Why We Love ILF and What We Do.

Our Spring Interns wrapped up this week, and we are on the hunt for new interns. I posted a comment on the ILF Facebook page asking students interested in interning to say why they would like to work at ILF. Between my inbox and the Facebook page, the response was overwhelming. And it got me thinking, that we take our job for granted.  

So, I asked our team of talented Graphic Designers, Editors, Cinematographers, Producers, Production Coordinators and Audio Designers why they like working here, or in the creative industry in general. Here... are their responses.

1. I like the freedom I have in my work.  (Caleb Ingersoll, Audio Designer)
2. It's fun to show people your office when it looks cooler than a lot of other offices. (Carly Herron, Production Coordinator)
3. Free Diet Soda  (Mollie Mraz, Editor)
4. Casual clothes and fun people.  (Steph Edwards, Producer)
5. I can be my normal weird self and people interpret it as being creative.  (Paul Clemons, Computer Programmer & Database Administrator)  
6. My great big office, the complete autonomy in my job and of course the relaxed environment!  (Allison Morgan, Producer & Marketing Manager)
7. Where else can you act like a freak and not get fired.  (Rick Delker, Senior Graphic Designer)
8. It's rare to find a production team that doesn't wallow in turfism, it's even more rare to be a part of it. I love my job. (Mike Weaver, Editor)
9. You can enjoy adult beverages in the workplace.  (Carly Herron, Production Coordinator)
10. I like the relaxed atmosphere.  (Caleb Ingersoll, Audio Designer)
11. Variety.  (Jim Swoboda, ILF Partner and DoP) 
12.  Watching a concept come to life, and the appreciation and excitement from clients when they see their video.  (Allison Morgan, Producer & Marketing Manager)
    
13. I like the people at ILF, and I like the different personalities that make up the whole group.  (Jeremy Paul, Producer)
    
14. I get to use computers all day without being labeled a nerd or geek. (Daro Walker, ILF Partner and Computer Programmer & 3D Animator)
15. Beer and Paul Clemons.  (Ben Fowler, DoP)
16. My PC limits me and the world of Apple set me free.   (Paul Clemons, Computer Programmer & Database Administrator) 
17. Balance of family and work.  (Jeremy Paul, Producer)
18. It's the only business where hearing the phrase "quick!  does anyone know where I can find a cat herder in a clown suit!" doesn't even raise an eyebrow.  (Daro Walker, ILF Partner and Computer Programmer & 3D Animator)
19.  No time clock or time sheets.  (Barb Lindhag, Accountant)
20.  It's amazing to get paid for something I love to do.   (Rick Delker, Senior Graphic Designer)

ILF Props Department

A few weeks after I began working at ILF as a Producer, I was asked to make bird poop. You read that right, bird poop. Well, maybe I should backtrack a bit.

A wonderful client of ours, came to us needing a creative campaign demonstrating how traditional advertising wasn't as effective as movie theater advertising. Here's one of the ads we came up with.

 

That poop... was my creation. A winning combination of hair conditioner and food coloring, strategically layered in a turkey baster. The spot was a hit!

     At ILF Media, we often find ourselves creating not only wonderful videos and commercials for our clients, but also amazing props.  Of course, the props, and our props department sometimes don't get the props they deserve. So this blog, is a tribute to their hard work.
 

     One of our Cinematographers, Ben Fowler is not only wickedly creative with the camera, but also an incredible handyman! As a result of all his talents, we enlist him (when not shooting) to create props.
Last year, Ben built this from the ground up...

A Seven2 project for AT&T

A full squirrel house, complete with wood paneling on the walls and a painted floor. All built in our second studio.  (Graphic Designer Rick, created the nuts!)

    Another success story. The video was a hit.  I think a few people in the building, were a little misty eyed when it came time to tear the house down in preparation for another shoot.

    Recently we had to create a number of props for a big project. This time, Ben and Senior Graphic Designer, Rick, were put to work.  Rick was asked to create four faux tiles that 

looked as if they were being punched through a wall. Not easy work, but Rick did an amazing job. (I think he enjoyed getting away from his computer for an afternoon to work on his master piece.)  

     Ben was again, asked to create numerous props. One of which was called Gak. A fun gooey substance made from glue, borax and food coloring.   (If you have kids, this is a fun after school project.)

He also created a monster-killing-tool kit.

    Sometimes, the props aren't as much fun, as they are functional. Here's a prop completed yesterday, for several training videos we are producing.

And sometimes, pre-made props don't cut it. Take a look at this commerical we shot a while back.

 

That golf club... a 3D creation by Partner Daro Walker! 

So, if you have a wild and crazy idea for a spot, that entails even crazier props, give us a call! We are always up to the challenge!

A little something we whipped up!

Yesterday, at the last minute, we had a shoot postponed, which suddenly freed up both our Cinematographers. In a production house, with a little time on your hands, what do you do? You whip up a video.

Nothing fancy, just a quick building tour and a little meet and greet with our amazing and talented team of Cinemetographers, Producers, Editors, Production Coordinator, Sound Designer, Programmers and Graphics Designers. Enjoy!
 

Spring Cleaning!

It's that time of year again, Spring cleaning! 

We have acquired a lot of stuff, namely props and wardrobes from various shoots over the past year. Most of which will never be used again and have found themselves crammed into our small P/W room.

With everything pulled out, and hap-haphazardly thrown over the company pool table, we went to work sorting, throwing out and donating many of the items.

 This shirt has Ben written all over it! 

 

 

 

 

Some items of clothing found a new home right away.

There was a ton of stuff that will find a new home with Goodwill.

A bin full of classy women's corporate wear will be hand delivered to My Sister's Closet. A great organization that provides business attire for women entering the work force.

And what is Spring cleaning without a few discoveries!

Mollies full ensemble

These Clown shoes made Carly's day.

Paul finally discovers what having hair feels like.

 

 

And of course, my favorite discovery for the whole day.  These gems... taken nearly 5 years ago for a Criminal Justice spot.

 Jim Swoboda? Drunken disorderly conduct.

Nick Tibbetts, our former Graphic Designer. Drug Possession.

 Rick Delker, Senior Graphic Designer. Not sure what he was "arrested" for but this picture seriously creeps me out.

Cleaning went fast with Producers Steph and Amber  at the helm. The finished room looks neat and tidy!

Making Life A Little Bit Easier.

 In 2008, when we purchased our current location we had the client in mind. We wanted to create a welcoming environment for our clients and our clients' clients. 

Sometimes, especially when creating long formatted projects, you spend so much time with your client, either on the phone, through email or during long edits sessions that you begin to feel like family. So when it came time to design our new digs, we asked ourselves "How can we make life easier for our clients?" and at the time, building comfortable edits suites was the answer. We designed two large edit suites, with large 68 inch 1080p HD plasmas for optimal viewing pleasure, wi-fi, the whole nine yards.

But today, we rarely see our clients. It's not that we aren't busy, or that our clients don't come in, because they still do, it's just that they don't need to come in as often.
With high definition and tape-less editing, our clients are able to be in on the edit, while sitting in their office. The reason? The Approval Page, An online site, where clients can view their projects and give us feedback.

The approval page is pretty simple and has been a great fix for our busy clients. We've had rave reviews, which is always our goal!

I guess the next question is, how do we make it even better!?

Hello ILFmedia.com.

Last night, at 4:45 Pacific Standard time, the old ilfmedia.com website was put to rest. There was no moment of silence, no final parting words, she was simply.... replaced.
After months of conception, designing, programming and testing we have officially launched our new website.

Hello ILFmedia.com, it's nice to meet you.

You are everything our old website was not.

During the conception phase of the new website, we realized we needed a website that was user friendly, not only for our clients, but also for updating the site's content. Luckily, Partner & Computer Programmer wiz, Daro Walker, knew exactly what to do; he programmed himself right out of the equation. The new website is so user friendly, even a computer illiterate like myself can make a change to the site in two minutes flat!

Here's a sample of the Work update page. It's as simple as uploading a new photo, Adding  SD or HD video, changing the description information and hitting update!

When you have a Computer Programmer on your team, you can pretty much dream up anything you want, and they can make it happen.

The goal of the new website is to update it on a regular basis. Whether it be new pictures in the home page slide show, new work samples, new employee pictures or bios, the site will never be the same twice. After all, let's face it, with the age of Facebook, Youtube, and Blogging, users want new content on an almost daily basis. Although I can't promise that sort of updating... I can promise weekly!

Another great thing about our website is this....

Our new website is compatible with both ipads and iphones.

Check out our new site, and let us know what you think!  ilfmedia.com

Branding... the never ending journey!

     A few years ago, we at ILF re-branded ourselves. We were in the midst of massive renovations to our current building at 540 West Cataldo and decided it was time for a new look... all around. 

One of our talented graphic designers, Nick Tibbetts, designed the new logo, but that was the tip of the iceberg. Suddenly there was a laundry list of 'things' that needed to have the new brand. From business cards, to letter heads, vechicle decals to a new website, everything needed to be designed and created from the bottom up.

It was a huge job, not only for Nick, but for the producer... me! The list of items that needed our brand was growing every day. And as with all internal projects, our clients' projects take priority, so more often then not, our branding mission was put on hold to work on a client's project.

After a few months of off-and-on work it looked as if everything was good to go. 




In fact, if you read this blog, you might remember a recent post which involved our logo... finally being placed in our 3rd floor lobby.

99203... how did I miss that?!?

Then... this morning, Partner Jim Swoboda sent an email and for the first time... I noticed his email signature. Everyone in the building has their own email signature but nobody ever oversaw them, so each person's signature is different.  


Let's be honest, this was a bit of an oversight on my part. But, rest assured, by end of business day today, all 17 ILF employees will have the same (correct) email signature.

Hence the title of this blog. Branding... the never ending journey.

So a friendly word of advice to small business owners thinking about, or in the midst of re-branding... (or branding for that matter) keep at it and don't be alarmed if several months down the road you noticed something that slipped through the cracks... because, that will inevitably be the case. Good Luck!

Chasing Down Chevy.

Recently, one of our clients came to us with a pretty cool job- The Chevy Prize Patrol.

Basically, it consisted of us surprising unsuspecting Chevy drivers...






   and giving them a couple of these bad-boys (visa debit cards)... all for driving a Chevy.

One happy Chevy driver and his $50 prize!

Overall the day was a huge success and was tons of fun. Here are some more pictures from the shoot.

Our wonderful talent- Sara Meddock and Clancy Bundy!

Jim and Ben- on the lookout for Chevys

Cramped quarters in the coffee stand on the South Hill.

ILF Crew briefing before the next location.

Keep your eyes peeled, the spots should start airing soon!

Wrap up- just in time for the weekend!

It's been a pretty busy week for us at ILF. With shoots every day of the week and booked solid edit & graphic suites, it has been a little hectic! 
   On Monday we had a shoot involving 30 extras, 4 Producers, 3 locations and 2 cinematographers. 

 It was a pretty simple concept on paper. A young woman wanting to enter the medical field.  The :30 spot followed her from the classroom, through her graduation ceremony to her new career.

The spot was edited the following day and turned out beautifully!

(How about the adorable talent front and center!)

Another shoot this week, entailed us mounting our $90,000 camera on top of a 10-foot ladder.

DP Jim Swoboda will do anything for the perfect shot. (See below)

Talent for this spot was spot on!

Producers Amber & Steph with their client oversee the whole shoot from our elevated observation deck.

 You can't tell from this picture but work has begun again for our sadly neglected studio B. Studio B hasn't seen a lot of activity due to the recent renovations to our first floor producer offices. But now that that work is complete we are working hard on getting Studio B buttoned up!




 
One of our Graphic Designer superstars, Rick, was busy all week on several different projects, including a new video for Avista Utilities.

Gotta Love an A+

Found this while Internet surfing one day.

Better Business Bureau Gives ILF Media an A+

Even though most of us are years and years outta school, you can't take the overachiever out of us.

The Evolution of the Deliverable

   Today, we are hurriedly exporting, compressing and converting several videos for one of our clients. The final formats are: WMVs, iPad, iPhone, Mp4s and Mp3s all delivered on a shiny red 500 GB hard drive. 
    All this converting and compressing got me thinking of how far we have come in the last few years. Not only here at ILF Media, but the industry as a whole. 

Below is an elementary overview of the Evolution of the Deliverable.

The Evolution of the Deliverable

Way back when, there was film. (Let's be honest, this was before my time. In fact, we don't have a ton of film laying around, so the picture below is tape. We'll just pretend it's film for now.)

    Film was cumbersome and difficult to edit, but created some beautiful end results. Though the hefty price tag turned off many potential advertisers.

 Until there was beta...

 

    Not as sexy as film but certainly more practical. Betacams & Beta SPs dominated the industry for a long time. The price tag for betas was reasonable, allowing a wider range of advertisers. 

    It too had its limitations. However the benefits and lower price tag would trump any of the drawbacks. That was until high definition started becoming more popular. You simply can't deliver HD spots on Betas.  And... that would be the end of the hegemonic rule of betas.

Introducing the short lived lives of CDs & DVDs

     DVDs, more importantly Data DVDs were used briefly as a deliverable. They were never really the solution to providing higher quality spots, yet more of a temporary band-aid until something better came along. We'll still use DVDs from time to time. Yet, as more and more of our clients are requesting several different formats for the various types of media, DVDs just aren't cutting it.  

 Hard Drive & Thumb Drives

     In a quickly evolving world of iPads, Smart Phones, Interactive Websites, Social Networking and more, we find ourselves making more and more videos for all different types of medias. That means everything needs to be converted and compressed specifically for the type of media it will be played on. It makes our clients' lives easier (which is always our goal!) but it makes delivery of all these different formats and files, time-consuming. (Especially when you're talking about HD videos which are HUGE files!) External Hard Drives are a great solution. The one pictured above is 500GB and more then big enough to house everything on it. Thumb drives are a great alternative for smaller projects.

    With continuously evolving technology and the proliferation of this new technology, it's our job at ILF to keep up. No longer do our clients come to us simply asking for a :30 Standard Definition TV spot. But now they need their HD spot via FTP for 10 different stations to download, an ipad version, an iPhone version and a QuickTime for their website & YouTube  (which will be linked to their Facebook, Linkedin and Blogger accounts). 

Luckily, we're up to the challenge of the ever evolving deliverable.