F.P. WRITERS GIVE EXPERT LECTURE ON SOCIAL STRATEGY
By Fresh Produce
MARCH 5, 2014—Sioux Falls, SD—Fresh Produce writers Ted Heeren and Brian Bieber gave an expert presentation on effectively using social media for arts organizations at the South Dakota Arts Equinox conference in Pierre, South Dakota.
The presentation, titled “Social Media: Facts, Figures, Maps,” opened with a short video written by Heeren and Bieber and shot by Fresh Produce writer Kyle Jameson. The video also features Get Fresh Crew members Mike Hart IV and Rachel Gerber playing fictionalized versions of themselves.
“I felt like I was being scrutinized and judged, and I didn’t even know what for.”
“I didn’t know what [the video footage] was for,” said Gerber about participating in the shoot. “It was awkward. I felt like I was being scrutinized and judged, and I didn’t even know what for. [It was] very uncomfortable.”
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Bieber, who has no formal training and very little experience in video post-production, edited the video. “I’ve never been one to let a lack of ability get in the way of doing something,” said the self-published author.
“No one seemed to be mad or anything, but we didn’t really stick around very long after we were done.”
Which isn’t to say the video is entirely amateurish. Some elements that might be viewed as nothing more than careless mistakes—like discrepancies between voice-over narration and on on-screen text—actually serve as timely metaphors for the chaotic nature of the video’s subject.
“Sure, Rachel was following seven-hundred fifteen accounts on Twitter when Ted cut the voice-over,” said Bieber. “But by the time I made the onscreen graphics for that section of the video, she was following seven-hundred sixteen accounts. It just goes to show how quickly things move in the world of social media.”
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Reactions to the video and presentation among conference attendees seemed to range from confused to relatively impressed. “No one seemed to be mad or anything,” said Bieber. “But we didn’t really stick around very long after we were done.”
Watch the video, “Social Media: Facts, Figures, Maps,” below.