The Allen Film & Video Blog

So, what's a blog anyway? Basically it's me trying to be all philosophical about stuff that pertains to this industry. We might talk about movies, about video production, about do's and dont's, about state legislation and the movie industry in Ohio, about the costs and investments that go into video and film production, the latest gear - and what have you. Be sure to come back often and find out what's happening in my world. - KC

7.12.10

I think about what I could have been doing for a living based on my college attempts. Computer programmer. Psychologist. English teacher. It's a matter of luck or divine guidance that led me to where I am today. I started in radio and although I never made much money, the people I got to meet and the places I got to go were worth the pay cut. When I switched careers and got into video, I wondered if life would be as interesting. It has been.

We started working on a video project for America World Adoption Agency, a leader in international adoption. Through them we've already met Ryan Dobson, son of James Dobson from Focus On The Family, as well as Mark Hall and his family. Mark is lead singer for the Dove and Grammy award winning Christian Contemporary rock group, "Casting Crowns". AWAA is taking us to Jaskson Hole, Wyoming and Louisville, Kentucky over the next two weeks.

We're also pleased to work with some great advertising agencies. One of them has us working all over the state filming tours of wineries and Ohio tourism highlights. Another is sending us to Boston this month to film a huge anniversary gala, which may feature government cabinet-level folks, whose names are being reserved in the event that they don't show up after all. A third has kept us in the loop for some nice projects closer to home. So yes, we're doing a lot of traveling in July but I'd rather travel and film than sort bottles at a soda pop distributor - and yes, I've done that. Ugh. Awful work. My life and my career has continued to be blessed by good fate and good friends. Who could ask for more?

6.05.10

What an amazing month ahead. We wrapped up May with a fast and furious filming schedule through four central Ohio wineries, and we're kicking off June with even more. We'll be headed to the Northwest side of the state as well as the Northeast again to see what's happening by the lake. We also got started on a video for a motorcyle safety product and we're undergoing an ambitious project to bring a print magazine to life on a video screen. Gavin's amazing hang of motion graphics has proven to be very helpful.

We're also gearing up to sponsor the 3rd Columbus 48 Hour Film Project. In this event, filmmakers descend on Columbus to create a 4-7 minute movie in only 48 Hours.

Work continues on the screenplay I was hired to write, and I'm starting to think about producing a short drama of my own this summer or early fall. I have a hankering to do something and submit it to festivals, and Gavin has been on my case about doing a short movie too. We both want to do it, but finding the time is always a challenge.

4.17.10

We've just returned from a week in Las Vegas where we attended the culmination of the 48 Hour Film Project, Filmapalooza. What a surreal moment it must of been for the Berlin team to take top honors as the best short 48HFP film in the entire project, and then face the possibility of not being able to get the trophy home because of the volcano eruption that grounded planes over much of Europe. Hopefully they got back just fine. Their film can be seen on 48.tv

We also attended the NAB (Nat'l Assoc. of Broadcasters) annual convention and trade show. We picked up another HD camera, the XDCAM EX-1R as well as a new music library and a few other goodies. We have a few more items to get over the next couple of months, but for the most part we're loaded for bear.

After what we thought would be a slow period, we were pleasantly surprised and grateful to have had no significant slow down over the Winter and early Spring. The rest of the Spring and early Summer also look to be wonderfully busy, and we hope to be able to bring on another associate in the Fall.

11.10.09

Travel has been our MO as of late, heading out to Colorado, West Virginia and Michigan. In Ohio, Ashland and Wooster area played host to us as we trekked through Amish country looking for our location. What a wonderful experience that was! Watching the hard-working Amish people taking down their corn, arranging the standing shocks of corn and traveling by horse and buggy. We even paused a moment on a hillside to watch the children play a spirited game of baseball outside their one-room Holmes County schoolhouse.

I occasionally fantasize about what it would be like to live in Amish country, but then I remind myself that the Amish may make amazing cheeses and work with wood better than anyone, but they have little use for video. I suppose I'm best off right where I am.

10.12.09

If you've never heard any testimony to the power of the internet and what it can do you for your business, you've been lving under a rock. But, I am here to change your life and bring some light to your existance (arrogance playfully intended).

I don't know yet if it'll come to anything, but we got a call today from a California company looking to get some footage from Toledo. The footage could end up on the national news and will be part of a major product roll out soon. Again, it may not come to anything. BUT -

Toledo has some darn good production companies. They have a couple of lousy ones too, but that's the same anywhere. The Internet leveled the playing field for Allen Film & Video, giving us a shot against the bigger companies in the Toledo/Perrysburg/Maumee area. Indeed, I've gotten unsolicited calls from other folks across the nation simply because we have a website and our competitors don't.

If you aren't getting the results you want from your website, we know a few tricks that may help your site do better. Search engine optimization, link effectiveness, relevance, good descriptions and keywords ... all of these things are important when working to achieve web-related success. And that's before you add video to your site! (Which you need to do. It's how we communicate in 2009.)

A website doesn't guarantee you'll get business. In fact the call I got today may lead to nothing. But one thing is certain... without my website, we wouldn't even have gotten the chance.

08.25.09

I saw a TV commercial tonight that was just plain awful. These car companies who have boo-hooed their way into unprecedented government assistance, evidently have enough money to pour into the normal tripe that end up on TV. A Mercedes crashing through a plate glass window... a Buick surrounded by lit candles and actors dressed as tribesman beating on drums. Ludicrous.

Are the people on a local level being treated any better? Not so much. When a company spends good money to get a commercial, I feel that they're playing for a mini-movie. A story with a beginning, middle and end. Something that's captivating and visually interesting. Too many commercial producers look at commercials as a low budget pain in the rear that on barely pays the bills. What mkes it worse are the sales reps for these agencies that are in such a big hurry to get their spots on the air and collect their commission that they don't care what the spots look like or whether it's going to do the client any good - they just want it on.

You don't have to put up with second best. Make your producer to their best work for you. Make your sales rep wait until you're happy with your spot before you sign their contract, rather than signing a broadcast run order before a spot has even been produced, which causes everyone to rush to the point that nothing gets done to its best potential.

Better yet, save your money, avoid broadcast and cable, and just put your spots on your website! You don't have to pay any broadcast fees, you don't have to be constrained to 30-seconds, and your spot in in beautiful high-definition.

08.10.09

We're getting close again to the big event.

Last year as producer of the Columbus 48 Hour Film Project, I brought the international film maker's challenge to Columbus, it's inaugural year for the 48HFP. We had 26 teams in 2008, and one of the teams got their film screened at Cannes and also won 2nd runner up at Filmapalooza (Aidan 5). Without the 48HFP, that team of talented filmmakers would have been able to achieve this someday, I'm sure - but the 48HFP helped them do it a whole lot faster. In addition, that team as created a web series based on their original short film.

This year we're stepping it up and the stakes are higher.

We have 36 teams signed up this year and we have more support than I could have ever expected. People who were naysayers about the film industry in Columbus have started to compliment their peers on work well done, and deservedly so as the work has indeed improved. The press is seeking us out rather than us seeking them out like last year. We did an interview for an online "radio station" and an interview for the Columbus Dispatch is on the way this week. Theatres are interested in running our movies instead of their trailers and a local Columbus television station is also interested in doing a feature on the 48 Hour film makers in Columbus.

By the way, in the 48HFP the teams have 48 hours to write, film, edit, score and turn in a 4-7 minute narrative. We mandate the use of a certain prop, a certain line of dialogue, the use of a certain character, AND we give them the genre; the type of movie they're going to make... comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi, buddy film, etc.

The stakes are also higher because we have a film community in Central Ohio that's just itching for their chance to do something great. The talent there is amazing - truly - and Columbus is unfortunately overlooked way too often as far as full length feature films bound for a cinema near you. Ohio recently passed a tax incentive for companies wanting to make films in Ohio, but it's only barely competitive with the other 43 states that had incentives before we did. We also have a vacancy in the Ohio Film Office which is still in diapers in its own right, and with the State's new budget, none of the city film commisions (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus) receive any State funding. That's a problem. Add to that the State's budget woes, and the film community has some steep hills to climb.

But, we're making a difference. I have had meetings with the Greater Columbus Film Commission as well as the Ohio Department of Development, who oversees the Ohio Film Office. We're starting to get some forward movement towards building an industry here regardless of whether Hollywood ever comes here again. The 48 Hour Film Project, coupled with the talent of the fine film makers in Ohio and the film commissions we have here will make it happen. It'll be hard, but nothing worth doing is ever easy.

For more information on the 48 Hour Film Project, go to : www.48hourfilm.com/columbus

For more information on the Ohio Film Office, go to: www.discoverohiofilm.com

For more information about the Greater Columbus Film Commission, go to: www.filmcolumbus.com