Observational tension is a tool of the storyteller, more often felt than discussed. Its subtle power renders a disquieting tone that invites audience emotion to enter the scene. The tension of a shot that lingers on a subject after the dialogue or apparent action has ended can deliver extraordinary poignancy. It does not work in

I’m hot but not uncomfortable, saved from the intensity of the sun by the occasional gusty breeze and the air that’s being conditioned by the crashing surf. If you are lucky or early, it’s possible to put your blanket down just above the high tide line. Close enough to the surf to benefit from cool

A friend of Henri Cartier Bresson once said to him, “you do not work, you take a hard pleasure.” While I often feel I’m working very hard and certainly too long, I must admit I take a pleasure in the work. At its best, it’s inspiring to stare down the proverbial blank sheet of paper.

If you know USP then you’ll not be surprised that Chat GTP delivers USP as one of the key elements of a successful advertising campaign. If you do not know Rosser Reeves and USP, you poor impoverished soul, buy this book: Reality in Advertising You can also gain a bit of contemporary context here in

The rise of Ai and its impact on image making has me rethinking what it means to create photographic work. It’s true that images have been easily manipulated since the earliest days of photography, but each day it gets tougher to tell the difference between fiction and non-fiction. It’s wonderful and discouraging at the same

Lately, the economic climate is beginning to feel a bit unsatisfactory. We’ve lived through and survived economic downturns before if that’s what this is. Marketing in a downturn is never fun. Budgets get cut and tougher questions get asked. Inadequate answers abound. Suddenly, the marketing wunderkind down the hall has lost the hop in her

In my personal quest to make YouTube more enjoyable, here’s a tip to all of you content creators out there. There is such a thing as acceptable audio levels. Even among those that seem to understand the principles, there are many content publishers that believe it is ok to blast their cheesy intro music. There

The most important context of user experience design is consumer mindset. Before we start pushing pixels around, we should be working hard to understand consumer wants and needs. Gathering insights into their emotional desires is critical to creating an experience, throughout the entire customer journey, that in both subtle and direct ways will reinforce your

Asynchronous and disharmonious, the overuse of slow motion has become a sickness, a plague on the timeline of corporate video. Slow motion is very often beautiful to watch, but it should be used with intention and in support of some action or emotion essential to the story. Used appropriately, like close-ups, like a spice, it

While in New York City, I took the opportunity to visit some old haunts. I hadn’t had the chance to step inside the renovated Hotel Chelsea, so off we went. I’m not claiming I was a denizen of this much celebrated bastion of creativity in residence. I wasn’t. In the late 70’s as an art