The WestEnd in Chicago played host to community and business leaders participating in the River West Most Wanted Lock-Up on March 12, 2008.  These individuals, served with warrants for their "big hearts", agreed to be incarcerated for one hour while working to raise their $1300 bail to benefit the Chicago MDA.

This one day event raised more than $26,000 for the MDA.  Gina Iorio, Program Coordinator, said "These jailbirds were awesome.  Their hearts are huge and they used their time in ‘jail’ to do so much good."

 When asked to reflect on the Lock-Up, the entire staff of the Chicago MDA wanted to express their thanks and gratitude to all of the community leaders and local business professionals that took time out of their schedules to be "locked up".  Says ‘Parole Officers’ Emily Niles and Erin Brown, "The entire Muscular Dystrophy Association and the families we serve are very thankful for each jailbird’s participation in the event."

The funds raised at the event will be used to benefit thousands of families in the Chicago area with neuromuscular diseases.  This money will allow those with muscular dystrophy to go to our various MDA clinics across Chicagoland, provide funds for support group sessions, send children with MD to summer camp, and fund vital research.  MDA is leading the way in the research for neuromuscular diseases, and with the help of people, such as the "jailbirds" they hope to seek the causes of and effective treatments for muscular dystrophy.

Chicago Producers president Bill Vala was served a warrant for his arrest for having a big heart.  "I was pleased to be able to help with the fund raising and elated to have reached my personal goal of $1300.  The MDA needs our help and I am humbled to do my part for the cause."

If you haven’t already incorporated some video content into your Web site and Web marketing efforts, it may be time to consider jumping in.  The popularity of online video has exploded over the past two years and the trend shows no signs of slowing. A recent Comscore study estimates that over 10 billion videos were watched by hundreds of millions of people in December 2007 alone.

The success of video sites like YouTube, Dailymotion and  Crackle are well known at this point and their appeal is nearly universal across all demographics. However what you might not know is that less than half of all online videos viewed are streamed from these Web sites. What that means is that people are consuming online video everywhere now.

It’s beginning to change the browsing habits of Internet users. As time passes by the Web is becoming more and more of a multimedia experience, meaning that a Web site’s success will rest more and more on its ability to mix textual content, imagery and audio/video in a manner that’s effective in retaining users for longer periods of time. More and more, it’s not enough to only offer text to your site’s visitors.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article discussing the criteria for successful online video, along with some different case studies. These case studies hit upon some key points about online video:

• Keep your video clips short and sweet (30 seconds to 2 minutes max)
• Put your online video to work in multiple versions/venues: Often the content can be repurposed for display at a conference, in a waiting room or delivered on a CD-ROM.
• Skip the big budget: You don’t need to have a James Cameron-sized budget to make an effective video
• Use your video to show, not just tell: Talking heads are OK, but you’ll want to mix up talking head footage with some other elements.

Chicago Producers specializes in the shooting and editing of professional video content and are experts at delivering video content to the Web for you in a number of formats. Contact us today to find out how we can help and receive a free quote!