Here’s the full article that appeared in the Tampa Bay Business Journal about the AAF 4th District www.FriendFlorida.org public service campaign.

It’s likely that Tampa Bay area residents know the beaches are oil-free. But people outside the area aren’t so sure.

Now, the American Advertising Federation – Fourth District, the affiliate of the national professional association representing Florida and the Caribbean, is giving the message an extra push. A national understanding of the condition of Tampa Bay area beaches is important not only to pirate ship cruise operators, jet-ski rental companies and the tourism industry, but to the economic health of a region built around the water.

Mike Weber, president of St. Petersburg media production company CMR Studios, is leading the AAF – Fourth District campaign. He was inspired to start the effort after attending the AAF national conference in Orlando in June.

“People I talked to thought that all the Gulf beaches were black with oil,” Weber said.

The campaign will involve television spots, print ads and other media promoting the website www.friendflorida.org, which contains links to social media channels Facebook and YouTube and encourages visitors to “friend” Florida. Each of the 22 AAF-Fourth District’s Florida chapters will produce and distribute advertising directing people to www.friendflorida.org.

The entire campaign, including the media buys, will be on a pro-bono basis, Weber said.

The idea is people will better understand the state of the beaches if they hear it from someone they know.

Timing is right

The campaign is set to help Florida as it stands at a crossroads for tourism marketing.

Visit Florida, the state’s official tourism marketing organization, on July 18 spent the last of the $12 million it received out of BP’s $25 million grant to Florida for tourism advertising.

BP denied Gov. Charlie Crist’s June 30 request for another $50 million for tourism advertising and has yet to officially respond to further appeals for funding.

With funding still stuck in the sand, Visit Florida is trying to figure out its options.

“There’s little chance that without additional funding from BP, or some other sources, we would be able to continue at any level for the next couple of months,” said Visit Florida spokeswoman Kathy Torian.

In the meantime, hotels are taking their own steps to bring in customers and keep the public informed.

Sirata Beach Resort & Conference Center in St. Pete Beach has its “Clean Beach Guarantee” that promises to waive early departure fees, allow a 6 p.m. cancellation on the same day of arrival and assist in finding other accommodations in event of a beachfront oil spill.

Negative perceptions around the country have shortened the booking window and cut into out-of-state group business, said Steve Rosenstock, marketing manager. “Everybody is losing some business because of the oil spill.”

Longboat Key Club & Resort has implemented its own “Clean Beach Guarantee” through the end of September that changed the cancellation policy from seven days prior to arrival to 24 hours.

Public Relations Manager Katherine Songster hopes the plan will increase people’s confidence.

“It’s a significant move on our part,” she said. “We want to make the consumer comfortable.”

While levels of business at the 218-room property are not dramatically different from a year ago, call volumes dropped at the height of negative press, Songster said.

Of particular concern was a call from a Tampa resident concerned about oil on Longboat Key beaches.

“We were all scratching our heads on that one,” Songster said. “It was a bit surprising someone so close to here had that perception.”

Like many times before, the call came from a production company out of town. They were coming to Florida to shoot a commercial in a few weeks and wanted to rent our RED ONE camera package. As usual they needed RED support with a DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) and a 1st AC (Assistant Cameraman) but the details about the job were unusually slim. They said it was a two day shoot  at a stage in Orlando but couldn’t reveal any more. They completed the checklist of requested gear in the package, sent the deposit, an insurance certificate and that was the last I heard from them until I got the call sheet the evening before the shoot.

It was Sunday. I was at home. I opened the email and read it, but ironically nothing stood out to me. I saw it was a large crew, shooting at Full Sail Studios in Orlando and the call time was 8am. I printed it out, put it on the kitchen counter and headed off to load the RED and gear for the trip. When I got back my wife said “You’re shooting a Super Bowl spot? That’s great.” I said “What are you talking about?” It turns out I had read all the details of the job except the big bold title on the front page Tebow Super Bowl Commercial. Suddenly it appeared that the job was going to be more interesting than expected.

Nationally Distributed MOVIE Clips CD-ROM Campaign Wins GOLD

A virtual movie theater on CD created by Tampa video and integrated media production company CMR Studios won two ADDY^® awards including a Gold for interactive campaigns in the Tampa Bay Ad Fed competition. The CMR Studios staff created all of the content and programmed the interactive disc, designed and modeled virtual sets that included a highly interactive movie theater lobby, theater, arcade, screening rooms, a studio backlot and even the rooftop skyline of Batman’s Gotham City. One disc in the series also contained exclusive content for the High School Musical films created by CMR for Walt Disney Studios.

Host Debra Schrils was shot in the CMR Tampa Bay green screen studio using the RED ONE digital cinema camera then composited into all of the locations and guide viewers through the many entertainment  options and disc interactivity.

Over a million of the CD-ROMs were distributed nationwide in theater lobbies by Capitol Color Mail. Released seasonally, the interactive program features previews for upcoming features from all of the major motion picture studios, advance screenings, movie themed games, exclusive behind the scene features, and even a virtual Batman comic series by DC Comics.

With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY^® Awards is the world’s largest advertising competition. Conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation, the ADDYs represent the true spirit of creative excellence by recognizing all forms of advertising in all types of media.

The highest state-of-the-art in video production has arrived in Tampa. CMR Studios is the first facility in Tampa Bay with the new RED ONE Digital Cinema Camera and to offer the complete RED workflow for production and post. The new camera shoots Ultra High Definition 4k images that are five times higher resolution than all previous HD cameras. The complete CMR RED camera package includes 35mm cine prime and zoom lenses by Zeiss and Cooke that provide the depth of field and selective focus usually associated with film cameras.

Among the first in the world, studio owner Mike Weber ordered the new RED ONE camera over a year and a half ago while it was still in development by the Red Digital Cinema Camera Company. The camera is unique because of the ultra high definition quality, dynamic range and file output in RAW format that is essentially digital film. Shooting on RED at 4K allows for delivery in several format resolutions from the same footage. Output can be 4K, 2K, HD 1080, HD 720, SD and even vertical HD for digital signage. Because the creative freedom in post-production is limitless, it is ideal for both cinematic images and special effects. The film “Wanted,” in theaters now, was shot using the RED ONE. In addition to feature film work CMR clients who will use the advanced camera include: indie films, broadcast, corporate marketing and advertising agencies who want to shoot national quality commercials.

CMR Studios can be booked to do all aspects of production and post using the RED ONE. The camera is also available for rental to qualified professionals anywhere in Florida. For more information visit http://www.RedOneFlorida.com.

Eleven model homes are going to star in their own online videos. Builder and developer Rottlund Homes has contracted with Tampa Bay production company CMR Studios to visually feature the amenities that will be shown on the Rottlund Homes corporate website. Unlike the virtual tours that are more common on real estate websites, these productions will lead viewers though the properties and showcase the high-end finishes, layout and design, using production techniques usually reserved for television commercials. The project will be shot in High Definition and the footage can be re-purposed later for TV commercials and promotional DVDs.

It’s no debate that technology is taking front stage in the Presidential race. While in town for the CNN/YouTube Republican debate, Congressman Ron Paul recorded radio commercials in Iowa from the CMR Studios in St. Petersburg. For studio owner Mike Weber the event was mildly ironic. He used to work in Iowa in 1976 when such a technological feat would have been far more uncommon. “We would spend a lot of money shipping tapes overnight between studios to do this.” Weber went on to say, “If you would have mentioned YouTube back then, people would have thought you were talking about real tubes in their TV sets!”

A video production promoting participation in the foster care program for Hillsborough Kids Inc. of Tampa, Florida, presented a challenge for us. The stories were heart-wrenching and personal, but because of privacy issues they couldn’t show any of the families involved.

Unique Approach
Studio president and creative director Mike Weber presented HKI with the concept of writing a script that was the blending of several true cases into the story of one child. The treatment would be done in a form parents can relate to: a storybook. More specifically, a pop-up storybook that would become a virtual set for the six-minute video. The live action actors would be inserted into the pages using greenscreen compositing. “It seemed like a simple idea at the time” says Weber. But original artwork takes time. Ultimately CMR artists Adam Weber, Melissa Cozart, and Marina Weber devoted nearly a thousand man-hours over sixth months to producing the one of a kind book.

Local Landscape
Every page turn reveals one of eleven scenes depicting: the Tampa skyline, the University of Tampa, a house, various interior settings, Busch Gardens and Lowry Park Zoo. They each open into dimensional art that was then shot close-up in HD. All the actors that appear on camera also appear on the pages of the book, so artist Marina Weber had the job of creating their likenesses, along with a whole cast of paper extras. Dimensional background plates and animation elements add even more detail that wouldn’t be possible to physically fold in the book.

High Def Video and Special Effects
Renu Parker, General Counsel at HKI, edited the script and selected talent through Alexa Talent and Modeling to match their typical client profile. Rich Roddman directed the greenscreen shoot on the in-house CMR stage. Adam Weber handled shooting the HD footage of the pop-up book virtual set and designing unique pinpoint lighting for each scene. Page manipulation was done by Marina and Melissa.
Like puppeteers, they hid behind the book and wore green gloves so their hands could be removed from the shots later.

Post-Production
Once all the HD footage was shot, the multi-talented CMR production team changed roles again. Melissa edited the footage in Final Cut, while both she and Adam composited together all the pieces using Shake. They put the actors “in” the book, added background plates, animated elements, did color correction and color grading. Mike Weber then added a customized music track and sound effects for each scene before the final audio mix and project completion.

Award Winning Work
The HKI project was recognized for excellence with a national TELLY Award.

Reducing traffic on Florida highways may be as simple as getting workers to just stay home. That’s the message Bay Area Commuter Services wants to send in a video being written and produced by CMR Studios. The High Definition project will feature on-camera talent Art Edmonds. Bay Area Commuter Services, Inc. (BACS) is one of the Florida Department of Transportation’s nine commuter assistance programs within the state. It is a private, non-profit organization founded and funded by the State of Florida Department of Transportation to promote transportation alternatives to the single-occupant vehicle in the Tampa Bay area and surrounding counties. The agency operates in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. CMR has already produced two corporate videos and a series of award winning television commercials for the transportation agency.

CMR Studios has been signed by Macken Products Inc. for the product launch of the GrillTamer, a newly patented gas grill accessory that eliminates food burning flare-ups. The St. Petersburg based electronic media production company will create two direct response television commercials and website video content for the device that controls grill temperature, eliminates overheating, reduces propane use and allows for better cooking. The new GrillTamer line of products also being featured includes “Grand Championship” award-winning Master Blend seasonings.

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Tampa Bay video production company CMR Studios has recently completed construction of new video studio space. The expansion includes an “Infinity Wall” hard corner cyclorama (cyc) that allows for shooting special effects in-house. With a state-of-the-art florescent lighting grid bathing the space with color-corrected, even illumination, the camera views the seamless space as totally neutral. This allows for on-camera talent to be digitally layered with graphics, backgrounds, virtual sets and even other talent or the same talent replicated. Equipped with HD cameras and teleprompter, the studio has been busy since completion. Projects completed include corporate business videos for Western Reserve Life Insurance, AEGON, Xanthus Financial Services and Habitat for Humanity, regional TV Commercials for Hungry Howies and website videos for the Bonati Institute and Realtime IT Solutions.