Happy Holidays from Applied Art & Technology

From all of us at Applied Art - Happy Holidays! 2008 has been a very busy year and while we did not find the time to create our own message, we did want to share a couple of our holiday projects with you.

Here's to much happiness and success in 2009!

Luther College eCard




Karl Chevrolet TV Spot

Fall Events

The fall was busy for events this year. We were fortunate to work with a number of great clients on a wide variety of projects. We first worked with the great team from Phoenix Formations on the Honeywell booth at the NBAA Show.

We then parterned with the extremely creative team from ITA Group to turn the HyVee Conference Center into a Drive-In Theater.


Each event had its own set of challenges and creative thinking was a must! We covered a lot of miles, learned new tricks, made new friends, and as always, tried to make the most of time away from home, friends, and family.

~Mark

Facebook Adds Advertising Metrics

I was recently sent a very exciting announcement by the Facebook Ads Team. "Responder Demographics" and "Responder Profiles" reports are now available for every ad placement.

What does this mean? It means I will now know a lot more about the folks who click on my two Facebook ads (of which I am still collecting valuable data!). As an example, here is what the new reports tell me about the folks who click on the Final Season ad:

• The greatest percentage of clickers are males 13-24 (no surprise there with a feel-good baseball movie)
• Their favorite movie is "300"
• Country music is playing on most of their radios
• "Family Guy" is the TV show they watch the most

What does this information allow me to do? You guessed it. I will now be able to target specific markets even more to increase the overall effectiveness of the ad.

This type of constant analyzation of data is a must for every website goal and something we stress in our web development process.

~Steph

New Cyclone Basketball Spots

Applied Art & Technology just completed basketball spots for Iowa State University. Graphic Designer Todd Huffine created the spot for ISU Women's basketball by applying a 3D effect to still images from last season. Graphics and voice over reinforce the legacy of ISU women's basketball, touting the five consecutive post-season appearances and 4th in the nation attendance statistic.



The Men's basketball spot uses footage from the state of the art RED camera, which records 4K resolution HD footage directly to flash drive. The footage was shot at the first game of the season to unveil the new uniform design. The high speed recording allowed for motion ramp effects and the ability to use a close up image from the footage without compromising the image integrity. Editor Courtnee Carstens worked closely with DP Paul Hickey on choosing shots and transferring the files into Avid world where she could further manipulate the footage.



See more of our video and animation work by visiting our site. Swish!

~Heather

Heartbreak Recovery Kitchen

While the holiday season tends to put a little chipper in everyone’s step, the preparation for the big day (or days, depending on what you celebrate) tends to wrap some stress under your collar as well. So, in the spirit of our newest long-form project, The Heartbreak Recovery Kitchen, we thought it would be wise to share some stress-relieving advice to instate during your pre-holiday preparations. MAKE BROWNIES. No, seriously.

You may think the last thing you need as you rush from here to there crossing off lists is a few extra calories—but, listen up before you dismiss this suggestion as ridiculous--dark chocolate, including bittersweet, is high in heart-healthy antioxidants AND has been found to lower blood pressure. So, it just might be that a brownie a day WILL chase those stressies away! And, the babies listed below are packed with walnuts, which are high in healthful fats (that’s right some fats actually ARE healthful) that help protect you from a whole slew of health problems! So, happy holiday preparations from one of the creators, and baker extraordinaire of The Heartbreak Recovery Kitchen, Jeanne Ambrose. When you try her Walnut-Studded Dark Chocolate Brownies below, we dare you NOT to feel better!

And, please watch for, The Heartbreak Recovery Kitchen coming soon to a network near you. The show was created by the mother and daughter team of Jeanne and Lindsey Ambrose, and is hosted by Olympian Lolo Jones, and professional Athlete, Sasha Spencer, produced right here by the Applied Art team.

It dishes up the perfect combination of girl-talk, hotshot advice, and feel good foods to help empower you through the heartbreaks or (ahem) hurdles life throws your way. It’s heart-to-heart with bite, comfort food that reminds you of better times, and lush hours that shake, shake that bitterness to the curb. One thing’s certain, you’ll always feel better when you step into The Heartbreak Recovery Kitchen: it’s television that feeds your soul…Feed YOURS with these… Walnut-Studded Dark Chocolate BrowniesBy Jeanne AmbroseThese brownies are a nut-lover’s dream. Feel free to use fewer nuts, or even drop them altogether. A brownie a day will chase your worries away.

1/2 cup butter4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees F. Grease an 8x8x2-inch or 9x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine butter and bittersweet chocolate. Cook and stir over medium heat until butter and chocolate are melted. Remove from heat. Using a wooden spoon, stir granulated sugar and brown sugar into chocolate mixture until smooth. Add eggs, beating with spoon until well combined.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Stir flour mixture into the chocolate mixture just until combined. Stir in nuts and milk chocolate pieces (batter will be thick). Spread in prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until top is set, but still soft. (A toothpick inserted in center will come out slightly gooey.) Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Makes 16 brownies.
Tip: The secret to fudgy brownies is to make sure you don’t overcook them. The secret to easy clean up is to line the baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Grease the foil. When brownies are baked and cooled, lift out the foil along with the slab of brownies. Remove foil and cut brownies.
Mmmmm…

~Elisabeth

New Wellmark Spots

Questions I learned the answers to while editing the new round of Wellmark spots.

Q. How many people can you fit in an edit suite?
A. Sixteen! Though not everyone gets to sit, and it gets a tad toasty

Q. What is the proper response when someone nearby sneezes?
A. You whistle, of course.

Q. Do butterflies poop?
A. I don’t know exactly, but when you’re shooting insects really close up in HD, you see things you never thought you would. (The wiki page on butterflies is really long, and I’m too lazy to get you a definitive answer, but something definitely happened.)

In October, our fearless friends from Nicholson Kovac road tripped it up from Kansas City to create six new spots for Wellmark. Applied Art & Technology worked with them on everything from casting and location scouting to audio and post production.

We were able to take advantage of that last stretch of sunny, fall weather. Marty, George and the production gang shot some gorgeous HD footage in lots of great locations around town. (Refer to above butterfly reference.) Next up, we threw a bunch of actors into a lineup and shot them in the studio. (Making a joke about actually shooting people is too easy, right? Let’s just skip that.)

And on to post production, which is the most fun part, right? Yes, yes it is. It’s just a fact that sitting in a dark room watching the back of my head can be endlessly amusing. Luckily, I also happened to have some super amazing tablets that grow into sponge animals! Seriously though, everything I had to work with was so pretty, editing was a breeze. Todd Huffine, graphic artist extraordinaire, did a fantastic job making a bunch ‘o text look both engaging and readable on the Medicare spots. And both Todd and animator, Scott Kaven, created a super sweet flowy ribbon to highlight our Under 65 crowd.

All in all, we had a fun four weeks, we made some friends, we answered a few important questions, and have six new spots we’re proud to show off. Head over to our portfolio page and check out a couple!

~Courtnee