Monday, March 24, 2008

It Started on Newbury.com

Client: Dave and Anna
Work Performed: Custom Website, Custom Flash Development, CSS, XHTML, Custom Expression Engine installation, Web Hosting

Dave and Anna are pulling out all the stops for their upcoming wedding.  They decided that in addition to sending out the standard invitation, they wanted a website that showed their personalities.  They also wanted a place where people could go and get information about the wedding, learn more about the bridesmaids, groomsmen, and Chuppah holders.  They approached Pixeldust Films with their ideas and let us roll with it!

The site is an Expression Engine powered site that has been custom designed by Pixeldust Films.  The slideshow on the opening page was custom developed and features the randomization of their favorite photos.  We also did all the custom CSS work, graphic design, and integrated their Flickr photos using the flexible Flickr API.  Visitors can sign up on their mailing list, browse content that’s relevant to their guests, and just have an overall smashing good time.

Just like I’m sure they’ll have at the actual wedding!

The site was launched in March, 2008.  Congratulations, David and Anna!  Visit the site today!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

The High Street Caffe

Client: The High Street Caffe
Work Performed: Website, Photography, Video “Infomercial,” Web Hosting

The High Street Caffe has the kind of food that makes you want to continue to eat long after you’re full.  I know, as I do it every time I go there.  Don Syracuse, owner of the now-famous West Chester eatery needed a website so he could post all the info that you find on most restaurant sites:  hours, menus, directions, etc.  But what he really wanted to accomplish was to mimic the “look and feel” of the restaurant on his website.  The High Street is straight out of Louisiana Cajun:  purple walls, beads all over the place, dimly lit, the constant smell of crawfish, spices, fresh seafood, and all this being underpinned by live jazz or blues (and, in my day, a little classical, as I was the house entertainment for the first couple of years).

Don also wanted a video so people could further get the “flavor” of the restaurant right on the website.  We did a one camera shoot, and I conducted the interview while my DP shot the footage.  The outtakes on the film represent some of the funniest stuff you’ll ever hear (well, you probably won’t hear it), and we just laughed and laughed in between takes trying to get it right.  In the end, we did…

This film was eventually acquired by Turn Here.com, who believed that my style of editing was in alignment with the kinds of films they wanted to make, at least at that time. 

Visit the Site

or

Watch the movie we produced below

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

We Train Pets.com

Client: We Train Pets
Work Performed: Website, Audio Services, Web Hosting

Christine Pazdalski speaks dog.  No really, she does.  She walks into the room and the dogs know they’ve just met someone who understands them.  I know from having developed a website for Christine she cares about her subject matter.  Christine’s primary business is dog-sitting and dog-training, and she wanted a website that not only outlines her services, but gave away some freebies as well.  In this case, we decided the freebies would be in the form of some good advice from an experienced trainer.  I did a half day audio session with Christine, which gave me enough material to start producing some podcasts.  I recorded bumpers with some other voice talent (Go, Gina!), and we created the necessary containers to house the audio on her Wordpress-driven website.

Christine feels that being an active contributor on the web will allow more people to find her services, and I fervently agree.  In her case, Wordpress was a great way to give her a content managed framework and then just let her start contributing her expertise.  She also hosts her website on our dedicated server and enjoys pretty much 100% uptime for her clients and customers.

Visit the Site

Monday, July 09, 2007

Wild Bill Guarnere.com

Client: Wild Bill Guarnere
Work Performed: Website, Forum Community, E-Commerce/Transactional

William “Wild Bill” Guarnere is my grandfather.  While he’s therefore not a “client,” he certainly did have some ideas about what he wanted on his website.  The idea was to try and create a community where people could learn more about the war and those who participated in it.  Of course, there was a lot of content on my grandfather’s own unit, the 101st Airborne Division, 506th P.I.R., “Easy” Company.  It absolutely had to be that way.

My father and I decided that a “museum” feel was no good.  After Band of Brothers came out, everyone wanted to know these men, which we thought was great.  To achieve that end, I developed a website that featured a forum community as the nerve center.  When we launched on April 1, 2002, the wheels came off in the form of thousands upon thousands of visitors.  Today, the site has over 4000 registered members and close to 200,000 posts.  The site also features a small little store where we sell swag to pay for the bandwidth associated with such a highly traveled site (we’re on a dedicated server over here...).

The newest redesign is a table-less layout that was built using web standards.  The forum solution is driven by the fine folks over at Invision Power, who have been good to us for many years!  The site is static, and does not have an underlying framework driving the main content areas.

Visit the Site

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Collegeville Dental.com

Client: Collegeville Dental
Work Performed: Website, Photography, Video “Infomercial,” Web Hosting

Collegeville Dental needed a facelift on their website, and when I spoke to Dr. Ryan Estelle, we decided that he wasn’t necessarily trying to sell the practice, but instead he was trying to show the practice.  For many, going to the dentist isn’t exactly a trip you look forward to, so Ryan and his staff wanted it to come across on the website that Collegeville Dental is unlike any other dentist’s office on the planet.

To further develop this idea, Ryan and I had a great dinner over at Sullivan’s Steakhouse, and we decided that for the website to truly come to life, to really allow people to experience on the web what they would experience in the office, we needed some cameras.  Specifically, a film camera and a still SLR with a bunch of lenses.  We did a one day photo shoot, and on a separate evening shot the film which featured a number of Ryan’s patients and members of his staff.  He also wanted to feature his own photography on the website as well as give some fast facts about the practice.  The website is a content managed solution that allows for easy updates from any internet-connected computer.

Visit the Site

View the Video

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Friday, April 13, 2007

Dee Dee’s Video Biography

Client: Joe Cannata
Work Performed: Video Biography

"This is, and I cross my heart, the greatest gift I've ever gotten in my 50 years of life..." - Dee Dee

Behind the Scenes

This film was shot in 2 locations, Delaware and New York. The client asked us to produce some elements from the hit TV show, "I Love Lucy" as the subject was a huge fan. We reviewed the opening credits of the TV show and recreated the entire opening using Adobe After Effects. We learned 2 things about Denise through shooting this film: She loves to cook, and her relatives love to eat her cooking. We finally met Dee Dee on the night of the premiere. She hugged me like she had know me for years, and I frankly felt like I've known her for years.

Fast Facts

• The shots we got at the New York location were not color-corrected at all. Those stunning images came straight out of the camera, a Sony HVR-Z1U.
• Out of 21 people we interviewed, they all talked about Denise's cooking, specifically her Rice Balls.
• The "ventriloquist" sequence at the end of the movie was brilliant, and ended up being the only way we could get Ray to appear in the scene. I wish I could say it was my idea. Ray stole the show and happened to also be the last person interviewed that day.
• My father-in-law, the subject of a different Pixeldust Film, helped with the lighting on the New York shoot. He also provided a face to look at for the subjects while they were being interviewed. He's credited as a "Key Grip" and a "Lighting Assistant" in the end credits.
• On the evening of the premiere, Gino had to pretend he didn't know any of Dee Dee's relatives, as it would have given it away that we had somehow met before the evening of the party. Her relatives played it beautifully, and, for the most part, ignored me completely until we rolled the film.

Watch a film of the client talking about the process of making a videobiography with Gino behind the camera. below!

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Sunday, March 25, 2007

Cigar Cigars

Client: Cigar, Cigars
Work Performed: Video “Infomercial”

Here at Pixeldust Films, we smoke the occasional cigar, so we were thrilled to have the opportunity to shoot a spot for a local cigar merchant. The spot is all about their new “Hecho Fresco” cigar line, which is hand-rolled right in their Willow Grove, PA storefront. Talk about fresh! Watching the master cigars rollers go from bunching the tobacco all the way up to hand-rolling a smokable cigar was pretty amazing. They made it look so easy, but you could tell that the amount of skilled labor in those hands took years upon years to acquire. We felt it was our duty at the end of the shoot to do some quality control in the form of smoking some Hecho Frescos.

Fast Facts

• This film was shot at night, starting at about 9:00 PM and went til around 2 in the morning.
• Between the cast and crew, I believe we smoked about 20 cigars in total between everyone in the building. The gear smelled like cigars for about 3 weeks.
• The cigars rollers, who speak Spanish, did not know we were coming there to film them, only that they were asked to work late that evening. They were pretty terrified when the film crew showed up and started giving them directions.
• The primary cigar roller, Eduardo Nunez, speaks virtually no English. Luckily, our audio guy for the evening happened to be fluent in Spanish.
• Cigar rolling has to be one of the most difficult skills to learn. Sometimes, you can pick up a thing or two by watching people for several hours. In the case of rolling cigars, I was just as clueless when I walked out as when I walked in. It's really difficult. Smoking them is much easier.
• Thinking we were going to be a little light on material, my Director of Photography for the evening threw me in the humidor and asked me to riff a little on camera. Well, I riffed a lot on camera and put myself in the film, which the client loved.

Watch the Film

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