Unfortunately, there was a surprising lack of awesome to be found.  This year was kind of revolutionary for Super Bowl ads.  Top Super Bowl advertiser, Pepsi, decided that it wasn't worth the investment.  Google ran a single ad that was pretty cool and surprising for Google.

The Air Force ripped off The White Stripes in a really worthless kind of way.  And the rest just seemed to be a fairly lame sketch comedy show run by Doritos and Bud Light.

One of the reasons that these ads fell so short is pointed out here by Gary Vaynerchuk.  Put briefly, advertisers are beginning to miss the mark with their audience.  The number of viewers who watch TV while attached to a laptop, or browsing an iPhone are at an all-time high.  Granted this attachment to devices isn't necessarily true for the Super Bowl viewing experience (people watching in groups of 8-10 or more), advertisers should still concern themselves less with creating the immediately gratifying ad, but rather the ad that gets people to a website, a Facebook page, or signing up to a list.

Google, of course gets the best of both worlds. Their ad has gotten huge in just a few days thanks to a bit of a pre-air leak and simply because they OWN the web-viewing experience. It turns out that their ad was not as much about competing with Bing as it was about launching their own web-based ad campaign called Search Stories. If successful, Search Stories could be the first and most pure cross-over ad campaign in history.

Without getting into the legalities of who sold-out who, there's a lot to be annoyed about here. The PSA, entitled "A Message From John Lennon," is obviously not a message from John Lennon but rather someone who assumed that they could channel Lennon's thoughts and voice. But its impossible to know what John Lennon would think about laptops because they weren't even prominent by the time of his death.

To me, this brand of disingenuity seems frighteningly obvious and after reading some of the comments on YouTube I'm clearly not alone:

• "did they know that paul is still alive?"
• "I can't begin to describe how negative my reaction to this ad is. Next stop: the NRA runs an ad of "Lennon" extolling the virtues of gun ownership."
• "It's disgusting."
  

There's nary a positive comment to be found. Perhaps most frustrating is the the fact that One Laptop Per Child is not a bad cause at all, but now they look completely opportunistic and manipulative.

So what's an organization to do when their campaign goes viral the wrong way?  The answer is to pay attention to what people are saying and respond accordingly (cause hey, isn't feedback the whole point of this social media thing anyway?) Take down the ad, then follow-up with a completely new, honest, genuine approach using influential thinkers who happen to be alive.

Since we started our company Twitter account about a year ago we've had the same discussion in the board room about once every month.

The conversation is one I like to call the Person vs Entity debate. It involves questions like:

• What's the most successful way to represent corporate culture on Twitter?

• What remains off-message and personal to the employees of the company?

and classics like: 

• What crosses over? (or more importantly: What absolutely does not?)

Starting today we're changing how we do things on Twitter. The @RenderPerfect account which has been maintained by Nikc Miller of Render Perfect will now become a bulletin board of things that are important to the company as a whole:

•Innovative video news

•Amazing stories about the success of our clients

•Updates of new blog posts

•New product updates

Our additional employee Twitter accounts will feature more personal interactions, introspection and promotion of the things that we think are cool about video, marketing or anything (music, film, news etc.)

To use the once laughable but now uber-cool Venn Diagram approach:

Obviously, we think about this stuff alot. So tell us, what ways has your company found success in using Twitter?

By the way, we'd like to express a HUGE THANK YOU to all the people who have checked out this blog, our YouTube e-book, and our Twitter profile. We've had a great time sharing info back and forth with you. It only gets better from here!

•••

Follow @RenderPerfect to follow Render Perfect the company.

Follow @ryanspin to follow Ryan Spindler, President/Creative Director of Render Perfect

Follow @nikc_render to follow Nikc Miller, After Effects Artist at Render Perfect

Alot of people have already asked me something to this effect:

Why would a video production company want to give away their own pro web-video tips to any ole person that signs up?

To me the answer is simple: I give this advice out to my friends all of the time. After typing up yet another email to one of my buddys about how to properly tag a video, I thought: It's really time to (finally) write a guide!

The 13-page book contains tips on:

• Planning an effective video campaign
• Properly tagging videos for maximum exposure
• Gaining new audiences with your video
• Using your current marketing efforts to gain more views
• And More (for real)

I'm always scouring the web for info so I know there's alot of FREE (!!!zomg!!!) crap out there, so to prove that this little guide has alot of value, here's Tip 11 (the one that didn't make it in the book):

•

•

You can get the full-version of Produce, Post, Promote: Ten YouTube Tips For 2010 by signing up here. Did I forget to mention that it was free?

Just a few hours after posting a link to the video and sending it out to several friends, I received a message from them via Twitter:

After further research, I saw that my friend Charlie Hoehn received a similar message from Heat Surge after posting the link to my video:

The spoof is all in good fun. It exploits a fairly obvious hole in Heat Surge’s brand (I mean how far are these gentle people allowed to go?)  But it’s hard to tell if they were overjoyed or upset with the video.  Since infomercial spoofs are all the rage right now, it seems that brands like Heat Surge, Snuggie, Shamwow, or anything else infomercial-esque would sort of embrace this form of light-hearted mockery. 

One thing is for sure, Heat Surge did a marvelous job of moderating the conversation.  They responded to my post just hours after it went up.  I got to interact with them further and was amazed that through conversation they transformed a mocking jab into an awesome testimonial:

And that's just fine with me. Afterall, I proudly own a Heat Surge. I am happy to endorse this amazing product!

***

Follow @RenderPerfect on Twitter!

Until recently, I was pretty unfamiliar with StumbleUpon. But just a few months ago they  released a new link-shortening tool called Su.pr.  Su.pr links up to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, shortens your links and promotes your content through these portals. But it also releases your content into StumbleUpon world, upping the chances that your video content will be seen and promoted by random web viewers.

Here's a brief overview of how simple it is to use Su.pr (I mean, you were gonna shorten that link anyway):

1. Shorten It

Assuming that you already set up your Su.pr account and linked it to your Facebook and Twitter pages, take the link that you want to shorten and place it in the Post box.



Press "Just Shorten"



Voila you have a nice short link!

2. Tweet It

The Post box works just like Twitter, counting down the characters you have remaining.  I recommend writing a message that at least describes what your link is about.



Click 'Post'. Your Tweet and Shortened Link will show up on your linked Twitter and/or Facebook account.

3. Stumble It

Now the fun part: go into your Su.pr stats and add in the info that will increase the odds that people browsing StumbleUpon will actually see your content.  Clarity is key here.  If you are adding a sports video pertaining to sports history and basketball, you want to make it easy for StumbleUpon's engine to guide the right people to your content.



Su.pr stats will tell you how many people clicked on your link via your Tweet.  The number underneath tells you how many additional clicks your content has gotten just from being posted on StumbleUpon.

4. Try It

If you're curious to how StumbleUpon presents the content, check out my link:http://su.pr/7zVsbg

With additional techy stats, and an API that allows you to shorten links through your domain, Su.pr is a formidable tool in launching and promoting your viral videos and content across the web.

***

If you like this article than check out:

What Can Facebook Do For Your Business? -  A primer in setting up a Facebook Fan Page for your business. Gaining fans and providing content by automating your blog feed to the page.

Use The YouTube Beta Channel -  A guide in branding your video channel by using new (understated) features in YouTube.

Secrets of New Marketing - A bit of Seth Godin wisdom about the new marketing philosophy of content distribution.

In this example you can see how I improperly tagged this video about Michael Jordan. Instead of “Michael Jordan” being a search term you now have "Michael" as a search term and "Jordan" as a search term.

In this case, since there are so many videos about Michael Jordan, the term "Jordan" will still lead people to videos about Michael Jordan. But when you add search terms like Richard Jefferson, improperly tagged, terms easily get mixed. Someone searching “Michael Jordan Richard Jefferson” will get mixed results like “Michael Jefferson” leading them to this popular South Park bit about Michael Jackson. In a few quick shifts of a search phrase, the user has landed in a place very far away from anything having to do with basketball.

The way to properly tag is simple. Instead of using spaces to separate phrases use quotes for terms that are larger than one word.

So for this string of terms:

Michael Jordan NBA Washington Wizards New Jersey Nets Sports Legends Jason Kidd Richard Jefferson Kenyon Martin

you would put:

“Michael Jordan” NBA “Washington Wizards” “New Jersey Nets” “Sports Legends” “Jason Kidd” “Richard Jefferson” “Kenyon Martin”

Tagging in this manner makes the terms clearer for the search engine and the user. Your video gets more visibility and resides with similar content.

Each month I write a software review for Microfilmmaker Magazine: an online guide for indie, low and no-budget filmmakers. I’ll post my reviews on this blog every month, but please visit Microfilmmaker. It is super-handy.

Figure 1. AdvLensFlare: This is a preset called Big Hoops. This plugin is great for adding depth with real customizable light effects.

Ease of Use

As I've immersed myself in BCC6, I've come to truly discover that Boris FX are GREAT at the default level. Most of them work great the minute you apply the effect. BE WARNED! You will be tempted to use these effects at default and end up a week later seeing the same look on a cheap TV spot on The CW. Boris should not be faulted for this. It seems as though they design the effects for quick-use. That being said, they add a plethora of customizable options to each effect.

Although I don't have enough space to write about each individual effect, I do want to give a brief run-down of some of the effects that immediately made me jump out of my seat and drop kick the first person I saw in a fit of joy. (Hey, we all have our own special ways of expressing our joy! Mine is just a bit more aggressive than others.)

1. Advanced Lens Flare: For the love of God, someone has finally done it. They've perfected the Lens Flare! Each and every feature of a standard Lens Flare is customizable, addable and subtractable delivering believeability and depth to any element  you add it to. Forgive me if someone did it before Boris with this much control and I haven't run across it, but this effect is ESSENTIAL.

2. Generators: I can't tell you how many hours I've wasted in Photoshop recreating rock, wood floor, fire or any other sort of texture over and over again. This sounds really stupid I know, but this kind of stuff comes in handy time and time again.

3. 3D Effects: Previously only available through Zaxwerks, Boris Continuum Complete includes a full 3D extrusion suite. This alone is worth the price of admission. (check out some of the examples at http://borisfx.com/after_effects/bccae/3D_movies.php )

4. Cartoon Look: For years I've admired the look of movies like Waking Life and to a lesser extent those Charles Schwab commercials where the people are cartoon characters for no particular reason. Boris includes an effect that imitates this look with stunning precision.

Figure 2. Generators: Just a sample of a few of the generator plugins. This can save you hours of messing around in Photoshop.

One of the problems that I've had with other effects suites is that even when you get a plethora of options, they don't necessarily play well with other After Effects functionality, rendering them pretty much useless. In the Sapphire suite, this comes into play sometimes when using a mask. And at times, similar third party effects don't get along with the After Effects 3D environment. In the case of BCC6, not only do they give you A LOT of options for each effect, but there seemed to be no conflicts with my workflow.

In the case of masks, BorisFX's exclusive PixelChooser option allows you to integrate masks into the effect or avoid them entirely by using preset in-effect masks for quick use. As an added bonus EVERY effect comes with about two dozen really well thought out preset modes. Not just static presets but pre-keyframed animated presets that will automatically stretch to the length of your clip if you want them to.

Figure 3. PixelChooser: When you select PixelChooser (available in many of the effects) The functionality is nearly doubled.Performance

From my in-depth tests and immersion in this software I've found that the Boris suite does exactly what it sets out to do effectively and efficiently. In the realm of 3D, if you are looking for speed, Zaxwerks still beats Boris. However, Boris comes through so much stronger in features and real deal functionality with the AE 3D environment that it really is worth the extra time. (And I didn't have the crash problems that I sometimes have with Zaxwerks.)

Figure 4. Presets: A snapshot of the insane amount of presets available. Each folder is filled up like this one.

For low-budget filmmakers, a $995 investment may seem like a lot of money. I recommend taking some time to think about the value you are getting for that money. Many effect suites sit around the thousand dollar mark, but on top of getting all the great features of blurs, lighting effects, generators, and particle systems, you also get great features not found anywhere else (other than in very specific and costly plug-in sets). For example, to just get into real 3D extrusion effects, the Zaxwerks Proanimator plugin costs $695.00 to do just that. On top of that, you also get plugins that mimics Trapcode's Shine and 3D stroke (while these effects are somewhat different from the Trapcode options, they do the trick in a pinch). You even get a 3D Layer Deformer, which would cost you about $300 for Digieffects Freeform AE.

Not only do I recommend getting the AE suite, but, if you have a Mac, I also suggest putting down an additional $100 to add on the Boris FXPlug in-editor effects as well. Available for Premier Pro (Mac only) or Final Cut Pro, Boris FXplug gives you quick use of the same effects plus additional effects that you might find useful. For instance the Swish Pan transition makes quick use of an often used Hollywood camera trick.

Final Comments

It's true that at $995 Boris Continuum Complete 6 is a bit of an investment for your Motion Graphics working environment. However, the developers have taken alot of time to deliver a plethora of effects to make a designer's life easier. Many of these effects include modifications of standard AE effects with added functionality, while many others are unique to Boris. And still other effects mimic high-level and sought after third party effects. For the price, Boris delivers a ton of bang for the buck. While you get a ton of effects, it's really the amount of presets, ease of use, and functionality that take this whole suite to the next level.

We just revamped our website; transferring all of the old copy and writing tons of new stuff. We've also added a lot more video and will keep posting more as time goes on. Most of the focus was on design. Not cool Flash-y type design with lots obscure widgets that do weird things when you scroll over them. The design we are concerned with is info-design. See, we offer a LOT of services. But depending on who you are, you might be interested in, say, 10% of what we do. So the idea is to get the right person to the right content, quickly.

So my dilemma was more for convenience sake. I could have posted more. In fact, I have a ton of back-logged ideas. But it seemed to make more sense to get this site going as quickly as possible, instead of posting on a site that was going to be taken offline in a matter of weeks. We all have to make sacrifices.

There's a good reason behind my ranting about infrequent posting and why it bothers me so much. See, I love researching companies. And probably the first thing I do is check out a company's blog. Company blogs are kind of a new thing, at least for small-to-mid-sized businesses. It is plainly obvious when a company starts a blog for the right reasons and when they start one for the wrong reasons. The right reasons involve good candid thoughts, a recognizable theme, and consistent posts. The wrong reasons involve posts that just restate things seen around the web, lots of gimmicky "link-juice," and a ton of posts published around the same time and then suddenly: nothing.

The idea of the bad company blogger conjures the image of a seedy businessperson who stumbles into a conference about SEO, social media, and Twitter.  Leaving the conference motivated, she puts her top people to work on building a blog to quickly gain traction on the company site. After three months of real concerted effort, the company blog is forgotten for a new trend that has the potential to be even more "monetizing."

As the bubbles settle from the social-media explosion of '09, company blogging will become less about SEO and more about stating and building company philosophy. With that being said, expect posts here at Render Perfect on the regular, about one post per week. We like our new web presence and plan to be here for a while.

***

If you like this post check out:

Sometimes DIY Just Ain't The Thing To Do - Why it pays for businesses to pay for value.

Secrets of New Marketing - A bit of Seth Godin wisdom about the new marketing philosophy of content distribution.

Breakdown

Ease-of-Use 6/10 Depth of Options 9/10 Performance 5/10 Value vs. Cost 8/10 Overall Score 7/10 Like many Motion Graphics artists, I am a big fan of the “3D look” in a 2D environment. At some point, I feel like I played a bit too much Paper Mario so nothing gets my blood rushing like some non-extruded use of After Effects 3D camera space. So when a new plugin shows up to bring new depth to the already plentiful 3D world of After Effects, I am very eager to check it out. In its newest version, Freeform AE has been rewritten from the ground up and promises to add depth and 3D mesh properties to your flat, 2D layers. Freeform AE has many options even for being pretty simple to use. Some of the best options are from the Depth Matte features. (highlighted)

Ease of Use

Basic Animation is simple. Pick how detailed you want the grid to be and start manipulating in 3D space.

Depth of Options

Edit,keyframe,repeat. The animation controls are the definition of straight-forward.

Performance

Value

You can use different elements of your displacement matte to effect the depth in your 3D layer. The Luma function works great with Fractal Noise.

Final Comments