Alison Collins has spent her life working in the performing arts both center stage and behind the scenes. She is now delighted to be applying her creative talents with WMS media on both sides of the camera. She has sung and directed opera; sung musical theatre, jazz and folk music; taught voice and directed choirs. As a young artist living in New York City, Alison also worked in advertising and as a product manager for an online healthcare company as well as studying computer animation. Alison earned her undergraduate degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and her M.A. from San Jose State University.

In her spare time Alison loves to spoil her two retired racing greyhounds and peruse thrift stores for fabulously funky fashion and décor.

We’ve seen a shift lately in business use of video. Instead of one big show that eats up the whole video budget for the year, the direction now appears to be moving toward multiple mini-programs for a lower per program price. One client is planning to produce 10 one-minute shows at a cost per show one-tenth that of a full blown 5-10 minute show. In this way, testing and mid-course corrections are much easier than shooting the whole wad on one large program. Some business plans may call for a grander production; but others may not. Consider using this economy of scale if you have a number of quick, simple and focused messages to convey. It’s much better to make content adjustments in increments rather than take a big hit.

WMS media coined the term “Resultive Media” because our first and foremost goal is to create great business results for our clients. So when we came across this article about how to maximize your video presence online, we just had to share it with you: The PR Pro’s Guide to YouTube

Video sharing sites like YouTube are a great way to break the ice, because nothing online is as personal and human as video. And right now, few activities online are more popular. A few ways you can use online video to execute your communications programs include:

• Kick off a campaign
• Respond to a crisis
• Uncover communities
• Extend your brand
• Connect with media and bloggers
• Measure the reach of your videos

Monica Pica dropping kids off at the school bus

LiveOps filmed a documentary to showcase the competitive advantages of its remote call center operations around the country. LiveOps decided to feature a day in the life of Monica Pica in Pennsylvania. Tom Wohlmut and John Vande Wegge, DP for WMS media, flew to the east coast to videotape the Pica family in action for an entire day. From sunup to sundown, the resulting program looks at the busy life of Monica Pica and how she manages to earn great money working from home while still spending quality time raising her family – thanks to LiveOps.

Filming Monica Pica at LiveOps desk

Brianna operating the teleprompter

WMS media just installed a new teleprompter system to help clients present more effectively on video. Now clients can just read the text while still looking into the camera lens thanks to a one-way mirror. If you’d like a demo, please call us at (800) 487-1073, ext. 101.

More viewers are watching more content on their mobile phones. According to a Nielsen report, the number of U.S. consumers watching mobile video increased 40 percent year over year in Q3 and Q4 2010. That brought the total number of U.S. mobile video viewers to just shy of 25 million by the end of the year.

For more information about this trend taking off, visit this eMarketer.com article.

Distinguished Citizen Award Winners (from left): Janet Lamkin, Ted Taube and Mary Cranston

Once again for the third year in a row, WMS media created a documentary-style video for the $1,000-plate Distinguished Citizens Award Dinner for the Commonwealth Club of California. The Club is the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum, bringing together its 15,000 members for events on topics ranging across politics, culture, society and the economy. Instead of long, boring acceptance speeches, the evening included a short 10-minute video, showcasing each of the three award-winners with short biographical info and on-camera interviews. Click here to view the video shown at the March 15 event in San Francisco’s Palace Hotel.

Welcome to the 21^st century if you’re applying for a grant. Gone are the days when foundations relied on just a written application to determine funding. More and more decision-makers want to see, hear and experience for themselves what the written portion can only describe.

Case in point is our client San Jose Jazz who is applying to the Arts Council Silicon Valley and the National Endowment for the Arts. Both have new requirements that a video may be the most important aspect of their application and have the greatest significance on funding. Each group’s “panels really want to see/hear the quality of the art and see the festival attendees,” says Harley Christensen, San Jose Jazz Development Director. “Both organizations have informed me that funding is closely aligned with our videos.”

In her last year as a student at The Art Institute of California, Brianna Klus-Osban has been studying digital film and video production. Now she gets to practice her considerable reel talents in the real world. As a new hire at WMS media, she is already lending her creativity and expertise to our projects.

Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, Brianna has worked on all aspects of film and video. In her rare spare time from work and school, she enjoys hip-hop dance, action photography and making music videos. Perhaps you’ll meet her soon on one of our shoots or in our studio!