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You're Invited: Tour Creo

Everyone's invited to tour//creo on Friday, December 12 from 6-10 p.m. at our studio in downtown Grand Rapids.

It's our official launch party for our newly renovated audio studio and video digs.

It's also in conjunction with the "Urban Lights" tour of other spaces on the Avenue of the Arts, so there's a lot to see that night.

We'd love to see you. Bring friends.

Urban Lights: Avenue of the Arts

New Video: Farm to Plate

We shot and edited this video for The Bistro Bella Vita and The Green Well, alongside The Image Shoppe, telling the story of the "Food to Plate" relationship between Ingraberg Farms and these Grand Rapids establishments.

Media: Feature Story on Creo Productions

Rapid Growth wrote an in-depth feature, "The Multimedia Men," covering our downtown expansion, the project in Zimbabwe, and our hopes for the future.

GR's own talented Brian Kelly took the photos. Below are only selected excerpts; make sure to check out the full story.

"Creo Productions was born during a six-week backpacking trip through Europe, as co-founder Aaron Carriere traveled while taking a break between jobs."

"Today, the full-service video, audio and creative production company takes clients' projects from start to finish, including concepts, animation and graphics."

"Behind the company name and logo that adorns the large storefront windows, Carriere and Tingley sit at two desks facing the front door. Tall ceilings give way to bright white walls and wood floors. Just through the kitchen papered with Ansel Adams photographs is a set of steep stairs leading down to what will become the audio production studio."

"But, after viewing a sample of the company's produced work, it's hard to believe the material was created by such a small team, and not a big-budget studio."

New Video: LifeStraw and the Global Water Crisis

LifeStraw is an innovative, life-saving water purification tool, noted as one of the century's most important inventions by CNN, TIME, Forbes, and a host of other media outlets.

We've partnered with international company Vestergaard Frandsen, the creators of LifeStraw, to produce a video about the global water situation and how LifeStraw is saving lives.

We're also honored by Peter's comments about working with us:

"I have worked with many large advertising and production agencies over the years, but none were as easy to work with or as competent as Aaron Carriere and his colleagues at Creo Productions. They quickly developed an appreciation for our technical products, and grew that concept into a smart and beautifully shot promotional video that we can use in countless ways."

-Peter Cleary, Vestergaard Frandsen New York

1. Please watch the video on our portfolio.

2. Please spread the word about LifeStraw.

New Video: Zondervan Launches Symtio

We're helping publisher Zondervan launch Symtio, a technology independent program that allows retailers to sell downloadable digital products in their store. Zondervan CEO Moe Girkins called Symtio an "industry movement."

We shot and edited the video that was shown at Symtio's national launch on July 14 at ICRS in Orlando. Watch the video below:

Techy Blog: Behind Creo Boggle

Many have commented on our Boggle video (see above), which tells the developing story of Creo Productions. First, we had to locate the elusive Boggle Deluxe edition, which has five columns and rows of letters instead of four. (Props to eBay for making it happen).

The music in the piece is an all original track, “Back Home,” written and played by Aaron, and recorded by our audio engineer Matthew using our ProTools system.

After scripting, production involved securing the camera directly overhead on an animation camera-stand. After numerous tests, discussions about logistics and lighting, we began shooting. In order to get the effect, we had to place the letters in their final resting position first.

Everything had to be done in reverse.

We developed a rhythmic counting system with a metronome to keep proper pacing. When Andrew set the Boggle game down on the table, we would count beats, then Aaron would hit the table underneath the set with a rubber mallet, shaking the Boggle pieces. At that exact moment, Andrew would pull the Boggle set up, shake it, and pull it out of screen.

After posting the video to our website with the original blue boggle and flesh colored hand, we decided it had to match our color scheme.

Andrew took the completed video in Final Cut Pro, and desaturated all the colors except green. He then tweaked the brightness and color to mimic our Creo Productions green color (Hex 339933). Running the video through After Effects with an HLS (Hue, Lightness, Saturation) filter made this process easy.

Finally, it was compressed with flash and added to CreoProductions.com.

On Sale: Yester-DVD's for $10

The Yesterdog Documentary is on sale for $10. Visit Yesterdog or www.YesterdogDocumentary.com to pick up your copy.

In the meantime...

GR Press: South Division Stirs With New Investment, Sense of Community...

The Grand Rapids Press wrote about the revitalization of South Division and the Avenue of the Arts in downtown Grand Rapids. They also talked to Andrew about Creo Productions and our thoughts on the space.

Click to read the story.