The Dark Side of Chocolate / Schmutzige Schokolade from We Know Music on Vimeo.

At T2 + Back Alley Films our love for documentaries and the people who produce them is endless. The Dark Side of Chocolate is no exception. It’s a compelling piece, expertly executed and, most importantly, inspires thought and conversation.

The iPad is a dream. Got it?

Other times, you work your tail off and put your heart, soul, blood sweat and tears into a project and it consumes you. Instead of weeks, it takes months. Instead of months, it takes years. It becomes you. You eat, sleep and breathe the work and at times it seems as though it might never end. And it’s wonderful. And horrible. Yet more wonderful than anything else.

That’s what happened to the T2 + Back Alley Films team and “The Next American Dream” documentary, which made its debut earlier this year on KCPT-TV, the Kansas City, Missouri PBS affiliate. In fact, back in February of this year, my very first blog post ever was about this project and how documentaries fuel my creative passion in an insane way.

This film was a co-production of T2 + Back Alley Films and documentarians, Aimee Larrabee and John Altman of Inland Sea Productions. More than 8.9 million viewers nationwide have viewed the film on PBS and since it was made available by the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA) to its members last November. And the rest of the story ….

We. Won. An. Emmy.

Wow! What an indescribable feeling and something that all of us who worked on the documentary regularly pull out and revel in, all over again.

For those of you who’ve not seen “The Next American Dream,” the documentary focuses on Kansas City’s efforts to revitalize its downtown and explore the renewed demand for walkable urbanism in American Cities following the cultural shift to drivable suburban living personified following WWII. Big words for people moving out of cities and flocking to suburbs during one part in American history, and then the renewed interest in returning to urban areas and living in cities again.

The project couldn’t have happened without our fearless leader Teri Rogers, T2 + Back Alley Films’ CEO and the film’s executive producer, and her commitment to the undertaking and dedication to making it happen. In a recent press interview, she described the opportunity as “a unique and incredible opportunity, given Kansas City’s accelerated timeline to revitalize, to not only explore something that is currently a national topic, but to document and record the whole process – from start to finish – right in our own backyard. And what an honor for our city.”

Also along on our seven-year journey was the Kansas City Area Development Council. KCADC used it as a powerful marketing tool to upgrade our city’s image. The film has since been used as a teaching tool for architects, urban planners and city leaders across the nation. And without KCPT, our film’s national presenting station, it wouldn’t have aired in major cities like L.A., Chicago, Miami and Boston.

Me, I’m still dancing to the song: We Won An Emmmmy, We Won an Emmmmy.

I never tire of it. Nor do any of the very talented people who were a part of the making of “The Next American Dream.” And even though it’s great to do really awesome work that may or may not get any recognition, it’s super duper beyond the light fantastic to win an Emmy. Woo hooooooo.

And so, we share our joy with you. In this blog post. And we thank you for reading it – and allowing us, just for a moment or two, to smile and dance and revel in not only a job well done, but something that we manage to nab some pretty amazing recognition for. And man, does it feel great.

If you’ve not yet had the chance to see “The Next American Dream,” we hope that sometime you will. We promise you’ll enjoy it.

In case you can’t remember all these experiential design beauties and others (that happens this time of year), the campaigns identified by Creativity Magazine as the cream of the crop featured this great body of work:

The Old Spice campaign, which was not only brilliant, but relied on consumer generated video and social media to hit it out of the park–interactive experiential design at it’s most basic level;

The Pepsi Refresh campaign, which again relied on social to support its cause-focused effort;

Domino’s Pizza, which relied on consumer input and social media channels to help improve its brand and turn the corner following a disastrous event;

Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco and their tremendous online effort that included leveraging Twitter, Foursquare, Facebook, web craziness and some traditional advertising to focus eyeballs on the star’s return to TV on a different station.

Space Chimp, the World Wildlife Fund Australia’s compelling environmental message , produced in collaboration with musician Ben Lee;

Nike’s experiential design campaign for the World Cup, which included user-generated content integrated into the digital outdoor production, interactive film and a healthy dose of social media to spur awareness and participation;

Jay-Z’s promotion of his new book, “Decoded,” that was again an interactive, experiential design piece, literally bringing the book to life for fans in a myriad of different locations. This campaign produced by Droga5, also included an online element sponsored by Bing, that allowed fans who couldn’t physically participate in the outdoor extravaganzas the chance to do so online.

Mitsubishi’s virtual test drive harnessed technology for their Live Drive, the first of its kind by an automaker, and an obvious nod to the experiential design decade we have entered;

Dare Labs’ Remote Palette is nothing short of brilliant in the realm of app development and its popularity was spurred along by web video and social channels.

And finally, the release of Arcade Fire’s Wilderness Downtown campaign was an example of collaborative genius that combined music video production for the band’s “We Used to Wait” song, with Google Earth and created a musical experiential design piece.

The interesting thing about all of these campaigns is that they typify the massive changes in the world of advertising that are leaning so heavily in the direction of experiential design. Notice how many include consumer-generated content and/or provide an opportunity for interactivity with consumers? And how many rely on a variety of social channels to help spread awareness. And how experiential design is being tapped again and again to allow consumers to be a part of a campaign, not just passively watch from the sidelines?

As a digital media and creative services agency, the success of these campaigns is nothing less than pure delight for us. It confirms that we made the right move in expanding our brand beyond production and post-production into the fresh (and fun) new area of experiential design. This kind of substantive transformation has not been easy these past few years – new jobs and new people replacing the old model – lots of change can be stressful for sure. So it’s nice to end the year with news like this that lets us know that we are in a good position as we start 2011. Here’s wishing all of us in this battered industry a prosperous new year!

Reading a blog post on Mashable about innovative ways for realtors to broaden their customer bases and integrate social media more effectively into their business prospecting efforts lead us to Occipital’s iPhone app, 360 Panoramic.

The images you can get using 360 Panoramic are stitched together in real time without any effort from you (bonus!) and can be a quick and easy way to add dimension to a website, landing page or some other customer experience that you want to make more impactful and interactive. This app doesn’t replace the need for web video, but definitely has a wide range of applications. And the DIY factor is huge.

Here’s a video showing how it works:

Now, go experiment. And if you do, let us know how you like it!

We love Google products and it was hard to pick just one. But we did. We chose Google Voice, a service that allows you to mask your phone number with another (or to route your calls from a variety of different numbers to just one number) and it also helps you keep track of your voicemails and texts. Well, we posted photos of our maintenance man dressed as Santa all over the city (see attached photo) and invited people to call Santa and let him know what they would like for Christmas. Haha!

The project was intended to be an absolute joke and fit right into the Google Slam video collection, but we also figured we’d wrap it up by making someone’s wish come true. It was great. We got a week’s worth of totally goofy texts and voicemails. People phoned in and left messages asking for everything from fire trucks, rainbows, college-themed sweatpants, the Chucky series, and the list goes on. We were even going to figure out how to deliver a couple of these items in a really weird and funny way. But then, one voicemail in particular changed everything – the one below.

The laughter subsided and we realized our campaign had turned in a completely different direction. It was no longer about goofy messages and being silly, it was about someone real. And someone who really needed our help.

We talked it over decided as a group that we wanted to help Stevie Joe. We called the Kansas City Rescue Mission to make sure he was the real deal and then we asked our staff and friends who were interested in donating money to help out. Our CEO, Teri Rogers, agreed to match whatever the staff collected as donations and all told, we ended up raising about $500 to help Stevie Joe and grant his wish to get back to his children and family.

Once we had the money, we called Stevie Joe, but his cell phone was turned off. We finally managed to reach him and made arrangements to meet him outside of the KC Rescue Mission. Of course, he was curious, yet very happy to see us. He told us about the recent turn of events in his life; how he lost his job in July, how his wife left him and how he was separated from his kids and family who were living several hours away. He wanted to go home, but he had no means to make that happen.

When we handed him the envelope with the money we’d raised in it he was ecstatic. And in shock. And so happy that he would finally be able to see his family again. Check out the video ….

Doing something creative and goofy is really fun. Doing something that changes someone’s life at a moment when they need it the most is even better. Thanks, Stevie Joe, for being a part of our lives this holiday season.

The Demo Slam has invited anyone and everyone with a little “maker juice” –not just motion design types–to be an advocate for one of the search giant’s products. You can choose to highlight the incredible user experience design and nifty features of:

Google Goggles
Google Voice Search
Google Instant
Google Translate
Local Search
Google Realtime
Google Image Search
Universal Search
Custom home page
Other Google technology

Basically you create a video showcasing why a product is cool, upload it to YouTube, then submit it to the contest. Every week two Slams compete against each other and users pick the winner.

Other motion design studios and filmmakers have already jumped on the contest. The range of ideas and creativity is incredibly inspiring. Not surprisingly, the amateurs using just their handheld cameras and an idea have really stepped up to the plate and shared their smiles.

The Search Mogul has hit a home run with this user experience design. A clever little old fashioned microphone swings with your mouse pointer while you decide which Slam contestant to watch and then which one to choose as the winner. The winner will actually be put into a Champion’s Hall of Fame.

This is Google’s way of getting you to “get the people who would never watch a tech demo — the people who ironically need them most … to not only watch them, but like them and share them with their friends.” Talk about a user experience design that engages!

So far the interest seems to still be in mounting phase…in other words we haven’t seen much in our motion design studio social networks…yet. But we expect that, just as Google hopes, Google Demo Slam will become “a place where boring tech demos become (hopefully) gotta-show-my-friends awesome–thanks to the creativity of Google users like you.” Once again, an incredible user experience design from the big guys with the weird name.

And please don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because we’re located in the Midwest that amazing design doesn’t happen here. It does – and we can prove it. Enough said.

Our specialties include 2D and 3D motion graphics design, editorial, experiential design, augmented reality, mobile app design and other forms of new media design. Additionally, through Back Alley Films, we produce digital content across all media platforms, including original films and documentaries. We like to get our hands in every detail of the storytelling process and are not afraid of pushing the envelope. Every aspect of our business is about creativity and we believe collaboration is the formula for success for any company today.

We’re looking for a truly passionate leader to inspire and guide our group of young and talented designers. Someone who totally gets how critical creative storytelling is — to us and to our clients. And understands how to translate that story into design. And, of course, you need to be able to pitch creative to internal and external business partners and be a part of the process of continually building and growing the business.

This is a Creative Director position and reports directly to the CEO. If you’re interested in the position, we would love to hear from you. We think that some of the things you need to be adept at (that aren’t specifically mentioned above) include:

• At least 10 years of relevant experience in motion design
• Bachelor’s Degree or higher in Fine Arts, Film, Graphic Design, or Digital Media Design
• Extensive understanding of interactive and moving media
• Proven hands-on knowledge of AfterEffects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Maya / Cinema 4D and Flash
• Ability to solve problems quickly, collaboratively and intuitively
• Experience in strategic planning and execution
• Strong people management to provide clear creative direction and to motivate and inspire the creative team

Submit your resume to trogers at t2.tv and include a link to your online motion design reel. Please make sure your experience is appropriate to the position. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love filmmaking – and when I find something that helps people who love it as much as I do – well, I get excited. Today’s discovery — The Rocketboom Filmmakers Program.

The Rocketboom Filmmakers Program was developed to help filmmakers by making resources more available. As anyone involved in the business of filmmaking knows, ideas are plentiful, it’s the money and resources that can be the tricky part. So, if you have some great ideas (and of course a fair amount of talent) and are interested in producing short run web series or short films, you should definitely explore Rocketboom’s program. I know my buddy Heather and I will be doing that with our web series as soon as I finish writing this blog post!

Acceptance isn’t a given, so be prepared to sell yourself to the folks at Rocketboom. But if you’re successful, their mission is to help underwrite the production costs, help you distribute and promote your work through their network and even let you use their resources and content studio as needed.

To be considered, you’ve got to email them and include the following information:

• A brief description of the short film or web series you would like to produce.
• A treatment or script for the project
• Your filmmaking background and experience
• Links to or files of previous work they can view
• Overview of previous projects

Intrigued? Like to know more? If so, check out Save The Date, a 10-part web series that was produced as part of The Rocketboom Filmmakers Program. For more information, send them an email directed to filmmakers at rocketboom.com.

And if you’re not interested in filmmaking but video journalism is your gig, Rocketboom is also looking for independent video journalists and field correspondents from all over the world to submit content. You not only can get paid for doing what you’re passionate about, but you can produce great work, maintain ownership and freedom-of-use, but use Rocketboom’s powerful platform to distribute your work (and make a name for yourself). Check them out here for an example of the kind of episodes they are looking for and connect with them by email for more info at humanwire at rocketboom.com.

Rocketboom is no flash in the pan. They’ve been around for awhile and have been earning rave reviews from a myriad of sources including AdAge, Rolling Stone and CNN, to name a few. And the Rocketboom vlog has been honored by Forbes with a Best of the Web nod. What they do at Rocketboom is awesome and really on the cutting edge of video on the web, innovative filmmaking and so many other things. – I’m so glad to have found them.

Now go make films – or a series! Just tell good stories – and get them to Rocketboom.

eMarketer reported today that iPad sales are expected to more than double in the coming year. With some 8.5 million of the devices sold in the U.S. in 2010, that gives Apple a sweet 88% of total U.S. tablet sales. And, while the devices are big in the U.S., total global sales of all tablets are reported by Gartner at 19.5 million for the year — and that’s not shabby either. No wonder other brands are scurrying to develop their own tablets and trying to swipe some market share from Apple. eMarketer predicts iPad sales to be in the neighborhood of 20 million for 2011 and reaching 30 million by 2012. Those are some massively impressive numbers.

At T2 + Back Alley, we’re finding more uses for the iPad on a daily basis, both internally and as solutions and innovative marketing tools for our clients. Apps are touted as the websites of the future and our creative team is digging app design, creating other mobile marketing solutions and doing tons of experience design.

Our favorite use of the iPad this past year might have been the way the fashion industry embraced new media and started creating content for use on tablets and other mediums. This moved designers into the realm of not only designing and creating beautiful clothing, but designing and creating content to showcase the fruits of their labor as well. We predict there will be more and more unique and innovative ways that brands use tablets like the iPad and that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg so far. And with Wired reporting that Apple’s version 2.0 of the iPad is rumored to be delivered in April 2011 (along with some intel about some spiffy new cases that are in the works), we’d recommend postponing a holiday purchase and waiting for the new, improved model.

What about you — any innovative uses of the iPad that have been your particular favorites?