The older I get and as more time goes by, I realize just how much there is to know in this world. And then, it dawns on me. When I really start to think about it, even in a lifetime, there is no way that any human being could even come close to being all knowing and all seeing. And this applies to music as well. So when I was called upon to assist with another music video shoot for HNM, even at my age, I was about to learn about another genre of music. Imagine that!? And being such a music aficionado, I, in my naïveté, thought I’d heard about every kind of music known to man….in existence! But, no….. Even as music serves as my constant companion and ubiquitous soundtrack as I move through my habitual routines – at work, in my daily commute and, sometimes, even in my sleep, I found yet another genre to add to my book of knowledge. Now did I ever hear this kind of music before? Well, sure….in its various forms. I’ve heard it in it’s subtle origins and in separating its elements, I’ve detected it in its punk and folk music roots, but if you came to me and asked me if I ever heard about Oi! music prior to last Saturday, I would have said “Excuse me….?” As fate would have it, I would soon have my introduction to Oi! music and, hence, she would come in a sweet and petite package better known as Jenny Woo.

So it was Saturday afternoon, and I was once again, making my way to our next video shoot. I was a little nervous as I was already running late and since I had to drive to the Park and Ride, park my car, and hop the bus, once I got to my proper stop, I still had to cross the bridge to get myself over to the Quebec side. I had no idea how far I needed to go and if there was even any bus that would take me to where Andy and the crew were working, if it proved to be a far trek.  But, I was lucky this time. I’d just gotten off of the 95 at Lebreton Flats and looking across bridge, I saw that I could easily walk over to the Hull side of town. Not only that. This time, it wasn’t freezing cold outside like it was on our last shoot, but it was rather a gloriously sunny day with a pleasant breeze. I called Andy to see how close I was getting to their location and it turns out that I was exactly on the same street that they were on….I just had to walk 5 blocks more and I was there.  Sweet! Everything was just peachy and I felt that this day was going to be smooth sailing….

So when I met up with them, they were in mid shot, capturing Jenny as she was walking down the sidewalk on Eddy Street. And then I heard it, the Oi! music! It was playing from a portable music player so that Jenny could follow the beat of her song. When you meet Jenny Woo for the first time, she totally strikes you as a very friendly and outgoing young lady with a very professional and courteous demeanor. You warm up immediately to her even more when she flashes you her great smile. As the shoot went on, we engaged in light hearted chit chat and it was becoming more and more apparent to me that there was a lot going on with this girl…and I wanted to know more about her. So instead of my usual recount of the video making process (since it went so well and hiccup free), I decided that I wanted to dwelve into the mind of the music maker this time and shine the spotlight completely on the artist. Lucky for me, Jenny was so open and had graciously accommodated my request for an interview, sharing a few details about herself – some personal life experiences and insights about where she came from, where she is and where she is headed. Check out the Q & A below and get to know a little bit about Miss Jenny Woo for yourself!

How old where you when you picked up your first guitar?

Jenny: I am really fortunate to have come from a family where music has always been really appreciated and respected, and so I was lucky enough to be enrolled in piano lessons at the young age of six years old! After I had a basic understanding of music and music theory, it wasn’t that difficult to pick up on guitar, which I started playing when I was thirteen. I decided to switch to guitar in my teenage years because it’s a lot easier to play in a rock n’ roll group with an electric guitar than with a grand piano!

What is your most memorable gig or favourite place to perform?

Jenny: I have played a lot of really great shows across Canada and in Europe over the last three years, but I would have to say that the best gig I have ever played was last summer in Germany. It was the first time I had ever played in Germany, and I was really nervous because it was a gig that was organized fairly last-minute in a remote town in the Black Forest, and I didn’t know anyone there and I knew only a couple of words in German. To my surprise, however, everyone was really friendly and even knew the words to some of my songs! I was blown away by the fact that people half-way across the world had been listening to my songs and had made the effort to drive 3 hours just to attend this small gig. It was a huge confidence booster for me, and I made friends at that show that I keep in touch with to this day.

So you have upcoming gigs lined up in Europe. Tell us about that.

Jenny: Yes, I am playing a mini-tour in Europe this September, and hopefully another one in May 2012. I am signed to a German record label called Randale Records, and since a lot of the publicity work that the label does is focussed in Germany, it makes sense to tour there in order to support my upcoming album release. The record label helped organize a lot of the gigs for me, and I will be playing in Hamberg, Schramberg, Duisberg, and Leipzig in Germany, as well as a couple of gigs in Karlskrona, Sweden, and a couple of gigs in Holland. I am really excited to meet a lot of new people, and travelling while playing music has always been my dream so I can’t wait to get out there and live it up!

Tell us one thing that is not well known about yourself, but that would surprise people to know.

Jenny: Like most people, I have a few small, hidden talents – one of my uncommonly known skills is my ability to find Waldo in “Where’s Waldo” books. For some reason or another, Waldo always seems to jump out at me, and I can locate him very easily. Now if only that skill translated into an ability to find my keys and the remote control which always seem to be hidden in my apartment…

You have recently left your hometown of Edmonton, Alberta to come to Ottawa. How is that adjustment going for you?

Jenny: It’s always hard to move to a new city, and to leave good friends and family behind. That being said, I really like Ottawa and find it to be a very manageable city to get around in – it’s big enough to have a lot of interesting things to do, and yet it’s small enough to get around in comfortably. I also like the fact that it is so close to Montreal and a few other cities, which is great for gigging and also for spending the weekends exploring and trying out new things. Overall, I’m still working on building up a social network and finding my place here in Ottawa, but I am really happy here and I feel like there is a lot of room for me to grow in Ottawa.

Where would you like to be 5 years from now and what do you see yourself doing?

Jenny: In terms of my musical career, I would like to release another full-length album, as well as some split albums with a few bands that I really respect and would love to work with. I would also really like to tour in Indonesia and through South East Asia. In five years from now, I would still like to be writing songs and improving my vocal chops and guitar skills, which are definitely life-long projects.

If you had the chance to work on a project with another artist, who would that artist be?

Jenny: I have always really wanted to work with Franky Flame, who is a well-renowned artist in the punk community in Europe. He plays currently with a band called Superyob, and has had a really long and rich musical career, which has influenced a lot of the songs I have written. I am really lucky, in fact, because I might soon be realizing this dream – Franky Flame and I are currently working together to release a single on Randale Records sometime next year, and I really looking forward to working with him on this project. I think that there is a lot that I can learn from him, and hopefully we can come up with some great songs together.

On a more personal note, besides music, what else fires you up in life?

Jenny: Besides music, I am really impassioned by a lot of social justice issues; I worked for Amnesty International for a few years trying to promote awareness for human rights issues, and I am right now really interested in issues relating to human trafficking. I am also a strict vegetarian and I do my best to promote animal welfare on a local level. Other than that, my friends and family are really important to me and I do my best to spend time with them and to continue building strong and rich relationships with them.

Who is loaded on your MP3 player these days?

Jenny: These days, I am listening to a lot of power-pop and pub rock. I saw the Vancouver band the Transmitorz play here during the Ottawa Explosion festival, and I was really blown away – I was so impressed that I purchased a few of their releases at the show and have been playing them constantly ever since. Their songs and sound has been influencing me for the last couple of months, and the songs that I have been writing for my band, The Birds of Prey, incorporate and build off of their energy and super-melodic vocal lines.

Where do you draw your inspiration to write your songs? Do you do better in happier times or when you are confronted with personal struggles and challenges?

Jenny: A lot of people have commented that my songs are super positive and optimistic, and I think they are. Most of the songs on my last album, “Alberta Rose,” have been about overcoming obstacles, not accepting defeat, and trying to find hope in seemingly hopeless situations. You might think that I write these songs in happier times, but in fact, I do my best song-writing when I am confronted with personal challenges. I believe that we are defined by how we meet and deal with the challenges and problems of everyday life, and I have always grown the most personally and learned the most about myself when I’ve found myself in tough times. It’s pretty natural for me to turn to song-writing when I have the need to express myself or figure out a problem, so it makes sense that most of my songs are written in the face of personal struggle.

So there you have it, folks. I hope you enjoyed getting better acquainted with Jenny. If you met her in person like I did, you’d get a very cool vibe from her. To me, she is a breath of fresh air! Not only do you have a great young talent with goals and aspirations in Miss Woo, but you also have an individual here who is down to earth, very personable, passionate and someone with a social conscience. For me, one of the greatest pleasures in life is not only discovering new music, but also meeting new people and finding out what makes them tick.  I really liked what I found in Jenny and I will be following her as she continues to break into the Oi! music scene, building a captive audience of her own.

I had a great time working with you on your video shoot, Jenny! You now have a new friend and fan in me! I’ll be cheering you on as you blaze your new trail. Go get ‘em girl!  I know you’ll do us Canucks proud in Europe!

Godspeed and Happy Trails!

Watch the video:

Tina

It’s been a few months since Apple launched the Mac App Store as a central repository for applications on OSX. I’ve been playing with it a bit, trying to figure out just why we needed an App Store on the Mac when installing software is so easy (99% of the time you just drag it to your applications folder).

First things first, let’s be clear; The REAL motivation here is Apple wants a cut of the profits. If a developer creates an app and sells it on their website, they get 100% of the profit. If they sell it in the App Store, Apple gets a nice cut, and the developer only gets a portion. Apple is clearly positioning themselves as a distributer of applications, and trying to make a healthy profit from it.

But aside from that, one very important thing stood out to me as more apps populated the store: Games are prominently featured. For years, Apple has tried to woo game developers to the Apple platform. Having a lot of games on the Mac would make the Mac more mainstream, and silence the “I need a PC for games” crowd. By creating the app store for the iPhone and iPad, they have lured many game developers to the platform, and they are trying to do it again with the Mac app store. It’s all about the “image” and perception of the platform. I think as the games start pouring in, we will start seeing more advertising from Apple touting the gaming features of the Mac.

Now that the motives are put to rest, what does the Mac App Store mean for consumers? Is this a clever way of reducing piracy? Perhaps, but consider this: The average person downloads pirated software because they claim it’s too expensive. Developers claim they charge so much because they need to make up for piracy. It’s a vicious circle; A catch 22. But now Apple has come along with clear guidelines for apps, baseline pricing that works for consumers, and a fairly robust anti-piracy solution. Now, in order to compete, apps need to be priced fairly, and in return they are promoted for free by Apple. In the end, the consumer wins.

The only flaw with the current app store implementation is that there are no “trial” apps. If there was a way to install a trial version of all the apps that run fully featured for 30 days, Apple would have a true winner. People would have a chance to try and become dependant on apps, then be prompted to purchase after 30 days, and it would all be a seamless experience.

As it stands now, I’ve installed exactly one app from the App Store, Twitter, and I really don’t have a use for the App Store. Once more quality content is added and the experience is refined, I might change my mind. But Apple better do it quick… if there are too many people like me who try it and abandon it, it will never take off. And if that happens, developers won’t want to get their apps listed. We’ll ba back to our catch 22.

The next couple of years will be interesting, and we could see a huge shift in computing. We are at the cusp of a revolutionary new computing model. I’m curious to see how this will play out over time.

Greetings folks!   Happy New Year to all!

We hope that everyone enjoyed their holiday season, celebrating with family and friends. With the past year now in the memory books and another exciting year upon us, the Hotcakes New Media team met 2011 with yet another new and unique challenge. It was decided that, upon hearing about the 72 Hour Film Challenge sponsored by the Ottawa International Film Festival (OIFF), HNM was ready to have a little fun outside of our current work projects. So shortly after we were armed with a set of criteria supplied to us by the OIFF organizers regarding the challenge on a Thursday night at the Lieutenant’s Pump on Elgin Street, we headed off to our downtown location to do a little brainstorming.

So what is the 72 Hour Film Challenge, you ask? It’s quite simple really. We had exactly 72 hours from the receipt of the challenge criteria to conceive and deliver a film short into the hands of the OIFF team. This means that we had to line up a story, actors, locations, shoot the film, do post production and deliver the final cut to the festival organizers using specific elements and requirements. Having done a Google search about past challenges, we were aware that the OIFF organizers make this challenge particularly interesting by including very unusual elements to ensure original content and to really make participants exercise their creative muscle. But the timeline for completing this sort of project was certainly going to separate those who crack under pressure from those who perform optimally under tight deadlines.

So what were they looking for exactly?

Here is a little run down of what sort of content had to make it into the film short in order to qualify.

The Theme: Travel to Taiwan

The elements that must be present:

-  At least one or more hockey sticks

-  A reference to Ottawa IT Fashion Week

-  One character that is a Public Relations Film Enthusiast

As well, we had to ensure that the following dialogue was included in the film;

“It is true, a ship is safe in the harbour, but that’s not why ships are built.”

“Hey, it’s Ryder” (in Southern drawl)

In addition to that, we had to somehow include the following bad joke;

Question: “What do you get when you cross a polar bear with a penguin?

Answer:    “A polar bear?”

So you may be wondering if we made the cut….

Just how did the HNM team do, anyway….?

Well, it was a close one folks, but we are happy to report that we did, indeed, finish every stage of this production and we even managed to deliver our entry 30 minutes before the clock struck 7:00 p.m. on a Sunday evening (the deadline for all entries to be received).  But, in all honestly, at times, it was a real nail biter situation as we were left wondering if we would even get through all of the post-production hoops to get that precious DVD copy finalized and ready for submission. There were definitely times when we felt that anxious tension knowing that we were cutting it very close, but we moved through it and squashed any defeatist attitude, determined to keep moving forward right up to that “11^th hour.” There was no trying here – it was “We WILL do this!” After all, we had worked so hard conceptualizing our project that it would be such a heart breaker if we could not deliver the goods within the prescribed timeframe. But in the end, thankfully, our efforts prevailed and we did it!

In any case, despite the fact that we had to crank out a film in such a short period of time, we actually had a blast doing this pressure cooker project. And we really got a lot of satisfaction knowing that we were able to follow through with this challenge and see it through to completion. Because we all work so well together and have a tremendous respect for one another’s talent and input, our cooperative spirit, as usual, guided us through the entire creative process from start to finish.

So what did we learn from this particular project?

#1 – Tools of the Trade

Get to know your new equipment well before actually beginning your project. We had a new audio recording device that we were just breaking in and we’ll admit that we didn’t really know all of the useful features of this tool prior to starting our shoot. Having familiarized ourselves more with it would have saved us some valuable time during the editing phase.

# 2 – Dress for the Weather

Dress warmly if you are doing outdoor shoots in this Canadian winter weather. Knowing full well that anything can happen outside of your control on an outdoor shoot, you have to anticipate that you will probably be outside much longer than you realize. Outside, you will find time bandits that will just suck up valuable filming time. There is the occasional passerby who may walk through the shot, a low flying airplane with its jet engines roaring, the sound of sirens from local emergency vehicles and the list goes on. And take after take, it really sucks if you don’t have those warm mittens, a hat and dry winter boots to keep you from chattering your teeth loudly and uncontrollably during your shoot. Besides, it really messes with the audio and how the heck are you supposed to keep that camera steady if you’re shivering from the cold.

#3 – More Batteries Please

Always have way more batteries on hand than you think you may need for your gear – I don’t know, maybe we should have just bought some stock in a battery company! Certain types of equipment seem to just burn through them like they were matches….  ARGH!!!!  “Low battery again!?   Awwwwww, what the @#$^&*!*^%. But we just replaced them 5 minutes ago!!!!”  Does cold weather drain battery power at an accelerated rate? Based on our experience this past weekend, we would say so!

#4 – You Can Never Have Enough Memory

Memory cards, memory cards, memory cards!!! Get a stack of them if you can! The more the better! Especially if you have multiple takes and it takes longer to line up those perfect shots. We were actually left scrounging around the house to see if any of our other electronic devices could be pilfered for usable memory. After a while with no luck, we had to resort to sending out one of our beloved team member’s wives to hunt down a new card for us at 10 p.m. on a Saturday night.  Pas fun du tout!

#5 – Never Underestimate the Power of Social Media

Whatever your favourite way of keeping connected is with the outside world, one can never underestimate the power of social media and how it can be invaluable in lining up last minute valuable resources when you are in a pinch (in this case, some much needed actors) in order to bring a project to life.  Armed with our trusty iPhone companions at our sides, we delighted every time we heard that wonderfully familiar chime which alerted us to those incoming messages that brought us much welcomed news of participants willing to come in and save the day for us. It is just truly amazing how, through the use of social media, people are willing and able to instantaneously come together, even at a moment’s notice.

Before we forget…..

Let’s Not Forget to Say “Thanks!”

As always, we’d like to thank all of those wonderful volunteers who came through for us, yet again, in our time of need to act in our short. You were truly a Godsend for first, agreeing to be in our film and second, for learning your lines in such a short period of time. Without your support, we’re not sure what we would have done. I suppose we could have resorted to using hand puppets, but thank God, we didn’t have to go there. Take a bow, friends – we really appreciate your support. You certainly came through for us on this one!

Just In the Nick of Time

Here is a little funny “Oh, by the way, you will never guess what happened….” anecdote to add for your amusement. We actually came close to not pulling this project off for another quite compelling reason. Would you believe that just shortly after the HNM’s film short was submitted to the OIFF, Andy’s computer crashed and burned?   It just died! Kaputski! Finito!  Yowzers! Talk about a close one! This disaster was just very narrowly averted!  Thank you, computer gods, for not whisking away his computer’s life signs before we delivered “our baby.”

What’s Next?

So here is where you come into this story. The OIFF has posted our 72 Hour Film Challenge entry titled Ticket To Freedom on-line at the following link:

http://oiff.ca/2011/01/13/ticket-to-freedom

If you, our dearly devoted reader, think we should take the title and win, please be so kind as to send us a nice cyber slap on the back and vote for our submission by the deadline.  Your “Bravo Zulu” will mean a lot to us and help us make our mark. Okay, who am I kidding…this is really a shameless plea for you to validate our work and say that we did “good” because we crave a little bit of validation after that particularly stressful weekend. So please, don’t hold back, we need your accolades so that we can remain focused as we blaze our trail onwards toward future endevours.

As well, check out our pictures to get a glimpse into some of the moments captured behind the scenes as we toiled away.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=351490&id=188738849745&ref=mf

Would you believe that I snapped about 370 pictures during the shoot in between takes and only about half of them turned out?  “Sigh.” I seriously need to upgrade from my little point and shoot. But sometimes you just have to work with what you have. Although, I will say this, I was able to take pretty ordinary looking pictures and turn out some neat looking shots after playing around with my nifty little iPhoto effects feature – I love being resourceful!

With respect to the other entries, you will see very good contenders here also putting in their blood, sweat and tears to crank out their creative visions. Each of them brings forward something unique from their heart that they wanted to relay to the audience, and for this particular instance, in the spirit of competition. The fact that people took the time to take on this challenge really impresses me and tells me that there is a healthy creative vibe that is alive and well in our capital. And I do find this refreshing since our fair city is, in some circles, more known as the “fat cat city” with the majority of its population currently employed by public service. So I say “Kudos” to all of you, fellow filmmakers, who have been on the same journey as Hotcakes New Media while engaged in this quest. We salute your efforts, appreciate the talents that you bring to the table and wish you every success in wherever your paths lead you.

Final Word

As we move through these projects together, we have a unique opportunity to experience new things and to take away some very valuable lessons learned to add to our growing repertoire of knowledge that will guide us as we engage in future projects. And the more we do as a collective creative force, the more ambitious the scope of our projects will become. So stick around, people, and join us for this ride, because it is only going to get bigger, bolder and better!

Creatively Yours,

Tina

Choosing the right CMS is always a gamble; I either run the risk of choosing a big all-in-one CMS that confuses my clients, or I choose a smaller, newer CMS and discover its flaws on a live site. It’s a bit like the Mac guy vs PC guy ads… A big CMS like Drupal is PC; It has so many features that it just confuses users, but it’s great at getting mundane work done. The smaller CMS like Firerift is Mac; Easy to use, fresh, and cutting edge, but maybe a little wild at times.

Making the decision to go with “the little guy” is not a position I like to put myself in, but sometimes it’s a necessary risk.

Working with Hotcakes New Media, I’m always looking for new ways to push boundaries with content management systems, but also help my clients too. The simple fact is the “big players” in CMS software, such as Drupal and Joomla, are far too confusing for my average client. They just need a simple way to log in, change the wording of a page, post an important notice, and maybe update an image. They don’t need to have a thousand back-end options. They don’t want to learn the difference between “pages” and “stories”, or have a week long course on how to update their site. And I don’t want them to have all those obscure sections in which they can easily destroy their site with a few clicks.

Newer Web 2.0 CMS solutions are finally starting to emerge, but because they are still so new, they cause two major issues for creative companies:

1. The learning curve. There is a considerable amount of time that needs to be spent learning how to install and optimize the CMS.Then there is even more time spent learning how to create exciting and visually stunning designs with their template systems
2. Learning the flaws. Every CMS has flaws; Some can potentially have security holes, some may have bug, some may not be optimized for speed. The only way to find these flaws is to use the system in a production environment.

Case in point: I recently installed a Firerift website for a client. I proposed the CMS after looking at the feature set and testing the admin area. On paper it was perfect: It used simple CSS tags to pull in the dynamic content right into my own HTML, so I had full control over the design. The backend was stunning; Very well laid out, easy to use, and behaved like a desktop application. My clients would easily be able to edit the content on the site without much training at all. I built the site, and implemented Firerift in just a few hours on my test server, and it was ready to go! Fantastic! I copied all the code onto their Netfirms web server and deployed the site. Suddenly, the website was taking 20-40 seconds to load. Anything over 10 seconds is bad, but 40 seconds?! Something had to be done. You see, the issue is that Netfirms has extremely slow connections for each data request. Because of the way Firerift works, namely loading all the html content then going back using Javascript to get each dynamic element one at a time, the site choked. The way I had designed it, there were 3 dynamic “page snips” on the page, plus each of the image banners (5 in total) were in separate dynamic content boxes as well (so my client could easily update the banners themselves). And because the javascript wasn’t optimized to load asynchronously, each item had to be fully loaded before loading the next one. The result was a page that would load with a bunch of empty boxes, then the text and images would slowly pop-up one at a time over a 30 second period. In order to fix the problem, I had to fully optimize the site and remove some features. All the banners were made static so they could load with the HTML layer. All the CSS and JS was minified. All the cool alpha transparent images had to be hacked and converted to highly compressed JPG images. In the end, with all the changes the site now loads in under 5 seconds, but we had to make compromises in design and editing abilities.

For smaller sites with less content, I would still potentially recommend Firerift. Its benefits in ease of use and design can sometimes outweigh its flaws if managed right. But for bigger sites or clients that need more control, I will have to look elsewhere for now.

That brings me to Concrete5. The newer Concrete5 CMS has been making a lot of waves in the CMS community. It is open-source, free to use, and has a good amount of features and support. It is one of the few CMSs to provide in-context editing (in other words, you can change anything on your site while you are still looking at the actual site). Furthermore, it has great community support for plug-ins; That’s a good thing, and a bad thing. Obviously, it is great that you can find a variety of plug-ins to help you build your CMS, but the vast majority of them are paid plug-ins. That’s how the developers make money: They give you the app for free and charge for the plug-ins. I’m not opposed to that concept, but when they charge for a blog plug-in (a pretty standard feature for most CMSs) I have to wonder if they are nickel-and-dimeing me.

Regardless, Concrete5 does seems like a great solution for my next client, so we will have to see how it goes. But first, I have to learn how to make a template (again).

100% source of daily fun!
$22.99 + HST

Call 613-564-7240
or buy online

About the Music Soup DVD

Enjoy a hearty helping of Jen Gould LIVE in concert at Arts Court. This DVD is a bowlful of fun for your little ones, ages 2 to 8.

Sing along with the Juno Award winning artist as she performs on stage, laugh along with the animated vignettes, dance along with the music videos and learn musical basics with the interactive video game based on the teaching principles of Music for Young Children .

Music Soup: Jen Gould Live at Arts Court will entertain and enrich

– 100% source of daily fun!

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this DVD goes to support Arts Court, Ottawa’s Centre for the Performing, Visual, Literary and Media Arts.

To find out more about Jen Gould and listen to samples of her music visit jengouldmusic.ca

Ingredients:

Gina Meena
Yummy In My Tummy
B-B-B-Bath Time (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Monster In My Closet
Three Little Pigs
Cow Kicked Nelly (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Bonny Boone
Fry a Hot Dog (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Cat Came Back
Noise
Everyone is Good at Something
Googali Eyes
The Lemonade Song (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
You And Me
Tiny Little Bubbles (animated by Hotcakes New Media)
Shake Your Hands

Special Feature:

Smarty Pants Interactive Musical Game (animated and created by Hotcakes New Media)

Bonus Videos:

Monster In My Closet
I Love My Rooster (animated by Hotcakes New Media)

I am proud to announce that Hotcakes New Media has been selected to create the new fundraising experience for leading non-profit organization CUSO-VSO’s newest campaign called “Volunteers for the World”. We will be responsible for all branding and visual imagery, website design and implementation, and Artez fundraising customization, with the possibility of extending into additional work with video, social media and traditional advertising. As a multi-faceted project, Hotcakes New Media will have the opportunity to showcase its strength in providing all creative services in-house under one group vision.

About CUSO-VSO

CUSO-VSO is a non-profit development agency that works through volunteers. They are a member of the VSO International Federation.

Each year, they send hundreds of global citizens to work on collaborative development projects in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. They are one of North America’s leading international development organizations that works through volunteers.

CUSO-VSO volunteers work at the crossroads between hope and hardship. They place people of all ages who have the professional experience, hands-on know-how and perspectives needed to work in partnership with organizations working to overcome poverty and disadvantage in more than 40 developing countries.

Creativity for a cause

Hotcakes New Media is honoured to have been selected for this contract and everyone at Hotcakes is excited to begin this incredible project. We are extremely proud to be working with CUSO-VSO to help fight global poverty and lend our creativity and talent to help make the world a better place.

We will be releasing more details in the weeks that follow, and we hope you will join us in getting involved in fundraising for a great cause.

Andy Morris
Creative Mastermind - Hotcakes New Media

One of the issues I deal with on a daily basis these days is having to defend myself as a creative company. When I set out to create Hotcakes New Media, I made a conscious choice not to label myself as a marketing firm, or an ad agency. I don’t operate a production house, a design studio, or a web firm. I am a creative company, and I am quite clear in the services I provide. Yet somehow, I find myself unable to use “creative” as a label for my business, and I am constantly pigeon-holed into a different category. That makes advertising my services next to impossible.

For example, I’ve been attempting to add Hotcakes New Media to some link directories, to help spread the word about our website. I fill in the URL, and a little bio about what we do, and then I am presented with a drop-down menu to categorize my “type” of business; Marketing? SEO? Design? Video? Which category do I choose? Each of those choices brings with it a certain set of expectations, which could potentially not be met if one was expecting something we are not. The value my company brings is in the creative blend of all these services. Although we do design, we are more than a design company, because we offer creative services that extend beyond just design. Same goes for video. And SEO. And any other pre-defined category I might be forced to label myself with.

Just a few days ago, after providing a quote to a potential client about some creative website improvements I was recommending, the client sent me a predefined “list” of SEO tactics and services SEO companies provide, asking me if my quote included all those services. I had to remind the client that we are a creative company, and although we do take care of 90% of what was on that list, our value was in providing that along with the proposed design services; Our work is about the creative blend of these two elements. It’s all fine and dandy to “follow all the rules” and write perfectly semantic html markup, but if the site looks horrendous in the process, you aren’t retaining the people who visit the site. Likewise, if your site looks fantastic, but has no SEO elements, no one will ever see it. The creative part is finding the right balance between the two.

So I sit here, wondering if there’s a place for creative companies in the current marketplace, and wondering why there are no categories that accurately describe what we do. Surely there must be other creative companies out there. Do other companies face the same problems?

Are you faced with the same problem? Let us know in the comments or on twitter @hotcakesottawa .

Andy Morris – Creative Director
Hotcakes New Media

There’s a whole flurry of tweets and articles popping up today about Esquire Magazine’s Augmented Reality issue. For background reference, in case you haven’t heard, Esquire has released a print magazine that features visual barcode blocks that can be held in front of webcams. The user runs an application on their computer, and holds up the magazine to view special video-based content. View the details here: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/esquires-augmented-reality-issue-hits-newstands/

But that doesn’t make it Augmented Reality (AR). That’s just media tagging. I’m sure there’s some other buzzword out there for this type of interaction, but AR is not it.

This is where all the dismissive article writers are falling short; They are assuming, incorrectly, that AR is about taking something from the real world (the magazine) and extending it into the virtual world (web). See http://www.hanskmeyer.com/archives/86 and http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/opeds/oped_esquires_augmented_reality_misses_the_point_141838.asp for examples of articles that “miss the point”.

AR is about interacting with the virtual world; It’s about making the real world part of the virtual world. Granted, Esquire’s attempt at Augmented Reality is a weak one, as it doesn’t truly involve the person (you interact with the magazine instead), but it is interactive. You can control the video in real-time with your actions. The video is in 3D, and you can tilt and pan across it by moving the magazine in the direction you want the video to move. You can move it in a particular way to activate different sections of the video. That’s the AR part.

And that’s what marks this as a bit of a milestone event: It’s one of the first times an AR interaction has been marketed in a major way, with the intent of generating profit.

I can’t completely fault the article writers though; Esquire is at fault for posting the video.

David Granger is not really demonstrating the real functionality. He just waves the magazine in front of the screen, and when he tries to tilt the magazine, it’s even out of range of the webcam. The video should have clearly demonstrated that the magazine is an extension of the real life reflected video, and that it is a real-time overlay on top of the magazine as you hold it.

I do find it amusing, however, that many articles are saying Esquire should have allowed people to virtually try on articles of clothing in the fashion section. Here is an example of some experimental Augmented Reality art I created in 2007 for Scotiabank’s Nuit Blanche art exhibit in Toronto.

Where do you see Augmented Reality going in the next few years? Is there a market for AR, or is it just a fad? Chime in by posting a comment! And please feel free to share or tweet this article so we can see what others think.

Andy Morris
Hotcakes New Media

Social media or social networking, as a defined marketing term, has only come to prominence in the past year or so. But social media has been around for years, long before the internet was even around. Today I’m going to explain the evolution of social media, and why social media isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The BBS

If you’re under 25 years old, you might not have heard of the BBS (Bulletin Board System). I had the distinct pleasure of using BBSs back in the day, with my acoustic coupler 300baud modem. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a box with two suction cups to wedge a telephone handset into and dial out to other modems. Yes, it was as horrible as it sounds. If you cough, you get disconnected. If you sneeze, you get disconnected. If you breathe too loud, you get disconnected.

Enough nostalgia.

A BBS was, in a crude way, much like a forum or blog is today. Someone would set up their computer to be a BBS with a particular theme, and the number would be published (in local computer magazines, word of mouth, etc). People with a particular interest would dial out to the BBS and could read posts, make comments, contact other users, upload and download files, and more. It was a way of sharing information in a centralized way on a topic of interest to others in the group, much the same way social media works now. The only difference is that computers were not nearly as common as they are today, not nearly as easy to setup, and not nearly as user friendly. The BBS was mostly used by a few elite tech savvy people, and thus the interest groups were generally computer related. Or very nerdy. Either way, it wasn’t very marketable, so it was never picked up as a mainstream advertising platform.

The World Wide Web

Once the ISP scene took over the BBS scene, web pages worked in the same way. Early on in the Internet days, the web was a very different place, full of colourful text and blinking words gone wild. At the time, almost every ISP offered a few MBs of web space, usually accessed as www.yourisp.com/~yourusername . Since everyone had access to the space, anyone technically inclined enough could set up their own webpage. The problem was it was too difficult for most people, and once the web started taking shape with images and interactivity, websites lay stagnant as people were just too lazy to update.

Newsgroups

Because building webpages was too complicated for most, newsgroups were popular early on in the Internet age. Anyone could sign in to any news group and post or read news items, make comments, and share information. It was an evolution of the BBS, and it was arguably used more than building websites because it was easy to use and offered a two way communication. Some companies picked up on this and created newsgroups specifically for information sharing with clients and to offer help or advice. In essence, this was the very beginning of social media as we know it today. It was, however, limited to text only, and as the internet became more graphical, newsgroups fell out of grace.

Forums

The next incarnation of social media was the graphical version of the newsgroup. Forums acted in much the same way as newsgroups did, allowing users to post articles and make comments, but did so with style and flair. Again, companies took notice and began offering support and user forums for their users. More popular forums were advertising hotspots as companies could easily target thousands of users with a specific interest. However, the forum was still fairly anonymous. Sure, you could post an article on a forum, but it was mixed in with hundreds of other posts, and didn’t offer a big enough soapbox for some.

Blogs

The blog was the next evolutionary step in social media, and is really just one step removed from the beast we have today. Blogs offered two things that made it instantly popular across all markets:

1- It allowed for the easy creation of fresh content (that search engines love) and

2- It pandered to people’s ego, allowing anyone and everyone to have a voice.

Let’s face it. Social media wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for people’s egos. That’s really what drives social media; People like to show off, and want to be propped up.

However, the key difference, and the noteworthy identifier that transformed what we have from just the internet into “social media” is the comment. The two-way communication allowed everyone to have a voice. The bloggers have their voice, but the public can chime in too, and vice versa. That’s ultimately what led to the social media we have today. Even Facebook started out as a “look how awesome I am” platform, but quickly realized that two way communication was the next logical step.

Social Media

Social media today is really nothing more than a marketing term to describe the current state of the internet. It is the instant sharing, consumption, and regurgitation of tiny fractions of information. More importantly, it is marketable, and as consumers move away from the one way communication of a webpage, it is the most relevant way for companies to reach a large audience. It is on the cusp of being completely corrupted by unscrupulous marketing vultures who just haven’t found a way to buy their way in… yet.

I can’t say for sure what social media will evolve into, but based on the evolution we have seen so far, I do have several ideas. But I think I’ll save that for another post.

Andy Morris
Hotcakes New Media

If you need help with your brand, Hotcakes New Media can help. Visit our webpage and contact us to find out how we can make you look better.

I’ve recently been contacted about a large contract I am pursuing for Hotcakes New Media. The contract is fairly extensive, and requires branding, video, photography, graphic design, print, web, programming, and custom Artez design for a large non-profit organization. Because of the size of this contract, and the money involved, I’ve been tasked with writing a full proposal to send to the client. Since all other Hotcakes New Media contracts have been under $5000, I hadn’t written any such proposals yet. As I found out, the most difficult part of writing the proposal was deciding how to approach it.

The reason for this is simple: We are not a marketing firm. We are not an ad agency. We are a creative company.

This may seem insignificant to most people, but it has a huge impact on how we conduct our business, and what people should expect from engaging our services. There are a number generic templates ad agencies and marketing firms use to build marketing proposals. They all include the “science” of marketing: SWOT analysis, target audience, focus markets. While we do take all those things into consideration when coming up with creative campaigns, they are not the core focus of our strategy. Our philosophy is simple: We make cool things people want to be a part of. When you follow that approach, you don’t have to worry about other factors. There’s no age limit on liking cool things. And no amount of science will magically get people to be engaged by your campaign.

For our creative proposals, the focus had to move away from the science and focus on the art. We are, after all, artists first and foremost. Our proposal had to reflect that fact, yet show prospective clients that we have the skills to get the job done. The format I created for teh proposal is as follows:

Background
This section describes where the client is currently, where they want to be, and what they are looking for us to do.

Scope
This is the longest part of the proposal. It covers in detail what we intend to do to get the client where they want to be. It does not pitch a specific concept or idea. That comes later in the process. Instead, it details our recommendations on how to approach various aspects of the project. For example, it might talk about how we recommend a website based on WordPress to allow two-way conversations with the public, and why we thing that is relevant for this particular project. Or it might explain the type of video we are proposing, and how we recommend distributing it. For larger projects, there may be several sub-sections for each specific task we will be recommending.

Schedule
As you can imagine, this is simply our recommended production schedule. If no specific dates have been confirmed with the client, this can be detailed as “week 1 to week 4″ or “day 22 to day 64″. It should encompass every sub-section from the scope, but not be too detailed as to not have the freedom to shuffle things around based on the final creative spec.

Team
This section is not always present in other types of proposals, but is important in the creative proposal. It contains vital information about who will be working on the project, with short bios, and tasks assigned. This helps the client understand where the expertise is coming from, and helps provide insight into our creative backgrounds.

Budget
This section is a fairly straight forward budget proposal. Because the final creative spec has not been set at this point, this is more of a budgetary overview so the client knows where we are focusing our production efforts. That way, the client has the option to say “spend less on the video and put the money into improving the website”. The budget also details what each section includes, for example, the web design section might say “includes all graphic design, setup and installation of required web applications, all html and css, SEO and speed optimizations”. This is vague enough to allow for the funds to be allocated as needed within each section, but provides a detailed enough quote so the client is aware of all the costs. It should also include a contingency of approximately 10% of the budget.

Supporting Information
The supporting information includes links to articles we may have referenced, examples of similar campaigns we are drawing inspiration from, and a portfolio of works to reinforce our ability to successfully complete the project.

As you can see, there are no charts, no intense analysis, and no marketing speak. We make it clear we are not providing a marketing campaign. The client is free to consult with a marketing firm for additional help if they so desire, but the emphasis of our proposal identifies that the proposed campaign should be honest and accessible to everyone.

As of this writing, the creative proposal has been sent to the client, and is awaiting feedback.

Andy Morris
Creative Mastermind – Hotcakes New Media