10ton: Creative Engagement

The team at 10ton have one motto: the web is not television. Founded by veterans of the film, ad and internet industries -- Matthew Semel, Chris Chang and Lee Semel -- they hold that one ideal true allows them to develop and create engaging, quality ad and original web content that is thoughtful, delightful and engaging.

Realizing that internet-specific video has a different audience and different motivations for advertising and entertainment purposes, Matthew Semel explains his team's simple mission. "Our goal is to create entertaining high-quality video content for the web. With all of the noise out there right now, it’s vital that web content, especially in video, offers something that is either very different or something that users will really want to see. By focusing on quality and very well-crafted ideas, we’re hoping to rise above the noise."

Their largest project to date, Carded, is a testament to the team's ability to pull together to make ideas happen, even at the last minute. "We took about four days over a few weeks to shoot the first batch of cards. It happened so quickly; we already had the cast, crew, and locations booked before we had finished scripting the cards. Knowing that we were going to have fifteen people show up in a few days for a shoot made us realize that we were going to have to take the project seriously and get all of the cards actually figured out. I wouldn’t recommend this for larger jobs or projects, but it certainly was a very strong incentive to make things happen."

In the midst of their creative process, spending time on the minutia takes a backseat to developing sturdy, innovative ideas. "The thing that has worked the best for us is throwing ourselves into a project instead of spending too much time making sure that every detail is going to be absolutely perfect. We can frequently work out the kinks later on if heart of the idea is solid."

As one would expect, collaboration plays a huge role in the team's day-to-day activities. "We often find a lot more inspiration from hearing what the others have thought of than simply staring at a blank piece of paper while waiting for the right idea to hit. What this means is that it’s extremely important for us to share many of our thoughts on a project with each other, even if they aren’t that well developed. This can be difficult, because it means that you have to be comfortable enough with your creative partners to tell them an idea that might come off sounding rather stupid."

Staying on the cutting edge doesn't come without its challenges. In such a small operation, they often find themselves wearing various hats -- something that, in the end, is absolutely worthwhile. "It’s very difficult to run a business and be creative at the same time. We all really just want to focus on ideas and execution, but since we’re a smaller company, we have had to learn a lot about publicity, marketing, and other sides of the business. While it sometimes feels like a lot of busy work, in the long-run, it’s satisfying when the non-creative work pays off."