I look at a lot of motion graphics for inspiration on my own work and usually what I find to be most inspiring is character based animation and design. Although the animation work I do at Crawford is usually not character driven, I still translate this influence towards practically every project that I’m involved with in some shape or form. Nathan Love happens to be one of my favorite studios to study and marvel over their expertise in character driven animation. In this piece, Nathan Love collaborated with NBC Artworks to created a station ID that playfully represents the NBC brand. In a short interview about this project the owner and creative director had this to say, “the brief was to create a stand-alone logo animation for NBC. The only guidelines were to make it our own, and of course, for it to be ‘the best logo ever.’” The style of retrofitting the original mark of NBC definitely has that “Nathan Love Flair” in my opinion after being an avid fan of the studio for quite a while.

Now comes the fun part. Now what?

I recommend that you register your program title (working title) and idea
with the Writers Guild. You can do this on-line.

Your next step is to see where your great program concept fits into the
marketplace. Analyze the various networks and cable schedules to see where
your program would work. Is it compatible with a program already on the
air? Can it be a lead in or lead out to that program?

Understand the time periods. You don’t want to pitch a 30-minute weekly
children’s show to a syndicator to target a Wednesday 5 PM time slot on a
network affiliate.

Next, you need to develop a business plan that includes a budget and cost
vs. return. How will it make money? By selling barter spots?

And finally, determine how you want to get it to the decision makers. Is it a
syndicated, network or cable special or series? I recommend a one-sheet that
explains your concept, budget and business plan.

If you have a budget to create a video demo (no longer than 2 and a half
minutes) that will help visualize your concept when pitching your idea.

Growing up as a child in the 60s and early 70s put me smack dab in the muscle car era (1964-’74). Back when men were men… and cars were cars.

This spot for the 1967 GTO features Pontiac pitchman and actor Paul Richards, who dramatically presents this gleaming new machine in a simple studio setting. No special effects, music, or distracting shots: just a straightforward, no-excuses pitch to a target audience. Car guys.

Cars to me- and maybe you- are more than four wheels to get me back and forth to work. Driving is an experience, an image and an emotion. The GTO was my kind of car: an idea on wheels. This spot captures that and does not apologize. It’s talking to me… and I like it.

Well, we finally did it! We completed production of our first season, 2010 and it is time to celebrate!

The party was held at Storyville coffee in Maitland, in a unique and very cool office building. We watched an exciting episode of the show on their big projection screen, ate delicious hors d’oeuvres and sipped on refreshing beverages while the kids played outside in the beautiful atrium. Funny outtakes and gorgeous b-roll played in the background as well.

Close friends, family, and other supporters from the industry were there to show their support. Representatives from Lake Mary Life showed up to capture the event and politicians, who will hopefully lobby for us in Tallahassee, made an appearance as well.

This was our way to say, “Thank you!” and take an opportunity to share our vision and passion with influential people in our lives. We are grateful to our staff, and crew for the sacrifices and commitment they have made to make this dream become reality.

Tell us what you think…

Lake Mary, FL July 1, 2010 — When the new half-hour weekly TV series “how to Do Florida” airs this summer on television stations across Florida, show creator and host Chad Crawford hopes the state’s residents put the show’s overall message into action.

“how to Do Florida” is a high-definition television series with a goal of entertaining, teaching, and encouraging Floridians to actively engage their state. Using a how-to format, along with a touch of humor, the show will inform and excite viewers about getting out and experiencing unique Florida adventures for themselves.

Each episode features multiple destinations in the Sunshine State, two unique how-to outdoor features and a “Florida Cooking” segment with the State of Florida’s own culinary ambassador, Chef Justin Timineri.

“Viewers won’t just watch me do things during the show,” said Crawford. “The show will empower by showing viewers how to do it themselves. My goal is that after watching the show people will get outside and ‘do Florida’ in a new way that maybe they had not thought about before.”

Most activities in the show can be done by beginners and families, which are the target audiences of the show.

“Anyone can learn how to do and enjoy Florida,” says Crawford.

The show is being produced by The Crawford Group, a Lake Mary, Florida-based television production company in the Orlando market owned by Crawford.

The series will launch the first and second weekend of July 2010 on broadcast television stations throughout Florida, and run for seven weeks. Stations cleared to run the show are WJXT, Jacksonville (will air 13 weeks); WTXL(ABC), Tallahassee; WFTV(ABC), Orlando; WZVN(ABC), Ft. Meyers; WJHG-DT3 (MyNetworkTV), Panama City; WTVX(CW), West Palm Beach; WWSB(ABC), Sarasota/Tampa; and WFOR(CBS), Miami. Florida’s Sun Sports cable network will also air the series an additional thirteen weeks from October through December.

A companion website, www.howtodoflorida.com, will contain additional video content and helpful links for those wanting more information on the topics and locations in the television show. In addition to using the website for a vacation planning resource, viewers can also suggest future stories for the program and follow a blog written by Crawford.

Crawford, a native Floridian, is confident that residents getting active and outdoors “doing” more of Florida will also help businesses in his beloved state, which have been hard hit by the tough economy and the current oil spill.

Crawford says that the “how to Do Florida” show will travel to some of the well-known and bigger tourist destinations, but it will also get off the “beaten path” to highlight some of the lesser known and often rural areas of Florida.

A recent study showed that rural tourism can offer an economic boost to small communities struggling to survive.

The Sunshine State has an untapped industry close to home, says a University of Florida researcher studying how rural areas can attract Floridians hungry for relaxation away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities.

Other states have developed prosperous tourist trades by enticing city dwellers to natural and historic places, said Tina Gurucharri, a UF landscape architecture professor, who is leading a team that is exploring similar prospects in Florida.

“Florida hasn’t really developed this new emerging form of tourism, but other parts of the country have been very successful at it,” said Gurucharri.

Crawford believes his television show will help do that, and says there are millions of residents in Florida that moved here from other parts of the country that are not familiar with the state’s culture.

“A large part of Florida’s culture and economy is based on outdoor activities that are hosted by larger cities and also can be found in smaller towns. I hope people get outside and pump some money into the economy as they do Florida,” he said.

Some of the activities and locations featured in “how to Do Florida” include fossil hunting in the Peace River near Wauchula, wakeboarding in Orlando, seashell collecting on Sanibel Island, sailing in Jacksonville, camping in Ocala National Forest, surfing and shrimping in New Smyrna Beach, scuba diving in West Palm Beach, snook fishing in Ft. Myers, lobstering and charter boat fishing in Islamorada- where Crawford lands a monstrous 400-pound swordfish.

The Crawford Group is a full-service multimedia production house specializing in high-definition video content for broadcast, web or DVD distribution. Based in Lake Mary, Florida, the Crawford Group’s work is known for outstanding creativity that rises above the flood of media in today’s culture. www.crawfordgroup.tv.

TCG at the Wekiva River

The Crawford Group recently worked with Tampa advertising agency Paradise Advertising to shoot two 15-second commercials for Seminole County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Locations consisted of the Wekiva River and the Sanford Zoo. Commercials were captured with a Panasonic AJ-HDX900 with Zeiss Super Speed lenses. Director of Photography Chad Crawford said, ” The location had to sell the spots, we spent a lot of time scouting, trying to find that sweet spot.” Look for these spots to begin airing late February 2010.

If you know me a little bit you probably know that I’m a big fan of animation.  I usually look through quite a bit of other people’s animation work for inspiration on my own projects as a motion graphics designer.  I recently stumbled across an animated short film, Alma, which has some really impressive character animation.  I even thought the animation was at the caliber of being good enough for Pixar’s standards.  I did a little bit more investigating on this film and discovered that it was actually created by a Pixar animator (Rodrigo Blaas) who had took some time off from the studio for a bit to focus on Alma.  The story is a little creepy, but I think the animation is beautiful.  I hope you enjoy it.

AVATAR Brings 3D to the next level… for the first 15 minutes. After that, I found myself watching a movie and not really paying attention to the 3D effect. It was only when I was bored, and I  was at times, that I looked for the 3D effect. It’s a gorgeous film to watch, and the story is decent, but I hated wearing the glasses, and I can’t wait for autosteroscopic displays. These are essentially 3D TV’s or monitors that do not require glasses. Phillips sells a 42″ 3D TV currently for a mere $8,000.

Overall, it’s worth seeing atleast once. I didn’t see Avatar in IMAX 3D, but I might.

“2008 was a great year to be in the video business,” said owneer Chad Crawford. “However, in 2009 we saw companies pull back on advertising and production related expenses, but the good news is that we have seen an increase in production activity starting around the fourth quarter of 2009, so 2010 is shaping up to be a much better year.”

TCG will be attending the Book of Lists evening celebration on January 28th at the Orlando Museum of Art. It is a night celebrating the achievements of all the companies published in the OBJ.