A few months ago we here at August Hour received a call; “How would you like to produce video content for a Times Square interactive project?”

It was friend and client Barrett Prelogar, CEO and founder of Winntech. Winntech was building a huge, interactive video display for the H&R Block flagship office in Times Square and they wanted August Hour to help produce the video content.

photo from NY Daily News, Gabel

Now, Winntech produces the most sophisticated and thoughtful interactive experiences I’ve ever seen.  I like this because it challenges August Hour to produce compelling video content that matches that level of quality and meet the reputation of a top-notch company like H&R Block.  At the time we partnered with Winntech, we didn’t realize what a massive undertaking this would be. At the end of the project August Hour – with Winntech’s creative guidance – produced over 850 separate High Definition videos in under two months; 543 of which were produced in 16 days for the H&R Block grand opening on December 7th, 2009.

Photo courtesy H&R Block

Working with Winntech required August Hour to pull together all of our core capabilities including: casting, pre-production, chroma key and digital animation, live-action HD shoots, music composition, digital photography and editing, sound design, and audio recording and mastering.

In Kansas City we shot five days of live-action video to produce eight different interactive host segments (H&R Block employees). After shooting wrapped this footage was edited into 331 chroma-keyed videos combined with digital interactive animation that guide the viewer through the interactive process.

Next we spent two days filming on location in New York to produce 20 short biopics about each of the Tax Professionals who work in the flagship office on Times Square (my personal favorite part of the project).

Finally, the project involved producing the content for the huge video walls and tickers that are displayed on 7th Avenue. This meant August Hour had to help conceptualize, produce, direct, render and output a dozen videos that were over twice the resolution of HD video, all in under two weeks.

We’re proud to say the work was completed on time, on budget and the flagship office is open on Times Square.

These projects are successful because of clients and project partners like Winntech and H&R Block who bring creativity, expertise and experience to the process. We owe a debt of gratitude to everyone from H&R Block, Winntech, DDB, and all the folks who worked long hours to pull this project together.

Just some of the client feedback on the project:

WOW…I am speechless!!!!! Seriously – you guys rock, and you just made my weekend and my whole week next week. What talent! Thank you so much for all your hard work and everything to come. Please have several drinks to celebrate – you deserve it.

Sarah Nichols
Marketing Manager, Retail and Digital Experience
H&R Block

If you’re interested in seeing images of the work first-hand, we suggest a little trip to New York; the flagship office is located at 555 7th Ave. If you would like to see some images of the video work we did for the project please contact us.

Read an article on the H&R Block Times Square flagship location here: http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/01/11/2010-01-11_hr_block_adds_razzledazzle_to_tax_prep_in_times_square.html

Friend and songwriter, Matt Wilson (a Minneapolis treasure) once wrote “the sun is coming to cold places.”

I love that phrase. It holds hope in a time of cold and desperation. It reassures. Perfectly suited to a kind man from the cold confines of the northern tier. But they can get you through a cold mid-western winter too.

In trying to bring musical and visual reference to Matt’s words I wrote “tenzing”.

In addition to the joy, hope and giving, there’s a lot of despair around the holidays. It’s the beginning of the winter solstice – an unsettling time for many. It’s also a time of great, and often self-induced, stress about the holidays. This one seems all the more desperate given all our current socio-political tumult. Oh, and let’s not forget the war; no, not the one in Iraq, but the one that’s supposedly being waged against Christmas (do we REALLY need people to invent another war around this time of year?).

The point of tenzing is not just to build a song around a guitar riff, but to bring Matt’s sense of hope to what is starting out to be a very cold and solemn winter; especially considering it’s still fall.

Anyway, without giving it all away. Just enjoy the music and images. It’s a gift, and remember the sun is coming to cold places.

Last week we were fortunate enough to be invited to the premier for our friends at MK12′s new short History of America. When you get a chance, please go and watch the trailer on their site. If the film is in your town go see it.

More than a great piece of work, the film is a clinic in what you can do with simple tools and a great eye.

Congrats guys, good work.

Later this month we begin shooting a short film by our friend, Terrence Moore. Terrence plays in the band American Catastrophe. The film is called Dirty Work. It deals with some familar themes for any artist; working for the man.

Along with Terrence, we’re working with the talented John Baker of MK12. John’s a hell of an animator and illustrator. Throughout pre-production it’s been a great exchange of ideas and we’ve learned a lot.

We won’t get into the plot, because . . . well . . . that’s what the film is for. Suffice it to say it involves a lot of really exciting production challenges, including mostly exterior shooting, a lot of night shots, and a tight shooting schedule. Making sure the production keeps up with the sun is a lot like putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a moving clock – just the way we like it.

Meanwhile we’re working on a new project for AT&T (formerly Cingular). We’ll keep you posted on this one as it progresses, which will probably be in fits and spurts.

Alejandro Escovedo.com Rolling Stone: Alejandro Escovedo Plays Zankel Hall

A few months ago our friend and inspiration, Alejandro, played Carnegie Hall in New York. It’s about time. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, go through hell, and practice.

A while ago we confirmed we’ll be working on a video for Alejandro’s song Dear Head on the Wall. I’ve been beating my head against a wall ever since trying to come up with a concept for this video. It should be said, I’m not a real big fan of the performance video. It’s been done and done and done. Well, one of the most pure things I can think of is watching Al perform. So how can one not bring this purity to a video. We’ll, this song isn’t all about Al (sorry Al).

Al co-wrote this song with his wife, Kim. So there’s a lot of her in the song. This collaboration makes the challenge a little greater, but it also loosens things a bit.

Al’s input on concept was “do your thing, man.”

Uh, thanks.