2006 10 digital juice magazine

OCTOBER 2006 TOOLS, TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR USING CREATIVE CONTENTTOOLS, TIPS AND TECHNIQUES FOR USING CREATIVE CONTENTOCTOBER 2006

VIDEOTRAXXGallery & Idea Book

INSPIRATION INSIDE!

VIDEOTRAXXGallery & Idea Book

introducingDJTVintroducing

DJTVwhat is it?what’s on it?

why watch it?

what is it?what’s on it?

why watch it?

PLUS:Juice in Use at Daytona • DIY PowerPoint Templates • Church Media Solutions

How to Apply Mattes in Premiere, Vegas and FCP • In Use @ Juice: We Rate the Varicam

PLUS:Juice in Use at Daytona • DIY PowerPoint Templates • Church Media Solutions

How to Apply Mattes in Premiere, Vegas and FCP • In Use @ Juice: We Rate the Varicam

PUBLISHERS:David Hebel, Viv T. Beason, Jr.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:Chuck Peters

SENIOR EDITOR:D. Eric Franks

ART DIRECTOR:Jacqui Dawson

CONTRIBUTINGAUTHORS:

Geetesh Bajaj, Viv T. Beason, Jr.,

Graham Cohen, Dave Cross,Jacqui Dawson, Jeff Earley,

D. Eric Franks, Chris Gates,Rick Green, David Hebel,

Michael Hill, Perry Jenkins,Robert Leitch, Matt Leone,

Kevin Lerner, Matt Janowsky,Brent Milby, Chuck Peters, Brian Pogue, Jeff Schell,

Kevin Sherman, David Slater and David Traube

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS &ILLUSTRATORS:

Brent Milby, Saritha Sugunan,

P. Gururaj, V. Sridhar

PHOTOGRAPHY:Perry Jenkins

IT’S FREE!To get every issue of Digital Juice Magazine

ABSOLUTELY FREE, go to www.digitaljuice.comand click on FREE SUBSCRIPTION.

Don’t miss another issue!

DIGITAL JUICE, INC.

1736 NE 25TH AVE.OCALA, FL 344701.800.525.2203352.369.0930

www.digitaljuice.com

Juice Insider: A good nameby Viv T. Beason Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Talk Back: Reader letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Juice News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Introducing DJTV: On the “air” @ digitaljuice.comby The Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Juice in Use: MRN Radio/Nextel Visionby Chuck Peters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Volume Spotlight Juice Drops Vol. 45: halloweenHAUNTS . . . . . . . . . 23

In Use @ Juice: The Panasonic Varicamby Perry Jenkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Juice Drops for TV: Juice media in a production cycleby Rick Green . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

VideoTraxx Idea Book and Gallery:Design ideas from our Film & Video library . . . . . . . 29

Webcasting DJTV by The Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Simple Solutions to Church Media Mistakesby Chuck Peters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

DIY PowerPoint Templates with Juice Dropsby Michael Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Education Nation:Teaching editing with VideoTraxxby Chris Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Surfin’ DigitalJuice.com10 reasons to hang (ten) at digitaljuice.comby Matt Janowsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Take 5: Five tips for lighting talentby Chuck Peters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Going to the Matte: How to apply ETK mattes inPremiere, FCP and Vegas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

DIGITAL JUICE PRODUCT CATALOG . . . . . . . 47

Juice Box: DJTV—Think big but grow slowby David Hebel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

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or the Tech Team is available by phone

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4 | DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2006 ORDER ONLINE www.digitaljuice.com

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34

JUICEINSIDERA GOOD NAME LETS ACOMPANY EXPAND ITS BRAND

by Viv T. Beason, Jr.

1.800.525.2203 ORDER BY PHONE

Istill remember getting that phone call almost ten yearsago. It was Dave calling to tell me that he had come

up with the perfect company name: Digital Juice. At firstthe words sounded strange to me. Saying them felt evenstranger. But you know, by the end of the conversationthe name had grown on me. What was really cool aboutit was that it possessed the two qualities that areessential in a good business name. The most importantthing is that it be easy to remember. A good name

should make a quick impression. The second most important thing is that itshould not restrict growth, but allow for future extension of the brand.

I believe it’s safe to assume that of those two points, we have the first onecovered. It’s tough to forget the name Digital Juice once you’ve heard it. So let’sbreak down the name Digital Juice to see what exactly that does or does notmean in terms of potential growth. For starters, on the face of it, the nameidentifies very little about the core competency of the company. This is actuallya good thing. The name does suggest that digital data is involved, and it impliesthat something in the high tech arena is likely. So far, so good. The word “juice”suggests energizing or adding pizzazz to something. Now that we’ve brokendown it’s meaning, we can ask, “What can a company with that sort of nameprovide?” A better question would be, “What CAN’T a company with this nameprovide?” The answer is that as long as you identify with, and stick to, a broad,basic category, which in our case is media production, the sky’s the limit. Thatwouldn’t be true if the name of the company was Amazing Animations, MusicalMagic, or World Wide Stock Footage. Names like these, in my opinion, lackimagination. And worse than that, they don’t allow expansion of the brand intoother areas of the industry. It wouldn’t be a logical leap for Amazing Animationsto all of a sudden sell music, would it?

Nothing at Digital Juice happens accidentally. Every move of the companyhas been planned years in advance. Not necessarily planned to the smallestdetail. Believe me, we’re not quite that organized, but planned in a big picturesense. Starting this journey as a background animation source only, we’vesystematically branched out into many more areas of the content space.Music, stock footage, and sound effects hopefully now come to mind whenyou think of Digital Juice.

Looking to the future, the name Digital Juice will allow us to go well beyondbeing just a content provider, and, in due time, we will. In the coming monthsand years don’t be surprised to see Digital Juice serving more and more of yourneeds. Evidence of this is our newly-launched Digital Juice Television (DJTV).This is yet another bold move forward, extending the brand to includeinformation and training. So where does it all end? That’s a question I can’tanswer right now. If one day you own a video camera, projector or printer thatreads Digital Juice, I’d say we’re pretty close.

Viv T. Beason, Jr. is the President of Digital Juice and the co-publisher ofDigital Juice magazine.

JUICE DROPSMISTAKEN IDENTITY

A fter reviewing the Juice Drops DVD that

came with the last issue of DJ Mag, I

decided to purchase a 10 volume set of Juice

Drops. I am responsible for e-learning for

Polycom and I have my own photography

business as well. The DVD with the interactive

application was a GREAT idea! It provided the

impetus to purchase.

I have a question about something I saw in

the Idea Book example on page JD04 of the

May/June issue. The “Eight Fashion Days”

design that used JD#1217 from JD12:

retroFRESH. I didn’t see the same elements of

just non-circular geometric shapes the way

the piece showed in the ideas library. Was

something more added that wasn’t mentioned?

I am not a graphic designer and don’t pretend

to be one, but I would like help to produce

nice coordinated marketing materials.

—Tricia A. Allen, Training Program

Manager, Polycom, Milpitas, CA

You may not be a graphic designer but

you do have a sharp eye, Tricia. The wrong

Juice Drop background was indicated and

shown as being the basis for this design in

the Juice Drops Idea Book in our May/June

magazine. Although some inspiration was

taken from JD #1217 for this design, the

basis, as can clearly be seen at left, was

JD #1261 from the same Juice Drops

volume. To this background we added

some external elements such as a pink

horizontal color bar, the outline of a

woman’s figure, the headline text and the

logo of the design school.—CP

MAKING A CASEOUT OF IT

I’ve been a long-time user of Digital Juice

products. So long, in fact, that my Editor's

Toolkit 1 is in ten large Alpha cases, not the

pretty, sleek wallets that your products come in

now. Is it possible for me to purchase a case for

my old ETK1 discs so that it takes up less room

on my shelf, and so the other collections I own

will stop laughing and pointing at #1's outdated

wardrobe? I mean... come on... it's embarrassing

for the big guy. It’s bad enough that he's getting

a little older, he should at least be able to wear

the latest fashion!—Brent Altomare, Executive

Producer, Groovy Like a Movie, San Diego, CA

As a matter of fact, you CAN get some new

threads for those old discs, Brent! Just like the

fashion trends, the style of our Toolkit cases

has changed over the years. We’ve had four

different case designs since our first Toolkit

came out. You can update your cases for a

nominal fee (less than 15 bucks) so your

shelves will look good and none of your

Toolkits will feel self-conscious about their

clothes. Bear in mind, our new ETKs have

fewer DVDs, so the new cases have fewer

pockets. Give us a call at 800-525-2203 to

make sure you get a proper fit.—CP

STX IDEA

I’d like to encourage you to create a

classical masterpieces collection of

StackTraxx with harpsichord, strings, piano,

woodwinds, maybe some brass and timpani.

As a husband and wife production team, we

find your products to be extremely useful, easy

to use, and very pleasing to our limited

clientele. Keep up the great work!—Margie

Smith, [email protected]

Thanks for sharing your idea, Margie. We

are now producing new StackTraxx

volumes at a blistering pace (with new

volumes coming out every month, and

hopes of making them even faster). We are

always interested in hearing what our

customers would like us to produce. As a

matter of fact, Classical, Orchestral and

Romance Stacks are all ideas that we’re

considering now. While I can’t promise that

we’ll drop everything to crank out Classical

Stacks next month, rest assured that we’ll

give the idea full consideration as we plan

upcoming music volumes.—CP

This Juice Drops sample designwas created based on JD #1261(left) from JD12: retroFRESH andnot #1217 (above) from thesame volume, as was incorrectly

indicated in the Juice Drops Idea Book fromour May/June 2006 magazine.

Your Chance To Make Your Voice HeardGot a question, comment or suggestion? We would love to hear it.

with Chuck Peters—Editor in Chief, Digital Juice Magazine

VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com

If you would like to ask a

question, sing our praises,

bend our ear, or just say ‘Hi,’

drop us an email at

[email protected]

and you could see it here in the

magazine. You can also interact

with Digital Juice and other

users in our user forums

@ www.digitaljuice.com/

community_forums


SEE COMPLETE PRODUCT GALLERIESON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com


* Data from June/July 2006 Sales

W e recently debuted the

first episodes of

Digital Juice Television online. The response has been great. In fact, it was so

successful that it catapulted our Alexa ranking, pushing digitaljuice.com into

the top 12,000 sites in THE WORLD! Alexa (owned by Amazon) ranks the top

sites on the Web. Yahoo, MSN, and Google take the top spots, followed by

everyone else. This includes all sites from around the world. We've steadily

been rising in rank from about 100,000 in 2003 to 28,000 a few weeks ago.

The jump to a rank of 12,790 was a real surprise to us. It encourages us to

keep working hard to make more and more great episodes of DJTV and to

keep enhancing our Website to keep you wanting to visit more often.

DJTVBOOSTSJUICE’S ALEXA RANKJust in time for your haunted

Halloween productions, we’re

unveiling four boo-tiful volumes of music,

animations and layered graphics.

StackTraxx 16: Spooky Stacks, boasts a

collection of 20 ominously awesome

compositions so you can create

supernatural soundtracks. Juice Drops 45:

halloweenHAUNTS, gives you a great

selection of ghastly graphics. And Jump

Backs 35 & HD 15: All Hallows Eve, give

you a magnificent mix of eerie animations.

Don’t be afraid, this collection of creepy

content is guaranteed to help you scare up

some business this October.

J ust a word about Juicer 3, it is coming along nicely. We've hit a

few snags here and there that have slowed down our ability to get it

released, but it won't be long now. Among the improvements are the

ability to select an arbitrary angle of rotation (unlike Juicer 2 that only

allowed rotation in 90-degree increments) and a much improved colorize

effect where you can actually pick multiple colors instead of just one.

These may seem like simple things, but what they represent is a more

flexible expandable Render Engine than we had in Juicer 2. What that

means for you is that exciting new product lines are coming.

The new version will also allow you to stream previews of Juice

animations right from the Web without having to own the volumes or have

them installed! Hat's off to our programmers and testers who are putting in

some long hours so that Juicer 3 can ship and Digital Juice can get onto

our next generation product lines.

WHERE’S JUICER 3?

TRICK OR TREAT?

01. JB 25: All Music

02. JB 24: Tunnel Vision

03. JB 22: Global Impact

04. JB 15: Weather & the Elements

05. JB 21: High Impact VIII

06. JB 30: Simply Useful

07. JB 12: Corp/Ind Time & Money

08. JB 14: Med./Health, Educ. & Science

09. JB 13: All Church

10. JB 20: Subtle Impact

StackTraxxVolumes*TOP10

01. JB32: Base Camp

02. JB31: Maximum Impact

03. JB30: Simply Useful

04. JB24: Tunnel Vision

05. JB28: Subtle Impact II

06. JB33: In the Round

07. JB22: Global Impact

08. JB25: All Music

09. JB13: All Church

10. JB21: High Impact VIII

01.STX15: Subtle Impact Stacks

02.STX12: Corporate Stacks

03.STX10: Broadcast Stacks

04.STX14: Rock Stacks

05.STX11: Epic Stacks

06.STX03: Serious Stacks

07.STX04: Smooth Stacks

08.STX09: World Stacks

09.STX02: Power Stacks

10.STX13: High Impact Stacks

01. JD42: highIMPACT IV

02. JD41: frescoVITA

03. JD27: glassEDGE

04. JD36: naturalCUTS

05. JD21: businessIMPACT

06. JD37: sportsCUTS

07. JD10: ultra3D

08. JD24: geoIMPACT

09. JD23: cleanCUTS III

10. JD35: futureTECH

Juice DropsVolumes*TOP10

BES

TS

ELLE

RS Jump Backs

Volumes*TOP10

* Data from August 2006 Sales

NEWORLANDO

OFFICEDigital Juice has expanded by

adding a new office in Orlando.

Our brand new O-Town team is

looking for a few talented staff

members. If you’re a creative

professional living in the Orlando

area, we’d like to get to know

you. Please email your resume

and samples of your work to:

[email protected]

VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com DJTV


“We want DJTV to be a

place where anyone can

instantly receive fresh

programming with an

emphasis on creativity. It’s

our people and their

knowledge that makes

these shows special.”—Viv T. Beason Jr., President

INTRODUCINGINTRODUCINGON THE “AIR”@DigitalJuice.com

by The Editors

The DJTV Crew (left to right)Billy Allan, Special Projects; Viv T. Beason Jr., President; Brent Milby, Senior

Animator; D. Eric Franks, Director of Technical Education; Chris “Ace” Gates,Associate Producer; Jeff Earley, Director of Audio Products; Perry Jenkins,Senior Producer/Director; and Chuck Peters, VP of Media and Publications

DJTV

OCTOBER 2006 DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE | 111.800.525.2203 ORDER BY PHONE


IMAGINE IF THERE WAS A TV

NETWORK DESIGNED JUST FOR YOU.

Now there is! It’s DJTV! DJTV is Digital

Juice’s new Web-based television network.

Don’t dismiss DJTV as just another poorly-

produced, talking-head, vidcast. DJTV is

built on a completely different model.

Just like HGTV and the Food Network,

DJTV is designed to reach a targeted

audience, in our case, creative professionals,

like you, with high quality, highly-produced,

programming that is interesting, informative,

instructional, inspiring and entertaining. DJTV

isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen on the

Web before. In this article the guys that make

DJTV will tell you what they’re thinking, what

they’re planning and why you should watch.

DJTV

(continued on page 12)

“Our goal is to post at least three new

episodes to DJTV every week, one of

each of our main shows. We also want to

turn out special episodes as often as

possible, so we’re running around like

crazy around here. It’s not an easy pace

to maintain. The biggest challenge is

maintaining the high level of production

quality and creativity that we want. Just a

handful of talented guys do all the

creative work to get these shows out

every week. We meet as a team every

Monday to brainstorm ideas and lay out a

plan of attack for the week. Perry, Eric

and I write our own scripts, spec out our

own B-roll, get our own props, iron our

own shirts and do our own makeup;

whatever it takes to get our shows done.

Chris Gates shoots and edits the shows,

Brent Milby builds the custom animated

opens and Jeff Earley oversees the final

audio mixes. Our schedule has us

shooting 3 or 4 episodes a week on

Thursdays and Fridays so

Chris can edit on Monday,

Tuesday and Wednesday. He

hands off the approved edits

before he leaves Wednesday

night and we just keep going

and going. We have to

manage our time really well to

get it all done. We know what

it’s like to have to be creative

week after week on deadline.

Unlike some other companies

out there, believe me, the

people at Juice really make

video, we really shoot, light and edit, we

really do graphic design, and we really

give presentations. We do it well, and we

do it all out in the open. You can see our

work every week on DJTV.” —Chuck

Peters, VP of Media and Publications



WHY MAKE DJTV?“At Digital Juice we have a philosophy of doing whatever can be done internally. This includes everything from the

production of this magazine to the manufacturing of the boxes that hold our products. The by-product of this

thinking is an in-house pool of talent that is as versatile as it is deep. So, armed with people who possess skills and

knowledge ranging from audio mixing, to technical writing, to photography and on-camera presentation, to building

a complete production studio—and with Internet bandwidth sitting there for the taking—we decided to create an

industry-first Internet Network. The goal was to create a watering hole for media professionals and enthusiasts. We

want DJTV to be a place where anyone can instantly receive fresh programming with an emphasis on creativity.

While producing DJTV is no small task, it wasn’t all that difficult for us because what we’re really doing is sharing

the tips, tricks, techniques, rules and principles that we follow in order to complete our daily and weekly tasks here

at Juice.” —Viv T. Beason Jr., President

Introducing DJTV(continued from page 11)

KEEPING IT FRESH & KEEPING THE PACE

AN UNCONVENTIONALAPPROACH“Another goal that we have is for the experience

to be fun. In addition to being an innovative

company, we’re also proud of our reputation for

maintaining quality. So, high production value is

key, along with talented and polished delivery

from show hosts. I feel these things are absent or

severely lacking in most industry training today.

It’s our people and their knowledge that makes these

shows special.” —Viv T. Beason Jr., President

WHERE CAN I SEE DJTV?

We’re posting at least three newepisodes of DJTV each and every

week! You can check out the latestshows at www.digitaljuice.com/

djtv/default.asp. You can alsowatch past episodes in our episode

archives, which you can search,sort and filter to find shows ontopics of special interest to you.



PERRY’s desire to produce video came at age 14

when his dad bought a VHS camcorder. He

produced silly short ‘films’ and by the time high

school was over, he had either entertained or

offended most of the students in his small,

California hometown. What he really wanted to do

was shoot film, which is exactly what he did. After

producing a full-length 16mm feature and a

handful of short films, he concluded that he

couldn’t afford to shoot on that medium anymore.

He spent two years shooting news at NBC affiliate

KCPM, and then accepted a position at a national

magazine that focuses on producing video. There

he produced instructional videos and shot

photographs for the print magazine for seven

years before coming to Juice.

“I love movies. One of my first jobs was in a

video store. At one count, I had seen all but

about 200 films in the store’s 3500+ library. I

studied every frame of some great

filmmakers like the Coen brothers, Sam Raimi

and Scorsese. I try to put this love of film into

everything I produce. From stock footage, to

promotional videos, to my DJTV episodes; my

approach is always cinematic. I also love

cooking and cooking shows. The style of a

Food Network show that I watch all the time

got me thinking one day that it might

translate well to teaching people about

making video. It’s my self-appointed job to try

to create my show, Production Notes, in an

entertaining manner. I’m not an Emmy award

winning producer, and I haven’t received

props from any film festivals. My reward is

hearing, ‘hey, that shot looks pretty cool’ or

just a plain old ‘Wow!’ ”—Perry Jenkins,

Senior Producer/Director

WH

O IS

PE

RR

Y J

EN

KIN

S?

WHO IS CHUCK PETERS?Having produced commercials, sports, TV talk shows,

broadcast news, corporate, weddings, and instructional

programs, CHUCK PETERS has made a lot of video. He

started as a freelance cameraman for National Video

Yearbooks and shooting weddings and events in New

Jersey. From 1989-1995 he was head cameramen at

Monmouth Park Racetrack where he shot horse racing. He

did a short stint at the Meadowlands Racetrack and as a

substitute cameraman for the jumbo screen at Giants

Stadium. In 1992 he started TRICEP Productions with a

Toaster Flyer system (the only NLE around at that time)

and a $10,000 professional Hi8 camera. In 1995 he and

his wife headed to California, where he took a job

producing cheesy infomercials about incredible golf-ball

washing devices, magnetic earrings and advanced high-

tech snake oils. If you had insomnia in the mid-90s you

may have seen one of them. He did time in broadcast as a

Commercial/Promotions producer for NBC station, KCPM,

where he first worked with Perry Jenkins. Next he took a

position as a magazine editor. While there, he produced

and appeared in instructional videos, lectured at Expos,

taught hands-on Workshops and wrote numerous articles

about video and video production. He has been with Digital

Juice since March 2004.

“I watched a lot of TV as a kid, and the idea that I could

make a living making TV was just too cool to me. I was

one of those kids that made up radio shows on my tape

recorder when I was 8 years old and made funny music

videos to Weird Al songs when I was in high school. I’m

an energetic, fun, upbeat kind of guy with a lot to share,

and my show Take 5 let’s me cover a lot of ground in a

short amount of time. For me, the only thing better than

getting paid to make cool videos is teaching someone

else how to make cool videos. We’re not about becoming

stars here. We’re just regular guys that love making TV.

DJTV is hard work, but it’s a ton of fun.”—Chuck

Peters, VP of Media and Publications


DJTV


BRENT MILBY is a master animator who

has been with Juice since its beginning.

Brent studied computer animation in

college and graduated with top honors. He

was one of just four animators who worked

on the first Jump Backs volumes and

helped define that product line. He’s also

the guy that created many of the Juice

product logos that you’re familiar with

including the famous Digital Juice orb.

“We want DJTV to look like a TV network.

The animated opens that I create for our

shows are about drawing people in, really.

Good shows need good packaging, just

like good products. I’ll be doing my own

compositing show too, not every week,

but periodically. I want to take advanced

techniques and break them down to show

people simple tricks that are easy to

accomplish. A few simple tricks can go a

long way to help even a novice achieve

expert-looking results.”—Brent Milby,

Senior Animator

TEAM TALKIt takes a team attack to turn out DJTV, and the production crew at DigitalJuice is a talented cast of characters.

Audio engineer,

JEFF EARLEY,

has an ear for

excellence. Jeff

has a background

in syndicated radio

production having

worked on shows for ABC and FOX to

name just two. A talented musician as

well as an audio engineer, Jeff is the

driving force behind the concept and

production of StackTraxx (Digital Juice’s

layered production music) and the

massive Digital Juice Sound FX Library.

He’s also the ‘voice of Juice,’ serving as

narrator for many DJ productions.

“I approach video in a way where the

music (audio) comes first, like you’d

shoot a music video. This is the opposite

of how the average video producer looks

at things. Most videographers just throw

a mic on someone and hope for the best.

They don’t put a lot of thought into

evaluating the quality of the audio they’re

recording. In reality, it’s just as important

for a video to sound good as it is to look

good. Bad audio will ruin a good shot,

and may even force you to have to re-

shoot a scene. I want to help producers

get their audio right the first time, so

they can look good, and sound good.”

—Jeff Earley, Director of Audio Products

D. ERIC FRANKS is a professional writer,

technology journalist and multimedia

maven. His most recent book is ACID Pro

6 Power!, although most of his work has

been as the anonymous pen behind such

exciting publications as The Vegas Video

User Manual and The Users Guide to

Ulead Media Studio Pro. Prior to Digital

Juice, Eric was the Technical Editor for a

national video production magazine,

where he also traveled around the

country leading seminars and teaching

workshops. A world traveler who speaks

Chinese and can sing drinking songs in

Hakka, Eric enjoys nothing more than

reading a trashy science fiction novel on

a beach in southern Thailand. He also

has a fondness for monkeys, mimes, and

talking like a Pirate.

“My show, TechKnow, covers modern

multimedia technology, for video, audio

and print. I love all of the arcane, obscure

and sometimes strange details behind the

technology. I know not everyone does,

however, so I try to provide pragmatic

‘Why is this important’ and ‘How can I use

this information’ in every segment. I don’t

want to shy away from hardcore details,

but I also want to be completely accessible

to complete novices. I assume my

audience is smart, but each segment

needs to be completely self-contained.

There are no prerequisites for TechKnow.

There’s nothing intuitive about using digital

media in the 21st century. We want to

make sure beginners get a foundation and

experts learn something new. People often

think that if they just bought this software

or that computer that all of their problems

would be solved. With TechKnow, we seek

to show how technology can work for

everyone. I try to pepper the conversation

with plenty of examples and practical tips

to help creative professionals get the

highest quality results with their digital

media, so they can concentrate on what

they do best: art.”—Eric Franks, Director

of Technical Education

WH

O IS

ER

IC F

RA

NK

S?




CHRIS “ACE” GATES is the newest

member of the team, having joined

Juice in July of 2006. “Coming to Juice

has been a ‘hit-the-ground-running’

sort of thing. It’s intense; not a bad

intense, a fun intense. My schedule is

packed every single day. I’m never

working on just one project. I’m

simultaneously shooting, editing and

planning multiple projects at a time.

I love the fast pace. There’s an

expectation of quality here. Every day

I’m pushed to excel. One of the things

that I love is that the team that we

have makes this environment conducive

to creativity. And

right now we’re

just scratching

the surface. I

can’t wait to see

what we come

up with next.”

—Chris “Ace”

Gates, Associate

Producer

BILLY ALLAN is

a gifted and

talented man and

is an extremely

important part of

the DJTV team,

even though he

has no video,

audio or graphic

design experience

at all. So what

does Billy bring?

Billy turns thoughts into things. He’s a

genius with a hammer, a saw and a

screwdriver. Billy can design and build just

about anything you can describe to him—

whether you need soundproofing, a

custom set, a chromakey wall or a pop

filter. (If you own any of our newer

products, you’re already familiar with Billy’s

work. He’s the guy that designed and

made the wallets and boxes that our

volumes are packaged in.) This allows the

production team to be creative without

limitation and helps the DJTV team make

the most of the production budget. Watch

for a new DJTV show featuring Billy’s

Blueprints in the months to come!

"People spend a lot of money onproduction equipment and accessories. Itcan add up fast. But there’s almostalways more than one way to get whereyou need to be. We don’t want to spendlots of money buying what we can buildourselves. I’d say 90 to 95% of thethings we use here were built withmaterials from the Home hardware store.We take what anyone could get and turnit into what we need. The hard part isn’tthe building part, it's knowing what to doand where to start. I like seeing otherpeople’s dreams and turning them intosomething concrete. I’m not the guy withthe ideas, but I know what it takes tomake what the other guys need.”—BillyAllan, Director of Special Projects

Introducing DJTV(continued from page 13)




SHAKING THINGS UP“I’d like to believe that Digital Juice has gained a reputation for “shaking things up”,“thinking outside the box”, or “rewriting the rules of the game.” So, it only stands toreason that we would take a different approach to training. Most of the professionaltraining out there today is a boring detailed rehash of the user’s manual, explainingeach and every button of a program’s interface in agonizing detail. Our take on trainingis to give the viewer something he or she can quickly absorb then apply to a project.We’ve learned from personal experience that you don’t have to be familiar with everyfunction or feature of a particular application to create something cool and useful.Sometimes you just need to have a few buttons explained and you can be reproducingthe latest special effects fad. So, quick concise, bite-sized programming is ourmission.”—Viv T. Beason Jr., President

DJTV is about giving you want you want;tips, tricks, techniques and creative ideas toinspire you to keep doing high level work.While we can tell you how good we thinkDJTV is, the comments that viewers havewritten on the DJTV comments pages say itbest. Here’s what they had to say:

“Nice work. I’m learning new things andreinforcing stuff I already know. You guysrock. Thanks for continuing to take care ofyour customers!” Posted by Mark Moss

“This is proving to be an awesome resource.I'm a hobbiest morphing toward pro and Ineed every tip I can get. BTW, good businessmodel. Quality content produces qualityusers and quality users need qualityresources, and Digital Juice stands ready tosupply them.” Posted by Locke Morgan

“Perry’s pieces, like Chuck Peters’, offeran upbeat way to bring the topic to thoseof us who lack the industry knowledge andunderstanding that professionals possess.Digital Juice is clearly reaching out to everypotential DJ consumer with a great degreeof attention being given to that largenumber of novices and amateurs who seekto professionalize their work with greatproducts at the fraction of the costs ofothers.” Posted by Samuel Davis

“Great job picking then demonstrating easyto use tips. Thanks for your efforts—5stars! ” Posted by Bill Channell

“Love DJTV!! Great way to help us averageJoe's. This way of teaching your customersis really a big help. It's all about betteringour industry. Thanks! ” Posted by PatriciaKondreck

DON’T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT...

WHAT’S ON DJTV?DJTV isn’t merely a branded corporate Webcast, it’s a bona fide network with multiple

shows, hosted by expert producers, artists and presenters. The Season One line-up

includes three weekly programs and a few special episodes. Here’s what you can see

on DJTV right now:

PRODUCTION NOTESIn each episode of Production Notes, Producer/Editor Perry

Jenkins takes you behind the scenes on the set to share with

you the secrets he has learned producing TV, film and video,

so you too can produce like a pro. His cinematic style and

off-beat delivery are sure to make this series a favorite.

TAKE 5In each episode of Take 5, industry expert, Chuck Peters,

shares production tips, tricks, tools and techniques by the

handful in a fun and fast-paced style. Chuck draws on his

17 years of experience as a broadcast producer, writer,

editor and instructor to share professional tips in a manner

that’s easy for anyone to understand.

TECHKNOWWhat is it? How does it work? What do I need to know? These

are the questions that veteran technical author and expert D.

Eric Franks answers in each edition of TechKnow. Eric

articulates important intellectual insights and information about

tools and technology to keep you up to speed and in the know

in terms of standards, settings and technical solutions.

JUICE IN USEDJTV’s special Juice in Use episodes feature interviews with interesting and

exciting high-profile producers who use Digital Juice media in their productions. In

each episode we’ll take you inside the edit bays, and into the minds of top Juice-

using pros to see how they put Juice to Use in their productions every day.

COMING SOONAnd that’s just the beginning! We have more shows currently in development. Stay

tuned for programs dedicated to the art of audio, step-by-step editing techniques,

graphic design, making more powerful presentations and DIY video props and

production tools.

TRY THISLooking for detailed step-by-step tips and techniques for editing with Digital

Juice graphics, video and production music? That’s exactly what you’ll find in

each episode of Try This! Sit down with a variety of expert editors for an up-

close click-by-click class showing how they create all kinds of effects. Tips will

range from basic to advanced, and will be taught on a variety of platforms and

programs. Looking for clear and creative instruction? Try This!

Introducing DJTV (continued from page 15)

WHAT’S NEXT?“Digital Juice was created after identifyingan obvious hole in the industry. Someyears ago, when computers were clearlytaking over all tasks in the videopostproduction process, it was high timesomeone created affordable, quality, stockanimation. Since then we’ve identifiedseveral other holes in the industry andwe’ve done our best to patch them.Typically this involves offering anextremely high cost-to-value ratio. Digital

Juice Television will depart only slightlyfrom that model, in that it is totally freefor the taking. And our current programsare only the beginning. With an initialbent towards video, the plan is to quicklybroaden the scope of the network toinclude all other areas of interest. Thiswill include, but not be limited to, printdesign, presentation, compositing, sounddesign and 3D. Our plan is not to everstop adding programming.”—Viv T.Beason Jr., President ◗

ORDER ONLINE www.digitaljuice.com

USER PROFILEVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE

ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com

BIG CROWDS/BIG SCREENS

Nextel Vision is designed to give everyone in thecomplex a front row seat and an up-close look at theaction on the track. Gigantic portable NASCAR NextelVision screens are erected around each of the racetracks on the tour. On a typical race day, these massive

Nextel Vision monitors are alive with content for morethan 10 hours; informing and entertaining the audiencefrom the time the gates open, until the winner pops thechampagne in Victory Lane. During that time, NextelVision monitors display a wide variety of pre-producedand live programming.

20 | DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2006

by Chuck Peters

Editing in High Gear @ MRN Radio/Nextel Vision

E verything about NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car racing is big.

Every weekend big-name drivers race for big-time sponsors

on big tracks at big speeds in front of really, really big crowds. Over

the course of the year it’s estimated that more than six million

spectators will fill grandstands, suites and infields at NASCAR races

across the country. Super speedways like Daytona and Talladega have

seating to accommodate more than 150,000 fans. Attendance at the

2006 Daytona 500 alone was over 225,000 (by comparison, just 68,000

fans attended last year’s Super Bowl XL). In venues this big, the cars

can look awfully small, particularly when they’re racing down the

backstretch more than a half mile away. Fortunately, there are some

other big things at these big speedways; big screens.

“Nextel Vision is

designed to give

everyone in the

complex a front row

seat and an up-close

look at the action on

the track.”

JUICEin use

Fred Armstrong, Director of Creative Servicesat MRN Radio, looks to Digital Juice to help histeam create the network look they need in ashort amount of time.


USER PROFILEVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE


The content for this network of NextelVision jumbo-screens (and handheld“FanView” units) that entertain fans at thisyear’s 36 Nextel Cup races (as well asBusch and Craftsman Truck seriesevents), is created by a small-but-talentedMRN Radio production crew. MRN (MotorRacing Network) Radio has been knownas “The Voice of NASCAR” for years, withbroadcasts reaching millions of listenerseach week. A few years ago, theyexpanded their offerings to reach the eyesof the fans, as well as their ears.

The MRN crew produces hours of contentfor Nextel Vision each and every raceweek, including (but not limited to):sponsor logo graphics, driver head-turnsfor driver introductions, short and longdriver profiles, live interviews, recaps ofthe previous week’s highlights, arundown of the week’s top 10 drivers inthe point standings, and energetic musicvideos designed to get the fans out oftheir seats and onto their feet.

SOUND BITES

The guys at MRN use Digital Juice JumpBacks and Editor’s Toolkit elements tocreate the compelling, high-energy, high-quality content that they play forhundreds of thousands of fans each

week. We sat down with Fred Armstrong,Director of Creative Services for MRN,and Producer Josh Lieberman, tell findout how they put Digital Juice to use.

“Our look has to be big, bold and visuallystimulating,” says Armstrong. “Because weflow in and out of Network, our stuff has tolook as good as what the fans see on thenetworks. There is an expectation of qualitythat people have. Jump Backs enable us torun our work side-by-side with the workbeing done by networks like ESPN and theSpeed Channel, who both have hugecrews and big budgets. In my opinion,Network has nothing on Digital Juice. Thebest part is that Digital Juice has done thework and we get to take the credit.”

The speed and flexibility of Digital Juicegraphics are key considerations for Fredand his team. “When you need to put alogo on the screen and dress it up for asponsor, Jump Backs provide great eyecandy. They let us create a dynamic lookin no time. Just snap your fingers anddrop it in, pop a logo on top and you’redone. Sometimes it’s just that easy. But

the beauty of Jump Backs is that you cancustomize them. Change the color, usethem as parts of composites. I’m alwaysamazed at the work that my editor, Josh,does and the way he uses Jump Backsand Toolkit elements in his edits. JumpBacks actually make him more creative.We get a better, more creative production.Digital Juice has revolutionized the waywe produce our segments.”

“I use ETK mattes and overlays on prettymuch everything I do,” says MRNProducer, Josh Lieberman. “A lot of times,Jump Backs and Editor’s Toolkits are mycreative inspiration for an edit. I’ll browsethrough the Juicer for a couple minutesand I’ll see something that createsinspiration.” Josh particularly likes usingEditor’s Toolkit’s mattes with his JumpBacks. “I use mattes and overlays morethan anything. And Motion DesignElements are huge. I lay a matte oversome video, apply a texture from a JumpBack and I can have a high-endbroadcast look pretty quickly.”

Juice's Backgrounds,Overlay Mattes, MDEs, andTransitions combine togive Nextel Vision acutting-edge look forhigh-energy edits, anddriver IDs.

(continued on page 22)Nextel Vision monitors keep fans entertainedand informed at NASCAR Nextel Cup racesacross the country.

Jump Back 267, from Vol 7 High Impact V, wascolorized before being used as a foundationfor the MRN logo.

Digital Juice backgrounds are also used fordriver graphics, seen here on one of theNextel Vision truck-top screens.

Jump Back 019, from Vol 1, HighImpact1, is used straight off the disc toanchor the Nextel Vision logo.


“If you’re creative, you use Digital Juice’selements as building blocks,” saysArmstrong. They’re like Bisquick. Youdon’t just use Bisquick to make pancakes.You can make it into whatever you want.There’s no limit to what you can make ofit. Digital Juice is like visual Bisquick. It’sa starting point that we build on, but it’san important part of every recipe.”

TIME TRIALS

The MRN Radio/Nextel Vision crew is agreat example of a high-end team thatputs Digital Juice media to use every

single day. And Juice helps them creategreat looking productions within budgetand under pressing deadlines.

“Our biggest issue is time,” saysLieberman. “We have more than 100,000people to entertain every weekend. Andwe have to create a lot of new content forthe show every week. We just couldn’t dowhat we do without Digital Juice.”

Chuck Peters is Vice President of Mediaand Publications at Digital Juice andEditor of Digital Juice Magazine.

“Our biggest issue is time,” saysLieberman. We just couldn’t do what

we do without Digital Juice.”

Juice in Use(continued from page 21)

USER PROFILESEE COMPLETE PRODUCT GALLERIES


Producer/Editor, Josh Lieberman,creates impressive composites bycombining Digital Juice's animationsand elements with race footage.

JD45:halloweenHAUNTS

SPOOKY DESIGNhalloweenHAUNTS illustrations in use ineveryday design projects—in a poster fora model search with a twist (above, using JD #4521 & JD #4528; on a series ofpostcards for a real estate agency (top,using JD #4502 and top left, using JD#4507 & JD #4511); as the hero elementin a poster for a local theater troupe (left,using JD #4524); and finally, as the mainillustration on the cover of a book aboutwine (far left, using JD #4509).

In all of these designs some minor modifications were made to theillustrations to customize them. For example, in the case of the realtor’spostcards and the Bewitching Witches poster, elements from twodifferent Juice Drops designs were combined, and in the case of thebook cover the whole image was tinted a wine color.

This is just a smallsampling of the 75different layereddesigns in this volume.

Volume 45 of the Juice Drops library, halloweenHAUNTS,is devoted to the scary, fun, festive season of Halloween.Witches, bats, mummies, monsters, jack-o’-lanterns and trick-or-treaters are all represented in a variety of illustrationstyles. There is something here for every type of Halloweendesign situation—whether it’s a children’s party, corporateevent or neighborhood get-together.

As with all Juice Drops volumes, these illustrations are provided in layered Photoshop PSD format so you can isolate individual

elements from thedesigns or rearrange theexisting art to suit yourpurposes. Check out afew examples of what’s inthe volume and how it canbe used at left and below.

INSPIRATIONVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE



Volume Spotlight

VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com REVIEW

The Panasonic VariCam:In Use @ Juice

by Perry Jenkins

Iwas really jazzed when we decided to purchase the HVX200 P2

camera from Panasonic a few months back, but when I got the

go ahead to buy the VariCam, I just about lost it. The camera caught

our interest for many reasons, one being its variable frame rate

ability. It can capture in frame rates from 4fps to 60fps with single

frame increments in between, and this is great, because now true fast- and slow-

motion can be obtained straight from the lens. There’s nothing that screams cinema

more than a cool shot in slow motion.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The camera body itself is prettylightweight, which is good, because by thetime you attach a big battery and a hefty

lens, the thing is heavy enough to wearyou out quick. The controls are easilyaccessible on the body. If you’ve shot withother professional cameras, you’ll have noproblem finding your way around thecommon controls like white balance andso on. The in-camera menus, on the otherhand, are a bit more complex. This isn’t toPanasonic’s fault, mind you, there are justa lot of functions that this cameraperforms, so there are several pages ofinternal menus to get around. Afterwalking through a simple series of setupprocedures I was ready to roll tape.

CINEGAMMA

One of the things that make this cameraspecial is that it features Panasonic’sCineGammaTM software. CineGammaincreases the camera's dynamic range,especially in the highlight areas. Accordingto Panasonic, CineGamma “provides theuser with a much closer approximation of

film’s renowned ability to maintain smoothimage tonality even when gentlycompressing extreme highlights.Cinematographers are able through theCineGamma feature to control the camera'sgamma transfer function to best optimizecontrol over tonality, from extremehighlights to the lowest of shadow areas.”

FRAME RATES & SUCH

Now, this next topic is where things can geta little confusing, but in the long run it’sactually brilliant. The VTR portion of thecamera operates at a constant 60fps,meaning that it’s always capturing 60frames every second. When you tell thecamera portion to record at 30fps, aduplicate frame is recorded to ensure60fps. When you shoot at 24fps it performsa 3:2 type pull down where one frame getsrecorded 3 times and the next frame twice.This process results in redundant framesadding up to 60fps. What this all means

“Overall, this camera is phenomenal.”

ORDER ONLINE www.digitaljuice.com24 | DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2006

TECHNICALSPECIFICATIONS

Panasonic AJ-HDC27H VariCam®

Variable Frame Rate 16:9 HD CinemaTM

Camera with CineGammaTM Software

($65,900)

Three 2/3-inch 1.1-Million Pixel CCDs

Recording Format: DVCPRO HD

(720/60P, 720P/59.94P)

Frame Rates: 4-60P (in single

frame increments)

Lens: Interchangeable, 2/3"

bayonet mount

Record Time: 33 Minutes on

DVCPRO Cassette with 18 micron

recording format.

Viewfinder ($3,145)

Fujinon HA 18x7.6 HD Lens ($16,000)

Perry Jenkins behind the VariCam whileshooting a DJTV episode of Juice in Use at

Daytona Int'l speedway.


VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com REVIEW

is that in post you need a way to weedout the redundant or duplicate frames foryour 24fps projects. Fortunately, thisprocess is simple with our Final Cut ProHD system. Because duplicate framesare flagged differently, Final Cut can readthose flags and pull out the correct onesto create 24fps media. See, it’s brilliant.For off speed footage, slow motion orshot at 60fps, I simply downloaded aframe rate converter, then applied it tomy captured footage and it performed allthe necessary functions for my clips toplay back at slow motion.

SHOOTING WITH THEVARICAM

Overall, this camera is phenomenal. Atthe time of this writing, I’ve only been

able to scratch the surface in terms ofthe abilities of this camera. At this point,I’ve shot some cool slow motion footageof some silk fabric being blown by a fanfor use as an element in a Jump Backsvolume we’re working on, and a DJTVshow called Juice in Use @ Daytona.Look for it on DJTV to see the imagesI’ve shot with this camera.

I really look forward to takingadvantage of the CineGamma feature tocreate to establish a style and createunique shots. For now, I just marvel inthe fact that my cinematic dreams arecoming true.

Perry Jenkins is Senior Producer/Directorat Digital Juice

A matte box is an excellent accessory.It not only shades the lens, it holdsfilters for in-camera effects.

The controls on the VariCam arewell-placed and easy to access.


VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com PRODUCTION

Juice Drops for TVUsing Juice Media in a Production Cycle

by Rick Green

W hen you run a small-to-medium sized broadcast

production facility, there are basically three steps to every

project: (1) Get the gig, (2) Create the project, and (3) Get paid.

This article will walk you through all three steps in the process,

using a recent example from my company, The PowerPlant. Digital

Juice was a great help through all three phases, from the initial bid

until ten days later, when the first spots aired on television.


GET THE GIG

We enjoy a wonderful working relationshipwith our loyal clients, but even ourregulars want to know what they’re gettinginto before they commit to a specificproject. Along with a budget proposal, theywant to see specs and storyboards tomake sure we understand their vision forthe project, although many times we’reactively creating that vision for themthrough the storyboard process.Sometimes this involves a budget-bid andsometimes the process involves a creativepitch. More often than not, the processinvolves both. Our recent “Columbus Alive”project was one of those “both” scenarios.

The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio’s oldest andmost prestigious daily newspaper, is aclient of The PowerPlant. We have createddozens of television and radio spots forthem in the past. We love working withtheir marketing department, because theygive us a lot of freedom and because theylike to have fun with their product. TheDispatch recently purchased an edgy localweekly called “Columbus Alive.” Theyfreshened it up and then asked The

PowerPlant to help them market therelaunch. Before we began production,they wanted to see storyboards to makesure they liked our design and direction.We use images and elements from JuiceDrops layered Photoshop graphics tostoryboard projects all the time. We’ll pulllayers, graphic elements, segments, colorsand backgrounds from a particular JuiceDrops image to help with our storyboardprocess. Often times, just looking throughthe huge Juice Drops library gives us styleand design ideas for a project.

I started by grabbing three Juice Dropsimages and used them to create threecompletely different looks. I have talenteddesigners on staff, but it wasn’t necessary totake them away from more important work atthis phase.Although I’m not exactly aPhotoshop expert, and I’m not a designer, Iwas still able to quickly put together threeprofessional-looking, distinctly differentstoryboard specs to help us pitch, andultimately get, this great high-profile televisiongig. Having Juice Drops to create professionallooking storyboards and high-quality designelements was a huge factor in getting the job.

CREATE THE PROJECT

We created three pretty cool looking specsand our budget numbers were in the rightballpark, so we got the job. Next, we satface-to-face with the client for a secondtime to discuss what they liked or did notlike about each of the three specstoryboards. As with most projects, wefound that the direction we’d take would bea combination of two of the ideas created inthe storyboard process. Juice Drops arewonderful for this, since it’s a snap to simplypull graphic elements from one Juice Dropsimage and combine them with elementsfrom another to build your own new project.In this case, the “Columbus Alive” crewloved the flat, 2D style and color breaksfrom spec 1 (Figure 1), the geometricshapes and curved graphic arcs from spec2 (Figure 2), and the abstract city-likeshapes from spec 3 (Figure 3). We had towork within the “Alive” color palette, whichis kind of a ketchup-and-mustard scheme,but changing palettes is trivial in our editingsoftware. Thanks to Juice Drops, we spentour valuable time producing and creatingthe motion for the TV spots, instead ofendless hours designing the elements.

“We spent our valuable time producing and creating the motion for the TV spots, instead of endless hours designing the elements.”

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Juice Drops 28: freshFORM #2806




PRESENTATIONSVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE


To create the final product, we simplyimported the layered Photoshop files fromthe Juice Drops discs that we needed andbegan to keyframe the movement in AdobeAfter Effects. Tony Stewart, ThePowerPlant’s Graphic Designer andAnimator noted, “The high-quality JuiceDrops images [are] way beyond theresolution we need for television, evenbeyond High Def resolution. We createddynamic and professional animations in afraction of the time it would have taken ifwe had to design and construct all thoseelements ourselves.”

Since “Columbus Alive” is “fresh, funcoverage of the music, arts, food andnightlife,” we decided to add a couple oflive-action elements to give the spot someenergy. Once again, we turned to DigitalJuice to save our time and assets. We useda garbage mask in After Effects to cut out adancer from Jump Backs animation #1025from Volume 25: All Music. For the saxplayer, it was even easier: We grabbed ourVideoTraxx 3 Film & Video Library and, inthe Music & Dance category, we found clip#8074. The clip is a saxophone player thatwas shot over green screen, so we keyedout the background and then filled that withthe “Alive” red to get a live-action shotwithout shooting a single frame. Although

we certainly have the capability to shoot thisstuff ourselves, our time and budget oftendon’t allow for it. I think one of the coolestthings about the finished spot is that it looksnothing like any of the three original JuiceDrops we started with (Figure 4), eventhough it’s made from elements that camefrom all of them.

GET PAID

As a business-owner, the “Get Paid” phaseis certainly necessary. It’s importantbecause it allows The PowerPlant CreativeTeam to move on to the next project. Therole Digital Juice plays in this final stepshouldn’t be overlooked. Whether clientspay by the hour or per project, they areultimately paying for a finished,professional production. The better theproduct, the better they feel about payingfor it and the more likely they are to hireyou again. Starting with Digital Juice mediaallows The PowerPlant to deliver a high-quality, professional product in a timelymanner. That helps strengthen ourrelationships, increases our margins andmakes for a healthier bottom line. DigitalJuice products allow us to be morecreative, quicker, more efficient, andultimately help us make more money.

Rick Green is CCO of The PowerPlantMultimedia Studios in Columbus, Ohio.

Figure 4

Jump Backs Vol. 25: All Music #1025

COLUMBUS ALIVE!The 30-second Alive TV finished product can be seen in the Digital Juice magazine section of digitaljuice.com. You can also check out the “Columbus Alive” magazine’s Website atwww.columbusalive.com

28 | DIGITAL JUICE MARCH 2005 ORDER ONLINE www.digitaljuice.com

MARCH 2005 DIGITAL JUICE | 291.800.525.2203 ORDER BY PHONE

Idea Book & GalleryDIGITAL JUICE VIDEOTRAXX FILM & VIDEO LIBRARY

Idea Book & GalleryDIGITAL JUICE VIDEOTRAXX FILM & VIDEO LIBRARY

MEDIA USED: VTX1–Fitness #00292,JD35: futureTECH #3338

PROJECT NOTES: VideoTraxx clipsare professionally produced, so

action shots are ready to be used inyour high-end broadcast

composites, saving you time andmaking you money. Here a VTX clip

is combined with a high-energyJuice Drops background to create

an edgey, artsy look.

MEDIA USED: VTX1–Business #01001 & JD44: frameCUTS II 4442

PROJECT NOTES: Commercials come alive with VideoTraxx. Whether youneed smiling faces or interesting places, VideoTraxx has the shots you needto kick out spectacular spots.

MEDIA USED: VTX1–Sports #00303, JD37: sportsCUTS 3701 & JD40: frameCUTS #4030

PROJECT NOTES: Adding video filters, coloreffects and slow motion to VTX clips

makes them excellent resources for editorswho want to build better backgrounds fortheir graphics. Elementsfrom Juice Drops were

used here to add abroadcast look and feel to

this youth soccer video.

VideoTraxx 1

VTX 02 Digital Juice Magazine • October 2006

VideoTraxx Film & Video Library Idea Book

www.digitaljuice.com • 800.525.2203

VideoTraxx 2MEDIA USED: VTX2–Expressions#04387 & JD44: frameCUTS II#4464

PROJECT NOTES: The expressivepeople shots in VideoTraxx giveyou access to professional modelswithout the hassle of having towork with an agency. Animatedand still “frame” graphics fromJuice Drops and MDE Framesvolumes add instant impact.

MEDIA USED: VTX2–People#05766 & JD31: foodFUSION#3165

PROJECT NOTES: VTX clips wereshot with editing in mind. Manyclips are framed to the side, soyou can simply add graphics.

MEDIA USED:VTX2–People #05766, JD35:futureTECH #3501 & JD37:sportsCUTS #3791 (horseshape in logo)

PROJECT NOTES: VideoTraxxclips cover all kinds of topics.Whether you need a shot of ahorse and rider, school children,or international images,VideoTraxx delivers.

VTX 03


MEDIA USED: VTX3–Drugs, Medicine & Emergency #07179 &JD32: templateCUTS #3269

PROJECT NOTES: VideoTraxx made this important PSA powerful.There’s no end to the concepts you can communicate with the10,000+ clips in the VideoTraxx collection.

VideoTraxx 3

VTX 04 Digital Juice Magazine • October 2006


MEDIA USED: VTX3–Holidays #07695& JD40: frameCUTS II #4427

PROJECT NOTES: Uses for VideoTraxxare only limited by your creativity.Here, a Holiday clip serves as the

inspiration for a jeweler’s seasonal TV spot.

MEDIA USED: VTX3–Exercise #07331 & JD42: highIMPACT IV #4282

PROJECT NOTES: VTX clips are professionallyproduced, with great attention given tolighting and shot composition, making

VideoTraxx the perfect complement to yourhigh-end edits.

MARCH 2005 DIGITAL JUICE | 331.800.525.2203 ORDER BY PHONE


VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com VIDEO FOR WEB


Webcasting DJTVby The Editors

Here at Digital Juice we’ve been posting video to the Internet as long as

we’ve had a Web presence. The play-in-place samples of our product

galleries and our promotional videos illustrate two approaches that we’ve tried in

the past. Our new DJTV project, however, required a complete rethinking of our

video strategy, not only in terms of content, but also in terms of technical delivery.

In this article, we’re going to tell you how we prep our shows to get them on the

virtual airwaves of the Web.

PRODUCTION

The mission of DJTV is to create shortshows that effectively inform, instruct and(hopefully) entertain the productioncommunity on a wide variety of topics.Because the video is primarily distributedon the Internet, we need small, highlycompressed clips, but one goal right fromthe start was to shoot in the highestquality format that was practical.

“We went with our Panasonic HVX200 in720p HD mode at 24fps,” explained SeniorProducer, Perry Jenkins. “The camera’ssmall size and convenient operation madeit possible for all of our producers to jumpright in and start shooting.”

The finished video that the productiondepartment provides to the Web team isvery high quality, uncompressed,progressive HD source.

COMPRESSION GURUS

The task of getting DJTV onto thedigitaljuice.com Website falls to ITDirector, Michael Mullings, and Directorof Internet Development, J.P. Shook. Eachwears many hats at the company, butboth are well versed in the manychallenges of Internet video.

“All of our promo videos were compressedusing Sorenson Squeeze 3 on a five PCfarm,” explains Mike Mullings. “It’s a greatapp. The Watch Folders feature was reallyconvenient.” Five dedicated Windowscomputers were set up to perform therenders, with the Sorenson utility watchinga particular folder that producers coulddrop their finished video into. The programwould then automatically convert thevideos placed into that folder without anyadditional intervention.

H.264 QUALITY

The Sorenson Video 3 Pro codec producedbeautiful video for the Internet, but theWeb/IT team decided to go with the nextgeneration of video for DJTV. A number ofsolutions were explored, including onebased on the H.264 standard, which hasbeen implemented (with variations) bymost of the big players, including Appleand Sorenson. Test renders using AppleCompressor and Sorenson Squeeze 4proved that the H.264 codecs yieldedbetter quality video than the olderSorenson Video 3 Pro codec. “For DJTV,we felt that it was important to deliver thehighest quality video at the lowest possibledata rates,” J.P. Shook said.

The one format that seemed to best meetour DJTV requirements was the QuickTimeimplementation of the H.264 codec. Whilenot universally installed, the QuickTimeplayer is on all Macs and has a very wideinstall base on Windows machines. WhileQuickTime is very common, not everyonehas the latest (May 2005) version ofQuickTime 7, which supports H.264. “Tobe honest,” J.P. admitted. “One of thereasons why we went with QuickTime 7H.264 was that many studios use it fortheir movie trailers.”

ACCESSIBILITY

Besides balancing quality against datarate, DJTV needs to be viewable by thelargest possible audience. So, forexample, while DivX produces very highquality video, it is still a player that is notinstalled on as many computers as, say,the Flash video player. Flash video, on theother hand, although it does keep thedata rate very low, does not hit the samequality levels that Sorenson Video 3 Prodoes. To keep DJTV accessible to largestpossible audience, the team chose toencode the medium- and low-qualityversions of each show using SorensonVideo 3. Since this format is compatible

“For DJTV, we felt that it was important to deliver the highestquality video at the lowest possible data rates.”—J.P. Shook

WHAT THEHECK IS

H.264?Although the technical spec for

H.264 is as complex and detailed

as it needs to be, it’s really just

geeky jargon for MPEG-4. Born of

a partnership between the ITU-T

Video Coding Experts Group and

the ISO/IEC Moving Picture

Experts Group (MPEG), the H.264

standard and the MPEG-4, part

10 standard are technically

identical. And if you don’t like

calling the standard H.264 or

MPEG-4, you can go ahead and

call it Advanced Video Coding

(AVC): it’s all the same thing.

APPLE COMPRESSOR &SORENSON SQUEEZE

Want to find out more about theencoding apps we use for DJTV?

Apple Compressor is a part of the Final Cut Studio suiteof applications for the Mac and has an MSRP of $1,299.http://www.apple.com

The Sorenson Video 3 Procodec has an MSRP of $299 and works with your editingsoftware, but is also included with the Sorenson Video 4Compression Suite, which retailsfor $449 and works on bothWindows machinesand Macs.



with QuickTime 5 and above, almosteveryone can play it back. And, notunimportantly, the quality is excellent.

SOURCE AND SIZE

Another consideration in the choice of afile format and codec is scalability. At thistime in Web video history, it’s important tooffer different versions of our videos, fromsmall and highly compressed to verylarge at high quality. H.264 encodingworks equally well on postage-stampsized video destined for portable playersand on HD video for blue laser DVDs.

The source for DJTV is 720p, which hasa frame size of 1440x720. A number ofdifferent versions of each programsegment are available to view ordownload, including 480x288, 320x192,and 320x240 for iPod. “We wanted toreach the largest audience possible,” J.P.continued. “Encoding multiple formats isa real challenge, but definitely worth it.”

Broadband Distribution and StreamingBroadband infrastructure in the UnitedStates is getting better and better, butsimply posting DJTV segments to a Webpage is not enough. You also need thecomputers and Internet bandwidth to hostand serve the content. “With multiplededicated load-balanced Web serversconnected to the global Internet

backbone, we have the capability tosustain over 200Mbps of concurrenttraffic.” J.P. noted. “We expected toexceed 4TB of data transfer in the firstmonth of the DJTV launch.”

Real-time streaming video was one optionthat was considered and eventuallyrejected. “We decided to go withprogressive download vs. real-timestreaming servers to maintain the highestlevel of quality and user experience,” J.P.mused. “The performance is excellentand the videos begin playing almostimmediately.” Streaming technology canalso prevent people from downloading thevideo to their computer, which is anunnecessary limitation and aninconvenience for some viewers.

READY FOR WEBCAST

Even though the technology is readilyavailable, making a choice on how todistribute high-quality video on the Internetis not an easy one. Besides balancingquality against data rate, compatibility andconvenience are difficult quantities tomeasure. Fortunately, given a fast enoughInternet pipeline, experimentation isrelatively easy. Even better, the potentialaudience of Web viewers is huge andgrowing larger by the day.

The Editors

EACH EPISODE OF DJTV ISOFFERED AT FOURQUALITY SETTINGS

(1) 480x288 - High Quality (H.264)

(2) 320x192 – Medium Quality (Sorenson)

(3) 320x192 – Low Quality (Sorenson)

(4) 320x240 – iPod (MPEG-4)

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3.4.

VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com CHURCH MEDIA


Simple Solutions toChurch Media Mistakes

by Chuck Peters

CRAZYCOLORS

The Goal: Treat eachservice as a continuous,coordinated presentation.

The Problem: A lot of churchesuse different backgrounds orvideo clips behind the lyrics ofeach song. The first song’s lyrics

might be projected over a blue animatedcolor wash, the second over a video ofbillowing clouds, the third on a red one andthe sermon notes over a still background

(Figure 1). When you do this, thecongregation is drawn to look for thechanging background instead ofconcentrating on the content of the slide.

The Solution: Instead of using amishmash of backgrounds, choose a

single color and style for each week,month or sermon series. This will providecontinuity for all of the graphics (Figure2). Songs are often selected to tie intothe message of the morning, soconsistent backgrounds also make theentire service seem more connected.You’ll find that the flow of the service is

much smoother. Save your creativevariations for special music numbers.

MISLEADING LYRICS

The Goal: If you project lyricsfor your songs, you need to time theappearance of the text with the singingcarefully. For a smooth presentation, it isessential that the slides lead, not follow,the singers. Timing is everything. Theperson running the slideshow has to beintimately familiar with the songs so thathe or she can anticipate slide changesand lead the leaders and thecongregation.

The Problem: Improper and untimelyslide changes are a major distraction topeople trying to sing what you show.Never attempt to follow what they do onstage. This can trip-up your song leadersand your congregation. Lagging changesare just as bad as putting slides up in thewrong sequence.

The Solution: Attend rehearsals and takegood notes. Meet with the music leader inadvance of the rehearsal so you have afull understanding of the order and flow of

the service. The person running the slidesis as much a part of the music team as aninstrumentalist or vocalist. Your job is toliterally lead the singing. You need to knowthe songs as well as anyone on theplatform. When I run graphics for lyrics, Ialways work from a script. Before rehearsal, Inote every slide in order on paper and I writeproduction notes like “musical interlude” or“repeat 3x.” A script gives you a roadmap soyou never have to guess where the songleaders are going.

BAD FONTCHOICES

The Goal: When it comes to selectingfonts, the goal is always readability. And,remember, the words need be easy toread from a distance. This means makinggood decisions in regard to size and style.They should also be consistent from onegraphic to the next. The goal: keep itclean, clear and simple.

The Problem: Narrow or swirly fonts arehard to read from a distance and should beavoided (Figure 3). Cartoonish fonts aren’tappropriate for most church settings (Figure4). Their overly silly style can make your

Churches of all shapes and sizes are making media a major

part if their ministries. Unfortunately, most people in ministry

have never “made” media. In a church setting, excellence has to

be at heart of everything you do. Anything that distracts people

from the focus of the church service is a major mistake. I’ve visited

a lot of modern multimedia churches and I’ve seen the good, the

bad and, sadly, the ugly. Along the way, I’ve identified some

common mistakes that are being made. Fortunately, you can learn

from these miserable mistakes and avoid making them yourself.

Hopefully this little list will help you keep your media ministry on the

straight and narrow.

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Figure 2

Figure 1

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graphics seem immature and can rob yourcontent of the respect it is due. If your fontschange from slide to slide or song to song,you may cause your parishioners to paymore attention to your crazy presentationthan the content of the message.

The Solution: Simple, bold fonts arealways the easiest to read from adistance. Thick sans serif fonts are oftenbest for on-screen readability (Figure 5).While you may think serifs look classier,the primary goal is for the text to belegible from the back of the room. Avoidmultiple fonts by finding a font family thatyou like and sticking with it. To keepcontinuity, use the same typeface forevery graphic you create. Keep fontvariations subtle, changing only the style(regular, bold or italics) to create emphasiswhen necessary. Use a dark drop shadowor outline to help separate light text fromlight-colored backgrounds.

TMI (TOO MUCHINFORMATION)

The Goal: Don’t put too much informationon a single slide. Putting too muchinformation on the screen at once canoverwhelm your audience.

The Problem: If you have a long chorus orscripture verse to put on the screen, it canbe tempting to use small text to get it allon one slide (Figure 6). But, small type canbe difficult to read from the back of theauditorium, especially if there’s a lot of it.

The Solution: Break long pieces of textinto a series of slides so you can increasethe font size and make it easier for thecongregation to follow along (Figure 7).There’s no rule for setting font size. What

size type you usedepends completelyon the size of yourscreen and the sizeof your room. Thebest bet is to preview your slides from theback of the auditorium to make sure thetext is large enough to easily read.

CLUNKYTRANSITIONS

The Goal: The primary goal ofanything that goes up on the screen duringa church service is to enhance the worshipexperience. The images that you projectonto your screens—whether edited videosor simple slides—have to be presentedsmoothly, and transitions to and from yoursegments must be quick and smooth so asto not distract those in attendance.

The Problem: If transitioning to or from avideo clip or presentation involves a drawnout process of closing window blinds,dimming lights, raising and loweringscreens or fumbling through startupmenus or video inputs on your projector,you will surely disrupted the flow of theservice. Blasts of video snow and audiofeedback are simply not acceptable. Thoselong, painful delays and awkward lulls ofsilence while everyone waits for thescreen to come down and the video tocome up should be avoided at all costs.Ultimately, a disruptive presentation maydo more to harm a service than the videodoes to help it.

The Solution: Take time to prepare yourequipment and your people so you cantransition to and from media segments

quickly and smoothly. Thismay mean scheduling apractice time to train yourteam. Think of your team likea NASCAR pit crew. See howquick and clean you can make yourtransitions. Rather than figuring it outduring the service, preparing in advancewill help ensure that all goes smoothly.One of the best “covers” that I’ve found isto lead schedule the video after a prayer.Lower the screen and dim the lights whileheads are bowed and eyes are closed.Cue the start of your clips on the “Amen.”

Ironically, the ultimate goal of using mediain a church setting is for the media itself tobe invisible: no one should realize you arethere and no one should notice your work.If folks are squinting at poorly designedgraphics or gaping in amazement at thestunning 3D animations you are projecting,you are not doing your job. With your lifeand your service, a job well done should beits own reward. In a church setting, if youcan’t do it with excellence, you need todecide whether you should be usingmultimedia at all.

Chuck Peters is Vice President ofMedia and Promotions at DigitalJuice and is the Editor of DigitalJuice Magazine.

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Figure 3

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Figure 5Figure 6

Figure 7

CHURCH MEDIAVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE


Figure 4




DIY PowerPoint Templateswith Juice Drops

by Michael Hill

W hile originally developed for print design, Juice Drops are

also flexible enough to be used to create custom eye-

catching, PowerPoint templates.

READABILITY

The most importantconsideration when creating acustom PowerPoint template isreadability. Some Juice Dropshave intricate designs that canclutter your slides and makeyour text very hard to read.Some volumes, such astemplateCUTS, are an obviouschoice for slides; the ability toadjust individual layers meansyou can easily create clearcopy areas.

TWO TYPES OFSLIDES

I recommend creating at leasttwo different backgrounds foreach presentation: one for yourTitle slides and another for yourContent slides. Title slidesgenerally have only a few linesof text on them: the title of the

overall presentation or section, andperhaps the date and presenter’s name.Also, the text used on these slides tendsto be larger and bolder. Because of this,these backgrounds can be more complex(Figure 1).

Content slides should have two key areas:a header area and text area. The headerarea is used to present the slide’s titlewhile the text area will be used for yourcontent. These slides should generallyhave a simple, subtle background toensure legibility (Figure 2).

ADJUSTING THE IMAGE

Before you start designing, you’ll need tomake some adjustments to the image’ssize and proportions. Because Juice Dropsweren’t designed for screen use, theyaren’t the correct dimensions for screenuse. Select an image and opened thelayered version in Photoshop. Next, selectImage Size from the Image menu andmake the height 768 pixels. Be sure theConstrain Proportions box is checked.Don’t worry about the width for now (itshould automatically change). Click OKand wait for Photoshop to rescale your file(Figure 3). Now, select Canvas Size fromthe Image menu. Be sure the Relativecheckbox is off, and enter 1024 pixels forthe width. You’ll get a warning message;click Proceed (Figure 4).

You’ll notice that the sides of the imagehave been chopped off — it’s important toremember, however, that you can still drag

the parts of the layers that are outside theimage layer into the image for rescaling oradjustments. Experiment with adjustingthe layers while trying to picture what theimage would look like with text over it.

REARRANGE

Because they are layered files, JuiceDrops have elements that can be movedaround to create spaces for text. In thisexample, the filmstrip was moved, resized,rotated and adjusted to allow for theslide’s header to fit neatly into it (Figure 5).The shaded curves found in theshadedEDGE volume can also be used tocreate a header area (Figure 6). Don’tforget to experiment with mixing layersfrom other Juice Drops.

Another trick is to create a new layer witha colored box (usually white) that overlaysthe part of the slide where you plan toplace text. Adjust the layer’s opacity toallow parts of the background to showthrough while still making sure the textremains legible (Figure 7). If you like, youcan further customize your slides byadding a logo, URL or slogan. Once you’vefinalized the design, export the file as aTIFF or PNG.

Content slides need to be simplerto allow the emphasis to be ontext. In this sample, some of thelayers were removed to create asimpler background whilekeeping the same look as thetitle slide.

Figure 2

Title slides can generally be morecomplex since they don’t displayas much text. This sample wascreated by using all layers ofJuice Drops image #1511 fromJD15: highIMPACT III.

Figure 1

“Some volumes, such as templateCUTS, are anobvious choice for slides.”




IMPORT TO POWERPOINT

Now you’ll need to import the file into aPowerPoint template. To do this, openPowerPoint and start a new, blankpresentation. From the View menu, selectMaster/Slide Master, then selectImage/From File from the Insert menu andlocate the background you created foryour Content slides. Once you have theimage in PowerPoint, adjust it to fit theslide and then right click and select Sendto Back from the Order option. Next,select New Title Master from the Insertmenu. Repeat the process, this timeinserting the Title slide background.

Now you can adjust the fonts, text size,colors and other elements on the title andslide masters. When you’re satisfied,select Save As from the File menu.Change the Save As Type option to DesignTemplate. PowerPoint will automaticallynavigate to the templates folder. Give yourtemplate a name and save the file.

THAT’S ALL FOLKS

To create your presentation, selectFile/New. In the right-hand toolbar, selectGeneral Templates and your templateshould now appear under the General tab.You can now type your text into the slidesas you normally would.

Michael P. Hill is president and creativedirector of Clearhill Creative, a smallgraphic design agency. He also works inmarketing and Web development for anOrlando-based company.

WANTMORE?

For more presentation tips and

techniques check out these

articles in the DJ Mag archives at

digitaljuice.com.

September 2006: Cutting-

Edge PowerPoint Techniques:

Revealing images and video within

a single slide by Geetesh Bajaj

May/June 2006: Killer

Presentations in 4 Hours or Less:

Streamlining your PowerPoint

Workflow by Kevin Lerner

October 2005: Scores for

PowerPoint®: How to Add Music

to Your PowerPoint® Presentations

by Geetesh Bajaj

April 2005: How to be a

Bad Presenter: 9 Vile Violations

by Chuck Peters

March 2005: Revealing

Secrets: Tips for Revealing Text

in PowerPoint by Chuck Peters

February 2005: Visionary

Presentations: PTK Basics for

Advanced Presentations

by D. Eric Franks

This sample was createdusing Juice Drops illustration

#2543 from JD25: shadedEDGE. It featuresa header area created by rotating andscaling one of the shaded curves.

Figure 6

This Juice Dropbackground, #1510

from JD15: highIMPACT III, is toocomplex to be used as a slidebackground. By adding a white,semi-transparent layer over it, youcan create an area for text.

Figure 7

Figure 4Figure 3

This sample was createdusing elements from Juice

Drops illustration #2786 from JD27:glassEDGE.

Figure 5


TEACHING TIPSVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE


Education NationTeaching Editing with VideoTraxx

by Chris Gates

The first school computer lab that I stepped into as a kid was

a converted janitor's closet. An A/V cart was placed into the

floor basin, and on that cart sat a lone Apple II connected to a

television set, complete with separate VHF and UHF dials. I could

just imagine the green hued ASCII images that were now possible

for me to create. Ahh, 1981 did have its charm.

Computer technology haschanged the classroom overthe last twenty-five years.Now educators are facedwith the challenges ofdeveloping curriculum toinstruct their students in thecreation of quality digitalmedia. The art room is nolonger limited to big tablescovered in paper, and thetechnology classroom is nolonger earmarked by the drillpress. Computer savvystudents are working inPhotoshop, cutting video onvarious NLEs, and animatingtheir imaginations intoexistence. What can be mostfrustrating for educators whoteach media and videoproduction, (other than thebad coffee in the teachers'

lounge) is keeping lessons focused andsimple. With all the tools, techniques, andtrivialities, it doesn't take much forstudent projects to grow out of controland become unmanageable.

I found Digital Juice to be an excellentresource for teaching kids to make video,especially the VideoTraxx collection. Stockfootage is an excellent resource forteaching the fundamentals of editing.Before VideoTraxx, stock clips were fartoo expensive for most schools toconsider, but because of its low price it isactually accessible to educators, whohave notoriously low budgets. If youteach video production, at any level,VideoTraxx is a resource that is wellworth the investment.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Early in my teaching career I discoveredhow a simple project that was meant to

familiarize my students with basic videoediting could become an epic nightmare.My goal was simple enough: give thestudents a hands-on opportunity to usethe school's edit bays so they would haveintroductory knowledge of our NLE. Thestudents saw this as opportunity to maketheir cinematic proclamations. Whatstarted as an editing exercise soonbecame a full scale production involvingeverything from lighting and videography,to sound engineering and animation. All Iwas hoping for was a few simple cuts,what I got was the next D.W. Griffith.

The lesson I learned can be summed upin one word, simplicity. My desire was forthe students to not worry about theircontent at this point, but to understandthe basics of utilizing content. Withouteven trying, I had successfully distractedthem right from the start of the project byhaving them create their own content.

“ I found Digital Juice to be an excellent resourcefor teaching kids to make video, especially the

VideoTraxx collection.”

TEACHING TIPSVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE


The students became so concerned withtheir imagery and how it looked that theclass didn't focus on the edit at all.

The issues at hand brought me to rethinkthe project and come at it from a newapproach. It’s a good rule of thumb tostay tightly focused on each specific taskin any production. This is especially truefor any project in the classroom. Since Iwanted my students to learn to cut,editing would have to be all that wefocused on for that lesson. Understandinghow a montage works in the editing roomis beneficial to anyone wanting to creategreat video. It is a tool that revolutionizedthe way we communicate through themoving image. It was time for the classto learn the secret art of the montage.

First we focused on the foundation of themontage, we sat down and dissected theOdessa steps sequence from SergeiEisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. Wemoved forward and watched GodfreyReggio's Powaqqatsi, another fineexample of the montage. The studentshad now seen and talked enough aboutediting that they were ready to sit downand start cutting.

THE STOCK SOLUTION

Instead of having my pupils shoot theirown footage, I handed them theVideoTraxx library and the criteria thatthey could use any VideoTraxx clips theywanted to, as long as their individualpieces were exactly one minute in lengthand set to a single music bed. Later that

week, I had a compilation of some of themost absurd, creative, thought provoking,and interesting videos I have ever seenfrom first time editors. The lesson was ahuge success.

Simplicity, in and of itself was the mostdirect solution. Things may have beensimple with the old Apple II in thejanitor's closet. Truth is, amidst today'smyriad applications and diversepossibilities they bring, things are stillsimple. All it takes is a little focus and theimplementation of some good resourcesto bring out success.

Former high school teacher, Chris “Ace”Gates, is an Associate Producer atDigital Juice.

VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com MY DJ


Surfin’ DigitalJuice.com10 Reasons to Hang (Ten) at digitaljuice.com

by Matt Janowsky

Next time you’re surfing the Web, catch the wave to

DigitalJuice.com and sign up for your free account.

Registering is easy, just click the create account link at the top of

the Home Page and type in your info, it only takes a minute and

you'll be riding the waves in no time. Here are 10 totally cool things

you can do at DigitalJuice.com.

Digital Juice Magazine: Eachmonth Juice publishes a great

magazine (like the one you’re readingnow) flooded with tips and tricks,interesting articles, info on all of your

favorite juice products and much,much more (Figure 1). AtDigitalJuice.com you can sign up foryour free subscription, so you canSTICK Digital Juice magazine onyour shelf. You can also browse allthe back issues in the DJ Magonline archives.

Community Forums: Thisis a great place to ask

questions, get answers, meetsome cool people, share yourknowledge, and maybe even learna few things. It's a veritableBARREL of fun.

Customer Showcase:When you register you can

upload your videos or images tothe Customer Showcase (Figure 2).

It's a great place to get feedback, ideas,inspiration, and even CARVE out a littlerecognition for yourself. You can even giveyour clients a free link to your ownshowcase page.

Email Offers: The CEO’s weeklyemail is your ticket to the

PIPELINE of deals that Digital Juice hasto offer. Email members not only get theinside scoop on the latest deals, they getcustomer profiles, and top-secret insideinfo from David Hebel himself.

SURFERSLANG

HANG TEN: Riding a long boardwith both feet on the nose of theboard.

STICK: Slang word for surfboard.

BARREL: Where the wave ishollow when it is breaking.

CARVE/CARVING: Classic surfingmove, turning on a wave.

PIPELINE: Classic Hawaiianwave.

SWELL: Waves, swell orgroundswell, refers to real solidwaves.

TUBE: Where all surfers want tobe, where the wave is hollow (thebarrel).

DROP IN: When a surfercatches a wave they didn't havepriority on, not cool.

WIPE OUT: Falling on your board,also a classic surf song by theVentures.

STOKED: Means very happy.

LAYBACK: Extreme surfing trickwhere a surfer literally laysbackwards on a wave.

BOARD: The thing you stand on.

ENDLESS SUMMER: A classicsurf movie.

“The Customer Showcase is a great place to get feedback, ideas,inspiration and even carve out a little recognition for yourself.”

10Figure 1

9

8

Figure 2

Figure 3

7

Product Galleries: Digital Juice’sonline product galleries make it

easy for you to preview all of the SWELLproducts Juice has to offer (Figure 3).

DJTV: Nothing on the TUBE? Headon over to DigitalJuice.com and

check out DJTV (Figure 4). Here you’llfind original programs that are packedwith tips and tricks. Look for newepisodes every week.

Chat: DigitalJuice.com is the placeto chat online with your new

surfing buddies. Juice staffers have beenknown to DROP IN and give the skinny onupcoming new products.

Account Access: Once youregister you can get access to your

online order history, and with the pre-fillfunction your info won't be WIPED OUTnext time you order online (Figure 5).

Killer Deals: Check the HomePage for all the latest deals and

steals, with all the money you save you'llbe STOKED.

Free Downloads: That’s Right!FREE DOWNLOADS! LAY BACK and

enjoy as Digital Juice gives you royalty-free content absolutely free (Figure 6).

What’s the catch? There is no catch. Allyou have to do is register for your freeaccount. So grab your (key)BOARD andregister for an ENDLESS SUMMER of funsurfin’ at DigitalJuice.com. Well, what areyou waiting for!?

Matt Janowsky is a Video ProductionSpecialist and a staff team member atour newest location, Digital Juice Orlando.



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VIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE ON THE WEB @ www.digitaljuice.com LIGHTING TIPS

Take 5Five Tips for Lighting Talent

by Chuck Peters

#1 — SHOOT ATHREE-POINTER

Three-point lighting is the time-testedstandard for lighting talent for TV and film(Figure 1). A three-point setup consists of akey, a fill and a back light. The key light istypically positioned to the front of thesubject, slightly to one side. It provides theprimary source of illumination in this setupand its quality and characteristics help toestablish the mood of the scene. The filllight is less powerful than the key light. It ispositioned on the side opposite the key andserves to soften (or fill-in) the shadowscreated by the key light. The back light (orhair light) is positioned above and behindthe subject so that it casts light on thesubject’s head and shoulders. This adds

depth and separates him from thebackground. Learning and using three-pointlighting isn’t difficult. It will make a hugedifference in the look of your footage and inthe overall professionalism of yourproductions. If you’re not using it, it’s timeto start.

#2 — SET THE MOODWITH SHADOWS

When a bright key light is positioned closeto the camera, the result is “flat” lighting(Figure 2a). Flat lighting is emotionallyneutral. If you’re doing news, this may befine. But if you want to add emotion, merelyflooding your subject with bright, flat, lightisn’t enough. Lighting can be used to moveand manipulate shadows to create the

T here’s no substitute for good lighting. I’m always surprised at

how many producers count on software to fix poor lighting in

post. The GIGO principle certainly applies to lighting. The fact is, if

you start with grainy, poorly-lit footage, your end result will be

compromised. No matter what people tell you, it doesn’t matter

how good your camera and editing software may be, if you are a

lazy lighter, your productions will suffer. Knowing this, the best thing you can do to

increase the production quality of your videos is NOT to buy a better camera or a

new color-corrector. The first thing you should do is learn to light. While these five

tips can’t possibly cover all there is to know about lighting, my hope is that they will

inspire you to learn to light like the pro that you are.

“ It doesn’t matter how good your camera and editing softwaremay be, if you are a lazy lighter, your productions will suffer.”

MONITORMATTERS

When setting lights, it’s important

to remember that your eye sees

things differently than your

camera does. You should always

use a monitor (not your naked

eye) when adjusting your lights.

Three-point lighting consists ofKey, Fill and Back lights.

Figure 1

WATCH ITON DJTV!

THIS ARTICLE ISALSO A SHOW!

You can see all of the tips in this

article demonstrated in full

motion on DJTV! Check out the

Sept 11th episode of Take 5, Five

Tips for Lighting Talent, and other

Take 5 episodes in the DJTV

section of digitaljuice.com.

LIGHTING TIPSVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE



illusion of depth on a two-dimensionalscreen. To add depth, position the key lightso that it strikes your subject at an angle(Figure 2b). The size, angle and intensity ofthe shadows cast by the key help set themood of the scene. As you move the keyfarther to the side, the mood becomesmore and more dramatic (Figure 2c). Oncethe key is positioned appropriately, use thefill light to soften its shadows to your liking.

#3 — SOFTEN UP

The hardness or softness of a light canbe determined by examining the shadowsthat it casts on your subject. A hard lightcasts a dark shadow with a sharp edgetransfer ((Figure 3a). Soft light castslighter shadows with a wide gradientshadow-edge transfer (Figure 3b). Softlight is more flattering to the face thanhard light and is preferred in mostsetups. Hard light can make a subjectlook intense and even wicked. Small,focused lamps cast hard light andshadows. Larger and more diffusedlamps cast softer light and shadows. Youcan soften the effect of a light byadjusting its distance from the subject orby adding diffusion to spread the light.

#4 — HANDLE HARD-TO-LIGHT PEOPLE

Some people are inherently more difficult tolight than others. The top three problemsyou’ll run into are: people wearing glasses,bald heads and dark skin. While thesolutions are slightly different, the problemis essentially the same: bright reflections

and specular highlights that createunattractive, glowing, hot-spots. Whenlighting a person with glasses, lights placedanywhere near the camera create specularhighlights on the lenses of the subject’sspecs (Figure 4a). Bald heads are less ofa problem, but you’ll still get small hardlight spots across the cranium. When youexpose subjects with dark complexionsproperly, you often end up with hot spotson the tip of the nose, forehead, cheeksand chin.

For glasses, the solution is to go up and out.Raise your lights higher and position themas far to the sides as possible until thereflections are gone (Figure 4b). People withbald heads or dark skin need to be lit withvery large, very soft lights positioned veryclose. The goal is to make the specularhighlight larger than the subject’s face,bathing them in soft light.

#5 — LIGHT THE WHOLESHOT, NOT JUST THESUBJECT

The job doesn’t end when your subject islit. You’re not done until you’ve lit the wholeshot. Save a light or two for yourbackground. Pinch your barndoors down tocreate a shaft of light across thebackground or add a gel for a splash ofcolor. Taking a little extra time to dress yourset with light will greatly improve the lookand feel of your shots.

Chuck Peters is Vice President of Mediaand Publications at Digital Juice andEditor of Digital Juice Magazine.

Hard light has a narrow shadowedge transfer and a dark, dramaticshadow

Figure 3a

A key light at the 6:00position creates a flat,

“ordinary” look that is absent ofemotion. This look is often used forlighting news setups.

Figure 2a A key light positioned at the 4:30(or 7:30) position adds the illusion

of depth without being overly dramatic. This isthe preferred position for the key in mostthree-point lighting setups.

Figure 2b

A key light at the 3:00 (or 9:00)position creates a very dramaticlook and feel.

Figure 2c

Soft light has a wideshadow edge transfer and

a softer, lighter shadow. Soft light istypically preferred for lighting faces

Figure 3b

Lights positionedanywhere near the

camera will create ugly, distractingreflections on the lenses of glasses.

Figure 4a

Eliminate specularhighlights in spectacles

by moving lights out to the sides andraising them higher on their stands.

Figure 4b


STEP-BY-STEPVIEW THIS AND PREVIOUS ISSUES OF THE MAGAZINE


Going to the MatteHow to Apply ETK Mattes in Premiere,FCP & Vegas

The mattes and transitional wipes in Digital Juice’s Editor's Toolkits are simply

black and white gradient elements that are used to define transparency in

composited video. These elements don’t have built-in alpha channel transparency

like ETKs overlays, lower thirds and transitions, so they’re a little more difficult to

use. The way you apply an ETK matte is slightly different depending on what editing

app you use. Here’s how it’s done in three of the most popular editing applications.

IN ADOBE PREMIERE

Step 1—Arrange your clips onthe timeline. Place a video clip on Video1, a Jump Back animation on Video 2and an ETK matte on Video 3.

Step 2—Add a Track Matte Keyto the clip on Video 2.

Toggle to the Effects tab in the Projectwindow, then select Video Effects andexpand the Keying effects. Find a TrackMatte Key and drag it to the Jump Backsanimation on Video 2.

Step 3—Set Up the Key. Selectthe animation on Video 2 and open theEffect Controls window for the clip, selectthe Track Matte Key. Set the Matte toVideo 3, and set the Composite Usingmode to Matte Luma.

Step 4—Turn off the TrackOutput. Back on the timeline, click theeyeball icon at the far left of the Video 3track to turn the track off.

Premiere NOTE: Turning a track off willmake any and all video clips on the trackinvisible. You will need to dedicate a trackfor matte effects.

IN FINAL CUT PRO

Step 1—Arrange your clips onthe timeline. Place you video clip on theV1 track, an overlay matte on the V2track and an animation on V3.

Step 2—Select the clip on V3(the new background texture).

Step 3—Open the Modify menu.In the Modify menu, Select CompositeMode > Travel Matte – Luma

Step 4—Render the composite.

FCP NOTE: In most cases, you will needto render the effect to see the result.

IN VEGAS VIDEO

Step 1—Arrange your clips onthe timeline. Place your overlay matte onTrack 1, your video clip on Track 2 andyour animated background on Track 3.

Step 2—Click the Track FX button onTrack 1 and select the Mask Generator tool.

Step 3—Click the MaskGenerator dialog and select a Luminancekey from the Type dropdown. You mayalso need to click the Invert checkbox toget the effect you want.

Step 4—Click the CompositingMode button in Track 1 and select"Multiply (Mask)" from the menu.

Step 5—Click the MakeCompositing Child button in Track 2.

Applying Matte effects isn’t difficult onceyou know how to arrange the clips on yourediting application. You’ll find that a simpleunderstanding of how to set up a Mattekey will greatly expand the usefulness ofyour Editor’s Toolkits, and offer you a vastamount of creative options as you edit.Best yet, the results are sure to amazeyour audiences and impress your clients.

HELPME!

If you have specific questions

about how to apply mattes in

your editing application, check

out the online Support section of

digitaljuice.com, post a question

in our Community Forums or

email [email protected].

Video Source—VTX2:Autos &Motor Sports,#03494

Composite—Our video clip, animation andmatte combine to make a cool composite.

Animation—JB30 Simply Useful:#1229 (Above),Matte—Matte #299 from ETK2 (Below)

4 New Halloween-ThemedVolumes Now Shipping!

New This Halloween:JD45: halloweenHAUNTS, StackTraxx Vol. 16: Spooky Stacks, JB34: All Hallows Eve & JBHD14: All Hallows Eve

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Choose one of the 75 colorful and scary Juice Drops illustrations from JD45:

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Motion Design Elements (MDEs) are a special type of overlay.

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that work with other onscreen graphics and draw attention to

them. For example, MDEs are commonly used to add color,

motion and sparkle behind what would otherwise be a static

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viewer's attention to it quite effectively.

What if we put that MDE on top of the logo, instead of behind

it? Of course it would obscure the logo, which defeats the

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001 of the Motion

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Below is an example of

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• More than 320 Animations in all

Editor’s Toolkit 4:High Tech Tools

Editor’s Toolkit 3:Wedding Tools(formerly Wedding Editor’s Toolkit)

Editor’s Toolkit 5:Soft & Subtle Tools

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• 15 Animated Jump Sets with matching animated background, template, overlay,lower third, full screen wipe & transition

• 100+ Motion design elements

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Editor’s Toolkit 7:Wedding Tools II

E D I T O R ’ S T O O L K I T S



Editor’s ToolkitsComplete Animated Graphics Packages for Every Video Producer or EditorCreate a coordinated and professional look effortlesslywith animations organized into matched sets.10 Volumes • 100s of Animations per Volume • Backgrounds,Overlays, Lower Thirds, Wipes and Motion Design Elements $399


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• Package also includes globe andmultipurpose animated backgroundsfor a wider appeal.

• Each set in the package contains thefollowing matching animated elements(at a minimum): 2 backgrounds,1 overlay, 1 lower third, 1 full screenwipe and 1 motion design element



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• Each set in the package contains the following matching animated elements(at a minimum): 3 backgrounds,2 overlays, 2 lower thirds, 2 full screenwipes, 1 transition wipe, 2 motiondesign elements and 4 animated alphachannel mattes. (Most sets also haveseveral extra elements.)

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• 90+ GB of royalty-free content on 11 DVD-ROMs

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• Each set in the package contains the following matching animatedelements (at a minimum): 3 backgrounds, 2 overlays, 2 lower thirds,2 full screen wipes, 1 transition wipe, 2 motion design elements and 4 animated alpha channel mattes. (Most sets also have severalextra elements.)


E TK Background animations (and Jump Backs) are ideal

for DVD menu backgrounds. Most DVD authoring

applications will automatically set the duration of the

menu to match the video clip you drop into the

background and loop it. Unfortunately, almost all DVD

players pause for a moment when the menu repeats: this is

unavoidable. One workaround is to make the menu longer

so that most people never see it repeat. Just lay down

multiple copies of your Jump Backs animation end to end

to create a menu of any duration. Your only limitation is

how much space you have on your DVD disc.

OR ADD TO ANY ORDERFOR JUST $199

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EDITOR’S TOOLKIT HOT TIP:

DVD MENUS

Animated Background #2 from Super Set #247 in Editor’s Toolkit 10 (at right) was usedfor this DVD menu for an annual report presentation. Easy matching buttons were also

created using the Super Set’s Motion Design Element #1 (right, top).

Jump BacksNetwork Quality Animation LibraryThe royalty-free collection that just keeps growing—more variety and more innovation all the time.

34 Volumes • 20+ Animations per Volume15-30 Seconds per Animation • Seamlessly Loopable

10/06JB01: High Impact I

JB02: High Impact II

JB03: High Impact III

JB04: Wedding

JB05: Sports

JB06: High Impact IV

JB07: High Impact V

JB08: High Impact VI

JB09: High Tech & Internet

JB10: All American

JB11: Retro Clean

JB12: Corporate/Industrial,Time & Money

JB13: All Church

JB14: Medical/Health,Education & Science

JB15: Weather &The Elements

JB16: High Impact VII

JB17: Extreme I

JB18: Extreme II

JB19: Extreme III

JB20: Subtle Impact

JB21: High Impact VIII

JB22: Global Impact

JB23: Clean Streak

JB24: Tunnel Vision

JB25: All Music

JB26: Future Tech

JB27: International Flags

JB28: Subtle Impact II

JB29: US State Flags

JB30: Simply Useful

JB31: Maximum Impact

JB32: Base Camp

JB33: In The Round

NEW!JB34: All Hallows Eve


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DVD 25 ANIMATIONS $249

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JB HD 09: All Music

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JB HD 11: MaximumImpact

JB HD 12: Base Camp

JB HD 13: In the Round

NEW Volume!JB HD 14: All Hallows Eve



VideoTraxx 1Film & Video Library• 3000+ Video Clips

• 34 DVDs • 220 GB

• 36 Categories

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• 34 DVDs • 220 GB

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$599CATEGORIES INCLUDE: Artisans & Crafts, Autos &Motor Sports, Cities & Architecture, Creation, Fitness &Medicine, International Life, Music, Night Life, Old War,Religion, Romance, Teens, What’s Cooking, Wildlife,Women’s Beauty, Youth Sports and more.


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CATEGORIES INCLUDE: Aerials, Abstract, Agriculture, Business,Children, City Life, Elderly, Extreme Sports, Family, Farming, Fitness,

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SOME OF THE CATEGORIES INCLUDE:NOISE FX—Alarms • Beds • Bells • Bumpers Buttons • Descends • Feedbacks • Flashes • GrowlsPhasers• Ricochets • Stingers • Thumps • Transitions

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MUSICAL FX—Musical Logos • Musical TransitionsMusical Textures • Musical Elements

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The Digital Juice Sound FX Library is the most comprehensive collection of audioeffects ever collected together into a single package. Produced by renowned

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Using the included Juicer 3.0software you can convert to virtuallyany sample depth and bit resolution

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The revolutionary production collection that putsyou in control! Just $249 per volume or as low as $49 pervolume in a 16-PAK Bundle.

Taking production music a step further,StackTraxx allows you to turn layers on or offcreating original mixes or isolating individual

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Vol. 8: Fifties Stacks

Vol. 9: World Stacks

Vol. 10: Broadcast Stacks

Vol. 11: Epic Stacks

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Vol. 13: High Impact

Vol. 14: Rock Stacks

Vol. 15: Subtle Impact Stacks

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Image elements from Juice Drops #4519from one of our newest volumes,Volume 45: halloweenHAUNTS.




VOLUMES AVAILABLE:JD01: highIMPACT

JD02: techXTREME

JD03: cleanCUTS

JD04: ultraGRUNGE

JD05: subtleIMPACT

JD06: ultraFRESH

JD07: hyperXTREME

JD08: techIMPACT

JD09: highIMPACT II

JD10: ultra3D

JD11: xtraGRUNGE

JD12: retroFRESH

JD13: peopleEDGE

JD14: subtleIMPACT II

JD15: highIMPACT III

JD16: ultraCUTS

JD17: scienceIMPACT

JD18: cleanCUTS II

JD19: medicalIMPACT

JD20: illustratedIMPACT

JD21: businessIMPACT

JD22: boundlessEDGE

JD23: cleanCUTS III

JD24: geoIMPACT

JD25: shadedEDGE

JD26: paperCUTS

JD27: glassEDGE

JD28: freshFORM

JD29: flowerPOWER

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JD31: foodFUSION

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JD33: ethnicECHOES

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P R I N T / P R E S E N T A T I O N

TECHNICAL SPECS:• 100 royalty-free layered

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or BUNDLE ANY 10Juice Drops Volumes for just $699

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JD43: popLIFE

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Presenter’s ToolkitThe Ultimate Presentation Graphics Library

• 6 DVDs with 40+ GB of royalty-free content

• 4900+ graphic backgrounds (1600x1024, 300 dpi PNG)

• 2000 photos and 2500 photo objects

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• 900+ music clips (128 kbps MP3)

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• 2600 graphic backgrounds

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DON’T MISSANOTHER ISSUE!

NEXT ISSUEin DIGITAL JUICE MAGAZINE

FREEMagazineSubscription

SPECIAL PRINT ISSUE!• Choosing Text & Formatting Fonts

• Getting Files Ready for Print

• How to Make Stock Elements Look Like Your Own

• Extracting Heroes from Juice Drops

PLUS:• How to Loop Jump Backs for

Projected Sets

• Capturing Interfaces for Editing

• Tips, tricks and tutorials

• New product releases

• Insider product information

• Latest specials and pricing

Best of all, you can get Digital Juicemagazine ABSOLUTELY FREE every month! To subscribe, just visit www.digitaljuice.com and click on the FREE MAGAZINE link on the homepage.

DJTV: Think Big but Grow Slowby David Hebel

T he ideas of Digital Juice Magazine andDigital Juice Television were floated,

kicked around, and massaged for yearsbefore we hit upon the right combinations tomake them doable, affordable, and above alluseful to our customers. In 2002 we made ourfirst ambitious attempts with both ideas butquickly determined we weren’t ready to really

make it work. We tried to do too much, too fast, with too fewresources and though I felt our pilot projects came out prettygood we just didn’t have anything that was sustainable.

JUICE BOX

After all, our core business was and remainsmaking professional royalty-free creativecontent, not producing TV and Magazines. Wealso felt that our initial efforts came off a bitover hyped, pretentious and self grandizing for acompany that had been around so few yearswith so few products. So we went back to thedrawing board. We decided to first concentrateon creating great products. First we’d try tostrengthen our name as a product company andextend the ideas we had for Digital Juice thatwere beyond our products later.

In December 2003 we relaunched the magazinebut this time as essentially a catalog with a fewtips and tricks. It was only 16 pages but we feltit better represented who we were and what wewere capable of consistently putting out. Slowlybut surely we expanded that catalog into the60+ page magazine you see today. The visionremained steady throughout but we workedhard not to get ahead of who we were, andwhat we could do. It is bit like the philosophy of“under promise and over deliver” which is soprudent in business.

Selling a product isn’t all that difficult. It’s easyto promise the sun and the moon and use a lowprice to move some units. But if the customerisn’t satisfied, he isn’t likely to come back andbuy again. In the long run a company is betterto first focus on creating quality and theneducating the customer before and, even better,after the sale on how to extract the most valuefrom their purchase. This is the whole ideabehind both Digital Juice Magazine and DJTV.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

Now we’re extending this idea even further. We’renot only talking about Digital Juice products, butabout anything and everything that ourcustomers and customers-to-be find engagingand helpful. The new Digital Juice Televisionreally is taking this concept and running with it.As of this writing we’ve released 12 shows andless than half of them focused on Digital Juiceproducts. We feel Digital Juice is about morethan just products. It’s about thinking creativelyand obtaining high quality affordably. Theseare the two things that tie our customers andproducts together. Whether you createPowerPoint presentations, design print ads, stageconcerts, or produce network television, at theend of the day you want something that showsoff your company or your clients in the best lightpossible without breaking the bank.

DJ Mag and DJTV will constantly evolve and growto keep up with the times, the company, and withour customer’s needs. We can’t promise to get itright every time, but keeping our eye on thesegoals will help us stay true to who we are andgive the company a mission that is beyond sellingproducts; one of inspiring creativity.

David HebelFounder/CEO, Digital Juice, Inc.

David also writes the weekly Digital JuiceeNewsletter, which is the place to find out about the latest products, specials, and FREE weekly downloads. To subscribe go tohttp://www.digitaljuice.com/subscribe/.

ALL PRICES IN US DOLLARS. PRINTED IN THE USA Att MAILROOM: Please route to Audio Visual or Art Department if undeliverable to addressee.

TO ORDER: 1.800.525.2203www.digitaljuice.com

1736 NE 25th Ave.Ocala, FL 34470

352.369.0930Fax: 352.368.6091

2006 10 digital juice magazine

Documents