Forrester Media's Atlanta Video Production Blog

EarthLink outage causes loss of Forrester Media e-mail and web site

If you have been trying to reach us today, Earth Day, April 22, 2009, we have experienced a loss of e-mail and our web hosting due to a power failure at the EarthLink facility in Pasadena, CA. We apologize for the inconvenience. In the interim, please call us at 800-201-8102 so we can answer your questions. EarthLink has not provided an estimated time for the restoration of our website or e-mail.

Remembering CNN Headline News

A familiar face walked in the door yesterday. Familiar because I had watched him for years on CNN Headline News. David Goodnow was one of the faces from the 'early' days of Headlines, as I called it and it reminded me of how much I would watch Headlines in the 1980's.

I would leave Headline News on for hours, watching the new content and waiting for breaking news and when it happened, it really was news (unlike most of today's breaking news). David Goodnow was one of the many anchors on Headlines that I trusted and liked. There was Brian Christie, Judy Fortin, Don Harrison, Bob Losure, Chuck Roberts, Lynne Russell, Dave Walker, Lyn Vaughn and Van Earl Wright (sports), among many others. But the ones listed were, I suppose my favorites for one reason or another.

Brian Christie has been a friend since the early 90's. He is also from Orlando, where we met. We worked together on many projects during the 90's and he was a primary force in my move to Atlanta in 1998. In fact, he was instrumental in getting me in the CNN freelancer pool where I worked frequently with Dan Ronan, who covered business news for CNN/fn.

Through my years in Atlanta, I've had a chance to work with Lynne Russell, Lyn Vaughn, Bobbie Battista, Janice McDonald, Natalie Allen, Wesley Clark, Lou Waters, Judy Woodruff and probably a few others I can't remember. Now I can add David Goodnow to the list. All of them are not only professionals, but nice people to be around.

While I imagine today's anchors on HLN are good, I simply don't watch it much anymore. A quick glance at the headshots of the anchors makes me feel I'm looking at the contestants of a beauty pageant, not the line-up of trusted news anchors. Maybe it's just that I'm getting older. Then again, maybe not.

The Best thing on Television

Well I can't believe that it's nearly the end of April. The studio has been hopping in the last couple of weeks and it's booked again next week. That's good news for all of us here at Forrester Media as we look forward to a busy summer and a better 2009. The economy has effected us all and I think everyone I know is trying to save money at every possible turn. I decided to start bringing in my own lunch at least twice a week. That way, I figured out, I could save at least twelve dollars a week which in a year is $620 and every little bit helps.
Well enough of that, to more important things I watch a few TV shows but I wanted to highlight what I think is one of the best TV shows I've ever seen. It's "Breaking Bad" Sunday nights on AMC. It's in it's second season and it's an incredible show. The writing is first rate and the acting is tremendous. It's a dark, gripping story with humor that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. I watch it and think things cannot get worse for the characters but it does and I'm amazed at how the writers keep coming up with believable story lines. It's too hard to tell you about the plot but I would tell you to watch this show and you will not be sorry. With all the reality garbage on these days it's nice to see a well written and acted show on my TV. 

I'm a little bit country

This business affords me the chance to work in all kinds of environments and with all kinds of people. Friday night was one of the memorable ones. We were hired by 'Headline Country' which airs on Great American Country to cover singer Jason Aldean performing the National Anthem at The Atlanta Braves season opener at Turner Field.

We shot an interview with 'Headline Country' host Storme Warren and Jason Aldean and a bit of b-roll of Jason signing autographs of fans that were probably a bit surprised to see him at the ballgame.

What was fun, however, was the chance to be just behind home plate during the National Anthem. The players and officials on the field, a very large American flag being held by our soldiers and the base lines ringed by little league players - hundreds of them. Oh, and the thousands of cheering fans in the stadium.

Just a moment after this picture was taken, several Air Force jets passed a mere few hundred feet above the stadium startling both me and the cameraman!

Jason did a fine job of performing, after which we went over to a local venue, Wild Bill's, to tape some more b-roll of his performance for the TV show, which should air very soon.

So Friday, I ended up being a little bit country. This week, who knows?

With spring comes opportunity

Spring is good for many things, cleaning being a popular choice. For me, it's also a time to reflect on the past and think about things to come. I can look back a mere three years and would not have known that a year later I would have a new studio facility for my company.

Once I started thinking about a studio, which was mid-2006, I thought I knew what kind of work would be shot in the studio. Talk about being wrong! Despite my best intentions, clients had their own ideas on what they needed to do at a studio. We accommodated and now the studio is one of the busiest in Atlanta when it comes to green screen productions. We are constantly changing the look of the studio based on the needs that come from the client. Green screen one day, a news set the next. For small productions, we even created two and five hour booking windows for studio time.

The studio has taken on a life of it's own, different, but better than I could have imagined. So what's next?

An increasing number of our productions are created exclusively for the web. We have become highly proficient at writing, shooting, editing and encoding our projects for the web. For Forrester Media, this is an area of tremendous opportunity and we're excited to be a part of the changing world of video production.

The future holds potential. The chance to do great things at work - and at home. Here's to a great spring!