I saw an email today from one of the AlMaghrib’s London student body leader (Ameerah of Qabeelat Shams) that had a video and a message that I’d like your thoughts on.

First the video:

And the email that followed:

Uluisoc started as a one man band back in 2001. The first charity week ever held was in 2005, raising £30,000 – I owe a lot of my training, experiance and contacts with the people I met there. Since you guys in the states were discussing the effect of joining the MSA student card, I think this might be a different way you could reach out to your student communities.

The hallmark of this organization was drive, incredible vision – even when the chips were really down. Against all the odds, they have continued to grow – a genuine grass roots student movement that has totally changed the way MSA’s operate in London especially, but now throughout the country.

The brother who founded it is a massive fan of AlMaghrib, though he has never been to any seminar or DiscoverU Life training due to work commitments. However, the elements are simple – unity through action by competition in khayr (there are over 20 university campus’s in London alone – so each one acts as a tribe)

There are 2 reasons why I am sharing this with you:

• I think something like this would work well amongst the student population of your tribes, so if you want your impact team to get in touch with them, you can let me know or go to them direct (but it might take a while for them to respond as it is about to get started on this years CW)

• The opening of the video pays homage to the skills of brother Belal – and it is in sharing the khayr in the passing on of innovating marketing and communications that is one of our hallmarks. But on the flip side, the shi’a tv station, ahlul bayt has also taken some of the material and made edits to reflect their ideals. I know the graphics etc can be bought, but the copying of whole videos directly (like the Torch Bearers one) is something that is something that I find very distasteful. So I am begining to wonder if we should start to copyright our videos and be serious about prosecution just like eman rush products?

My Thoughts RE Point #1 –

I think competition between MSAs competing in good is a great idea. The idea of tribal competition is something that the righteous successors of the Prophet Muhammad-sal Allahu alayhi wasallam implemented and it worked brilliantly in progressing Islam beyond what anyone ever expected at that time.

The only thing is that competition need to be consistent with an overall strategic objective in mind.

My Thoughts RE Point #2 -

It’s a great feeling that some of the work I’ve done has pushed others towards positive action and it truly gives me that much more energy to continue to raise the standard.

When it comes to copyrights, it would work if the videos produced were completely original. Most of the videos are made from either modified templates or tutorials. Both of which anyone with enough technical knowledge can duplicate on their own.

The good thing is that since AlMaghrib’s brand and identity was the first on the market with those specific templates and tutorials, anyone else that uses those very templates and designs will look like they’re copycatting which is great for AlMaghrib because that is what’s in the minds of people first.

Only lately have the videos been completely original. I must admit that the recent videos that have come out aren’t up to par with the standards that have been set, they do fulfill the objective of letting people know about the brand and what it has to offer.

Even if the videos were completely original, what would be the solution? Law suites or differentiation?

Both cost money, energy and time. Personally I think differentiation is presentation is the better spending of resources. Staying ahead of the game is what counts.

My two cents

Amir has been running a blog for quite a while now titled “Mujahideen Ryder” – on it you’ll find some quirky posts, as well as some profound content from himself.

Recently Amir released a video that he himself put together to promot an event taking place in September sponsored by Islamic Relif and United for Change against Malaria.

Amir requested that I give his video a critique, so here goes:

What I liked:

• Its HD -
  Makes the image quality of the video look real nice mashaAllah.

• Made use of Prominence -
  Featuring many prominent Muslims on screen from different organizations.

What can be improved:

• Eye candy -
  Use B-Roll footage instead of simply talking head. Add more pictures.

• Tell a story -
  I think Imam Zaid’s part should have been in front. It seems the most visually and audibly impact-ful. He’s telling his story as opposed to saying “come to the event” – a call to action which should be in the end.

That’s it for now. Amir, for your next video try applying these two factors with excellence and watch the quality of your video improve massively inshaAllah.

I want to give props to Baba Ali for launching two totally seperate business projects back to back. MashaAllah bro. The focus of this blog post on Ali’s new game Kalimaat.

I had the opportunity to play this game back when Ali was testing it out and getting a feel for how people would respond and react to his newest invention.

My personal experience was that this is an EXCELLENT party game. Certainly will make for a great Eid activity.

Check out some of the videos he’s got up:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I love the Kinetic Typography that the motion artist did in this video.

These are some commercials that were shot a short while back:

This is a spotlight on Adam Sbita from AlMaghrib’s Qabeelat Nurayn.

Some of you may know of the recent condition of Shaykh Waleed Basyouni’s son Yousuf. If you don’t know already, read about it on the AlMaghrib Forums thread “Our Son Yousuf“.

Shaykh Waleed requested that people send videos that can be used to cheer up his son. This following video is my favorite of all the ones sent so far.

All I have to say is MashaAllah Adam. “Great job!” and “Get well Yousuf!”

:: Secret #1 – Build off the Shoulders of Giants

Why do more work then needed if someone has done most of the hardwork for you?

This is a shout out to Cassidy Bisher of DropDrop.com for the AWESOME Adobe After Effects templates that he produces as well Andrew Kramer of VideoCopilot.net for the equally awesome After Effects training and tutorials he’s laid out.

One of the stepping stones to developing your skills as a master of your craft is to start by mimicking and learning exactly how the master does it. Once you get a hang of it, mix and match appropriately for your own projects.

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:: Secret #2 – Understand Fundamental Principles & Tools

Learn the the basic functions of Adobe After Effects and learn the basics of design. Master the basics and you’ll learn to manipulate the advanced stuff quickly. Yes, its difficult to make the flashy attractive stuff in these early stages, but its a good stage to start playing with already completed project templates to get you moving along the way.

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:: Secret #3 – Develop a Work Flow Process

Know that processes lead to the development of procedures which lend you and your project the ability to be duplicated so that others can carry forth your work.

I’ve discussed the concept of work flow process in one of the sessions over at MessageMastery.com titled: Eight Pass Process of Post Production

The basic process of work flow and tools I’ve used for the trailers is as follows:

• Gather Ideas
• Develop Concept
• Research template options which can house the concept being communicated

• Mold the template in Adobe After Effects to carry the message visually
• Export to uncompressed AVI
• Import to Premiere to assemble the different parts to tell the message visually

• Gather and sample audio elements in Sound Forge and export them to AIFF files
• Import and assemble them in the Premiere sequences to carry the message in audio
• Tweak the audio in Premiere to enhance the visual message

• Export the project via Adobe Media Encoder and pass it to key individuals for feedback to make changes towards a final draft.

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:: Secret #4 – Get yourself an appropriate computer to edit on

You may be able to get by on an Intel Core2Duo or slower PC/Mac but you’ll be losing a LOT of time. Speed is the key to timely delivery and profits.

Get yourself a Intel Core i7 system with 6GBs of DDR3 RAM and you’ll be good to go – especially if you want to produce HD content. You can build a system like that for about $1,500 today from NewEgg.com. Here’s a breakdown:

• ~$550 USD = Motherboard + 6GB DDR RAM + Intel Core i7 920
• ~$130 USD = 850 Watt Corsair Power Supply (via Amazon.com)
• ~$260 USD = 1 TB Hard Drive + 150 GB HDD Western Digital Raptor
• ~$100 USD = Video Card
• ~$160 USD = PC Case + Keyboard + Mouse
• ~$220 USD = SAMSUNG 2343BWX 23″ monitor
• ~$80 USD = Pair of good head phones

Total cost = ~$1,500

This is the cost if you were to build it from the ground up or purchase from a vendor like Dell. It prob will cost you only a fraction of that if you just upgrade your existing machine.

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:: Secret #5 – Patience

I guess you can say that’s not much of a secret. Video editing, motion graphics, media production takes TIME. You have to keep at. Many times you may even find yourself staying up three to maybe even four nights back to back so that you can make the deadlines.

If you don’t have a passion for this sort of stuff then you’ll absolutely hate doing it and will be ready to literally pull your hair out or shoot yourself

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:: The Showcase

I can confidently say that the development of these trailers – approximately eight minutes of total content – took 450 hours of work. Every minute of content took 56.25 hrs.

Project Reflection: Torch Bearers Trailer

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Project Reflection: Focus on Your Strengths – A Light of Guidance

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Project Relfection Coming Soon

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Project Reflection Coming Soon

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Project Reflection Coming Soon

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Project Reflection Coming Soon

I'll be heading out to the airport in a few hrs to fly over to Cali. For info on the conference, see the poster below.

I'm aiming to record my segment and share it with you all when I get back inshaAllah.

This post is a spotlight on Rami Santrisi from HIPURductions.com. Recently he completed a promotional video for Islamic Center of Maryland titled ICM: The Road Ahead.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The purpose of this post is to put the spotlight on someone who’s aspired higher and come through on a project. I didn’t work on this project at all. I’m simply providing an encouraging critique for the producer of the video and for those of you who aspire to produce something in the future.

We all measure success in different ways. For me success is having started a project, completed it, celebrated its completion, learned from its mistakes and knowing that I had fun during the journey and can’t wait to begin the next one.

There are many destinations in life, whats important is that we enjoy and cherish every moment of the journey to each of those destinations.

Background For ICM: The Road Ahead

Rami was assigned this project in the beginning of March and had a deadline of March 28th. He completed this project in the midst of balancing a fulltime job and a family, so as you can guess, this must have been a tight 4 weeks.

Rami had laid out that there were a number of technical issues related to this project and has laid out that there aren’t any plans to change them. My feedback in this section is simply on how I personally would address these issues on a future project.

Sound in a few of the “early” interviews was a bit bad, and in the outdoor one, wind was crazy.

There are three ways to deal with wind from my experience.

• One is to get a windscreen for the microphone.

• The other option is to have two people stretch out a large bed sheet next to the microphone to block the wind.

• Third option is to simply stand next to a structure where the wind isn’t approaching

It’s slightly longer than i’d hoped, but there was also a lot of information that we needed to convey, so we kept it long. It was actually much longer, but we cut it to 15 minutes while maintaining fluidity.

I’m not aware of how the development of this video was coordinated. From my experience the best way to crunch a promotional video is to do it with a script or outline. Even if one is shooting interviews, those interviews must be structured around a framework of how the video will be laid out.

A couple years ago I produced a project of a similar nature. I had three weeks to come through with a video who’s purpose was to raise funds from within the local community.

For more info: http://www.leechon.com/almishkat-promo-video-168.htm

I sat down with the commissioner of the project and had him lay out exactly what he wanted in the video, from that I geared my questions so that specific individuals would answer in a particular way for it to fit effectively into the framework of the video I had mind.

In my humble opinion, an informative promotional video shouldn’t go beyond 10 minutes. The way to effectively do that is to lay out the framework before a camera is even lifted and film in accordance to that timely structure.

The tighter the final product, the more effective it will be.

Some B-Roll (overlay photos and videos) were not the best choice, but that was a shortcoming of the Center itself since they do not have a person responsible for media; that takes photos and videos of events that they do, etc. That was addressed at one of the Board of Trustees meetings I went to. We did however try and get/take as many current photos and videos as we could as well.

For me, shooting B-Roll is the most fun part of production. This is where you get to REALLY be creative and have fun with different types of shots. Generally, when you try new things and experiment, you require more time. You either schedule it in, or you work with what you have.

When it comes to shooting interviews, I think the best B-Roll is shots of the individuals themselves. Something that pulls a specific emotion that you’re aiming for. Usually extreme closeup or composed shots make for the best B-Roll in my experience.

An example of simple, yet effective B-Roll is the following video I completed just recently:

Could B-Roll be shot more effectively? Sure, but one needs to start with the intention of capturing B-Roll or you’ll be left to work with what you have.

Two of the interviews were in the same spot and they were the most used interviews and I personally felt that shouldn’t have happened.

Personally, I think the background in the two most used interviews is quite nice. The use of the depth-of-field lens adapter certainly made it seem a bit surreal.

I would recommend applying the following for future works:

• Employ a dolly to add movement to the interview and make it seem more dynamic. Movement generates energy and causes the viewer’s eyes to move thus resulting in more attentiveness.

• Creative lighting makes all the difference. I would advise in purchasing a few work lights from Home Depot or Walmart and using them as a means of lighting the subjects on screen.

• When shooting the interview, spend at least five minutes before the interview and five minutes after the interivew getting B-Roll of the individual speaking

• I think it would be a good idea to frame the interviews like a photograph. This requires much more attention to detail, but that is something that is required when one gets into a creative craft such as this.Its a great idea to approach each shot composition as if you composing a poster that would be hung in Time Square. Of course it’s easier said than done, but when shooting, we should always aim for excellence.

The Producer

Some of you may remember Rami some of his past works. The following are some projects he’s produced or worked on in the past:

• Ummah Films: Tomorrow Never Comes
• LinkTV: An Average Moe

Currently he maintains HIPURductions.com

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

Overall, taking into context the time available and everything else, this project was a job well done. I extend my congratulations to Rami and I look forward to what he’s got coming up next inshaAllah.

A friend of mine forwarded me an email with a pretty cool guide for home-made sound effects:
http://www.epicsound.com/sfx/

Sound designer David Filskov posts an interesting list of tricks he’s collected from other designers for turning common objects into audio trickery. It seems like a stretch, until you realize that movie soundtracks are rarely recorded from the source—often because doing so would be dangerous, impractical, or wouldn’t sound believable.

The sound of people walking on snow? It’s made by recording people in the studio walking on flour or cornstarch. If you live in a cold, snowy climate, you know how rare that perfectly crunchy and squeaky snow is. The sound of a naval depth charge? A toilet flushing at half speed, with a reverberation filter applied. Alien sounds?

Certain kinds of canned dog food make useful sounds as the food comes out of the can. The chunky stuff isn’t so good, but the tightly packed all-one-mass kind makes gushy sucking sounds when the air on the outside of the can is sucked into the can to replace the exiting glob of dog food. This sound can be used as an element in certain kinds of monster vocalizations, alien pod embryo expulsions, etc.

3 x 10 :: Day 06

• Produce a promotional “profile video” of each AlMaghrib instructor.  

• Produce a movie that documents the journey going cross country with Tufaan screening it in every major city in North America. 

• Start an education campaign with some organization meant to educate people on zakah and wealth building.

What’s this “3 x 10? thing? – See my post on focusing ideas:
http://www.leechon.com/focus-ideas-847.htm

Back in January I made a post about the IMAX film “Journey to Mecca”. I hope you had the opportunity to watch it.

I remember when I went to see the film when it was test screened, it was the first time I actually cried in a movie. The images on the IMAX are extremely moving. Reliving the hajj on the screen was as very strong moment and I’m sure those who have gone to hajj and saw the film can surely relate.

A sad moment during the film was right before the credits, when it said, “In memory of Chems Eddine Zinoun” who was the actor that played Ibn Batuta in this film. According to IMDB, Zinoun died in Casablanca, Morroco due to a tragic car accident in November 2008.

At first the thought was sad, but then on a deeper note I thought to myself,

He died at a great time where his last project was something that will resonate through time as calling people to fulfill their last pillar of Islam. When he stands up on the day of judgement, he can say to Allah-swt that this was a legacy that he left.

May Allah-swt count this project on his scale of good deeds on the day of judgement.

The following video is one the making of “Journey to Mecca”

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3 x 10 :: Day 05

• Incorporate Leechon in Canada so that it can take advantage of the money that the Canadian government has laid out for film projects. The questions that come to mind are: (1) What are Canadian business tax-laws? (2) What are the different ownership structures? (3) What are the different type of banks that are available and what sort of fees and benefits do they offer? (4) What are the different types of government grants that are available and how does one go about getting them? (5) Where can I go to learn more about the business of film in Canada?

• Contract a professional graphic designer to produce a course focused on graphic design and its principles for Message Mastery.

• Produce a short film titled “License on Empty” about a young kid who gets a drivers license and goes partying everywhere. He runs out of gas and ends up having to by for gas, maintainance as well as insruance – learning about responsibilty.

What’s this “3 x 10? thing? – See my post on focusing ideas:
http://www.leechon.com/focus-ideas-847.htm

This post is a means of looking back to finding answers, correcting mistakes, celebrating achievements and laying the foundation of whats to come in the future.

Before I begin, I want to lay out the fact: Rizq is truly from Allah-swt and the outcome of our efforts really isn’t totally a product of our doing, but the magnificence of Allah-swt allowing for the right circumstances at the right time for opportunities to make themselves available to us.

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With that said:
Top 3 ACHIEVEMENTS I’m most grateful for that happened in 2008 are:

• Getting AlMaghrib Institute as a client contract for Leechon, which has resulted in many fruits such as: IlmCast.com, GemReel.com and Superstar seminar trailers

• Setting up MessageMastery.com – an online learning system to teach people aspects of media, marketing, and communication (although its been a real bumpy and overwhelming ride – still is for me)

• Going from 700 RSS subscribers to 13,000+ RSS subscribers on Leechon.com – How this happened, I’m not entirely sure.

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Top 5 LESSONS I’ve found most valuable in the process of work in 2008 are:

• Contract or hire a bookkeeper! – As you grow in your business, the frequency and size of financial transactions will increase. If you’re not a number cruncher at heart,  you’ll find the process of recording all those transactions into QuickBooks a grueling and painful process. Save yourself the agony and delegate this process to someone who’s more qualified than yourself.

• A slice of a watermelon is bigger than an entire grape. – When involving yourself in a project, think beyond yourself. Look for ways in which you or your business can benefit the client (whether that be your customers or target audience) and share in the fruits and rewards. — Instead of getting a bigger piece of the pie, make the pie bigger to involve more people so all can share.

• Know your worth and have an understanding of the market before diving in – Business is about exchanging value. Business can be conducted fairly and professionally only if you know what that value is. If you don’t know your own self worth then you cannot expect others to know either. If the value of your work is $10,000 in the market, then don’t do injustice to yourself by receiving only $1,000. You’re limiting yourself and in the end it is YOU who will suffer.

• Fail Forward - I’ve made many mistakes this year. Mistakes in areas of financial decisions, what projects or clients to take up, biting off more than one can chew, and the process developing content for Message Mastery. These mistakes have led to delays on delivery and overall performance. – Being a human being, mistakes are inevitable. Welcome and admit the mistakes. Don’t fear them. The important thing is we fail FORWARD and learn from our mistakes as they happen.

• Never let schooling get in the way of your education - It’s a quote my Mark Twain, and its so true. We all to go school to get an education. If you find a means of education superior to traditional schooling, then jump on that bandwagon. You obviously have to factor in stuff like being able to pay for life’s essentials. For me, running Leechon is my education, so much so that the principles and hands on experience of business education has been far greater than business school itself.

A bonus lesson:

• Clarity = Power : Whether you want to progress in business, home, religion, etc – having absolute clarity is essential. Gaining clarity is a process of having perspective and getting in control of what’s around you. You need to organize what’s around you and focus on what’s important (or vice versa)  and throw out the rest. Having absolute clarity will lead you to what you want on the different levels of your life.

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Any and all good that has taken place in this past year is because Allah-swt allowed it to happen. The mistakes are because of my own shortcomings and for that I ask you to forgive me.

This company exists for the sake Allah and for the benefit of Ummat Muhammad-salAllahu alayhi wasallam. I pray that as we progress we keep our intentions pure and our actions clean.

My next post is going to lay out what’s to come in this new year inshaAllah.