We are incredibly excited to be showing you a new music video from Shakedown Mambo, a musical duo comprised of Rick Solem and Phil Bloch. Loren A. Roberts produced and directed the video with assistance from Lilly Wild, based on a concept devised by the band along with Loren and Lilly (and Lilly’s wind-up nose). A fun shoot, and gratifying to have a product up on YouTube that can help the band sell more records (hopefully)!
In March 2011, Japan experienced one of the worst disasters in modern history: an earthquake and tsunami that ravaged the Northeastern coast of Japan. One year later, a team traveled to Japan to observe the relief work that Asian Access pastors were leading. Now, another year has passed, and we are able to report on work that has been done over the past two years. This is the first of several (hopefully) videos that report on the use of funds donated to earthquake/tsunami relief through Asian Access:
The team consisted of Loren A. Roberts from Hearken Creative on camera and editing, Joshua Clayton on camera, Jeff Johnston from Asian Access as producer, and Takeshi Takazawa as liaison, interpreter, and all-around wonderful travel leader.
Websites fulfill some very important tasks in today’s world. First and foremost, they are the electronic version of a business card — providing name and contact information for a new vendor or client. But they can do so much more than a business card, and Hearken Creative has just finished two such sites.
HARVARD BUSINESS PRESS BESTSELLER
When Karen Berman and Joe Knight asked for a website that advertised the new edition of their bestselling book Financial Intelligence, I suggested doing things a little bit differently. Instead of creating a traditional site, maybe just a single page with some video and strong copy would be enough to draw people in — without overwhelming them with information. Using Premise landing page software from Copyblogger & Studiopress, and a backend theme from WooThemes (Canvas, specifically), we created a punchy landing page with a video of co-author Joe Knight talking about the book. Here is where it gets good…
The YouTube video (which Hearken Creative filmed and produced as well) is SEO-ready, so that it becomes a key driver of more eyeballs (remember, YouTube is almost as important as Google when it comes to search). In addition, video is much more enjoyable than simply reading a page of copy. The video also can get used in multiple streams:
therefore getting more bang for the buck of the dollars spent on video.
As stated, the previous edition of the book was already a bestseller (translated into over a dozen languages), so getting more traction for the new edition is simply icing on the cake. Still, a good landing page will help drive sales even further.
STICKING A TOE INTO THE E-COMMERCE RIVER
Longtime friend and colleague Alison Siewert has received accolades for writing short dramas seen at conferences and events. But she has never had a place to sell the scripts, which have recently been receiving more and more attention. So we created a website where those scripts can be downloaded — directly from the website — for a small fee.
The e-commerce solution was ready-made — again from WooThemes — and was relatively easy to set up. The site has already generated business, and we look forward to assisting Alison as she grows the business even further.
Both of these sites were designed and produced by Loren A. Roberts at Hearken Creative. Our multi-disciplinary approach allowed us to use the best tools available to come up with real-world solutions for our clients, including imagery, producing and editing video, and (as always) cutting-edge, award-winning graphic design.
We can take the same approach for your company as well. Call us today at 626-396-1500 to talk about your online needs.
Bill Nye tweeted a picture of himself with the newest issue of the magazine. I’ll upload higher resolution pictures of it in a few days.
In April 2012, Hearken Creative was brought in to produce a video piece that would thank some major donors at Fuller Theological Seminary. Chris Min directed, and Loren A. Roberts produced, filmed, edited, and managed post-production.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYlk3UT7rvM
Hearken Creative equipment used on the shoot and in post includes
One thing to note is that Hearken Creative has multiple back-up systems in place, so that no footage was lost, corrupted, or destroyed on this project (or any other recent projects). We use a dedicated NAS, directly-connected swappable hard drives, and cloud storage to ensure that no data is ever lost in our facility.
The client was very happy with the final product, telling us that there were “quite a few misty eyes” in the banquet hall as the piece ended. We are proud of the work we did on this video project.
In this video, Emily Lakdawalla takes us on a tour of the geological instruments on the rover Curiosity. Loren A. Roberts of Hearken Creative filmed and edited this clip for The Planetary Society.
I got to head up to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here in Pasadena to shoot a few short clips for my longtime client The Planetary Society. Here is the first of two videos that I shot and edited for them.
Emily Lakdawalla and Mat Kaplan did a fantastic job with limited time (JPL is conscious that lots of news organizations want to do feeds from JPL leading up to the dramatic Mars Science Laboratory landing in August 2012), and it was exciting to get to work with them on this, first filming and then editing and delivering the finished piece for use in a Planetary Radio Live! segment that was shown at the Aquarium of the Pacific.
I’m working on getting some new stuff onto the blog, ‘cuz I’ve been really busy lately with some beautiful projects. But I just can’t get enough of this woman’s voice, and I got to film her last Fall. Check it out!
In the next several days, I’ll post the newest issue of the magazine that I art direct, a few photo shoots that I have done, as well as some wonderful film work, in Washington, D.C., in Phoenix, and here in Los Angeles.
We’re still working on the main piece — a longer video with lots of interviews in Japanese that need to be translated and subtitled in English for the North American viewers. But today (March 11) is the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami in NE Japan, so we rushed to get just a few videos posted to commemorate the horrors and to point towards the hope and vision that many Japanese pastors have for their country in the new reality that is Japan.
First up is a prayer from Mori Sensei, a pastor living 30 minutes away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. His church wants to help rebuild an entire seaside community, hopefully relocating just a half-mile off the beach up into the hills, so that they can still have their livelihood, but be protected from the possibility of another tsunami:
The next video is a set of reflections from Eric Takamoto, an Asian Access missionary from the Kobe area who was one of the first responders up into the destroyed town of Ishinomaki. Eric’s family is going to relocate to Ishinomaki because they feel strongly that the rebuilding work is going to take time and committed effort, and they want to be part of that long-term process. Eric’s passion for the people he ministers to inspires me:
Both of these pieces were filmed in January 2012 as part of my one-week trip to NE Japan for Hearken Creative client Asian Access. I was accompanied on the trip by Asian Access’ VP for Communications Jeff Johnston, good friend and colleague Joshua Clayton, Asian Access’ VP for Strategic Engagement Takeshi Takazawa, as well as translation and hosting and friendship by Asian Access’ Jeffrey Sonnenberg (oh, and new friend Mike McKay from Cypress Church here in California was with us for part of the week).
Video was shot with A2′s Sony HD Handycam and my Canon EOS 7D, with color correction done in Final Cut Pro with additional color work by Red Giant’s Mojo. Audio was recorded through my Zoom H4N using Sennheiser G2 wireless mics and an Audio Technica AT897. All data cards (CF for video, SD for audio) were captured onsite and backed up to multiple G-Raid Mini hard drives for redundant transport back to the U.S.
We filmed this last week in West Covina. Joe (president of Asian Access) is so smooth on camera. We interviewed him for 45 minutes for another project, and then he did just a few takes of this quick “thank you” before I had to run to another shoot in Downtown L.A.
Great time. Good video, good audio. Great message.
