BRINK

Recently, more than 100 aspiring filmmakers took part in The...

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:56:58 -0700

Recently, more than 100 aspiring filmmakers took part in The Washington DC 48 Hour Film Project, a wild and sleepless weekend in which they make a movie—write, shoot, edit and score it—in just 48 hours. On Friday night, you get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in your movie. 48 hours later, the movie must be complete.

This year’s required elements?

Character: Alex or Alexa Berbrick, Inspector
Prop: a drumstick
Line: “What do you think this is?”

BRINK’s own Patrick Cavanaugh, a Strategist in our DC office, is a three-year veteran of the project. You may recognize him as the ex-boyfriend karate instructor Riley Tompkins in Don’t Break My Heart; Or Any Other Part or the loving deaf father in Unmuted. This year, he and his team, 22 Turtles Productions, received the wild card genre, B-Movie. Quite apropros, if you ask us!

Utilizing our creative event space, a timely bike race, and a local masonic temple, Patrick’s team made a fun and memorable genre film: Never Meant To ‘B’ Movie Strippers. Watch it here: https://vimeo.com/65537995

Warning: it features a stripper, russians, and some humorously strong language. Potentially NSFW, depending upon how conservative your workplace is, or how personally sensitive you are. Totally worth it.

Awards should be announced soon, here’s hoping the judges agree with the obvious audience favorite!

You can learn a lot from looking at how businesses use social...

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:30:00 -0700

You can learn a lot from looking at how businesses use social media well, but maybe you can learn from seeing worst practices in action. Here’s what NOT to do: ‘Kitchen Nightmare’ Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique & Bistro has a Facebook meltdown, it goes viral and then they say they’ve been hacked!

Congratulations to our friends Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti...

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:38:51 -0700

Congratulations to our friends Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti for their Special Achievement Award from the Webby’s.

They have been spear-heading the way for creative content online - first with the Triggerstreet community (that BRINK helped develop nearly a decade ago) and, of course, now with the incomparable “House of Cards” series on Netflix.

For those unaware, whose day jobs don’t require the production...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:44:00 -0700

For those unaware, whose day jobs don’t require the production of vast amounts of high-performing, creative social content, Facebook changes its design and policies ALL THE TIME. Agile marketers have to keep up with the shifting tides. One of the latest is a rule about text overlays on images. Facebook says:

“Images in your ads, sponsored stories and cover photo for your Page can include text that meets our general Advertising Guidelines. Images may not include more than 20% text.

Examples of promoted content this applies to include:

Promoted Page posts
Offers
App install ads
Cover photo of your Page
Other ad or sponsored story with placement in News Feed

For example, event ads use the event’s photo for its image, so your event’s photo should not have more than 20% text if you plan to promote it in people’s News Feeds.”

We’ve found adding text overlays really does pump up posts, making them quickly-consumable, sharable nuggets. Add a paid promotion to that and you get a huge boost to overall impressions and PTAT score (people talking about this). But now, you can only pump up your carefully-crafted posts if they comply with this 20% rule. To catch any schemers trying to slip text-filled images by the social media Gods, Facebook runs promoted posts through a little grid test. Text that takes up to 5 squares passes, cross into 6 and you’ve got a no-go.

So how do you test posts? To make sure text only takes up 20% we created a PNG of their same grid overlay to slap onto images in Photoshop, then we toy with the text and any logos or watermarks (they count too, remember) and ultimately decide how an image will look its best. If it fits, it ships, to quote that wonderful shipping tagline.

We have made this nifty tool available for you. Download the PNG.

Because this 5 boxes good, 6 boxes bad system does not exactly really mean 20%, it can mess with design in irritating ways. Text done in the same font size and style can be moved slightly (maybe to a more attractive position) and suddenly become out-of-line with Facebook’s 20% rule.

If an image uploaded to Facebook is square, it’ll the whole image will be smooshed down to fit in a 403 x 403 pixel block in Timeline view. But if it is not square, FB crops it to 403 x 403 pixels, lopping off the sides (landscape images) or top and/or bottom (portrait images). That means, you could potentially upload a portrait or large image (FB’s max photo size is 2048x2048 pixels) add a bunch of text in the center of the image (maybe even taking up 403 x 403 pixels!) and create an image that would crop to look as if it was all text. Of course, it would still have to look stylish in all viewing formats (note: most people will see your posts in their news feed, mobile is huge and only first time viewers and hardcore fans will check in on your timeline - sandboxing is key!) but we think there is some room for experimentation here.

There is another proviso to the rule, in that “The 20% text policy doesn’t apply to pictures of products that include text on the actual product.” That means you can showcase a retail bottle of shampoo, not that you can artificially edit the product with your tagline, smart guy. But then again, what if your product is an image created by text? Those possibilities are cool, and Facebook has yet to slam the gavel down on that one. Anyway, these things are ever change, the only thing we are sure of it that Facebook will throw out even more stipulations and make content creators like us scramble, and then innovate.

I thought the boards that popped up when I opened an e-mail from...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:51:00 -0700

I thought the boards that popped up when I opened an e-mail from Pinterest titled “Remembering Boston” were strange upon first glance. I mean cinematography and Dorothy’s red slippers do not make me feel better about the horrible things that have happened this week.

But then I looked closer… and featured fairly prominently is a meme of two runners with “If I ever had to run for my life I would probably die.” ??? Sick joke? Unfortunate pick by a bot? Either way, ugh.

Have you read designer Brandon Kowitz’s new article on...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:25:00 -0700

Have you read designer Brandon Kowitz’s new article on Medium: Why you should move that button 3px to the left? It’s about managing the gap between functional and delightful, and it’s full of observations and advice relevant to anyone who works in design or development or both — as we do at BRINK.

Kowitz describes how a designer’s perfectionist instincts might conflict with the rush of production or the aesthetic-indifference of some managers and engineers. Then he offers a few ideas to help us bridge the gap:

A brief apologia for the designer’s detail-obsession, aiming to convince project managers that they should lend an ear to whining designers — he reminds us that spot-on designs increase trust and usability and therefore increase the value of the site and the $$$.
A few principles that might help manage the conflicting demands of designers and deadlines:
- Batch up work into sprints
- Polish as you go
- Avoid “customization icebergs”

Have a look at the article for more details!

Here at BRINK we’re always striving to balance perfectionism with speed, obsessive attention to detail with the need to deliver. We share Kowitz’s commitment to quality design and development, to creating intuitive user experiences that inspire trust — and delight.

Heading into the weekend: Some beer branding we can get behind....

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:16:00 -0700

Heading into the weekend: Some beer branding we can get behind. Ticketybrew has an interesting origin story too, find out more about ‘em.

We are 2013 Webby Awards Honorees! And we are immeasurably...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 16:53:00 -0700

We are 2013 Webby Awards Honorees! And we are immeasurably stoked to be in such good company in the Art category. Check out the interactive site that got us there - it features Jeff Smith’s dangerously-close photos of desert lightning storms: http://jeffsmithdrivescapes.com

We are hitting the GIF world hard at the moment - churning out...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 13:16:00 -0700

We are hitting the GIF world hard at the moment - churning out simple animations, visuals-laced storytelling, Vines and cinemagraphs. The 22-year-old dude who created this GIF (and tons of other rad ones) has served as an inspiration for us. He is a master of smooth and enticing visuals. Unlike our work, no storytelling (is needed) here, this is pure artistry (and a ton of know how), and his work is mesmerizing.

BRINK was stoked to help out with Spring Breakers social media...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:26:00 -0700

BRINK was stoked to help out with Spring Breakers social media efforts, and this fever dream of a film has certainly taken off. It’s everywhere. Have you seen it?

museproductions:

If you haven’t seen it yet, you don’t have long to wait.

Spring Breakers drops at midnight. Are you ready for your whole life to change?

Uhhhhh… this is beyond us! Captured above is an e-mail we got...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 17:09:00 -0700

Uhhhhh… this is beyond us! Captured above is an e-mail we got this week from a BRINK fan… or a foe? We don’t know. If you have any insight into the gibberish, drop us a line.

And a bit more of the madness (seriously, this e-mail is 12 pages long and ends with maybe a bit of self-realization: “not sure if I communicated all my communication absolutely correct and the best to communicate (given the best)(cursed)(for all).”):

“soccerness, divine inateness, foodness, recievedness, stop signness,

bottleness, computerness, televisionness, this existenceness, limoness,

boyness in context with porn, prideness, envyness, marriageness, appearing

and disappearing, authorityness, priceness, moneyness, popperness,

warningness with regards to deadness, carefulness, virgin privacy,

forewarning, molesting, landness, dear privacyness, governmentness,

religionness, cemetaryness, gay / queer / homosexual, and my communication.

I think disassociating with earthliness as much as possible in a general

aspect is of goodness betterness enriching. Maybe cigerettes should have forewarning onproper use if any, with regards to destroying maybe priceless sanctity, and respecting otherness that could also maybe lead to dangerous badness. I think animals are too low class and me of sanctity think a given then healthier better to not eat animal. I prefer to have my own

uniqueness and this has always been and always is my truth. I dont want to

breathe stank from dumptrucks.”

Coolest part of SXSW so far? It’s a toss up. Ranking high...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:30:00 -0700

Coolest part of SXSW so far? It’s a toss up. Ranking high on the list are: the much-talked about Spring Breakers screening (one festival veteran says the line for it was the longest he has ever seen at SXSW) and the massive ball pit at GSD&M’s Industry party.

A pat on the back from the Washington Post. We had already...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:10:00 -0700

A pat on the back from the Washington Post.

We had already chalked up our D.C. Social Media Week SXSW Meetup (pictured) as a success - but William Cunningham (an economist and social investing adviser) calling it “excellent” and saying it “stands as a model I hope others in the D.C. technology start-up space start to use” is definitely icing on the cake. Check out his full review of the week here.

BRINK takes on the Harlem Shake! We couldn’t resist but...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:43:31 -0700

BRINK takes on the Harlem Shake! We couldn’t resist but perhaps we should of.

Did you see that even YouTube is on board.

The BRINK team sees a lot of movies, and we’re in touch...

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 09:56:00 -0700

The BRINK team sees a lot of movies, and we’re in touch with that world through our work in indie film and with production companies. But this Oscar season we decided to see what out creative output would be if we were working blind. Members of the team were tasked with coming up with a poster and synopsis for Academy Award-nominated films that we haven’t seen.

Paperman - As a sadistic young teen Julio spent most of his time vandalizing the homes of non-subscribers, breaking windows and hitting people with newspapers as the neighborhood paperboy. Now - 30 years laters - he’s forcedout of retirement. His old paper route is being tore up by a whole different class of menace - a psychotic serial killer hell bent on revenge! Sometimes the job of a paperboy is better suited for a man… A Paper……MAN…

Buzkashi Boys - Tokyo, Japan 2026: A teenage motorcycle gang, the Buzkashi Boys, work at a motorcycle tofu delivery company by day, and get wild in the streets at night! These rag-tag cyberpunks are led by Hirachi and faceoff against their hated rivals the Fugu Fish, and the Fish’s shogun one-eyed Peewa “Kingfish”. When Hirachi’s younger brother’s falls for the Kingfish’s sister, tension reaches a fever-pitch, and even the police take notice. How will these Buskashi Boys survive when the heat is on? Will the tofu get delivered on time?

Hog Father - Faced with appointing a new pope, the Vatican decides to cut the crap, and get a man of the people! This action-packed film follows the exploits of this Budweiser-swilling, motorcycle-riding born-again Catholic as he tears the world up with his down-to-earth point-of-view.

The Invisible War - The Invisible War is one of those all-too-rare films that blends the Oscar-worthy genres. It spans three full hours and features a bombastic soundtrack, laden with sweeping strings, operatic climaxes, and ambiguously oriental chanting — placing it among the fantasy epics — but it also develops unusual, intricate characters who follow paths not restricted to Redemption and Corruption. Take Huey Chomp [Nicolas Cage], an abnormally average account manager for a mid-size company in the midwest, whose decade-long battle with chronic indigestion gives the movie its name: as he struggles through the vicissitudes of obscure medications and experimental diets — everything from whole-grain-heavy veganism to Paleo — he alternates roles as hero and villain, victim and offender. Every time he flinches or sweats at the dinner-table, cradles his gut, lifts a leg to fart, or retreats to the restroom, we aren’t sure who to blame, though our hearts are filled with pity, horror, and fury. During some of the more intense battle scenes — as the music swells and the camera spins — Chomp’s facial expressions and subtle movements lead us through all the charges and carnage, brutality and elation of a multi-million-soldier clash in Braveheart or Lord of the Rings. We leave the theater entertained, gratified and edified — then amazed and bewildered, once we realize that the most exciting and inspiring, breathtaking and ennobling war spectacle that Hollywood has yet produced involves only invisible battles raging somewhere between the esophagus and rectum of an everyman, Huey Chomp.

Sky Fall -

While investigating the unexplained deaths behind a local bird wildlife preserve, Henri stumbles across a strange meteorite. When he brings the rock to his science teacher, they quickly realize it’s more than a rock from outer space but a warning! Can Henri keep the rock out of the wrong hands long enough to decipher the alien message before something more sinister falls from the sky?

Did we get close?? Looks like an Oscar movie marathon is in order before the big day tomorrow.

Valentines that really get the point across. Share them with...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 11:52:00 -0700

Valentines that really get the point across. Share them with your clients - or soon-to-be clients ;)

The fearsome BRINK crew, enjoying the Arizona sun in our Obama...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:19:57 -0700

The fearsome BRINK crew, enjoying the Arizona sun in our Obama “Undisputed Champ” tees (designed by Pat Foley in the center there).

As we’re sure you know, Twitter has acquired Vine, a way to...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:22:00 -0700

As we’re sure you know, Twitter has acquired Vine, a way to share short, 6 second or less clips of video. Like a GIF, the few frames loop, but with audio. And, like Facebook-acquired Instagram, Vine users can follow others, who videos then show up in a feed to be shared across social media. If you don’t have an iPhone, this aggregator is a good spot to check Vine out. Our feeling is they might have rolled it out a little too quick in response to Instagram blocking their photos from appearing directly in Twitter streams (now, if you share a Instagram pic on Twitter, your followers will have to click off to Instagram to see it). And there’s the porn issue - Rule 34 people - which caused iTunes to pull the app from its featured section (it’s actually sort of hard to find now - type Twitter Vine to find it) BUT we’re excited about the possibilities and got an account. Why should you join too?

Twitter proved constraint breeds creativity - Vine adds visuals AND movement.
Brevity is the soul of wit - if Twitter enforcing 140-character posts didn’t prove that I don’t know what will convince you. A 6-second limit encourages all of us to cut the fluff and provide just the best stuff. 5 Second Films has done it successfully for years. Instagram got wildly popular for being visuals, now they’ve been one upped.

The Magic6 Ball uses Vine’s functionality to charm us here.

Since 1987 the GIF has captivated - Vine finally moves looping forward.
Vine is riffing on GIF-ing - auto-repeating every video post - while opening up the possibilities with sound and built in social utility. If social fans love the GIF (they do - the evidence is slathered all over the Internet - Tumblr in particular), imagine what they will do with its more complex offspring.

Here is Jimmy Fallon gleaming the loop.

Social moves fast - a Vine only takes 6-seconds of your (or your audience’s) time.
There’s a lot of social media to dig through and users want to get through it fast. But they’ll gladly ingest an infinite feed of social updates, especially if its visual. Vine is video without commitment. It allows a rapid showcase of “preview” material in bite-size amounts, generating the initial interest that could lead to more interest in your brand, film, persona, whatever.

Just like you took a tiny tour of the BRINK desert oasis above. That was painless right?

Drawbacks to the Vine app? - There are many, for now. As of right now- there is no easy way to find a video you saw on Vine outside of the app. To share a Vine video anywhere else means hunting down the Twitter account of the creator and hoping they shared it. Even trying to share examples of Vine videos we liked for this blog post was frustrating. There are still some issues with usernames ( the easiest way to find us is to search within the app for BRINKmedia.)

QUICK TIP: We embedded our Vine video in this post with a click of the Vineit button. Vine should probably make it possible to upload to Tumblr, but until then, Vineit is the quickest, easiest way to share Vine videos on Tumblr.

Have you seen PressPausePlay on Netflix and skated right by?...

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:34:00 -0700

Have you seen PressPausePlay on Netflix and skated right by? Maybe the film has suffered from the change of culture that is this documentary’s focus. It could be a victim of too much choice, too much muck to dig through to find something you really will benefit from watching. And then recently we did stop and click play, and were (pleasantly) surprised at the depth of conversation happening on screen.

This film is about “hope, fear and digital culture.” How have technological advances shaken up digital creatives and the culture we live in? Well, PressPausePlay quizzes musicians (Moby, Robyn, Hot Chip, Lykke Li…) and gurus (Seth Godin, Andrew Keen…) to find out. Have we entered cultural democracy or mediocrity? Is the creative industry in a revolution or already dead? Are we doomed to drown in grey goo?

One of the most interesting bits of this doc is an interview with Andre Stringer and Tracy Chandler of Shilo Film:

“We’re like a traditional production company for the most part, but we’ve come at it from a very un-traditional sort of way. The traditional way says there is a director, a post-house, an editorial company, there’s an advertising agency, and each of them has their own stake in what they’re making… By sort of harnessing all those things, sometimes the guys who direct are the guys who design, also sometimes the dudes who edit. This sort of blended model changes the whole landscape, says that anybody can do anything.”

That struck home at BRINK. Most of the team at Shilo came from the world of skateboarding, with a strong sense of do-it-yourself, make it happen work ethic. Their ability to execute internally allows them to be more free, visceral and reflective of the moment. This is reminiscent of BRINK’s culture, staffed with talent across the age and cultural spectrums, who are talented (and well-versed) in a lot of different areas. Maybe savvy and nimbleness are the greatest skills a shop can have right now - as the way we consume creative work changes at such a rapid pace. That’s our take away from the film.

As we move forward and take special care to keep up with the pace of change - in web, mobile and video production - some things don’t change. Creatively, our only limit is the imagination, and we will continue to stretch even that.

Inauguration fever has broken out- and our DC office on historic...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 11:36:00 -0700

Inauguration fever has broken out- and our DC office on historic U Street is right in the middle of it. If you are in the Capitol for Obamania 2.0, stop by and get an UNDISPUTED CHAMP shirt or go HERE if you couldn’t make the party.

The winning design was not the first design, check out these 5 rejects that were too good not to share.