Tony Schwartz

Tony Schwartz (1923-2008), was a master of electronic media, created more than 20,000 radio and television spots for products, political candidates and non-profit public interest groups. Featured on programs by Bill Moyers, Phil Donahue and Sixty Minutes, among others, Schwartz has been described as a “media guru,” a “media genius” and a “media muscleman.”

His book, “The Responsive Chord”, outlined his interest in the the sounds of reality and spoken word, as detail his first foray with a microphone and self-invented portable tape recorder into NYC 19 (before zip codes):

“Once I was free of Mr. Edison’s cables, I could explore the beauty of language in everyday situations and the sounds of life around us.”

Sound Lessons

I read “The Responsive Chord” by Schwartz when I was a senior. My film professor, a documentarian, recommended it. It changed my life, and my career. After graduation, a friend and I started a slideshow company. He was the pictures; I was the sound. There are no moving lips in slideshows, so I knew the sound had to be augmented with shards of reality– the noise from a hospital room, the sound of automated machines in a factory, the chattering in a meeting of the board of directors. 

Combined with simple dissolves from the pictures (using the film language of long shot, medium shot, closeup) we were able to mimic the best documentarians. People said they liked our “films.”

So Tony Schwartz’s philosophies belong in motion media as well. Music is one thing but the humming of the assembly room at a cable manufacturer is just as import in video or film as it was in slides. The picture says “people are working” The sound adds, “They’re working hard.”

Twice the message for just a little more effort. 

Courtesy of Tony Schwartz.

If you’d like to read a breezy “how to” tutorial book on the art of video production, please consider my 44 page book “The One Hour Video School (click here). It might take a bit more than an hour to read and absorb, but it has my best take on producing the kind of videos that wins awards and move audiences.

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