Janet Smith
The fax and the trannie have, at last, been declared terminal, allowing designers, advertising agencies, publishers and print- media journalists to clear their desks of extraneous matter to make way for offices with more feng shui than filing cabinets.
A colour-burst revolution is under way in this country, changing the way in which the media will receive photographic and publicity material and cutting down on the need to use the busiest filing cabinet of all – the dustbin.
Young Johannesburg company, CR Interactive, has made a particularly sharp entrance into the marketplace with its drive towards better productivity among designers who now have access to the finest in CD-ROM technology.
CR Interactive also operates a vibrant, professional web site linked to a press office site where related press release material, pictures and updated information can be accessed on international product distribution.
The three-year-old company, run by 24-year- old Dimitri Cavaleros, is known especially for introducing the PhotoDisc range of royalty-free stock photography to this country, keeping South Africa on par with the rest of the world in terms of technology and design using CD-ROM. In the past, designers, agencies, publishers and journalists had to buy rights, usually limited to a year, to pictures that could not be manipulated. PhotoDisc allows accessors to use photographic material without paying royalties – and for an extended period of time. Users can also manipulate the pictures in any way they choose, which creates infinite possibilities for the application of photographs.
CR Interactive’s animation series produces moving icons for web designers who are able to download numerous images off CD-ROM. Test Strip allows for colour correction, which makes it much easier for designers to envisage the end results. Auto FX software offers hundreds of pre-programmed images from which to choose, cutting down on time, cutting client costs and giving designers more space to come up with the right concept and idea. And Terra Forma creates high- quality customised maps of the world, its continents and countries.
The digital quality of CR Interactive’s design software products is described as exceptional by industry users and, as the first company in this country to supply broad base design software, their impact on the market is intense.
Take a look at CR Interactive online, headlined creative software for creative people, on http://www.crionline.com
Meanwhile, entertainment journalists in South Africa are benefiting from the use, albeit limited at the moment, of CD-ROM as an exclusive publicity tool. American entertainment companies send CD-ROM packages including brilliant photographic material that can be downloaded, as well as beautifully-compiled information featuring music and clips from the film or programme being promoted.
Dreamworks SKG sent out an impressive CD-ROM package via United International Pictures to hype its latest big screen release, Amistad. The international satellite TV channel, Discovery, has long been using CD-ROM as part of its top-drawer service to the journalistic community. Much of the material on CD-ROMs such as these can be used as a library and referencing source.
Ster-Kinekor has taken the more cautious route by posting its publicity on the Net in restricted sites which require a password from media users to access photographs, information, previews, reviews and interviews. By April, Ster-Kinekor will cease to use hard copy and trannies, and all entertainment journalists in South Africa will be required to tap into the restricted sites from which they can download information and pictures for copyrighted use.