10.11.2010

Looking back at optimistic writing. This started life as a side bar.


I wrote this in the beginning of the year.  I'm sharing it now because I feel that the optimism reflected here is warranted.  The markets may have shifted but business is coming back.  Let's get ready:


It's a new year. I'm smiling

So it is 2010, the market for advertising and commercial images is in shambles and no one really knows what to do.

Why am I smiling?  Because I think the market will recover and build and be stronger than ever before.  It's just that we might be doing different things than we were before.

I'm pretty sure we're going to be doing video.  That's fine.  I've owned my own sixteen mm Bolex film camera.  I've shot projects on Super8, 16mm, 35mm, one inch video, Beta SP, Hi8 video and now Mpeg video via a DSLR.  And you know what?  The lighting is the same across the formats, the camera moves are the same and the tradition of visual storytelling hasn't really changed much either.

My favorite assignments are magazine style videos for websites.  I've been doing a bunch of them for Glasstire Magazine with my friend, Will van Overbeek.  I love the idea of creating video content for different media.  I'd love to make a bunch of programs for the iPad and for the other tablets that are sure to come shortly.

I think there is a market for really good decorative art.  Perfect pieces of art to hang in homes, offices and business public areas.  I've recently had a few sales and much interest in my work from West Texas.  Finally,  I think that the market for good portraits will revive and grow.  It's just that now a portrait might be a combination of still and a short introduction interview.  Multiple uses and multiple formats.

Finally,  I think the market for advertising and editorial images will grow again as art directors rediscover their courage and push clients to do work they can both be proud of.  That will take imagination and the budgets to produce custom work with well thought out concepts.  To participate we'll have to hone our stylistic chops and show what we want to share in.

If you are a potential client here's what we should do together:  1.  Make great art.  2.  Come up with new concepts and styles that will give you or your final client real differentiation.  3.  Leverage moving pictures on the web and in handheld presentations.  4.  Integrate writing, photography and video into cohesive creative packages, like a meal prepared by a great chef instead of selecting each portion of a meal from a steam table......cafeteria style.  One vision, one team.

Who knows what we'll be able to accomplish.     www.kirktuck.com


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