Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511270089
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
During a time of budget cutting and downsizing, McCarthy has to do more than what was once expected. In addition to the training and quality control videos he has always produced for the plant, McCarthy is making videos for outside companies such as Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. in Dublin and Longwood Elastomers Inc. in Wytheville.
The money from the extra videos - the price is approximately $1,000 per finished minute - goes directly into the ammunition plant. McCarthy said the outside work has literally paid his salary.
"In this kind of tight economy, something like this may or may not be considered a luxury," McCarthy said of his department.
In 1992, Congress passed a defense appropriations bill that directed Army facilities like the Radford plant to examine ways private companies could use its facilities. The bill also provided the Defense Department with $200 million to persuade private companies to use government-owned ammunition plants for production.
In January of this year, the Army signed a facilities contract that allowed Hercules Inc., the private company that ran the arsenal until Alliant Techsystems Inc. took over earlier this year, to bring in private companies. In August, Alliant transferred its gunpowder manufacturing operations from its Kenvil, N.J., plant to Radford.
Nicole Lamarr, public affairs spokeswoman for the ammunition plant, said McCarthy's commercial videos fit into the ammunition plant's goal of reducing overhead costs and merging private business with the government.
"The driver of all this was the arms act," Lamarr said. "The bottom line is bringing in commercial business for what was once just a military facility."
McCarthy started making marketing, training and quality control videos for other companies around the time the facilities contract was signed. He did not advertise his services but was able to gain a steady side business through word of mouth.
Though he is always working on at least one outside video, McCarthy can only take on so much business because his work at the ammunition plant must come first. He usually hires one or two college students to help him complete the corporate videos - or at least to help carry the cameras, tripods and lights.
It takes about two weeks to shoot the videos, and another three weeks of post-production work. The extra work keeps McCarthy more than busy, but he enjoys the diversity.
"I'm not the lone ranger," said McCarthy, who came to the plant after working at Roanoke's Public Broadcasting Station as a producing director. The plant downsized across the board, he said. "Everybody's had to get used to doing more with less."
McCarthy's domain at the ammunition plant consists of a tape library stuffed with videos he has shot for the plant (he averages 40 a year), a small office with a wooden desk, a small studio and a room filled with televisions and video equipment.
One of his prized possessions is a large collection of compact discs he uses to set the tone and mood of his videos. A company called Capital Music provides the music specifically for things like safety videos. With titles like "Hostile Takeover," "Urban Dynamics" and "Country Afternoon," you just can't lose.
McCarthy points to a song called "Day Break" to explain how he sets the mood. "You know that's real soft and gentle," he said.
In his informational video for Volvo GM, McCarthy used an upbeat tone to show off the shiny red, yellow and blue trucks coming out of the Dublin plant. An authoritative male voice says, "Each job is important and essential to the continuing success of our New River pant."
During the next few months, McCarthy also will be using these tools to make the arsenal's first marketing video. He will use the slick graphics, snappy tunes and aggressive pitches employed in other corporate videos to sell private companies on the ammunition plant's vacant buildings, working utilities and undeveloped land.
It will be "slick, lots of edits, graphics and a golden voice," McCarthy said.
"Facilities use is the main emphasis."
by CNB