NEW PEOPLE
I am pleased to announce that Andrea Tracey-Stone is our new Sales Executive. Andrea brings more than 10 years of experience in media business including print and broadcast mediums, and a lifetime of knowledge and experience of the Grand Bahama market. She also worked in Abaco for more than four years. Andrea is a great addition to our team and we are excited about being able to increase our ability to serve you better.

Also, we are pleased to have Rico Thompson on our team heading up our media production area. Rico is a multi-talented young man that has already taken on advanced video and audio editing projects, still photography and video shooting jobs. Many of you may know Rico for his performances at Regency Theatre and as the headlining act at the Thursday evening show at the Casino at Our Lucaya. Also, Rico is the on-camera host of our all-new original show, Island View (see more below). We are excited to have Rico bring his wide array of talents to the Keen i Media team.

NEW VENTURE
Many of you may have already heard about the ’soft’ launch of Grand Bahama TV (GBTV) on September 1st. We’ve had an amazing response in less than three weeks! GBTV is a 24×7 online TV channel that streams video content that is totally focused on Grand Bahama. We also offer more than a dozen shows available on demand — you start, pause, rewind and stop them when you want. We have theatre shows, documentaries, local features and news programmes that will help you keep up and stay connected to what’s going on in Grand Bahama in a unique and entertaining way. As we build our repertoire of exclusive shows on GBTV, such as our wildly popular Island View show and several other new projects on the way, we’re sure you will agree that Grand Bahama is finally going to get the exposure and entertainment that it has been sorely lacking. Click HERE now to start watching GBTV now.

GBTV also provides an entirely new outlet for advertising and promoting your business. Through everything from 30- and 60-second TV spots, to infomercials, to public service announcements, church services and many other options, GBTV makes a powerful new medium available to the masses at a drastically lower cost than traditional TV-based advertising. For example: a 30-second spot on ZNS TV in Grand Bahama will cost you around $100 per showing. A 30-second ad on GBTV can run for an entire month — with unlimited showings — for just $450. That means in less than a week of nightly showings on ZNS TV you will have already paid for a month on GBTV. It’s a great value. Write to us at ads@grandbahamatv.com for more details or to make a booking.

NEW CAPABILITIES
In the last month we have added two great new features and capabilities to our range of services:

• Multi-camera video switching: we can now cover events that require multiple cameras (up to four), such as church services, conferences, panel discussions, TV shows, training situations and more. We can do this with our fully digital (meaning, excellent quality!) video switcher and either record this to digital tape or stream an event live to the web on GBTV or do both at once.
• Audio Engineering & Amplification Service:  Need sound for your next event? A press conference or panel discussion? Birthday or cocktail party? Graduation? Grand opening? We’ve got all the sound gear and expertise you’ll need to make that happen. We can also provide digital recording and audio CD duplication and custom packaging service. We’ve got more than 25 years of in-house experience in sound engineering so we’re confident we can handle it.

And, of course, we can put these things together to deliver multi-camera video shooting and audio engineering with live web streaming or recording. Our light can also help illuminate a stage for any of the above type of events. We can make it all happen and at very competitive rates.

NEW PROJECTS
We’ve completed a few new projects of interest recently:

• Mentioned above, Island View is our all-new TV show that takes you inside some of the more interesting and unusual places in Grand Bahama. With a fun, upbeat and entertaining style, host Rico jumps right in to what’s going on so you can see how things work. Our first two episodes are showing now on GBTV and available there on demand. New episode coming next week!
• Early in August we were contacted by a New York production company and hired to shoot a celebrity photo shoot at Atlantis, Paradise Island. We didn’t know it at the time but we soon found out that the celebrity was actually Kim Kardashian, model and star of reality TV. The footage of the photo shoot was shot entirely by Keen i Media and was then featured on PEOPLE Magazine’s PEOPLE TV on their web site. Check it out by clicking HERE.
• A few months ago we established a relationship with The Counsellors Ltd, a well-respected and experienced media production company in Nassau, to produce Grand Bahama-focused segments for their TV show, Bahamas@Sunrise. Bahamas@Sunrise airs live on Mondays and Fridays at 6:30am, and Monday’s show is  rebroadcast on Wednesday at 8:00 a.m. and Friday’s show airs again on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. To date, Keen i Media has shot more than half a dozen segments for Bahamas@Sunrise, including two just last week which will air soon on national TV.
• GBTV News is on the beat! We are now covering locally relevant stories that we think you want to see, whether it is an announcement from the GB Port Authority about the new bridge planned for the Grand Bahama Highway or the crowning of a new Miss Grand Bahama, GBTV News is there to get the story and deliver the most important information to you. We’re constantly developing this service to provide greater coverage and we would love to receive your reports and video from things around town. This segment of GBTV News that we’re calling iWitness News can include your cell phone video or video from your home cameras. Just capture the news as it happens and we’ll get it out to the people! E-mail us at news@grandbahamatv.com.
• Keen i Media designed, produced and hosts the all-new web site for The Garden of the Groves, launched just last week. The new site features a number of great photo galleries, FAQs, and a high resolution downloadable map of the Garden. Check it out at http://www.TheGardenOfTheGroves.com.

STAY IN TOUCH
If you want to stay in touch with what’s going on in the media business and at Keen i Media in particular there are a few ways you can do that. You can follow us on Twitter (@keenimedia), become a fan on Facebook, read our blog, check us out on YouTube, or watch GBTV for our latest productions. Oh yeah, you can phone us (242-351-5339), visit us at our studio on Queen’s Highway (Orlando House, next to OBS Marine), or e-mail us (info@keenimedia.com), too (isn’t it funny how those things seem so…quaint?).

SOMETHING FREE!
It’s hard to find anything of value nowadays. But if you are interested in learning more about sales, marketing and the new economy, be sure to download the audio book called ‘FREE: The Future of a Radical Price. Click HERE [iTunes store link] to get it..for FREE.

Finally, if you are in range of Love 97FM (or click HERE to listen to their online stream) tune in this Saturday, September 19 from 10:00 to 10:30 a.m. when I will be the guest on ‘Nate Lewis in the A.M.’ talking about the arts and media in the Bahamas.

Take care,

~ejr~

Kim Kardashian on location at The COVE, Atlantis

FREEPORT, BAHAMAS — Grand Bahama-based Keen i Media was recently hired to shoot a behind-the-scenes video for a celebrity photo shoot at The COVE at Atlantis.

TV personality Kim Kardashian was in the Bahamas for a photo shoot, and in the video, posted at PEOPLE.com, she talks about her exercise regimen and her new weight-loss secret.

Keen i Media president Erik Russell said that he is happy that his company was selected to provide the field production services for such a high profile client. “We maintain high production values in everything we do,” Russell said. “It’s not enough just to do something — you have to know what the industry standards are and be able to consistently deliver that to all of your clients, whether it is for a local TV commercial, a church production or an international client.”

The PEOPLE video shows Kardashian at various locations around The COVE at Atlantis on Paradise Island as she poses for the photo crew and talks about her current work and lifestyle.

CLICK HERE to watch the video on the PEOPLE.com page

Kardashian has done many small modeling jobs on the side of her television career. In February 2008 Bongo Jeans announced that Kardashian would be their new face model. Kardashian is also a model for Travis Barker’s Famous Stars and Straps clothing line. Kardashian is one of the stars of the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians along with her two sisters, mother, brother, half-sisters, and stepfather.

Keen i Media Ltd’s work has been featured on web sites such as MSNBC.com and has appeared on major U.S. programmes including Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition. The company also recently launched Grand Bahama TV (GBTV), a 24-hour television channel streaming online with such features as video on demand and the ability to deliver live streaming events to the world.

“The Bahamas is not only a beautiful place but we have a tremendous opportunity to present ourselves to the world through the effective use of the technology at our disposal,” Mr Russell said. “My company specialises in bringing together various types of technology with the creative vision needed to deliver the most compelling and effective work for our clients, and that represents the Bahamas the way it should be.”

The all-new original show, Island View, gets you inside some of the coolest/interesting/unusual places on the island.

The fast-paced TV show is hosted by Grand Bahamian Rico Thompson, who brings his own brand of enthusiasm and excitement to the screen. Rico is certainly not afraid to get his hands dirty, whether it is figuring out how aluminum recycling works or just how many puppies (well over 100!) are at the Humane Society of Grand Bahama’s shelter on Coral Road.

The show was launched on September 1, simultaneously with the launch of Grand Bahama TV, a.k.a. GBTV, which is Grand Bahama island’s first dedicated TV channel. The channel is currently streaming online 24 hours a day with many hours of news, information, features shows and entertainment from some of Grand Bahama’s finest performers. At the GBTV web site you can also choose from more than a dozen shows available “on demand”, including all episodes of Island View. Simply click on a show from the list and it begins to play immediately, and you can pause, rewind and fast forward. The channel plans to launch live TV shows in October.

To get a glimpse of what Island View is all about, watch the promo video below and then go to GrandBahamaTV.com to watch Island View’s first two episodes, with new shows coming soon.

Enjoy!

~ejr~

Take two things I love and put ‘em together: crazy/amazing technology and the Dallas Cowboys. And what do you get?

This HD TV makes your HD TV beg for mercy.

~ejr~

A Keen i Media Ltd production. Camera & Edit: Franklyn Williams & Erik Russell

~ejr~

Did you know it costs more to fly from Miami to Grand Bahama than it does to fly from Miami to Las Vegas? That’s CRAZY.

Shot Feb 23, 2009 at Our Lucaya during the 2009 Grand Bahama Business Outlook. Frankie shot this, I did the interview. [Don't you just love that setting? I thought it was pretty cool. ]

Gold Rock Studios is located about 15 miles east of the Grand Lucayan Waterway in Grand Bahama, near the vicinity of the Lucayan Caves National Park and on some of the property previously occupied by the United States Air Force for its Cold War-era missile tracking base. That base, when active, comprised several large barracks, transmitter sites, a 10,000-ft runway capable of landing the largest transport aircraft of the day, hangars, and various other maintenance and supply buildings.

One long and narrow building was gutted and converted into production offices used during the filming of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean II & III. A hangar facility was upgraded with air conditioning and suitable electrical and lighting service to accommodate costumes and props storage. Other existing buildings were slated for refurbishment, including a large Art Department building, a commissary and other support services.

Unfortunately, due to some schedule conflicts, the impact of hurricane activity, financial strains and delays in completing the now famous water shooting “tank”, many of the plans for the movie studio never came to fruition. The “tank” is located on the southern shore of Grand Bahama and it is near this location that many of the at-sea scenes for Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) II & III were filmed. The facility is not exactly a “tank”, however. It is a three-sided structure that is open at the south side to the ocean and is bulkheaded on the other sides. This open-ended design is not a flaw but rather provides the added benefit of allowing true horizon views when shooting under the more controlled environment of the facility.

Original plans for the water feature included a cable-pulley system that could be attached to ships to create controlled motion effects for the illusions of heavy seas, impacts or distress. These systems were actually installed, however, damage caused by the storms at the time rendered them inoperable. Most of the at-sea scenes for the POTC films ended up being filmed just outside the water facility.

Despite these set-backs, the property holds tremendous promise. Plans for the 3,500-acre site have included fully-equipped soundstages, a film-oriented theme park with 18th-century period villages, music scoring facilities, a nearby resort and all of the other supporting facilities that would be needed for such a venture. The employment impact–not just for Grand Bahama, but the entire Bahamas–would be tremendous. Creative Bahamians that could not otherwise find a purpose for returning to their homeland could finally apply their skills in an industry that they love. Opportunities for reciprocal industry experience with other countries could fast-track skill development. And, just as the POTC sequels did, millions of dollars can be drawn into our national economy in an industry that could continue ad infinitum.

But, lest we believe the “build it and they will come” fantasy, we must deal with the fact that the film industry is a very small community of people and there are some bridges that must be rebuilt and relationships that must be restored. Only then can we hope to “sell” the value of Gold Rock Studios to potential tenants.

All of these things are pending the closure of a financial deal and being able to settle the ownership and financial disputes that still hang over Gold Rock Studios. We watch and hope that these immediate hurdles can be leapt for the long-term benefit of many.

~ejr~