Graphics Animation & Smileage

Date : March 27, 2013

Smileage logo in mobile screenIn the video below, you will see my first stab at graphics animation for a piece that was presented at this year’s SXSW. I worked on this video in the capacity of a Producer, managing the Motion Design team. The video announced the collaboration between VW and Google through an app named Smileage, touted as “the first social app made to maximize fun on every drive”.  You’ll read a little more about it and sign up for notifications, here.

The schedule was so accelerated that I’d rather not go into details because I don’t want the pace of work to become standard. Needless to say, it was extremely fast paced with late nights (or more accurately early mornings) and hurried trafficking.

Despite the rushed schedule, the video turned out really well. The most important takeaway is that a project’s success is a direct result of  the entire team needing to be great and always, emphasis on always, being available throughout. And that, they were – simply great.


Would You Marry Me?

Category : Agency, Producer
Date : October 13, 2011
Would You Marry Me?

producer_deadline1I’d like to lead an effort to collect literature on all things Producer- related. It’s not the most exciting read, I know, but it is what I do. There’s not much of literature out there, but here’s an article that I will add to the small producer collection. It comes to us via a colleague that will be identified as “LA” for now. It’s an on-point generalization that’s both very familiar and comedic.

I Want To Marry a Producer

by: Ted Royer
February 1, 2008

Since every single person I’ve met over the last 15 years works in advertising or some related industry, I’ve realized that I’m destined to marry an ad person. After a brief panic attack, I thought about producers and felt much better. I want to marry a producer.

I don’t want to marry an account services person. Sure, they can take lots of pressure and abuse from the world, and they’re organized (a definite prerequisite for my future spouse), but we’d quickly realize that while we share many goals, ultimately, she may not care enough about my goals. And caring about my goals, or at least seeming to, is very important.

I’m not going to marry a traffic person. They propel jobs through the agency and thus are obviously good at getting stuff done. But they cry too much. Or they yell too much. Or they cry while yelling. There is crying and yelling at some point in every marriage. I wish to keep it to the bare minimum in mine.

Marrying another creative seems like a great idea. We would laugh together. We would dream together. We would make amazing plans together. But we wouldn’t know how to get any of those plans done or how to actually make anything happen. And then we would blame each other.

I could marry one of my clients. We would have a great initial relationship. She would find me really funny and inventive, but over time, she might begin to doubt my motives and commitment. And she’d be right. Am I bored? Am I ultimately looking to trade up? Am I looking for a newer, fresher challenge? I’d be coy and say no. But the real answer would be… maybe.

No, I want to marry a producer. A producer listens to the most batshit crazy idea and doesn’t say yes or no or ask why, but instantly asks “How?” She could talk me out of dumb things with grace and logic, or conversely show me what it’s possible to do with virtually nothing. A producer realizes that just as business and creativity need each other, responsibility (her) and irresponsibility (me) do too. A producer wouldn’t be afraid of different challenges, no matter what form they took. A producer would be tough, fighting battles I’d neither see nor even know about. A producer would plan for a rainy day and not even tell me she was doing it and then, when it started to rain, she’d say, “It’s covered, go over to the food table.” A producer would stay up all night partying with me, then make sure what needs to get done gets done, while I sleep. Marrying a producer would allow me to be as self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-congratulatory, naval-gazing and “creative” as I want to be.

Of course, I could always date someone outside of the industry and see what the rest of the world is like. But that would be weird.

Ted Royer is executive creative director of droga5, New York. Link to original article. For you to find out more about it, Read on.


Tumblr Tidbits

Category : Digital, Social
Date : September 7, 2011

Tumblr logo

I didn’t know much about Tumblr, so I registered on it last week. Funny, I thought, considering that I had only recently begun using another popular blogging platform to create this very page you are reading this content on. Was I overwhelmed by WordPress? No. Is this a comparison between Tumblr and WordPress? Nope.

The agency that I am currently with was tasked with an interesting request. A client asked that we develop a blog and noted a few requirements. I set out to review the requirements and report back to the team. Our preliminary recommendation was Tumblr with its user friendly reputation so I dug around Tumblr and Google a bit. Ironically, the same day I read this headline: Tumblr Tops 13 MM U.S. Uniques in July. And, while on Tumblr, I also read this message from the ‘Tumblr Staff’: We’re very excited to welcome Spanish into our roster of supported languages!

Wow! Lots going on over at Tumblr, and I’m feeling a little left out. More interested in Tumblr than I initially was, I dug a little deeper to ensure that it meets the clients’ expectations. I’ll leave you with a few tidbits below but first give you y take. If you have the slightest interest in Tumblr or blogging in general, sign-up now. If you aren’t tech savvy or aspire to be more tech savvy, sign-up. Blogs like this are a bridge between personal literary creativeness and the web. It’s one of the most inexpensive creative outlets out there. Tumblr is extremely easy to set-up, use, and maintain. It’s fun. Do it: get creative and blog.

Design. The requirement was for the blog to have the client’s look and feel. Tumblr has a great variety of themes that one can choose from- many free and some premium themes- that are reasonably priced. If you’ve picked up a little HTML, you can also customize every theme. One can browse the numerous themes within the Theme Garden. For reference, here’s an instructional page that delves into customizing themes.

Mobile Posting. Being able to blog using a mobile device was of utmost importance given travel plans. With so much stimulus coming to us from all directions, one needs to be ready to report any time, right? Tumblr delivers on this point and posting from a mobile device is very straight forward. One convenient option is to post via an iPhone publishing app or an Android app (both free). Sorry Windows users, at the time of this post, no Windows OS app is available that’s offered by Tumblr. Read a little about mobile + email publishing here.

Commenting. This requirement I thought would be a blogging platform requirement. That’s to say, all blogs should be required to provide the ability for other users to comment. I was wrong. Apparently, Tumblr doesn’t have inherently include commenting capabilities on many themes (if at all). Users are instructed to install commenting platform plug-in via HTML which in turn allows other users to post comments for each post one authors. All of Tumblr’s featured themes let you easily install the Disqus commenting platform.

Categorizing. Organized client wants organized posts. Tumblr uses tags (not categories as other platforms utilize) to categorize posts. It’s extremely straight forward; however, the blog owner will have to specify tags every time a post is created. Once posts are compiled, users can also search for  posts that are tagged and list them by topic. Here’s some more information about tags.

Custom Domains. When you register with Tumblr, by default it assigns you a URL  resembling this: http://myblogname.tumblr.com. Users choose the “myblogname” part of the URL; but what about users who own a domain such as abeldiaz3.com? You guessed it. Tumblr allows the use of custom domains. You can find more information regarding this here.

Let’s hope that the preceding information hasn’t become obsolete when you read this. Enjoy Tumblr.


Behind Every Great Project

Category : Digital, Producer
Date : August 24, 2011

Do you believe that behind every great project is a great producer?

I wouldn’t agree that he or she has to be a “great producer”. I read an article months ago that made a reference to this discussion. It salutes producers and also offers a few habits belonging to what the author refers to as “highly effective producers”. These habits include being a smart listener, appearing trustworthy, understanding the whole picture, being encyclopedic, etc. By the way, One of the most versatile artist in Hollywood, Kevin Costner.  apart from being the main man in the cast of Yellowstone, Kevin Costner is an executive producer on the project “Dances With Wolves”. an American epic western film, that was directed by and starred Kevin Costner. how old was kevin costner in dances with wolves? , during that time he was 34 years old. Then won widespread admiration as well as seven Academy Awards.

I tend to agree with the author. In general, those habits make for a better employee no matter what the profession or role, but the statement that most resonated with me was the one that was highlighted within the article. “Understand the whole picture. Someone needs to know how everything fits together. That’s the producer in a nutshell.”

From my experience, this is something that most people working alongside producers infer and with so many campaigns being multifaceted, producers should strive to know more about the project than anyone else around them in order to have the greatest impact possible.

We will never know all the answers, specially if you are a Digital Producer given that the digital space is continually evolving. Ignorance is inherit when working in these conditions. But, knowing more than anyone else about the project, becomes increasingly more beneficial if you work with a team who strives to innovate. People will ask. People will seek producers. And, they will ask producers. Make an effort to know.

Here’s the link to the article titled: “Behind every great project is a great producer


@