As 2012 comes to an end, we decided to take a look at our top five Spectrum posts of the year. Our results might not be as humourously tongue-in-cheek as David Letterman's, but they were interesting and diverse enough that we thought it was worth sharing.
Apparently, a lot of people were prepared to 'get their color on' as this post, which introduces the features of myColor - our new online color research tool, was one of the most popular posts of the year.
Given the overwhelmingly positive reaction myColor has received, I guess it's not terribly surprising that this post would turn out to be so popular. This post benefited from a lot of links & shares on social media as well as re-posts in lighting & color forums. The key, we've found, is getting people onto the myColor site first. Then, once they're there, if they're lighting & color nerds like us, they don't leave. It's a great tool for researching the colors you need and then saving the colors you use most for reference later. If you haven't had the chance to play with myColor yet - give this post a read and then go get your color on!
For those that are paying close attention - you'll note that this article was originally posted in 2011, but thanks to social media and our repeated reference to the post in other articles, it continued to be popular enough to make our Top-5 in 2012! I think it's also because our 'Share-the-Work' program, has been responsible for delivering technicians & designers their vital caffeine boost since the program began in June of 2011. As the blog states - the program is simple: fill out the online form, attach a picture of Rosco gels in use on stage and tell us why you chose those particular colors. In exchange - you get a Rosco coffee mug.
We are especially proud of the Color Resource Gallery, which collects and organizes all of the submitted Share-the-Work images into a wonderful research tool that allows designers to see how others are using Rosco color filters in their productions. The Share-the-Work program continues to this day - so read (or re-read) the post today and learn how you can get your very own Rosco mug - and help out designers around the world while you're at it.
Rosco VIEW is by far one of the most interesting products we make. Every time we show it at a tradeshow or demonstrate its properties on a jobsite, it's always greeted with a high level of intrigue. Some call it a simple process getting used on a large scale, some call it black magic - but Shane Hurlbut called it a "New Frontier Tool that saves time and money."
Rosco View: New frontier tools that increase speed and save money from Shane Hurlbut, ASC on Vimeo.
What I really like about Shane's explanation of how the Rosco VIEW technology works is that it helps customers realize that even though the up-front cost of the Rosco VIEW may be higher than the standard gel/hard gel technique - VIEW will end up saving you money in the long run by eliminating long lighting changeovers while you wait for the grips to swap the ND's on the windows. Not only does it save time and money, but it especially preserves whatever momentum or chemistry might be present on set that otherwise might be lost during a long ND change.
This post was a long-time in the making. We'd known for months that Rosco's Jenny Knott and Rutgers' Peter Miller were working on a 3D foliage project that we would use in our USITT booth and that there would be plenty of pictures to showcase the project in a Spectrum post.
What we struggled with was the voice of the piece. We didn't want it to be an ad for Rosco scenic products like FoamCoat, FlexCoat, and Crystal Gel, we wanted to tell the story of why scenic artists would choose these specific products and substrates to achieve the common scenic element of three-dimensional foliage. So, you can imagine how thrilled we were when we received the excellent, personalized account of the whole process from Colleen Dolan, one of Peter's student assistants at Rutgers. We liked it so much, in fact, that we asked her if we could use her summary as our Spectrum post - thankfully she said yes. We are always on the hunt for content for Rosco Spectrum so, if you have pictures and/or video of Rosco products that illustrate a story you think needs telling - let us know.
In April we launched our newest member of the LitePad family - the LitePad Loop. Using Rosco's LitePad technology, Loop is a ring light that produces a soft, flattering output making it perfect for photography or video that needs to get close up on the subject.
LitePad Loop has been a central focus for Rosco's sales and marketing staff and the product has been well received by users and reviewers alike. Magazines like Pop Photo, Amateur Photographer and Videomaker all gave the unit a positive review, as did influential mavens like Jim Marks and Scott Bourne - why, LitePad Loop even made Scott's Top 10 Gifts for Photographers (for those of you who might be a few days tardy in getting the photographer in your life a gift). So, it's no surprise that this informational post continued to get traffic throughout the year as people interested in the product searched for additional information on LitePad Loop. If you haven't had the chance yet - give the original post another read and learn more about the features of the LitePad Loop that make it uniquely suited for close up photo & video work.
Our mission statement here at Rosco is three words: Demonstrate, Educate, Inspire. Our Spectrum posts are here to demonstrate how people use our products, give you the information you need to use them properly and, hopefully, inspire you to create something beautiful. Keep sharing your ideas, pictures and stories and we'll keep posting them here at Rosco Spectrum.
Joel Svendsen December 31, 2013 Questions?
Marketing Director: Joel's Rosco career began in Rosco's Hollywood office in 1999 – first in sales covering the Western US and the Los Angeles Film & Television market, and then as Product Manager for Rosco's Film & Television Products. Joel's knowledge about Rosco's products and how they're used in each of our different marketplaces makes him well suited for bringing the stories in Spectrum to life.