WE DID IT!

WE DID IT

We are introducing our Signature Collection of Greeting Cards.  We wanted a cool way to show off our cards.  Wouldn’t it be cool if the cards could be shown turning.  We first looked at apps and quickly discovered that while some were available they were not available at a price we could afford. We still wanted to be cool.

Frustration set in. But then frustration is a friendly partner to both writers and artists.  It takes time and a glass of wine or two.  So it was in this case.  Me sitting, sipping and thinking about everything else knowing there is a problem I want to solve but ignoring it seems to work for me.  Then the answer came.

Testing the concept would require an extra set of hands, but I would have to wait until the morning to ask Suzanne for her help.  In the morning, I could not wait to get to the studio to see if we could make my idea work . 

She was already at the studio when I walked in.  I told her what I wanted to try.  I would have her hold a greeting card and turn it as I take a video.  IT WORKED but with a big issue.  The video showed her fingers and arm.  Not cool.  We want to be cool.  

But how do we turn the card without fingers, hands or arms showing.  More time needed to think.  The next morning I was looking at sunlight coming across our dining room table on to a crystal vase sitting on a beautiful lazy Suzanne  Susan turntable given to us by a dear friend.  There was the answer, we use the turntable. Back to the studio excited and ready to get it right!

We placed an open card on the turntable and Suzanne turns it as I take the video.  But we needed something else.  The lazy Susan was too pretty and a distraction to our featured cards.  We needed a background that would not distract from the card.  The answer was to build a stage entirely in black. Suzanne having experience as set designer knew how do that.

The day finally came, it was yesterday. The card was placed in the middle of the turntable covered with a black napkin. Suzanne turned the lazy Susan as I took the video.  Simple yes?  No!  It turns out the black napkin on the turntable prevented it from turning smoothly and we lost the effect we needed.  And my iPhone moved as I was holding it. So after a few experiments we solved both issues. 

We did two or three takes of 5 of the cards and selected the best one.  We sent them to our virtual assistant and guru, of everything we are not, to upload on our Handwords.com website. As always she did not disappoint.  

However, one of the six cards in our signature collection did not open right to left but from the bottom up. Both Suzanne and I wanted to include this card with the others.  We did not have another day to figure it out.  So I took a nap in the chair by the window in the studio.  The answer came.  We take the video as if it was right to left card and edit the video to show the care opening from the bottom up. Well, It almost worked.

The cover image no matter how we turned it was upside down. I did not have time for another nap and no wine in the studio.  So I put it out of my mind and began to think about something else. YES, the solution came to me.  We cut the cover off of another card and pasted it upside down to our model card to align with the back cover.  It all worked! Time for my happy dance.

WE HAD DONE IT! 

SEE THE RESULTS BY VISITING  https://handwords.com/handwords-signature-collection/  WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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