Mark Haefeli; Pres./Ceative Director MHP3, 11 Beach Street, Suite 408, NYC 10013...www.mhp3.com (7/01):
The achievements and placements of the agency were impressive. The vehicle that delivered the results was lackluster. For such a professionally accomplished organization to work with such an inferior production company to highlight it's finest achievements, is shameful, but also typical.
I have long fought the upside down logic of PR firms who hire us (Mark Haefeli Productions/MHP3), to gather elements, edit, create graphics, select music (always a problem, it is so subjective), write a narrative when necessary, find VO talent, FTP post thirty six rough cuts, while number 36 has eventually come back around to look just like the first submitted rough cut did, after all the clients have put their own personel touch into it, if for no other reason then to justify their jobs. The changes they make or the suggestions they give, "give it a bit more zip."...."ZIP?" are gratuitous at best.
However, on top of this, now they all want it to be "zippy", for $1.99 or less! After spending millions on major national and international campaigns, they chince at the very end, when it is time to display these world class achievements in a compelling and creative manner. Their regard for video production, in this capacity, is absurd and counter productive to the excellent work that proceeded the highlight reel.
I am not suggesting you come along and hire my company for lots of money and we will deliver a "lots of money type presentation.." That notion is absurd. I always say that the audience only knows what they see, not what they could have seen or what they should have seen. I also can tell you that I always judge a budget's reality by how many times you want me to make the audience say "wow". I can make them say it once, or twenty times. Twenty costs more then one, but again, the audience only knows what the audience sees. I hope, one day, they will see through this atrocity, not view production as a second class afterthought and a below the line unnecessary expenditure. |
