A new flash movie for our Software Deployment Suite

[Corey]

More Flash:

http://www.indigorose.com/suite/flash.php

I suppose this one is historic because it's the first one where I actually played the background music myself. Buckets 'o fun. :yes

[rhosk]

That's sweet, Corey. Very professional :yes

[Intrigued]

Corey, I like that your Flash videos are easy to follow and understand. They are not to full of animation, sounds that the idea being conveyed is lost in the confusion.

:yes

[Corey]

Thanks guys. :)

[gbrown]

Nice :yes . Besides the content (which is spot-on) the bed is great... the music gives a good continuiety to the presentation that moves it on without getting in the way of the message. I really wasn't noticing the music AT ALL... which is exactly what you want. The only thing I wasn't 100% on was that up-and-down moving horizontal blue bar deal in the background. I kept thinking that my vertical hold (!) or something was screwed up. BTW... who does your v/o work?

[AXXESS]

Nice job, Corey! :yes

[bnkrazy]

Nice! I too was a bit distracted with the horizontal bars until the movie got going and occasionally in between segments. Maybe try a gradient? Overall it was very professional and had a nice flow. :yes :yes

[Intrigued]

The blue vertical moving bars are a sort of subliminal message to buy each of the four products being discussed.

Come onnnn guyssss (and gals), did you not catch that? (oh ya, it was subliminal)

:D

[Corey]

I really wasn't noticing the music AT ALL...
The increased quality and clarity of the voiceover/mix in relation to our past stuff is due partly to my recent purchase of an RNC compressor, it's nice and transparent. (http://www.fmraudio.com/RNC1773.htm) A really great all-purpose production tool, a lot of producers/engineers feel that the RNC is the best value in pro audio and I do too... :yes

The other factor was that, since I played the music myself, I was free to choose appropriate instruments/music, and make sure the mix was done right from the ground up. I used Rob Papen's Albino (synth) for this one and I tell you it's my favorite VSTi in history. Such a great sounding synth, so easy to use, and just right on the money for stuff like this. Can't say enough good stuff about Albino, it's like the Photoshop of the synth world. :yes

As to the background, yeah it's an effect, and anytime you use an effect you take a chance. Maybe in the future I'll revisit that, right now I'm still too close to it to be objective. These things take a week or so to do and you end up becoming fully immersed in them during that time (if you didn't, they'd take 3 weeks to do) so it's hard to remain objective. The main thing was to have a movie online which shows, in a quick yet concise manner, how all our products fit together.

My goal on this one was to give people a really crystal clear vision of how all four of our products actually perform as one integrated tool. :) :yes

Plus on a personal level there's also that hidden agenda I always have which is to always advance my production skills, that's really what drives me in the first place. So I take a lot of creative risks in every design I do. You can see it in everything from the Visual Patch new project dialog to this new Flash, I'm always trying to stretch at the boundaries a bit to make sure we're at least doing stuff that no other software company is. For me that is *everything*, as long as we're even a tiny bit ahead of our competitors in some ways, I'm happy. You have to bear in mind that on a design front I'm competing alone against corporations who have 300+ employees such as Installshield, Wise, etc. And so far we seem to be "winning", i.e. check out our Flash and then check out Installshield's and judge for yourself. :) :yes

As an artist too I'm always trying to bridge my two worlds, i.e. for example as you can see in this graphic, it's actually full blown expressionist art, i.e. the puzzle piece is the developer/patch "walking through woods" and Visual Patch is a guiding force in the sky, i.e. "the north star". I believe that moon may have even been a subtle nod to Van Gogh but I can't recall:

http://www.indigorose.com/temp_web/vp.gif

I'm not neccesarily convinced that people notice, but the problem with being "an artist" is that you can't turn it off. So basically what Im trying to say is that the reason all our designs contain at least one risky aspect such as the vertical background in this Flash movie, is that we're just taking some risks, trying to stretch beyond the "grey and white" world of mainstream software marketing. :)

[gbrown]

:wow I :wow
Will
Buy
All
The
IR
Products
:wow

:wow I :wow
Will
Buy
All
The
IR
Products
:wow

:wow I :wow
Hear
Corey
And
I
Obey
:wow

[Corey]

Hee! :yes :)

[Intrigued]

Ah, another person assemilated into the collective!

;)

*Jokes aside... I'm very pleased with the I.R. products I have purchased and received*

:yes

[Corey]

*Jokes aside... I'm very pleased with the I.R. products I have purchased and received*
Right back at you I-man. You have been a major asset to our forum and our forum has been a major asset to our entire operation. Without folks like you (and all the others) it would be much more difficult for us to provide such a meaningful online experience. We definitely appreciate all that you contribute. :yes

[Intrigued]

:yes

Far out... groovy'swanktific and all that!

:p

[Dermot]

...trying to stretch beyond the "grey and white" world of mainstream software marketing. :)

I agree with that.

[bnkrazy]

Yeah it's an effect, and anytime you use an effect you take a chance.

I agree. Also, I may have never noticed the background if I hadn't already read the post about it before viewing...never know. At any rate, I doubt I could ever create anything that elegant in Flash...ever. Again, :yes :yes .

[Corey]

It's a lot easier than it might appear once you break it down into little pieces. The main thing is not getting bogged down with the weight of it all (which has happened to me many times) and just going at it strategically... :yes

It's kind of like being in a band and recording an album. If you focus on the album you are doomed and still won't be done 2-3 years later, but if you just focus on a song at a time, the next thing you know you're done in like 3 months... It's an odd phenomenon but it's definitely that way with Flash, that timeline gets mighty ugly when you view it as 3000 frames but it's not half as bad when viewed as 10 X 300 frame chunks. :)

Honestly though 95% of the credit goes to the management at IR for giving me ample time to work on the Flash and having enough vision to follow me down that road. The real reason you don't see more compelling Flash marketing materials is because employers simply don't understand the process or the benefits, not because it's difficult to create. But that's OK with us, we'll gladly take all the tiny advantages we can muster. :)

[yosik]

Corey,
Nicely done, very nicely!!
And the fact that the VO is clear without noise/hiss/hum... is a BIG plus.
So many such presentations invest a lot in the visuals at the detriment of the sound quality.
What I liked a lot was the flow. A fluid dance of the visual elements. No "breaks".
:yes :yes :yes :yes

Yossi