Practice Segment Timers Bring Benefits to Sports Training

The key to any winning team is always involved in practice to perfection. One of the major challenges of all practice sessions is to actually have a measurement of progress. Today’s technologies bring new and easy methods to gauge the level of success through Practice Segment Timers. Timers allow you to set your own goals, focus on the areas and team players that may need improvement and see the results.

Electronic timers have come a long way from the days of a stop watch or if you attended a game in the past, you might have viewed the old stop clock at the stadium. The manually observed and activated stop watches used in the past have been replaced with high tech quartz clocks that bring automation and precision to your sports training sessions. The digital electronics are self-contained, can be preset and changed on a whim through programmable logic software.
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Strategies for Excellence in Outdoor Scoreboard Advertising

There are definite differences between sports scoreboard advertising in outdoor versus indoor venues. When you are planning your advertising project, you will need to take the variances into consideration for the best presentation and results. The purpose of your sports scoreboard advertising is to attract and keep the attention of the viewers and have them remember the sponsors that are supporting the team or school.

Indoor sports scoreboards typically have a controlled environment that you can use to your advantage. Adjustments can be made for low or high lighting with resolution changes in color. The LED’s on the sports scoreboard have such an excellence in technology that they can often overcome the challenges. Check and confirm your audio acoustics to ensure that any announcement doesn’t echo or reverberate as well as the decibel level. You should always test your scoreboard advertising prior to the game(s) and remember that a live performance will have a higher external noise factor. Indoor advertisement will allow you to do more extensive ad campaigns, as you won’t have as much external interference as outdoor venues. This is the environment where those higher resolution videos can come into play.
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Bringing the HD Sports Scoreboard Experience to the Fans and Field

HD ScoreboardsCompetition on the sports fields continues to be incredibly fierce. As each new season approaches, stadiums and fields battle to offer a supreme game experience for the fans. In today’s world of technology, this now means moving from a standard sports scoreboard and into the world of HD. The expectation of the fans needs to be addressed with every technology available.

Sports Authority Field at Mile High is known to be the home of the Broncos, but the addition of the new 220 ft long and 40 ft high HD video scoreboard will elevate this field to the third largest NFL scoreboard in the country. There is an almost 1,500 ft ribbon display that spans the field at club level, a sound system that guarantees the best audio quality and the installation of over 1,000 flat screen displays around public places and stadium concourses. Continue reading “Bringing the HD Sports Scoreboard Experience to the Fans and Field”

Creating a Brand-Choosing your Colors

Scoreboards ColorsIn today’s world of marketing, branding is everything and this is a particularly important topic when it comes to color choices. Branding goes beyond the idea of just using your school or team colors and enters into the area of psychology. Colors make an impression and, depending upon color selections and combinations, it can be a complete loss or a total win. Research has shown that between 62% and 90% of people will make immediate judgments based on color, so you want the first reaction to be the right one.

The first thing you need to consider in color choices for your branding is your target audience. Younger people are attracted and react to colors in a different way than middle aged people. If you have a combination audience, remember to think beyond trend colors. These colors will quickly go out of fad and if you make the wrong choice, your scoreboard will look very dated.
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Electro-Mech Now Offers Scoreboard Leasing Options

Leasing ScoreboardsLeasing has become a more popular option in business decisions today. From extensive trade show floor displays to automobiles, there is often a more cost-effective aspect to a leasing choice as opposed to a full purchase. Due to popular request, Electro-Mech is now offering your school, team or stadium the choice of leasing an electronic sports scoreboard.

Electronic sports scoreboards are often included as part of the marketing budget. Everyone knows that today’s concept of marketing is changing on a quarterly basis. The demands of branding, technologies and overall appeal may be lost if the budget can’t keep up. An investment in a quality electronic sports scoreboard will be a reflection of your school, team, field or stadium and you need to maintain appearances with competition for sponsorship at such a high level.
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Electro-Mech Sports Scoreboards are ETL Tested and Approved

You may have seen the ‘ETL’ logo on products but may not be aware of the actual testing and approval process that goes into getting approved. All Electro-Mech products are tested and receive flying passing colors through the ETL safety process, and this is an important consideration when choosing a reliable and quality sports scoreboard.

The ETL Mark on your electronic scoreboard proves that the product has passed rigorous testing processes for safety and efficiency. The ETL safety checking service actually began during the time of Thomas Edison. The testing process was established in the Edison labs to ensure that the products passed all safety factors and were of a level of quality to produce on the market. The ETL service has continued to this day and is an international testing, inspection and certification organization.
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LED Scoreboards bring return on investment through electric bill savings

The term ‘LED’ has entered mainstream dialogue and almost everyone is familiar with it. However, most people don’t really know what ‘LED’ lighting really is, how it works and most importantly, how it can bring big time savings in the electric bill. This is of special importance when you are talking about the subject of larger LED sports scoreboards, where an electric bill impact could reduce a budget or the savings could bring extra money where it is needed.
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Top 10 Advertising Ways to Target the College Student Crowd

College studentsCollege students and Gen Z aged young adults can be a rough crowd to appeal to in advertising. The target audience typically has a limited income, but the key thing to remember is: it’s all about the deal.

College aged young people are technologically savvy, desire to have top brands but are on a tight budget. When appealing to this demographic group, you need to be creative so that you offer an incentive to get their attention to buy, without giving away the store and losing money. One of the most attractive deals might be a BOGO (buy one, get one free) but remember your margins are slipping when you use the word ‘free’.
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Top 10 Scoreboard and Billboard Costly Advertising Mistakes to Avoid

The key to successful advertising is knowing your target audience and timing, timing, timing. Sports scoreboard and billboard marketing can be one of the best (or worst) investments, depending upon your message and timing.

Sports marketing is a completely unique concept in that the advertiser has a trapped audience for the duration of the game. Typically that can be from two to four hours, which is unlike any other form of advertising. While our society does not readily accept commercials on television, we are far more receptive to advertising from sponsors at sporting events. This can quickly turn sour if the advertising is mismatched or timed badly.
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Importance of Advertising Signs at Sports Events

Advertising and sponsorship helps to pay for the cost of the stadium, the teams and to keep the price of the tickets for each fan to a lower rate. Without advertising, there literally would not be any games or at least anything that the average person could attend.

Marketing and advertising is a critical part of the overall sports stadium and team support. Advertisers and sponsors know that they have a trapped audience to pitch their name and brand and that most of the fans are not only in a spending-mood, but appreciate the sponsors that take care of their favorite teams. The cost of building and maintaining a stadium is never covered in the price of the average ticket, but through the income that they receive from advertisers. It is a symbiotic relationship that assists in keeping a balance.
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What does it Cost to Advertise at Sporting Events?

NFL games are undoubtedly one of the top attendance sporting events around the country. With thousands of attendees and fans paying top dollar for tickets, it is no wonder that sponsors and advertisers consider these to be some of the premium venues for the year. The most well-known brands, and names vie for attention with imaginative marketing campaigns, all geared to get the fan to buy their products and spend money. Their marketing message does come at a price, as these are some of the most expensive advertising campaigns in existence.
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Billboard Advertising: Cost per Thousand Viewers

Advertising is a huge market that can make or break your marketing. The world of advertising has come a long way, with much of the analysis now being converted into more of a science. Billboard advertising is one of the oldest forms and therefore has a lot more data to show if a decision is a good one for the right return on investment (ROI). If you are considering billboard advertising, here are some easy summaries to help guide your decisions.
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Why it’s Better to Buy Scoreboards Manufactures in the USA Instead of Shopping for Scoreboards Made in China

Let’s face the facts, everyone is on a budget when it comes to choosing an electronic scoreboard. In most cases, there is quite a group of people involved in watching over the money spent and the decision is often based on investigation and results supplied by just a few individuals. The pressure may be on to purchase the cheapest electronic scoreboard, and sometimes that means looking at those made in China. But buyer beware. There is a massive downside to buying a cheap scoreboard from a foreign country that could cost you a lot more in the long run.
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Lightning and Severe Weather Warnings Broadcasts on Scoreboards

When you have thousands of people gathered in an open outdoor venue, surrounded by a lot of metallic objects, it can be a recipe for a massive weather disaster that could potentially kill hundreds. This was a topic of discussion at the University of Maryland for NOAA’s lightning and safety workshop. Based on the lightning strikes that hit and killed over fifty people in two different arenas in India and China, decisions needed to be made on protecting fans and players during some of Mother Nature’s most volatile weather.

The science of lightning can be complex, as lightning bolts can hit in a range of over ten miles from the main storm and can measure at 200,000 amps, 300,000,000 volts with a heat measurement at over 60,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightning explodes concrete out of sidewalks, blows out bricks and devastates large trees. The threat for sports venues is real and the group needed to develop a method of protection for outdoor venues.
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America’s Top Video Scoreboards

Technology is racing by at a lightning pace, with consumers demanding bigger, better, flashier and more pizzazz. Sports fans seem to be at the core as they want to experience in-stadium with the same glitz, glamour and color that they get on their home sets. Manufacturers of video scoreboards have kept pace with the requirements as they bring sports enthusiasts off the couch and into the stadiums with scoreboards that create the wow-factor. The list may change as competition increases, but here are some of America’s top video scoreboards.

One would think that the top ratings for electronic scoreboards in sports might go to football or baseball, but in reality the top three in the country are dedicated to automotive and horse racing.

Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC is home to the NASCAR Auto Racing. Their video scoreboard measures 16,000 square feet.
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Creating Scoreboard Advertising with Little or no Investment

You may think that creating electronic scoreboard advertising is an expense that is out of your reach, but with a little savvy planning, you can actually create top notch, high quality ads, with little or no investment.

Consider this: how many people do you know that have pc’s and movie cameras? The answer to what you considered a dilemma is to make use of the technology, talent, people and resources that is probably already in your grasp. In addition to lowering cost, using existing materials and talent will contribute to an earth-friendly philosophy; and this is something that sponsors will be attracted to.
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Best Practices List for Installation of Outdoor Sports Scoreboards

The correct installation of an outdoor electronic sports scoreboard is paramount to the success of the scoreboard itself. You want to ensure that your scoreboard achieves ultimate viewing status and will not require any additional manual maintenance.

Prior to receiving the scoreboard, as in real estate, the priority is location-location-location. The scoreboard should be located for equal view by any seating arrangement as well as weather considerations (wind, rain, snow). An additional topic will be whether the area is a single sport or multi-sport venue, as this can affect the right placement. If you are using audio, you will want to check the acoustics of the location as well. Other pre-installation preparations will include whether the power lines will be hardwired and buried underground (this will require approval to dig trenches for the power lines) or if you will be using wireless.
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Scoreboard Considerations for Best Efficiency

When you purchase a high quality electronic sports scoreboard, such as the Electro-Mech system, you will want to make sure that you have covered all bases of consideration to ensure the best efficiency and optimum performance for your scoreboard. We have included a few miscellaneous topics that you may not have thought of or even are aware of.
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Supporting the Earth with a ‘Green’ Electro-Mech Electronic Sports Scoreboard

The world has come a long way since the first Earth Day in 1970. It’s hard to believe that, during that era, people didn’t think twice about wasting products and considered the natural resources of the world to be eternal. The philosophies of recycling, reusing and no-waste have permeated on both the individual and business level and Electro-Mech has led the way in recycling within the electronic sports scoreboards industry.
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LED Scoreboard Advantages: Saving the Power and Money

LED lighting has come to the forefront of common use around the world. Beyond just the exciting colors, LED helps in your ‘green effort’ and is a substantial electrical savings. Schools and organizations are focused on every possible method to contribute to a continued green effort and participate in technology that supports this process. Electronic sports scoreboards have adopted LED lighting for quite some time, offering a savings over board systems that use standard lighting. The ability of the LED to withstand changes in weather, shock, extreme temperature and vibration make LED’s the perfect lighting technology for indoor and outdoor electronic sports scoreboards.
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To Use Audio (or not) for Scoreboard Videos

As a society, we are not only accustomed to experiencing excellence in technology, but we are now in a condition where we expect it. On a daily basis, we view high resolution videos with special effects and extreme sound quality. This expectation can also translate into the world of electronic sports scoreboards, where we face a few more challenges and hurdles in video displays. While we have a total environmental control when viewing a video on a pc, tablet or our smartphone, this is not the case in either an indoor or outdoor electronic scoreboard. Each venue may offer limitations and there are rules-of-thumb that can be applied for the decision as to when to add audio to scoreboard video.
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Led Vs Other Light Sources: Creating The Best Sports Scoreboard Advertising Indoor and Outdoor

The advantages of LED lighting in today’s electronic sports scoreboard supersede all display sources of the past. The high resolution, sturdy, safe and long lasting LED lights bring millions of colors to a screen, offering a clarity never before seen. The LED lights in your electronic scoreboard are not only earth-friendly, by not containing the mercury of fluorescent lights, but are recyclable. The LED lights have longevity of over 60,000 hours, and lower electricity use to bring additional savings. While the initial cost of LED lighting is higher than standard or fluorescent lights, the longevity outweighs and quickly pays for itself. The enjoyment of your electronic scoreboard will last for years to come; however, when additional lighting sources are in place, there are considerations that need to be included to give your audience and sponsors the very best indoor or outdoor scoreboard experience.
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Not All Sports Scoreboard Video Advertising is Equal: Overcoming Technology Limitations to Create a Success

Video creates a powerful connection to the viewer and accelerates the sales process for your sponsor. Statistics show that consumers that watch video are 144% more likely to buy a product or service. These are incredibly important mantras when you a considering video for your electronic scoreboard. You might be in a situation where you think you have limited technology tools to make the kind of powerful video you think that you need. There are some shortcuts and special hints that can help you on your video journey to help make your presentations look like the pros.
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Simple Scoreboard Sports Advertising Videos can Often be the Best: The Success of Less is More

You are the master of your electronic scoreboard advertising and as such, have chosen a video format for the best possible results. Now that you have made the biggest decision, you will need to tackle the topic of what kind of video advertising will do justice to your sponsors.

The stats show that video with audio bring a higher retention rate in the viewing audience. This will translate into measurable dollar return on investment for your advertiser or sponsor. Video scoreboard advertising offers a higher level of creativity, but with that you may find there are some hurdles to overcome.
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Creating Scoreboard Content: Technology Tools, Camera Sources and the Creativity

There are many variables on the topic of electronic sports scoreboard advertising and you will need to examine each one to accommodate your abilities and the requirements of the sponsors. The technology of today offers easy to use software that is available to the non-professional, and yet brings the look and feel of a professionally designed presentation. Video has been proven to not only attract but maintain the attention of the viewer over static and slide show options and brings additional repeat sponsorship.

Video software packages are now available at reasonable costs so that you can be a pro at video advertising. The technology can be pc or Mac and software such as TriCaster, vMix, Wirecast or Casper CG includes editing tools to use multi-camera sources, lighting adjustments, pixel definitions, and Auto HD. These are important factors to create the highest quality advertising.
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Scoreboard Video Advertising with Audio: Indoor vs Outdoor, Understanding the Differences

Choosing the right electronic scoreboard advertising can be both fun and challenging. As you embark in the endeavor of creating sports scoreboard ads, you will want to consider a number of options: slide show, static, streaming video, and audio. While the choice of total video with audio may be your first selection, it is not always the best, based on the type of venue you have.

The outdoor stadium presents a number of issues for electronic scoreboard advertising. You might create a top notch video, only to find the color has faded due to the variations in lighting and the acoustics are questionable due to wind and temperature. Having software that allows you to adjust for lighting and change the clarity can address the lighting problem, but the audio portion is based on volume, and that can cause additional presentation problems. If the outdoor venue is one that has consistent weather situations that affect audio, you may want to change to a slideshow or static advertising format.
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Scoreboard Advertising Video: Technologies and Tools to Create a Vision

Video advertising for sports scoreboards offer a number of positive choices and solutions. As the ‘creative engineer’ you and your advertising team will be responsible for developing quality video for your sponsors. Today’s technology allows non-professionals the ease of video creation, with some simple options available to just about everyone.

Videos can be created as a preroll video, typically in .wmv format or you can use a slideshow format with displays static single page ads. Each style uses a different type of software. The preroll video will require a computer base (laptop, pc or Mac), movie camera(s) and software such as TriCaster, vMix, Wirecast or Casper CG. Editing tools are available so that you can take the various ‘shots’ and blend, delete, enhance and duplicate as well as overdub and add music as background. Studies have shown that the preroll video format with enticing content capture and retain a larger audience than a static ad. For the advanced user, software such as MStream allows multi-screen video advertising and will stream via an electronic scoreboard as well as social media feeds. You need to keep in mind that full video advertising requires more time and dedication than a static or slideshow ad.
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Sports scoreboard Advertising Complemented with Website and Social Media

We are a society that is connected in more ways than ever before and are accustomed to instant notification, within minutes (if not seconds) of something happening. Sports scoreboard advertising is making use of the complementary formats to entice sponsors as well as fans.

There are a variety of choices and options that you have when thinking about scoreboard complementary services. The most popular has been a streaming live feed via website broadcasts. This requires that you have the camera equipment, editing software and a web tech that can not only link the live feed video, but focus in on the advertising spots. Make sure you have the support of the school or organization web master. This individual is responsible for all content and will need to be an integral part of the project. The massive popularity of smartphones offer an enhanced ability for live view and will be an enticement for sponsors as their advertising message will reach an even larger audience. If you are experiencing financial problems and have the talent but not the equipment, you can talk to sponsors to assist in helping with the technology as part of their program. Adding their name and logo in recognition of their additional sponsorship level will offer an additional advertising and marketing opportunity and elevate their position in the community.
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Sports Scoreboard Advertising: Getting Your Message to the Masses for Support

As you move into the world of sports scoreboard advertising development, you will quickly realize that you need the help of others to make your creative genius come to life! This is indeed a case of “it takes a village”, as you will need to enlist the assistance of a number of people and marketing concepts for the total success of your endeavor.

The first people that you need to look to are your internal resources. These can include Booster Clubs, Alumni, students, faculty, friends and family. These are the core groups that will often be the most receptive. Booster Clubs and Alumni already have the experience and the local business contacts. A meeting with both groups will enlighten you on the most successful campaigns as well as the most receptive sponsors. In many cases, the rest of the group is often readily available and sometimes eager to help. You will find that they are the group that needs direction, so it’s advised that you set up a plan before you start talking with them.
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Marketing 101 for Your Sports Scoreboard Advertising Success: How to Get Sponsors to Line Up and Buy

Advertising and marketing are both a fine art. Understanding the principles, nuances and variations that attract and keep attention translates into sales. The concepts are important no matter what the sports scoreboard format: static (non-changing) or video. The ultimate goal is to bring together the person viewing the ad and the sponsor for a win-win scenario.

There are five important elements in Marketing 101: audience, advertiser, message, appearance and presentation. Below is a summary of the key aspects of each of these pieces to assist you in creating scoreboard advertising that will get your sponsors to buy and bring repeat sponsorship.
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Creating the Best Content for Your Scoreboard Advertising

Marketing organizations around the globe understand a single rule-of-thumb: Advertising content can make or break the desired results of an ad. Even the most well-known and professional marketing companies have sometimes forgotten this rule.

There are a few important guidelines that need to be taken very seriously, when deciding upon sports scoreboard content for your advertising. The guidelines pertain, no matter if you are using static (non-changing) or video.
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Methods and strategies to market scoreboard advertising to your local businesses

Marketing your sports scoreboard advertising is an art, but one that you can easily accomplish to get the highest level of success. You will need to gather a team of volunteers together. This team can be members of the Booster Club, Alumni, students and even some of your sports team players. These will be the core group that will be responsible for various marketing pieces.

Establishing a presentation format to present to your sponsors will demonstrate a professional level and entice them to buy-into the program more readily. Use the expertise of your graphics design department to create a presentation type. The best format (and most cost-effective) is a PowerPoint presentation. You can customize each presentation for the unique sponsor as this will raise their level of interest when they view their logo and personal information. If you choose a brochure format, there will be printing costs associated with the project and any changes will incur more costs. Always make sure you have a contact-sheet, which can be left for the sponsor for additional questions. This may be a general phone number or a personalized business card.
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Video and Audio Scoreboard Advertising: The Tools, the Content, the Wow Factor

Video scoreboard advertising can be exciting, enticing and most of all, will grab and keep the attention of the fans. Today’s technologies offer quality production advantages to everyone, bringing the ability of creativity to the non-professional. There are some key components that you will need to be aware of, as you start out on the adventure of building video advertising for your sports scoreboard.

A first step will be to examine the type of technologies you will need for video scoreboard advertising. Today, you have many options and can blend some of the technologies. It is advised that you use a good video camera for the best resolution. Most video files are .mmv files and can be loaded via a computer as well as an outside feed. Video file technical specifications include: bit rates greater than 2Mbps, 32-bit color depth, key frames every 1 second, a frame rate of at least 15 frames per second. While 640×480 resolution is preferred, do not go any lower than 400×300 and be aware that your dimensions can be adapted to accommodate wide screen videos. If you have a low resolution, there are some software tools, such as ParticleIllusion that you can use to create the illusion of a higher res production.
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Choosing the Best Kind of Scoreboard Advertising that Works for You

Scoreboard Advertising 101 is designed to assist you in some of your choices to allow you to create the most powerful advertising messages that will capture the attention of your fans.

In setting up a scoreboard advertising ‘plan’ you will need to examine some of the following:

1. A first step is understanding the differences between indoor and outdoor sports scoreboard advertising: Indoor scoreboard advertising may offer the advantage of more controlled lighting, temperature and acoustics. This may not always be the case, as the lighting may cause poor visual quality due to indirect or bright lights that overpower. The control-factor will give you the ability to have options on the type and format of your advertising messages. Outdoor sports scoreboards require a lot more analysis of conditions, view and sound. The hurtles that you come across can be easily accomplished by making the right decisions. If acoustics are a problem, opt to choose advertising that catches the eye and grabs the attention of the viewer, without audio. When external lighting interferes, adjustments can be made in color and brightness of the ads, using editing technologies. Before you begin putting together your advertising endeavors, experiment with camera shots, angles, and both day and night lighting.
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