PlattForm Life and Times

12 Hour Videos Offer a Platform for Fresh Faces and Different Roles

Before the production began, no one who knew Adam Castle envisioned him as a grisly-voiced, face-contorting FBI bad ass. But now it’s hard to see him any other way.
The soft-spoken marketing consultant for Beauty Schools Marketing Group competed in this year’s 12 Hour Video Contest. With his performance in the winning video, 24, he crafted a new persona as comedic actor with a striking impersonation of hard-as-nails cop from television, Jack Bauer.
Castle’s experience exemplifies the magic of 12 hour videos. In the upside-down world of employee self-made video making, the unexpected is the expected … and the expected is as edgy as company videos should ever be allowed.
12 hour video teams consisted of 8 to 16 employees, including a camera person, an editor and a production assistant/grip/writer-editor. Each team was allotted 12 hours to write, shoot and edit a video that follows a given theme. This year, the themes were: Fear, Revenge, Joy and Anger. Beginning at 3 p.m., the teams were allowed to film until midnight on Fridays and then come back to edit the material into a cohesive production on Monday morning.
What happens behind the scenes of a 12 hour video is not unlike what happens when the camera is rolling. The silliness and the camaraderie that spills out when topics are being brainstormed and loose scripts are being developed often makes the transfer to the scenes that are filmed. And, that is the magic of the process. Contributors who take a leadership role in the group are often at the forefront of the shooting process.
In a company-wide vote, employees made 24 by far and away this year’s winning video, which earned it a showing at PlattForm’s annual meeting. Given his unexpected stardom, Castle said the experience wasn’t too of course from what he had envisioned.
“My 12 hours video was basically what I expected,” Castle said. “I was expecting that we would be working on the video until midnight, but we had a pretty defined idea, so we were able to finish up early. Our team didn’t drink as much beer as we thought we would either … it makes me wonder what that says about my expectations of Plattformers? Just kidding … kind of.”
The 12 Hour Video experience was the same across the country as PlattForm’s New York office got in on the act. Jason Penta, who worked behind the camera channeling what he called his “best inner-Spielberg,” helped create the visuals for “Land of Confusion.”
“We definitely all brain-stormed together as a group,” Penta said. “Everyone had great, creative ideas. And of course, everyone was willing to ham it up for the camera. It was also the day of our First Friday/Cinco De Mayo party, so there was a lot of excitement in the office all day. As the margarita count got higher, the video definitely got more interesting.”
Castle said the only other time he ever acted was in ninth grade drama class. He said he had no idea what role I would play in the video before the production began. His teammate, Brandon Gregory, conceived a spoof of the 24 television show starring Keifer Sutherland, and that was all it took.
“Once we had the idea, the whole team was really into it as soon as we started brainstorming,” Castle said.
Castle is the antithesis to the Bauer character, which made it 10 times funnier to see him in the roll.

Don’t be surprised if you see Lori Oswald acting out of character – surviving on nothing but Starbucks, wearing windshield-sized sunglasses indoors, dressing like a hobo … That’s just what celebrities do.

And Lori is practically famous.

Recently, she was hand-selected to be part of the Chevy Traverse Kansas City Mom Squad. Along with four other KC mommy bloggers, Lori was chosen to test-drive a brand new Chevy Traverse for eight weeks.

In return for these two months in a free car, Lori just has to pimp it online and enjoy perks like free massages at Massage Envy, grocery store gift cards, Royal’s games, and a Flip video camera … man, being a celebrity is rough.

But so far, Lori hasn’t let fame go to her head: “Hearing my name on Q104 the other day was so surreal! I was like ‘Skyler! That’s me, that’s me!’ But she couldn’t care less, so I was frantically trying to find someone to call. So of course I called my mom.”

Oh, Skyler. She’s just jealous. After all, it’s thanks to HER that Lori started blogging in the first place.

Lori began mytwo.wordpress.com over two years ago, as a way to keep her friends and family updated on her pregnancy. Since then, Lori’s blog has blossomed into a place where she can showcase her photography, vent frustrations, and record her life with 20-month old daughter Skyler and husband Ronnie.

Now that the Oswalds have the Traverse; life has already gotten easier. 2 weeks into the 8-week test drive, Lori says: “It’s been super fun driving the Traverse so far – and it’s been a new creative outlet for me to work with video blogging that I’ve enjoyed much more than I expected (despite my first embarrassing attempt - see “Awkward Interview” on the list of videos)”

So – here’s the thing. Like all celebrities, Lori is only as famous as you make her. She doesn’t expect to be the top Google search for 2009, but she expects her fans friends to vote for her. So check out Lori’s entries at www.mommymadnesskc.com and vote for her as Kansas City’s favorite Mommy Blogger! She’s been known to bribe people with rides to Happy Hour in return for votes.

Sidebar: Vote for Lori at www.mommymadnesskc.com, and visit her at mytwo.wordpress.com.

Sidebar: Want a taste of the celebrity life for yourself? Get your own free massage by visiting your local Chevy dealer! Just test-drive a new Traverse and receive a Massage Envy 1-hour gift card!

Every year the company meeting comes and goes. And every year most PFormers are forced – at gunpoint – to participate in skits highlighting their department’s good deeds.
Of course, it’s rife for mockery. Thus, I give you the 2009 Company Meeting Awards.

The MIA Award: Accounting – who somehow, miraculously managed to avoid doing a skit this year. I don’t know which was worse – Accounting getting off scott-free – or hearing Phil yammer on about EBITDA.

The That’s Whack Award: Turns out Steve Booth was pretty fly for a white guy. Who knew he could rap so eloquently? Although he did oversee the editing process from start to finish so as not to look foolish. As if.

The Gritted Teeth Award: Tricia Cooper who looked like she’d rather be enduring childbirth or a root canal than talking to the masses. You did fine, Tricia. At least you didn’t have to rap.

The Justice Is Served Award: Aaron Edwards was bludgeoned to death. Well, in a dragon costume, anyway. Townspeople, peasants and paupers rejoiced. I secretly did a little happy dance as well.

The Sugary Goodness Award: Mike Joseph hurled stale Peeps to the peeps in the audience as part of his routine. Kari Fajen lost an eye. And that was just because she stabbed herself with a pencil to go home early.

The NKOTB Award: Caleb Brattrud, who has quickly become the most popular boy in the whole school. Who the hell is Caleb Brattrud? I’ve never seen anyone so adored in this building since Sarah Dehart worked here. It’s nauseating really. Stephen Kent – take notes.

The Clutch The Pearls Award: There was an audible gasp from the audience when Dave Admire announced we’d be getting the entire week of Xmas or New Years off. Yes, it’s like Xmas came early.

The Charm ‘Em If You Got ‘Em Award: The oh-so clever Kevin Kuzma and Jenni Valentino managed to wrap everyone around their little fingers. They’re comedy gold. Like Cheech and Chong. Or Abbott and Costello. Or Shields and Yarnell.

The Most Improved Award: Sales/Marketing brought their A-game to the table this year. Who doesn’t like a rousing game of Family Feud? It’s like one big family around here anyway. The feuding part comes naturally.

If you are looking for a great opportunity to network with other people in the advertising community, learn more about the industry, and help out with some events, I invite you to check out the American Advertising Federation. I’ve been an active member of the American Advertising Federation-Kansas City, formerly the Kansas City Ad Club, for about three years. Along the way, I’ve made many friends within different parts of the advertising industry. As a part of AAF, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in, and assist with, some of AAF’s major events. I’ve been on the planning committees for events like Art of the Deal — AAF’s casino night that raises money for a specified charity — Battle of the Ad Bands — an event where members of the advertising community who happen to be in a band can showcase their talent — and Ad Wars — AAF’s advertising trivia night. I do my best to attend the monthly happy hours to catch up with friends and meet new members. I have recently been elected to serve on the ad2 Board. Ad2 is a special interest group of AAF-KC for members age 32 and under. I’ve enjoyed my time with AAF, and encourage everyone to come out to an event and see what we’re all about.

Brant Burt is the manager of the Web Design team here at PlattForm. He was involved in a horrific car accident on January 27. Brant’s injuries were so severe that the police had started filling out the death report at the scene. Miraculously, Brant survived … but with serious head trauma.

After a nearly month-long coma, Brant started to stir. Of course, no one knew the extent of his brain injury or what to expect. One minute Brant was minding his business driving to work on a snowy January morning. The next minute this father of three was fighting for his life.

Brant’s condition continues to improve every day. He’s awake, alert and is constantly trying to hug his kids. He’s also becoming a bit more chatty as he starts to remember things. If there was ever a poster child for a miracle — it’s Brant — or as his family calls him “BB”.

Brant’s wife keeps friends and family (and the entire ad agency) up-to-date about Brant on a website. It’s a novel and new fangled approach to giving status updates. You can read more about Brant at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brantburt.

From my time working with him at PlattForm, I found him to be a social, gentle spirit with an extreme passion for his family and all things outdoors. Brant has months and months of recovery ahead of him. PlattForm continues to help in any way they can. And the family is holding a massive fundraiser on May 16 to raise funds for much-needed therapy and continued rehabilitation. A slew of PFormers will be involved and yours truly is emceeing the event. It’s just reinforces how close-knit our agency really is.

If anyone can survive a horrendous car accident and live to tell about it … it’s Brant. The man has a lot to live for. His brain spent nearly a month re-wiring itself. And now the prognosis for recovery looks promising. So we’re all keeping our fingers crossed and wishing the best for Brant. We miss you! And, for the record, I’ll never look at a mountain biker the same way again. The next time I think I have a hurdle to overcome, I’ll think of Brant. Everyone appreciates his amazing strength and fortitude. Looks like this is just one more mountain he’ll tackle and overcome.