This is One Time Being Number Two Ain't So Bad

I guess it's official. It's on the web, so it must be. We, as in the proud city dwellers of Washington, DC and its' surrounds, are second in the nation when it comes to "living the good life." So says Portfolio.com: We lead in four categories: "with the largest concentration of management and professional jobs, the highest share of big houses, the best percentage of college-educated adults and the lowest poverty rate for families.

I wonder about that last one. Living in Capitol Hill, I see people living in poverty hovering around the fringes of affluence. But obviously also a great number of the educated and accomplished. Not to mention the area's cultural and ethnic diversity, and the explosion of the arts and music, theater and restaurants that define a great city.

So, I'm delighted with our new designation.. Considering how, not too long ago, we were known as the murder capitol of America, a city many people found sketchy even during the daytime, it's a real coup to be number two.

And having an educated, accomplished population means continuing economic vitality and innovation. Which is probably the best news of all.

Dreaming of the Circus

I'm sure a lot of people have shared this fantasy, some time in their life: "If things get really bad, I'll just run away and join the circus."

Maybe not so much anymore, but once in America, when the circus came to town, everyone lined up for the parade. It was a very big deal. Well, the flavor of that era was captured by a great unknown photographer, Frederick Glaiser. He photographed circus people for over thirty years, and perhaps because they all knew and accepted him, the photographs are quite revealing. There is a very natural, unromantic style to his work as he raises the curtain that separates the circus folk from the rest of us. Or maybe he just captured images from a more innocent era. What ever the reason, I love looking at those frozen moments from a distant America.

His work is featured at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Florida. And the NYT wonderful Lens Blog gives you a quick overview of his work. And you can buy a book featuring his work from Eakins Press.

creativity in the digital world

Advertising has always been a magnet for the creative mind. And in the old days, you'd often find an art director paired with a copy writer to dream up the next big thing. But a recent NYT article describes a much more integrated approach for the world of digital media. A new program at the University of Colorado, Boulder addresses the need for the next gen "creatives" who must possess technical, business and creative skills.

The pace of digital media work is much faster as technology and formats continue to evolve. So Boulder Digital Works has designed a flexible project-based approach to match the ever changing digitocracy. I'll let them speak for themselves:

There are only a few dedicated digital programs in the US and they tend to focus on individual specialties, such as advertising, business, design, or technology. In real life — at leading advertising and digital agencies, start-ups, and software companies — business, creative, and technology people work in an integrated setting and are expected to be multi-disciplinary thinkers and problem solvers.

I really like that concept. So many people who work in the creative milieu are only really comfortable within their limited skill set. Which puts them at a disadvantage. To be a good editor, you need to think like a producer. To be a good producer, you need to think like a good writer. And so on. To become successful collaborators and do our best work, we need to understand our client's needs, what they're trying to accomplish and why. That gets translated to the project's goals and underpinnings...what are we doing and why are we doing it. The big picture. Everything flows from that.

It took some serious mentoring on my own professional journey to help me understand all that. So I'm happy to see that world view being taught to the next gen. I guess that's what progress is all about, right?

How We Tell Our Stories

The other day I ran across a striking two-part video series looking at runaway kids, called "When No One's Looking" It's an intimate view of how runaway kids try to survive on the streets and the threats to their safety. Their story is told in two short news-style documentaries that have become typical of what the NYT is offering on their Lens Site. And while I applaud what they are doing, I'm also reminded that this is not something they've just discovered. Years ago there was a landmark documentary, "Streetwise" centered in Seattle by Mary Ellen Marks, Cheryl McCall and Martin Bell. That was back in 1984, when street kids were first made visible by the Academy Award nominated documentary. You can watch it in segments on YouTube.

I'd like to talk about these two projects, a little bit. And about why, even as they deal with similar content, they create two quite different experiences.

The goal of the NYT documentaries is news. The story is told primarily by the journalist, Ian Urbina, and likely motivated by a government report describing an increase in juvenile runaways. The point of the story is information and we are always looking at the kids from a distant perspective. In the two seven-minute pieces we spend very little time with any one kid, so, as typical in news, they become illustrative models for the story's content. Their plight is made more compelling because their story is told in video and video puts a human face on an abstract issue. Several faces,actually. But by the end of the piece we are ready to move on, left with the sad understanding that these kids have essentially become invisible people. This is what can happen when no one's looking out for them.

"Streetwise" is a riveting example of a feature documentary. The story is told as captured moments from the lives of of real kids. You never hear from the filmmakers but they have clearly won the trust of the kids as they invite you into their lives on the street. I remember the film as having no narration other than the words of the kids. And we're able to spend a fair amount of time with each of them, which helps us get to know them as people. That is really important and is what makes the movie so powerful. We see the counterpoint between their playfulness (after all, they are still kids) and the tough life they've found thrust upon them once they'v run away from home. We also see how, living in a world without adults, they try to help each other.

In both environments there is an older, more streetwise kid who tries to help the younger ones. And in both cases, the kids often feel they have no where else to go. But by the time the "Streetwise" documentary is over, you're rooting for all of them, hoping they'll find a way to build a life for themselves. And you feel a connection to them, for through the film you feel as if they've become part of your world. If you go to YouTube to watch it, you'll see comments from people talking about that sense of connection and wondering what happened to the kids. Even though it was 26 years ago...

Creating work to include that human connection is what makes video most compelling and most effective. The key is how you package the content. When I used to work on PBS documentaries or on political campaigns that's what I went for: to let the human side shine through. And when I work on projects for clients, whenever possible, that's what I go for. Because what you include and how you present it is just as important as what you're trying to say. So I look for that telling moment, that gesture or look or interaction that makes the viewer feel the human connection. And I try to find a way to use images to enhance the emotion of what we're trying to communicate. And use those visual moments as the vehicle to drive home the content.

"Streetwise opens with one of the kids talking about how much he likes to "fly" And then we see him jump off a bridge into the water below. And in a way that strong visual is a metaphor for the whole film. Kids living on the edge... plunging the depths... trying to survive. And you know, instinctively from that opening visual, that what you're about to see will be very different from what you know about the world you live in.

Decoding the Messages Behind the Message

The NY Times reports that the Feds are launching a new campaign to help educate kids about advertising. A sample ad is at the left, for eco-friendly jeans made by an imaginary company. This ad and others are similar to those used to target kids, and I guess all of us.

As noted in the Times article, the government enlisted the aid of Scholastic, the educational publishing company and Fleishman-Hillard to create the ads, a website and game to help kids decode ad messages and "become critical thinkers."

Over the years I've spent a lot of time crafting messages for persuasive media, political campaigns and issue ads. So I've learned first hand how powerful a medium video can be to deliver those messages. And while kids are certainly a lot more media savvy in some ways, they and all of us are susceptible to the subtle messages so often embedded in advertising. We're so used to them, they don't even register in our consciousness.

As the lines have become blurred between fact and fiction, news and advertisements, political rhetoric and reality, etc. the ability to think critically is more important than ever. Nobody likes to be manipulated. So I'm glad that we're making an effort to help kids understand the motives and messages behind the message.

Apple's iPad

From what I've read about the new iPad, I think there's maybe more there than meets the eye. It certainly offers new hope for the publishing industry. Lots of change already starting there. So much has been written about it, but here's a link to a thoughtful piece about Apple's new device that puts it in a very interesting perspective.

Copenhagen

I can't really say that when we won the competition to produce the State Department's video on America's response to climate change that we fully appreciated all that we were getting into. The project as described was to be mostly interviews and the timeline very tight (about two months to get it done).

But we presented a different approach, suggesting that going on site, hearing from real people and seeing first hand some of the public and private initiatives around the country would be very powerful. And a potent message to counter the skeptics who felt that the United States had been asleep at the wheel on this issue.

Yes, the quick turnaround and complicated subject was a challenge, but an exciting one. We sent two producers to different sites around the country to capture a glimpse of the state of the art of weatherization initiatives, solar, wind, and nuclear power, cellugesic biofuels, carbon capture and storage, the future of electric cars and hydraulic hybrid technology, smart grids, and the like. And we had to become instant experts on those and other subjects. And while all that was going on, events made the content areas a constantly shifting target. But the entire GVI staff pitched in to make it happen, and our client tells us from Copenhagen that the video has been very well received. You can check it out for yourself on Youtube.