Photo Credit: Juliana Thomas
Click-Through Video
Authored in DVD Studio Pro, the Pfizer DVDs feature full-screen interactive video. The design was scripted to go from passive screen states to animating sub-menus, offering users a compelling way to access any point on a disc
at any time.
“Our goal was to make this training material as dynamic, fluid and engaging as possible,” Spyros says. “If it was static and straightforward, the sales reps would be bored with it the minute
they found out how to get the answer.”
From the client’s perspective, DVD proved a
better format for the tutorials than, say, videotape or CD-ROM because other media don’t support the same volume of information
or flexible access to content.
“The ability to put high-quality picture and sound
together on a DVD allows us to present the information in a format that sales representatives are familiar with,” says Cal Austin, seniormanager, Field Effectiveness Solutions, at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group. “It complements very nicely the live training that they receive in terms of the look, the familiar faces of the trainers and the way the content flows. And I really see the benefit of keeping representatives in the field focused on their sales efforts rather than going to live computer classes.”
L-R: Bryan Zaccardi (Manager, Pfizer Field Systems Training, Global Learning and Development), Cal Austin (Manager, Pfizer Field Effectiveness Solutions), George Spyros and Instructor Ed Fritz.
An Early Start
Spyros always knew his future lay in filmmaking. At age 10, the tools of his trade were a Super8 movie camera, a hand-cranked editing viewer and a guillotine-style splicing block. By junior high, he’d discovered that he could use an Apple II computer to add graphics, a credit roll and special effects to the movies he produced.
Spyros earned his industry credentials in a variety of roles and media. Since receiving his BFA degree in Film Production/Cinema Studies from NYU in 1991, he has worked as a film editor, producer, director, scriptwriter and cameraman, as well as taught classes in video production and acting for film. He made his feature-length debut in 1998 with “Last Days of May,” a film he wrote, produced, directed and edited.
Now 35, Spyros is still saying “Action!” at every opportunity. And today he has a better shop, greater production capacity and more sophisticated tools at his disposal. As the head of Big City Pictures, he produces and directs everything from documentaries and feature films to music videos, DVDs, TV commercials and short-format video-on-demand content.
Although the medium often varies for Spyros, his choice of platform has remained a career constant. Big City Pictures is an Apple shop, from the dual 1GHz Power Mac G4 running Mac OS X that’s the company standard for production stations, to the DVD Studio Pro software that runs on them.
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