It’s been a long spring and summer.  We’ve had several projects that have been delayed, postponed, or just seem to be taking forever for one reason or another.  This week should prove to be a satisfiying one as it will mark the completion of several projects that have been in the works for a long time.  And they are a reminder to me of why we love our work so much here at The Reid Effect.

The three outstanding projects are: 1. A very large and complex yoga project, 2. A promotional video for a company that patrols powerlines, &   3.  A short documentary on an artist out of Palm Springs California named James Jensen.      Oh how I love variety.  It’s easy to get bored, lazy, uncreative, apathetic, or sloppy when you’re churning out the same widgets day in and day out.  We’ve been blessed here to have projects as diverse as we could possibly hope for.

The yoga video has been a nice venture into a world none of us here know much about.  With a client that knows exactly what he wants, it’s also been a good opportunity to practice design and delivery to very exacting standards.  No room for error here, which is challenging and at the same time very nice because there is no guess work involved.  The promo video for the the powerline patrol company is a rare example of the perfect situation – a client who loves your work and has invited you to get as creative as possible – and made available the budget to make it happen.  We were hanging out of helicopters and playing in the desert while shooting this one!  The final product will be rolled out by the end of the week and we’ll be sure to post in in our sample bin.  We know it’s going to be a powerful marketing tool for our client.    And the documentary!  Ahhh, the holy grail of production in every sense of the word!   Only in this world are we given the opportunity to stretch and flex our muscles in every arena – from writing and story design, to shooting and post production.  There’s nothing quite so rewarding as seeing all the pieces come together to form a sharp, compelling story!

It’s this kind of variety that keeps us fresh, keeps us vigilant in our efforts to deliver inovative, compelling content to our clients.  It’s challenging, but it’s great fun.  We’ve tried to approach nearly every project this year with this attitude:   ‘What’s one new, creative, sharp, trendy – element that we have never used before that we can employ on this project to make it shine?  If we come up with an idea and we don’t know how to do it – what will it take for us to learn?’

We trust it’s this kind of pursuit of excellence that will make this round of clients as happy and successful as they could possibly be, and the impetus that will carry us forward into the next exciting round of projects.  Bring ‘em on!

As we head quickly towards tax time, The Reid Effect has, like everyone else, taken a look back at the past year to see where this recession left us standing.  On the radio and TV, all we hear is layoffs and cutbacks.  I admit to even hearing about budget cuts from a number of my clients.  All signs were pointing to bad business – all signs that is except for all the new, good business we were doing at The Reid Effect.  We saw a growth of nearly 50 percent!  How is it that we avoided participating in this recession?  I think like most – we just kept on working hard, putting out quality video productions and treating our clients like we would want to be treated.  We focused on what we could do, and didn’t spend a lot of time on what we couldn’t.   People  and businesses don’t tend to plan way ahead for the kind of projects that we produce, so we still get nervous wondering what’s around the corner for us, but for now we’ll continue to do what works – working hard to stay relevent and at the top of our game in the field we’re in.  By the end of 2010 we may not even have the time to turn on the radio or the TV – who knows what we could accomplish then!

Just returned from a weekend in St. Louis filming the Christmas program for the Ambassadors of Harmony, the 2009 Barbershop Chorus International Champions.  What a show.  It was the perfect blend of beautiful A Capella harmony with impressive set design and entertaining story.  The Ambassadors of Harmony also have the privilege of claiming the 2009 Barbershop Quartet Champions; Crossroads, who had a fantastic set of music during the performance.  There were five sell-out shows of 1600 people per show.  The Reid Effect was working alongside our East Coast office 5:01 Studios based out of Cleveland TN.  This connection came through Chad Guyton, director of 5:01 Studios – who is also a gold metal barbershop champion from 2002 with the quartet Four Voices. Chad’s brother Brandon, who was also in Four Voices, is now a member of Crossroads.   Check out our facebook page for a behind-the-scenes video at our shoot in St. Louis.

The Reid Effect will be laying low for the next couple of weeks during the holidays, working on post production in the studio and gearing up for a shoot in January.  Check back with us to get updates on upcoming projects!

After two long days of working on a local movie shoot, my crew and I packed up and headed out to Palm Springs California for a two day documentary shoot on artist James Jensen.  It was tiring yet thrilling. James is an amazing artist and has a personality that every documentary hopes for but rarely gets!   We spent the second day in his studio watching him work on an amazing range of art – from pastels where he first became widely recognized to his latest contemporary, brilliantly original abstract work.  What a joy it is to film someone passionately engaged in the work they love!  Keep checking back to see the finished piece, and follow us on facebook and twitter to see behind-the-scenes content from this production.   Tomorrow morning it’s back to work on the movie!

2009 is shaping up to be the year of new growth and lots of change.  And we generally consider both of these things to be good – although time consuming!   Welcome to the new blog for The Reid Effect.  Here’s what to expect:  Relatively continuous news on the current projects we’re involved in,  industry news and hopefully not-too-boring technical details that affect The Reid Effect specifically, and the occasional movie review to keep things interesting.  Our goal is to keep fans of The Reid Effect up to date with what we’re doing and where we’re going.  It’s good to have you here – please check back often!