Brian Pratt is home grown talent from Bettendorf, IA. He began dabbling with editing in his high school’s television studio which ultimately led him to the Greenlee School of Journalism and Mass Communication from which he graduated in 1997.
Brian’s first job was with Iowa Teleproductions Center in Des Moines, IA. He quickly moved up through the ranks and developed his editing skills while employed at Hawthorne Direct in Fairfield, IA, where he stayed for 5 years. He has held positions at Metro Studios and Cohesion Productions, where he has continued to build his knowledge.
Brian lives in south east Des Moines and has two sons, Ian and Owen and a cat named Kali. He is very excited to serve the clients of dhg Communications and assist them to fulfill their goals and we are excited to have him!
December 3, 2007
Presidential Forum turns to dhg Communications
On an icy Saturday, 5000 people gathered at HyVee Hall in downtown Des Moines to vocalize their concerns to the 2008 Presidential candidates. Iowa CCI partnered with over 20 community based organizations representing more than 200,000 Iowans - many of whom are undecided on which candidate they will suupport. Citizens and concerned voters from across the United States attended the 3-hour event.
TVOne agreed to share the proceedings LIVE across the internet, while C-SPAN simulcast the event to millions of cable TV homes and internet viewers.
The challenge was to coordinate appropriate audio/video feeds to multiple media sources with various technical requirements. TVOne wanted to add their own graphics. C-SPAN wanted the ability to switch "live" on-site and still accept a clean feed. Video clips were uploaded to YouTube.com within minutes of the candidates' remarks, garnering thousands of views. Plus, a blog was created showing multiple viewpoints from the audience and viewers on the internet.
To further complicate matters, Hillary Clinton was unexpectedly unable to attend, due to security issues at her New Hampshire campaign headquarters the previous day. This required a last minute satellite uplink to connect Mrs. Clinton with the Forum audience.
The solution provided by dhg Communications included four ENG camera crews, three Final Cut Pro edit stations, nine VTRs, directors, teleprompters, switchers, as well as coordination with satellite uplink and downlink providers. At the end of the day, dhg Communications provided over 20 clips for YouTube.com, in addition to feeding the different broadcast and webcast outlets.
According to Dennis Goering, President of dhg Communications, "our 80+ hours of pre-production planning really paid off. We had one day to set up and rehears - so we had no room for error. Yet every single program delivery came off without any hiccups - which surprised a lot of people. This was a complicated live event that was fun to work."