Animated 'Lift Every Voice and Sing!' (2009) video raises over $1 Million in Donations
Pernessa C. Seele, Founder and CEO of The Balm In Gilead, Inc., announced last month at the start of the 2015 Healthy Churches Conference that they have distributed over 75,000 copies of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing” a video that we produced and donated to them in 2009. The Balm In Gilead, Inc., is an international nonprofit that assists faith-based organizations with addressing chronic diseases like HIV/AIDS, Cervical Cancer and even Dementia. The Balm In Gilead offers a free copy of the DVD for every donation above $15.00, since early 2009.
We are thrilled to have played a small part in helping them build the capacity of faith communities around the globe to address these life threatening illness.
Here’s yet another example of how successful, quality content marketing pays and makes a difference!
Animation ‘At War With Ourselves’ screened at 2015 ‘NextNow Fest’ and PGAAMCC Gallery
The animated short ‘At War With Ourselves: The Battle of and for the Black Face Boy’ written and voiced by renown poet Nikky Finney screened at 2015 ‘NextNow Fest’ at the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Center and as a featured in a recent exhibition of the same title at the Prince George’s African American Museum and Cultural Center in North Brentwood, MD (PGAAMCC).
This early version of the video was co-produced with students from Cultural Keepers, PGAAMCC’s after school arts education program at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts at Suitland High School.
'FLOW' Cardiovascular Health Campaign Launches in Denver
CBHC has done it again!
On Saturday, August 30th Colorado Black Health Collaborative launched their citywide cardiovascular health campaign at the 2015 Black Family Reunion / Health Expo event. The 'FLOW" campaign, (FORM A LIFETIME OF OPTIMAL HEALTH) will link members of the community that are most at-risk for CV disease to care and also raise aware through a series of public health messages by Ascender. The FLOW campaign creative will feature the stories about real residents overcoming CV diseases like high blood pressure.
Stay tuned as we roll-out more creative from this exciting project, funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control.
Top Deejay Headphones
First impressions.
Many years ago, I worked for my parents who own a video production company. Because it is a family business, you inevitably end up wearing many hats and being the czar of many different jobs. I mainly managed projects and worked as a video editor. On production, there were times that I was called on to work as an audio tech and was made to wear headphones on long production days. In those days, having a really good set of headphones that picked up every nuance of sound was essential to making sure the client got what they needed. Many years ago, I worked for my parents who own a video production company. Because it is a family business, you inevitably end up wearing many hats and being the czar of many different jobs. I mainly managed projects and worked as a video editor. On production, there were times that I was called on to work as an audio tech and was made to wear headphones on long production days. In those days, having a really good set of headphones that picked up every nuance of sound was essential to making sure the client got what they needed.
Naturally, my first impression of these headphones is based off of the look of them. They have a classic over-the-ear style that is highlighted by a blue LED light that indicates the power for the noise canceling. The padding on the ear pieces seems adequate for extended usage periods.
They are wired headphones, but the 3.5mm stereo mini-plug cable is detachable. Something else I noticed right of the bat was the very nice carrying case that comes with them. It has a hard plastic exterior with a soft cloth interior that helps to protect the surface of the headphones from scratches. I never truly appreciated cases for headphones until I started carrying them from place-to-place. Now I can’t imagine not having a case.
It’s safe to say that because of my unique professional experiences, I’ve tested out a lot of headphones.
John Williams
A perfect fit.
Once I gave the headphones a thorough once-over exam, I tried them on. As I mentioned, they have a classic over-the-ear style and just looking at them, the padding on the ear pieces seem adequate and the peak of the headband seemed to be a bit lacking, but you don’t really know comfort unless you try on the product. So, I slipped the headphones on and found them to be exquisitely comfortable. In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.
Quality.
Now that I had the headphones on my head, I was finally ready to plug and play some music. I plugged the provided cable into the jack on the headphones and then the one on my iPhone 6. Then I called up Pandora. I tend to have a very eclectic music purview and have many stations set up for different moods. From John Williams to Fallout Boy, the sound quality of these headphones was remarkable. There is an amazing depth of sound and incredible highs and lows that make listening to music a truly breathtaking experience.
In order to test how voices sounded, and the overall art of sound mixing, I pulled up Netflix on my iPad Air 2 and watched a few minutes of a movie to hear all the nuances of the film. None of them were lost. In fact, I ended up hearing sounds that I hadn’t heard before. Echoes…birds chirping…wind blowing through trees…breathing of the characters…it was very impressive what the headphones ended up bringing out for me.
Demo Reel
Spring 2014 is here. That means we are just nine months away from our 10 year anniversary. TEN YEARSof traveling the globe to tell amazing stories for so many of our amazing clients. So we paused to put together this fun demo of our video production work. Remember the format wars? Remember when 36megapixels and ANYTHING 1080P would cost you almost $30K? Remember when HD cameras were not for sale at Best Buy? Or, on your flip cell phone? Or, when nobody cared about your manual DSLR prime lenses sitting in the closet? Yeah.... that's how ten years can shake up an industry.
This video showcases an amalgam of our camera work, art direction, 2-D & 3-D motion graphics, animation, editing and it includes samples from our commercials, documentaries and dramatic features that were shot in SD + HD Formats, between 2004-2014.
Enjoy.
Desiline Victor Project
Client: Advancement Project, Inc.
Producer: Leila McDowell
Director/Editor: Paul Grant
Camera A: Paul Grant
Camera B & Audio Assist: Joshua A. Washington
Every now and again, our work allows us to touch history. It's an electrifying yet fleeting moment. But we are thrilled to work behind the scenes while great stories that define the times in which we live unfold in front of our eyes.
Desiline Victor, a 102 year-old, Haitian Immigrant, was told she had to wait up to six hours to vote in the 2012 Presidential Election at the polls near her North Miami residence. Desiline persisted through the heat, the long lines and having been wrongly returned from the front to the back of the line because it was though that she had the wrong paper work proving her residency. Three hours later, she emerged from the polls with her "I Voted" sticker and throngs of cheering people, to become the symbol of voter frustration and for much need revamping of the U.S. voting system/ process.
Ascender was tapped by Advancement Project, Inc., a non-profit civil rights advocacy group, to document her experiences in Washington immediately leading up to her being an invited guest at the 2013 State of The Union Address. Save for a few technical embellishments, this was story that ended up telling itself--and inspiring millions in the process.
US Coast Guard Recruitment Campaign (2012)
'This Is How I Serve'
This year, Ascender joined forces with the talented team at Washington, DC-based communications firm Penn Good & Associates to produce a series of :30-second commercials for the US Coast Guard. The campaign targeted women and returning veterans--offering an peek into a typical day in the work life of USCG civillian employee. See the full video campaign below:
Senior Producer / Director: Paul Grant
Producer : Tracey A. Grant
Director of Photography: Derek J. Allen
Second Camera: Sean Simmons
Hair/Make Up: Christin Birkhead
Production Coordinator: Joshua A. Washington
Video Production & Animation: Ascender Communications, Inc.
Agency: Penngood, LLC
Client: U.S. Coast Guard
SeatPleasantCityCenter.com (Event Web Site)
Ascender was awarded a contract to design the web site and print advertising for City of Seat Pleasant new City Center Groundbreaking event in September 2012. We were thrilled to serve. This historic and important event attracted nearly 3000 attendees and many more online viewers of the online video stream.
“A City of Excellence”
The City Center Project is a “Community of the Future”, an urban lifestyle in balance and harmony with the ecosystem that sustains life responsibly, organically and economically without sacrificing convenience. This project will integrate innovative technology with creative architecture in urban environments to establish local self-reliance and security. Yes, we are “Bringing Communities & Nature Together in Harmony.”
This development integrates innovative technology with creative architecture in urban environments to establish local self-reliance and security. To that end, this development is an integrated, distributed, renewable, sustainable infrastructure and energy production project. Enveloped within the project will be integrated photovoltaic (BIPV), micro turbine, combined cooling, heating & power (CCHP) buildings with geothermal micro turbine wind waste water and trash.
www.seatpleasantcitycenter.org