Prepping a video to be shown by Adidas at the New York City Marathon Expo is one of the projects underway at Furman Pictures this week. While the marathon is this weekend, the expo starts tomorrow.

Furman Pictures contracted under the Vancouver, Washington based Meaty Design in conjunction Systom to produced several videos for Adidas last year focusing on the Grete Waitz, AKTIV, and Marathon 10 – a related product line. However, Adidas requested some specific changes and encoding for the venue.

Waitz is has one of the most accomplished runners of all time. In addition to setting numerous world records, her impressive record includes winning the New York City Marathon nine times.

This week at FP- misc camera work for a client, development of an A/V book and trailer for a client, about to start on some short promos that correspond with the promo recently created for a private school and getting out a copy of the Adidas/Waitz promo created for Adidas last year so they can show it at the New York Marathon Expo.  

Levi’s released a marketing campaign in august called “Levi’s Legacy”.  Among other things, it depicts a young man facing off with riot police. The ad is inspiring to some and alienating to others, and worthy of note to business owners, marketers and humans in general.

“Legacy” is one of a string of “Go Fourth”ads, developed by Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Oregon, that uses words from poets such as Whitman and Braddock. “Legacy” borrows from Charles Bukowski’s poem, The Laughing Heart.

“Your life is your life, don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission…”

The less soulful will not like the ad. If that is you, skip these musings and look up “Bukowski ad parody” on Youtube.

According to Levi’s “Legacy” was released exclusively on Facebook and then later on TV and movie screens- the first ever world release. The ad was delayed in the UK because of the riots there this summer.

What’s the message in the ad? Hope. The ad is filled with vivid images of emotional moments- the ocean, wind, a peaceful protest, sunset, party, sex, music, celebration- spirituality really.

In a brilliant move, it starts out with a first person perspective, which it uses as a theme, intermixed with close personal shots of people, many of which are wearing their product. In the background, a voice of wisdom tells us that we may not win all the battles, but we should seize the moments of joy as they are provided by “the gods”.

There are several components that definitely alienate great segments of society. The use of the word “gods” will offend a great many Christians, Islamists, atheists and other monotheists. Others may not like the themes of party, music and celebration. Still others will point out that this is just another marketing campaign by a major corporation.

On the other hand, this ad offers something that is in short supply right now- hope. Politicians, corporations, religious organizations all talk about what this generation is losing- jobs, health care, housing, security, family. This generation is told that it will just have to do without health care, just have to do without retirement, just have to do with less freedom. All this while the cost of food, gas, education and living in general continues to rise, as does the salary of many corporate executives. Many have a hard time believing in even themselves when they can’t work. All this after a rough decade following 9-11, and terrorist acts and wars around the world.

Here’s is the strength of Levi’s ad. It calls for individuals to look for the positive now, to look for a destiny beyond one’s self- the gods, the greater good, humanity, love. At the same time it sticks with it’s branding of being true to yourself. That’s a message we all connect with on some level.

The irony is that it is a corporate brand message (Levi’s) being distributed on a corporate network (Facebook) where many real, personal relationships are maintained and formed. So where does the corporate branding end and authenticity begin?

Perhaps it’s a matter of understanding their customer, making friends really. Levi’s understands the emotions that a great many of it’s potential customers are feeling. It’s being relevant.

To top it all off, part of the campaign supports Water.org, which helps needy communities get clean drinking water. It’s hard to get much more authentic than that.

Here’s what Becca Van Dyck, global chief marketing officer of the Levi’s®brand had to say: “Now, more than ever, the world needs inspiration. The world needs people with a pioneering spirit who still believe that anything is possible. Our 60-second ‘Go Forth’ film and digital engagement program recognize people around the globe who are stepping forward to transform the world. Through Facebook, we hope to inspire people to join us in supporting the important work of today’s pioneers.”

This article isn’t a call to idolize a jeans company or ad. It is an appeal to those of us who are both human and business professionals to be relevant, to ask ourselves: in the world of the almighty corporate dollar and ever consuming people, which side are we on, or can we co-exist? Are we relevant? Can we be friends?

Local artist Ian Manning stopped by the studio yesterday for a networking meeting. He has an amazing ability to compose previously created characters as well as create new originals characters. Manning’s creates incredibly detailed artwork, largely centered around the anime.

I wanted to see what he could do so I asked him to re envision my logo on the fly. He produced this image on notebook paper within a few minutes. I’ve posted both my original and his concept here. He obviously has a strong grasp on form and flow.

Manning has real talent. It would be a pleasure to work with him in the future.

Furman Pictures will produce no new episodes of Camas Video Magazines. Camasvideomagazine.com and related videos on Youtube.com will remain online indefinitely.

CVM was established by Furman Pictures several years ago as a not for profit endeavor to help local businesses during the economic downturn. It offered a low cost advertising option, giving businesses about 1.5 minutes to introduce their business in a “magazine” format at an average cost of 15 cents per view. CVM introduced new costumers to downtown Camas businesses and gave businesses thinking of moving to Camas a taste of the local atmosphere.

“Working with Camas businesses has been very enjoyable.” said Furman. “This town has a lot to offer in services and personality. But it’s time for me to move on to other projects- projects that are more creatively and/or financially beneficial.”

Furman Pictures will still offer free consultations to local businesses who are considering using video as part of their advertising campaign as well as significant discounts to businesses who ask.

A Washougal High School senior is in a summer internship at a local film and video production company.

Sixteen year old Luis Iniguez has been getting hands on experience with a variety of projects at Furman Pictures, LLC, including field production, editing, animation and marketing.

“It’s been good,” says Iniguez. “It’s been fun going out to the field where we did a shoot. That was a new experience.”

Producer Nikia Furman, owner of Furman Pictures, LLC, says he enjoyed having Iniguez on the team.

“I’ve worked with youth quite a bit over the years,” says Furman. “I like to give back to the community when I can. Luis has an opportunity to see what’s is out there. He’s worked as production assistant on a small local project and logging footage on a media project for one of the largest engineering firms in the world. That’s a start.”

Iniguez received the internship through nConnect, a Vancouver-based non-profit which seeks to increase student interest and achievement in STEM by connecting schools to business. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, considered to be the core disciplines of a globally competitive society.

Iniguez was also fortunate to land an internship this summer because of the economy. The ongoing recession has strongly affected the nation’s youth, with the unemployment rate among teens as high as 50% in some cities.

Time Magazine quotes Andrew Sum, head of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University as saying “Proportionally, more kids have lost jobs in the past few years than the entire country lost in the Great Depression.”

But Iniguez seems to be thinking more about his future than the economy.

“It’s been a great experience,” says Iniguez. “I’ve never done anything like this. It gives me knowledge of how the post production works. How you put it together. How to handle business.”

Iniguez hasn’t quite made up his mind whether he want to work in the film and media industry or in culinary arts as a chef, but his internship made him realize he wants to work more on his typing skills and expand his knowledge of software.

It’s a great experience to learn different trades. If you are not sure what trade you are doing, if you don’t know what you are going to do for a career, it will give you insight into different jobs you can do.”

Several regional newspapers covered this story, including the Oregonian, Columbian and Camas Post Record.

The summer has been flying by with projects at Furman Pictures.

A sizable project for one of the nations largest engineering firms has kept things hopping. Details of the project cannot be made available, but the project is consistent with Furman Picture’s goal of working with high-end clients that demand professional services.

Intern Luis Iniguez, a student from the Camas high school, has joined Furman Pictures for the summer. Iniguez has gotten his hands dirty working on a marketing project, assisting with production, logging footage, editing, and learning a bit about animation.

The portion of Dr. Malcolm Smith’s video book that Furman Pictures was responsible for wrapped up last week. Smith’s multimedia book is being developed for release on the iPad. The last location was on a beautiful mosquito infested lake in the Columbia Gorge. Blood and keys were lost, but we got some good footage.

A private school promotional was also completed for another happy customer.

Miscellaneous other interviews have been filmed.

Today’s highlight was collecting bids and arranging for practical effects on a simulated car crash coming up. Nice to connect with some of the talented people working on creative projects in and around Portland, Oregon.

A private elementary school promotional video moved into post production this week at Furman Pictures.

Production for Meadow Glade Adventist Elementary School started with filming various school events this last fall and then wrapped up last week with interviews and secondary footage.

The MGAES promotional will feature it’s good teacher to student ratio, smart classrooms, music programs, P.E. Classes, field trips, sports teams, bus system, parental involvement and spiritual emphasis.

Producer Nikia Furman has over 15 years experience working with non-profit media and fundraising.