Tongaler of the Month – Extraneous Noise
Power team Meghan Frederico and John Tomma have been killing it on the Tongal Leaderboards. From their winning Wildcard UNO video The Parking Meter to the adorable collection of Lego Duplo spots, Extraneous Noise can now call themselves the winner of Tongal’s largest ever first-place prize purse. Not to mention their Secret Wedding Toast Lady video, which can be seen in movie theaters and Facebook feeds across the country. Ex Noise’s advice for other Tongalers? Carefully read through the Creative Brief, get talent releases signed and, of course, trial and error. Read how bean bag chairs and a stick-on mustache played into their Tongal success – and helped them pay off most of their start-up debts – below.
Tongaler of the Month – Don Broida
Since joining last June, Don Broida has taken the Tongal universe by storm. He placed not once, but twice, in his first ever project for Bounty, created a brilliant wining wildcard for Swanson, and just became the 1st Place Production Winner of Tongal Season 2. Beyond the money (he racked up over $90,000 in just 7 months), and the exposure (his winning I can’t believe it’s not Butter! spot is currently airing on national television), Don’s success on Tongal earned him something intangible, which incidentally may the best argument we’ve ever heard for the value that this platform creates for it’s users. In his words, “I have a 7 month-old son, and due to Tongal I have been able to work more from home. Not having to take constant film jobs has allowed me to spend time with him and connect with him in a way that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.” Here’s to more time with family and a prosperous 2013!
Tongaler of the Month – Andrew Adams
Tongal changes people’s lives. Just ask Andrew Adams who has amassed just over $70,000 in winnings since joining the Tongal community in January of this year. Andrew’s Tongal career highlights include first place video wins for the Robert Half “Career Coaching Gone Awry Project,“ the Benjamin Moore “Chalkboard Paint In Any Color Project,” and Viggle’s “Viggle Me This Project.” These high profile wins, along with placing in numerous other projects, made Andrew our first ever Tongal Seasons production winner. Besides bragging rights and a place in Tongal history, Andrew took home the $23,900 Seasons top prize. We had a chance to ask Andrew some questions about his filmmaking background, what it’s like to be a “Professional Contest Winner.”
Tongaler Of The Month – Brian Adler
Not sure if you’ve heard the great news but NASA made the AdAge Viral Video Chart in September thanks to Brian Adler’s awesome video “Ground Control” for the Zero Robotics Video Project. While the video earned over 1.5 million views online and became a terrific piece of marketing for the NASA, DARPA and MIT co-sponsored competition, it earned Adler $11,900 for his first place win! (Not to mention some fantastic visibility in the digital space and an outstanding sample of work for his reel!) Combine that with the $1,000 he won for the NASA Venus Transit Video Time Capsule Project and it sounds like this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Adler, Tongal and NASA. We had a chance to catch up with Brian Adler – December’s Tongaler of the Month – to ask him some questions about his winning Tongal experience and our exchange leaves little doubt that he has some serious filmmaking knowledge to share.
Tongaler Of The Month – Zach Boivin
CLW – Can you give us a little background about yourself?
ZB – Sure. I’m 15, and I love doing stop motion animation.
CLW – When did you get into making stop motion videos?
ZB – After my parents got me a book on how to do stop motion animation in 2010, I started making stop motion videos with my LEGO collection.
CLW – That must be the single best Stop Motion book ever written if it only took you two years to get here. Is this going to be your job someday?
ZB – It’s a hobby that I like to do for fun.
CLW – What was the first Tongal project you participated in and what was the result?
ZB – It was the LEGO City Stop Motion Project. I made a video, and it won first place!
CLW – Were you nervous about the competition?
ZB – Yes, I didn’t know what I was going up against and was very surprised when I found out I had taken first place! I was very impressed with how well-done the other videos were. I enjoyed watching all of them!
CLW – What does it feel like to win $10,000?
ZB – I feel really blessed!
CLW – How did you come up with the story for Car Crooks?
ZB – Well, I knew I wanted to do a car robbery, and I also wanted to bring my idea of the iBrick into it as well. So I just built a story from there.
CLW – How long did it take you to create “Car Crooks” and what was your process like?
ZB – It took about 40 days from start to finish to complete. First I had to build sets. After that, I did all the stop motion animation, which took the most time. Then, all I needed to do was add VFX, edit, and put hundreds of sound effects in.
CLW – What kind of equipment and programs did you use?
ZB – For my camera, I used the Logitech C910 webcam hooked up to a PC with a free animation program called the “Helium Frog Animator.” I did all the effects in Adobe After Effects and I used Sony Vegas to edit. I also recorded some voices in Audacity with my webcam’s built in mic. One thing that came in handy was a little case for my camera made out of LEGO that held the webcam in place so I could easily stick it onto the LEGO baseplates.
CLW – How many people were involved?
ZB – Just 2 people. I did everything except for some voice acting, which my Mom did.
CLW – Parts of “Car Crooks” are unbelievably cinematic. You’ve got everything in there from focus pulls to shots you could only get in real life with crazy dolly setups or car rigs. Do you storyboard everything out or do you just watch a lot of movies?
ZB – I storyboard almost everything when it comes to doing stop motion. I decide on the final camera angles and lighting setups on set, and I try to get everything as cinematic as possible.
CLW – My favorite part of the video is the when the girl opens up the “Find My Brick” app to locate her stolen car. How did you come up with that idea?
ZB – I actually came up with that a while ago. I wanted to make a LEGO phone, so I took the iPhone, made a LEGO version of it and called it the “iBrick”. I wrote it down, and decided it would be a great addition to “Car Crooks.”
CLW – Got anything else in the works?
ZB – Well, I just finished another LEGO stop motion video for the LEGO City Mini Movie Animations project. It contains a car chase that’s 4x longer than the one in “Car Crooks” and there’s a huge explosion at the end. I’m also working on a video for the Marvel Super Heroes project with my Dad.
CLW – What are some key factors you take into consideration when figuring out whether or not to participate in a project?
ZB – The biggest factor I take into consideration is the connection I can make with the brand. I have a lot of experience in making LEGO videos, so, when I see a LEGO project, I have to participate.
CLW – What have you spent your earnings on?
ZB – More LEGO sets and a new camera.
CLW – What’s next for you?
ZB – I’ll definitely be doing more projects on Tongal, and will also continue to upload videos to my YouTube channel. If you’re interested, check it out at http://www.youtube.com/user/ZachFBStudios.”
Tongaler Of The Month – Ben Redmond
CLW – What is your production background like?
BR – I took a video class in high school but I never knew anyone who went to film school. By my last year of college I found myself spending all my time working on videos, plus I hated working in government. I started as a PA at a commercial / music video production company in 2009 and now I work full time as an Associate Producer at Wondros, a production company based in LA. Production is my job full time but the directing is still somewhere in between hobby & job.
CLW – You just scored a $12,500 1st place win from SpeedStick, which not only earned you some serious cash, but put you in the running for a Tongal Seasons win. That’s gotta feel pretty good right?
BR – Killer. I’ve never won anywhere close to that amount on a project so I’ve been in on and off celebration mode for a little while. And now seeing my name up on the Leaderboard has the competitive juices flowing.
CLW – How did you come up with the premise for the “Awkward Family Portrait?”
BR – That’s a case of art imitating life. My girlfriend was babysitting a few years ago and stumbled across a life size nude portrait of the parents in their bedroom. I was talking to her about a guy meeting her girlfriend’s dad in his office, which would be decked out like a hunting lodge and then she suggested the naked portrait.
CLW – How long did it take you to produce “Awkward Family Portrait” and what was your process like?
BR – The actual production was a lot of fun. Setup, shoot, and breakdown took about 10 hours. We took over an apartment and transformed it into the dining room you see on screen. I created the painting in After Affects & then had it printed out & framed.
We tried to emulate the overly dramatic look of the dinner scene from American Beauty and really play up the tension of the moment, pushing the hues warmer to heat up the scene. I have to give a lot of credit to the DP, Matt Roe, as well as Jeff Marlowe and Zach Salsman who were both really integral in crafting the light that makes the scene so intense. There’s a beautiful kind of halo behind the actors that they added that brings the scene to life.
We shot on a Red Epic. Conforming & coloring footage took a few days. Cast & crew all included, we had a 7-person operation going.
The wallpaper you see in the scene was kind of a last minute addition. We were trying to hang temporary wallpaper and it just looked terrible so Matt and I ran out to a few stores and found this sheet set that just kind of called out to us. So we ironed the sheets, pinned them to the wall and voila…
CLW – Were you nervous about the competition?
BR – I loved the idea that we had for this and I thought the cast & crew did such a great job that I really felt good about submitting. But then I got really nervous in the days and hours leading up to the announcement. I think this concept really works well for Speed Stick and there were a number of other submissions I thought could have easily taken the top prize for their execution.
CLW – What do you think of the Tongal Season? Are you more conscious of it now that you’re in the running?
BR – Absolutely. When I saw the announcement I didn’t think I had a shot to qualify and now that I’m in the running I’m working on pitches / videos for anything and everything that piques my interest.
CLW – What are some key factors you take into consideration when figuring out whether or not to participate in a project?
BR – The most important factor for me at this point is that I feel some sort of connection to the brand or brief and feel like I can bring something unique to the table. I was actually pretty reluctant to submit for SpeedStick because I don’t consider humor to really be my strong suit. If I have a take on the brief that I really feel strongly about then I’ll submit, otherwise I feel like I’m just wasting my time.
I’ve worked with a few sites like Tongal in the past and always felt like there was a lack of brand interaction that had me just throwing ideas at a wall and hoping something stuck. The fact that Tongal has committed to the concept / pitch / video model really put me at ease and helps me focus on production and execution without worrying as much if I’m even anywhere close to hitting the marketing message the brands are looking for.
CLW – How can people stay up to date with your world?
BR – I try to post everything to www.benjaminred.com but I’m also on twitter @benjmred and on facebook.
CLW – Anything else you’d like to add?
BR – It’s so hard to focus when you feel like you’re operating in a vacuum and there’s no confirmation from the brand that the idea is something that actually appeals to them. I feel like Tongal has really come in to it’s own in the last year or so. The site redesign really drew me back in and the introduction of the revision phase coupled with the pitch / video model is so key. Both the client and creator stand to gain quite a bit from these processes.
