2015 is the year of the Sheep, according to the Chinese Zodiac. While we’re not sure what that means for our personal astrological signs, so far it has brought some fun projects our way! We’re working again with Norton Healthcare on their annual Compliance video, with Kindred Healthcare on branding animations, with Valvoline/VIOC on some exciting new videos and Pandora for Valentine’s Day. We’re off to a wonderful start and are excited to see what the rest of this year will bring!

2014 HIGHLIGHTS

2014 started with a focus on all things Louisville. One of our first projects of the year was creating an animation for Thornton’s that would be used in the KFC Yum! Center during UofL basketball games (Go Cards!). We also had the pleasure of working again with Norton Healthcare to produce their annual Compliance Training video, which is viewed by all Norton employees. Another project combined two Louisville legends – Jean West and Spalding University! We worked with Jean and Spalding to create commercials for Spalding’s Adult Accelerated Program. We were proud to partner with the Shamrock Pet Foundation to tell the story of Andre, a dog that they were able to rescue. Check out Andre’s story here. From local we went international with Valvoline Instant Oil Change (VIOC) and videos celebrating their Hands On Expertise. We made versions of this video for several different languages including Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. “O primeiro vencedor de uma corrida de automóveis nos eua USA Valvoline.” There, now you can say,“First US race winner uses Valvoline” in Portuguese!

As spring came along so did lots of shoots with some of our favorite clients. We worked with Bloom Marketing on a project with Priority Health that took us from a studio in Louisville to Grand Rapids, Michigan (the city formerly known as "America's Furniture Capital"). We also worked with Kindred Healthcare to create television commercials promoting their new hotline. We always love working with clients that we have a long relationship with and we love it even more when those shoots involve the ARRI Alexa! Take a look at one of the spots here. We also were excited to work with WAX Custom Communications to produce videos for Humana’s Pharmacy Division. These videos were for their internal use only so, sadly, you weren’t able to see them but trust us when we say they were awesome. Any shoot that includes slider, talent, time lapse and slow-mo is guaranteed to be pretty darn fun.

We had the opportunity to work with WAX and Humana again when we traveled to New Orleans to shoot at one of the Humana Guidance Center locations. These Guidance Centers are doing a lot of good in the communities that they’re in and you can learn more about them here. As a side note, who approved both Doug and Patrick to travel to New Orleans? At least it wasn’t Mardi Gras. We were all over the map last summer when we went straight from Louisiana to Lynchburg, Virginia for a shoot with Piedmont Community Health Plan. From Virginia it was back to Louisville to work with Norton Healthcare to shoot a commercial for MyChart. We had fun making this point-of-view commercial and when you watch it, keep your eyes peeled for the hands of a certain Focal Point employee. Don’t worry, she hasn’t gotten to George Costanza-levels of hand modeling fame yet but she is staying away from irons, just in case.

As the cooler weather moved in, Doug was lucky enough to escape to Marco Island, Florida twice for VIOC’s Corporate and Franchise workshops. Well, he says he went down there for VIOC’s Corporate and Franchise workshops. It may have been just to escape that freak hailstorm we had. Back from the beaches, we headed indoors to work with Kindred to make a Welcome video for new Kindred at Home employees. Welcome, everyone! We closed out the year producing several spots for Pandora with BUZZ Advertising that aired not only in Louisville, but also in Colorado, Florida, Maryland and many other states. Celebrating “Unforgettable Moments” all over the country!

2013 HIGHLIGHTS

2013 started with a focus on our community. We produced a video for the Amobi Okoye Foundation highlighting their C.A.R.D.S. P.L.A.Y./KICKOFF 4 KIDS program. Their aim is to close the achievement gap in inner city schools, while promoting being active and healthy at the same time. We also produced a video for City Life Shawnee, a group committed to bettering life for the youth in the West End of Louisville. In January we also created a video for the local Ford plant about their door mirror stanchion process. Did you know that only 52% of the population is strong enough to hold a door mirror in place? So, using our stellar math skills, that's probably only 0.01% of the Focal Point team. Time to start doing some pushups.

In February we spent some time with the wonderful people of the Salvation Army. Every year they put on a fundraising event called Chefs for Hope that raises all the funds for their Culinary Arts Training Program. Another program that's doing good in our community is Restorative Justice. Their mission is to provide a restorative and holistic approach to crime that involves both the victims and the offender. We also spent a lot of time in plastics factories (we do it all, folks!) - Berry Plastics in Evansville and the Fabri-Form Company in Pekin and Bluffton, Indiana. Any excuse to wear safety glasses! And speaking of style, we closed out February in high style - by winning a Gold Louie at the Louisville Ad-Fed Louie Awards! We won for our :30 Dauenhauer "Robots" spot which, if you haven't seen airing on TV, you can see here. And you really should; it's award-winning, you know.

We had another opportunity to wear said safety glasses when we traveled to Cadiz, Kentucky. Transcraft has a new paint booth at their facility for painting semi-truck trailers and we were there to shoot it. It also gave us a chance to snap a couple of pictures in the vein of "Breaking Bad." Closer to home, we began working with REACH of Louisville to create a variety of videos. REACH focuses on youth therapeutic foster care, adult foster care, respite, and adult day programming for children, young people, and adults with developmental and intellectual challenges. We also continued working with one of our long-term clients, Kindred Healthcare, to create brand graphics and shoot multiple internal videos.

2013 is off to a wonderful start and we're excited to see what spring will bring!

2012 HIGHLIGHTS

Like many, 2012 began with a focus on health. We worked with Renaissance Creative to create spots for the Mayor's Healthy Hometown Movement promoting breastfeeding within the community. One spot gained quite a bit of infamy and was featured on everything from The Huffington Post, to Tosh.0 to Buzzfeed. We also worked with Jefferson County Public Schools to showcase changes they've made to their nutritional program. One highlight of these videos: the Beef-a-roni song. Trust us, it's as good as you're imagining.

An integral part of health is a healthy heart, and we featured one very active heart in our Valentine's Day Video. Hearty Two-Step Lovebeat made his triumphant return to the screen and to our hearts to spread the love. Also in February, we began production on a weekly financial show. Strategic Wealth with Matt Dicken airs Sundays on WHAS and we've been fortunate to learn a lot along the way. (Do you know what a typical CD pays in interest today? We do.)

We worked with Doe-Anderson on several videos for the Bridges Project to help explain exactly what is in the works. I think the first video we did for the Bridges Project was about 10 years ago....getting closer!

Work hard, play hard. Not only is that tattooed on Patrick's lower back but it's something that we believe in. We took a break to attend the annual Ad-Fed ADDY award ceremony. Dressed to the nines, we were proud to take home a Silver Louie for one of the Mayor's Healthy Hometown Movement spots. Tennis anyone? (Title of our winning spot: Tennis :15)

Spring sprang and we were hoppin'! A shoot in Peoria, Illinois for Methodist Hospital with Finelight Communications, a visit to the Mid-America Trucking Show with Price-Weber, training videos for Norton Healthcare, and After Effects spots for OPC kept us busy. We also did a spot for Dauenhauer Plumbing and attempted to tackle the question: how do they provide 24/7 service no matter what? Magic? No. Robots.

We circled back to health as well: another Priority Health shoot, a video for the University of Louisville Physicians Group, and commercial spots for Galen College of Nursing for Quantum Communications. Even a video with Sean Muldoon, the Chief Medical Officer at Kindred Hospital for an iPad app. And an all-night shoot in a local grocery store! Grocery shopping is way more fun at 1:00 in the morning, trust us.

And Spalding University has kept us busy with TV, recruitment and web videos. We also were proud to partner with Wellspring to produce a fundraising video for their annual gala.

Another annual event we got to shoot (but not participate in, sadly) was the Valvoline Instant Oil Change Oilympics competition. This year's event was held in Minneapolis but the winners came from the Bluegrass State (Lexington to be precise)! We hopped out of the auto bay and headed into an operating room to shoot a spinal surgery for Alphatec Spine. Doug and Drew have stomachs of steel and were able to shoot the entire surgery that showcased the Epicage system. Don't worry - there were no Junior Mints anywhere on the premises.

We did have lots of food on our premises though! We spent a few days shooting all kinds of food in slow-motion, everything from peppers to coffee beans, pasta to lemons, and even "ice cream" made from shortening and powdered sugar. It was delicious. You can check out the finished product here (LINK TO FOOD REEL).

The food we shot in slow-mo but we kicked it into another gear to shoot a time-lapse for Doe-Anderson. A 600-foot section of a bridge was lifted 85 feet and we were there to capture it...and then speed up two days' worth of video to condense it into a 1:00 clip. The magic of editing!

With summer winding down, we shifted our focus to Valvoline Instant Oil Change and their Corporate and Franchise workshops that take place each Fall. We produced several videos to be shown at the workshops and then traveled to Orlando and Las Vegas to shoot them. I'd love to tell you more but you know what they say: what happens in Orlando stays in Orlando.

November and December were busy with Kindred Healthcare's Clinical Impact Symposium, a shoot with Chef Dean Corbett, Focal Point's holiday videos, and Norton Healthcare's Compliance Training video. We got to spend the morning shooting at WDRB for the newscast format of the Compliance video. I'm Ron Burgundy?

All in all, 2012 was a fun, productive year and we're looking forward to the projects 2013 will bring!