I threw a line in the water (Twitter) and posted a question to see if anyone else was having the same issues I was.  Well, it turns @RichardBlakely was listening, and what resulted could be used as a template for how to use Twitter for superior customer service.

These interactions make it very easy for me to stay with a vendor.  Oh, and it is worth mentioning twice, this all took place between 11PM and 2AM!

(Click the image below for the timeline)

CLICK IMAGE for full size version

Joshua Davis' acclaimed book Flash to the Core

One of the things of which I get the most joy is finding sources of inspiration in artists, designers, and musicians. When I see something that is truly beautiful, I usually go through two phases…the first being the “wow…I’ll just sit back and enjoy that beautiful thing” phase, which is usually followed closely by the phase of “I wonder how the hell they did that?” There are a lot of artists that absolutely astound and inspire me with their work, and one of them is Joshua Davis. But this story isn’t about his work…it’s about him.

A couple years ago, before I had even heard of Social Media, I was trouncing through the internet on one of my inspiration quests, and I came across Joshua’s site, praystation.com (which has since been morphed into his current site joshuadavis.com). If you haven’t seen his work, it is worth a look. To me, his combination of technology and art was the stuff I could spend hours going through. Once I started reading about how he creates his art, and how he tries to push his tools to the limits, well…I became an instant fan. How many layers can you have in an Illustrator document before you kill your computer? Ask Joshua…he can tell you.

I found out Joshua wrote a book about Flash design called “Flash to The Core: An Interactive Sketchbook”, and jumped over to Amazon.com to pick one up. To my dismay, at the time, all my searches for copies ended up with an “out of print” notice. I was out of luck.  As a last ditch effort, I sent an email to his studio in New York, with the hopes that maybe an assistant could help me find a copy. To be honest, I expected a boiler plate message indicating that “due to the popular demand of Mr. Davis’ book unfortunately we are unable to…..blah blah,” but I figured it was worth a shot.

Instead, fifteen minutes later, my phone rang.

“Hi Dave, this is Joshua. I’m sorry you’re having some trouble finding copies of my book. I only have a couple copies left myself… but if you check eBay, you can still find some used copies.”

No assistant, no week delay in responding or straight up ignoring. It was the guy himself making a personal phone call to a complete stranger with a tip (that worked by the way) on how to find his book.

I was pretty floored. I can’t even get my cable company to commit to calling me back within a certain timeframe, and Joshua took it upon himself to call me personally so I could find an out of print copy of his book. It took him 15 seconds to call me, but it was his personal attention and accessibility that made the impression on me.

One of the cool things I see more and more with the onset of social media tools is the leveling of the playing field. The old barriers of business and celebrity are being knocked down and replaced with direct and immediate contact. What an opportunity for celebrities and companies to create more fans or ambassadors of their brand by these small, but meaningful connections.  It doesn’t take a lot of effort, but it does require a shift in thinking. Tools like Twitter are great new ways to provide accessibility and directly connect to your fans and customers, IF you choose to commit to the idea of a personal level of service like I received from Joshua.

We all know what it is like to have an experience that is so good, we tell others about it. Usually, it is not a huge event, but a small detail that stood out as a personal surprise. I’ll always remember the call I received from Joshua, and how special it made me feel.  Oh, and by the way, the book is fantastic!

How about you?  What surprises have you encountered that resulted in a story you like to tell?

It is an awesome concept, captured beautifully.  Try to watch this without getting a chill.

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With this project, I was converting video files to FLV files with embedded cue points. I was already exporting my markers to XML files so they could be converted to Flash cue points (using my new and improved conversion method - See my earlier post on ConvertCuePoints on how to do this), so all I needed to do was get them into a spreadsheet. This should be easy, right, just import the data using the “import” function of Excel? Nope.

readXML is a simple program created by Andreas Kiel that reads FCP XML files, and displays the information in an easy to read format.  Then, it allows you to easily export clip and sequence information to your clipboard, so you can paste it into Excel.

Simple, easy, and useful. This tool helped me get the grunt work of marker conversion out of the way so I could concentrate on creativity. Oh, and the download is free!  Thanks Andreas!

To download readXML, and for more information about the application, visit http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/readXML/index.html

This is just one of the excellent FCP time savers Andreas has on his website http://www.spherico.com/filmtools.

We will be releasing the documentary in its entirety in the near future, but in the meantime, Tom put together a music video of the end credits rap song we wrote.  We had way too much fun on this project..which we recorded in my old house's basement studio (with the impromptu bookshelf/moving blanket vocal booth.)  Check it out!

Sometimes, you are restricted to the size of a web page window, but you still can choose a better ratio than simply picking one out of the air.

Below is a chart of the best ratios to use.

(Chart compiled by Robert Reinhardt) 

You can also download the Best Aspect Ratio Chart (Excel).

If you want to see the videos in action now, go directly to the new Compass Communication's website.

THE MAIN PROJECT:

1. In Flash, create a new project

2. Create new layers in this order (from top to bottom) actions, video, animation, background.

3. In the actions layer, on keyframe one, insert a STOP action command

4. Upload the background and place it on the stage the background layer

5. Select the video layer keyframe, and import the video (File→Import→Import Video)  

a. Locate your flv file that contains the video cue points

b. Select deployment preferences (Progressive Download or Streaming are the most common).

c. Select your video skin. (In this case, we did not select player controls, as the video was frameless.)

d. Finish your import.

6. Place your movie where you want it, and give it an instance name of "vid".  Test your movie to make sure the placement of the video is where you want it.  

7. While the movie is playing, take a screenshot of the movie.  This still picture will be needed as a reference when you create your animation, which is the next step.

CREATING THE ANIMATION:

8. Create a new movie clip symbol, and name it “animation”. 

9. Add new layers in the clip in this order from the top down, actions, tempBg.  (All your animation layers will be between actions and tempBg)

10. In the actions layer in frame 1, place a stop command

11. In the tempBg layer, import the background screenshot you captured of the main piece.  Make sure to center the background (using align controls)

12. Lock the tempBg track.  You now have a canvas on which to “paint” your animation.

13. Using your cue point spreadsheet as a guide, create animations in the timeline that correspond with each cue point.  In the timeline, at the end of each animation, insert a stop command on the actions layer to prevent the animation from playing until the end.  The animations will then be “on call” waiting for a cue point to trigger them.  Fade in text, graphics, even video to emphasize points, have some fun with it!

LOGGING FRAME NUMBERS:

14. On your cue spreadsheet, insert a new column, and label it “frame”.

15. In Flash, log each frame number that corresponds to the start of each animation.  For example, if the previous animation ended (with a stop command) at frame 20, the next animation would start on frame 21.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER WITH A LISTENER (AS2)

Meanwhile, back in the main timeline…

16. On the main timeline, select the keyframe in the “animation” layer, and drag the new animation movie clip onto the stage.

17. Give the animation an instance name of “anim”

18. Align the movie clip to the center of the stage using the align controls.  They should line up perfectly. 

19. Select the first keyframe in the actions layer, and open the actions panel

20. Insert the following listener code below the stop command:

var vidList:Object = new Object();  //CREATE A LISTENER OBJECT

vidList.cuePoint = function(cues) {

if (cues.info.name == "1") {  //CUE NUMBER

anim.gotoAndPlay(2);  //FRAME NUMBER

}

};

vid.addEventListener("cuePoint",vidList);  //ADD THE EVENT LISTENER

21. For each cue point, copy and paste as many “onCuePoint” events as you have cue points.  Using your spreadsheet, you should be building a list that looks like this:

var vidList:Object = new Object();

vidList.cuePoint = function(cues) {

if (cues.info.name == "1") {

anim.gotoAndPlay(2);

}

if (cues.info.name == "2") {

anim.gotoAndPlay(8);

}

if (cues.info.name == "3") {

anim.gotoAndPlay(14);

}

if (cues.info.name == "4") {

anim.gotoAndPlay(21);

}

};

vid.addEventListener("cuePoint",vidList);

SUMMARY:

Once you get used to putting in the cue point numbers and the corresponding frame numbers, you will be off and running!  Test your movie, and make adjustments where you need to.

The animation is now synched to the movie.   The possibilities are now endless…go and create!

Got any examples of your own using keyframes?  Shoot me a link, I would love to see them.

This is what happens when you combine some boiling water with -10 degree weather!  Brrr!

I recently published Flash Video Cue Points With XML Part 1.  This post outlined my method of creating and editing event cue points using XML files.  It has saved me a lot of time.  My method was manual though, using a spreadsheet and calculations.  Now, while I think it is important to understand how to calculate video frames into flash samples, if a shortcut comes along, I am all for it.

Jay Shaffer, a Twitter friend of mine, read the article, and commented about an Adobe Air product by John Skidgel called (simply) Convert Final Cut Pro Markers to Flash Video Cue Points  Instead of doing all the manual work to convert the timings, you could 1) export your FCP markers, and 2) import them into the AIR application.  The application then 3) converts the markers into the proper XML format for Flash.  Genius!

Do I regret learning how to convert the timings manually?  No way.  Will I use a tool like this to save time on our projects, HELL YES!

Thanks John for the app, and Jay for the recommendation!

A refreshingly simple look at online marketing.