1/02/09: AT&T, Seagate & Yahoo! Get the Year Started.

I’m pleased to have a new website up and running for 2009!  The above video montage (I edited in After Effects) highlights some of my favorite shows and productions over the last few years. To your right are some previous posts, describing several jobs I directed last year. First jobs of the year were for AT&T and Seagate. The AT&T show was in Dallas at the Hyatt Regency not far from the infamous Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated. I've stayed at this hotel a number of times and last year took a trip to the Sixth Floor Museum. For those of us who were alive in 1963 and have memories of that day in November, a trip to the museum is guaranteed to bring it all back. Most amazing display are some of the actual film & movie cameras that documented the shooting.

Well, I started to talk about the AT&T show. Working for Cue1Go Productions, I directed a 3 camera shoot for the sales kick-off. Here's a video of the show open with Magician Marco Tempest: [flv:/wp-content/uploads/show_open.flv attopen.jpg 432 240]

After the show, I flew back to SFO, got in my car and drove down to Santa Cruz for a Seagate employee meeting. Seagate is emblematic of what is going on in these tough economic times. They replaced their CEO and will have layoffs to combat the slow sales of their hard drives. (I did my part to help by buying a 500gb Seagate drive for my edit system). These meetings, produced by The Kenwood Group,  happen 3-4 times a year - it's great to have a reoccurring show these days! This show is especially enjoyable as Kenwood employees the latest technology to get the information to the Seagate employees around the world. We have a satellite truck to distribute the show and for the first time, recorded in 720p for distribution via the web. Creative Technology provided the HD rig and I directed (and switched) the video record, screen switch and satellite feed. Video juggling!!!

Early February and I'm down in Sunnyvale for a Yahoo employee meeting. Like Google, Yahoo uses their cafeteria for meetings; they have lighting, projection and a series of plasma monitors in the room – and of course they are wired so we can patch into their distribution system. Working with Local Tech and TenCue Productions, we suported CEO Carol Bartz’s first session with the employees. As you may recall, Carol was executive chairman of the board of Autodesk Prior to joining Yahoo in January.