There you are.

I know. I'm sorry.
It took me a while to catch up.

I just need to see the rest
a couple of times.

So what's up?

That's up. Front.

That the billboard?

Oh, what about it?

DVDs.

I wonder how to make billboards.

And I want to make advertising
so large.

And I wonder how to get them up
there.

Well, I guess I need to try
to find Lamar.

Cool.

Lamar, you know the name
that's on all the signs

but you just hang here.

I'll be right back.

Man. There are billboards
everywhere,

but I don't see anybody
working on the outside

Hey, uh, I'm
sorry to barge in on you

like this, but,
uh, my name's Steve, and I, uh,

I do a television show called
Eye Wonder, and friend of mine

was curious

about how billboards are made,
but I can't find any.

You guys do make billboards
here.

Billboards are especially
welcome to Lamar Advertising.

Thank you very much.
I'm Scott Shopping.

This is at a moment. Hi.

How you know? Nice to meet you.

What are you guys working on?

Are you guys working on
a billboard?

We're working on a billboard.

We'll try to tell you
what the process entails.

We've got a blank template
that are account executives.

You want to fill in the top
into a particular customer,

they then
will gather information

about what
the customer's needs are

and come back with a very rough
thumbnail sketch

and give it to Adam

so that he can literally create
a billboard on his computer.

Okay.

From there,
they they already have decided

they like the design.
Or how does that work?

We'll take the actual billboard
itself.

Oh, wow.
It's like a little billboard.

That's a miniature tool
so that we can

take it to the client
and get their approval.

Make sure they're satisfied
with the design

and then we will take that
and put it on this

or send it via
email to the printing source.

Really? You email it to them
and they print it up. You bet.

So you actually have some bigger
billboard somewhere here?

We sure do.
They're hidden in the back.

Do you think I can see.
Why not go check them out.

Thanks a lot.

So this is a billboard.

This is a billboard
that just happens

to be inside our warehouse.

Okay. Well, how big is this?

That is 370 square feet

from 36 feet wide.

Okay. What is it
actually made up?

I mean, what is this material
that would or.

This is that vinyl substrate
underneath it.

There's a metal section,
so you can hear the metal

underneath it.

It's like a large copper canvas
that's stretched

out over the side of the metal
sections underneath it.

Well, how did they get the image
on to the vinyl?

Well, if you can see this,
you can see a dot pattern.

And this is basically computer
generated.

There are various companies
that do this.

If you look at it very closely,
it's a blurred image.

And of course,
when you think about billboards,

they're not meant to be viewed
close up

through
meant to be viewed far away.

At a distance.

Everything gets crystal clear.

Wow. That is really neat.

Now, there are all billboards
printed on this vinyl substrate.

Now we've got

about half of our billboards
with the vinyl substrate.

The other half actually
have a paper substrate.

To use out. Here.
We certainly do.

Can we see that? Sure.
Let's go see that now. Great.

Cool.

What is this technique called?

This is gluing poster paper

This is a completely different
substrate.

This is a paper product
compared to the vinyl

we looked at earlier. Right.

We pull it through this machine,
and this is a storage space

to tear the base
glue Really nice and slimy. Wow.

Good adhesive qualities,
but something that also won't

stay stuck for a long, long
period of time.

Okay, Terry.

Well, we're back here and pull
the paper through the machine.

Glue it put up in banks.

Our fellows
will take it in our truck

and put it up on a billboard.

Can we see some getting glue?

Absolutely.

I Well, so

why would they use this
technique

as opposed to the one
you just showed me out there?

Well, this type of time where
we sell in 30 day increments

So we need something
that can stay stuck for 30 days.

It's not going to face up
to 12 months

because we're reselling the
advertising space every 30 days.

What you saw Terry do is he took
basically enough sheets

to make a 240 square foot
billboard.

Okay.

There are ten different shapes
that when our guys go out

put together,

just like putting

a jigsaw puzzle together
and presto, you get a billboard.

So do you guys printed
stuff here in-house?

No, we, we basically go to
outside sources

on both the poster paper
and the vinyl substrate.

Hey, my name is Steve.

Compared to an L.A. graphic.

Oh, nice to meet you.

I'm trying to find out
how billboards are made.

You guys print billboards here?

Yes, we do.

And we print a lot of other sign
applications, too.

Cool.

So when you guys get a job in to
print for a billboard company,

how does it arrive?

Well, this is a lot like
your home printer application.

In fact, you'll see some very
large printers here today.

They're nothing more than 16
foot home printers,

but we receive our files,

the electronic transfer
from our customers, from

computer type files, our Adobe
illustrator, CorelDraw, all EPS.

And they come in to us.

Either the e-mail or are
they come to us in advance.

And then we go down
into our computer room

where we do
the manipulation of the files

to get them ready to go on the
the printing machine.

So then once it's ready,
they send it to a printer.

Like,
like this one over here. Yes.

This looks like

a just

a really large printer

that one would have
in their house, just like you're

connected to your PC.

Well, just as we can blow up
the image to be 5000 square feet

if you need it, this is really
just a blown up printing device

that has the capability

of printing size of this one
to 16 foot in length.

So how does it work now?

This is the same vital material
that we've seen at

the Billboard factory.

That's correct.
So then it just print.

That looks just like the printer
in my and my house.

Right.
Little more conflict, right?

The inks are
a lot more expensive,

but basically
the technology is similar.

So explain to me
about the resolution here.

Now, I understand

there's a lot of little
dots there and it doesn't look

like much of an image
from from this point.

Well, that's
that's one of the keys

of knowing
the sign in the street

is knowing
the resolution of your time.

We have machines that can print
in the lowest well, that's free

or up as high as $360 for them.

And really, you need to know
the application.

The farther away that you're

going to view the sign,
the less resolution you need.

That's amazing

that this is going to be a sign

that you can actually read
on the highway

that actually someone can
actually generate business from.

Correct. Well, thanks a lot
for showing you this.

I really appreciate it. And

I'm going to get
back to the Billboard factory.

Okay. All right. Good having you

Hey, thanks for
send me to the printers.

It was really amazing
seeing how the print

on such a large substrate.

Has a fascinating process.
And it. Sure.

If in fact, it was this one also
printed on the same mechanism.

No, this is actually
a little different.

This is usually the style
that we had been using for 20

or 30 years.
It was hand-painted.

We actually had artists
of the hand-painted in our shop.

So someone actually.

Planting. Absolutely.

And we've actually recycled it
because this is a customer

that's had

this particular design
on different locations

throughout
the Columbia community.

So what's going to happen
to it now?

I'm going to send you out
with Mike

and the operations crew,

and you're actually going to see
this being installed

on one of our billboards
out on the streets.

Fantastic.
Thanks a lot for your help.

Have a great day.

You bet.

Hey, your name's not
Mike, is it?

Yes, it is. Hi, I'm Dave.

Mr. al-Zarqawi

sent me out here to see you guys
putting up the sign, right,

that I just saw
back at your shop.

Where is where is it right now?

Matter of fact, we've already
hoisted it to the platform.

Really?

The guys are in the process

of dropping the old one
and putting out the new one.

What it consists of those three

guys are two guys at the top,
one on the outside platform.

Okay.

The guys go through,

they pull the ratchet
straps off, which are.

We have 12 of these ratchet
straps across the top 12

across the bottom
and three on each side.

There's a three inch
pocket sewn into the model.

Three quarter inch grip.

A ball goes in a 12 foot
grip of our forearm

on the top or on the bottom
one on each side.

They take these loops,
they take the grip of our about.

They drop the bomb
onto the platform,

get on the platform, rolls
it up, throws it off the side.

They get that done,
they pull the new vinyl up,

they put raw,

then pull it out to the car
and they put 12 of these

back on the top.

The side
that put three on each side

and then wrap the bottom up.

So it looks like
you guys are just about done.

That's it.
That's the way it's done.

All right. Well,
I'll let you get back to work.

I really appreciate
you explaining it to my TV.

Good to see you.

Good to see you,
Will. See you. All right. Bye.

Wow, that was great.

I can't believe what they do.

Just what?
Drama city in advertisment.

Yeah, it is pretty amazing.
You know what?

Come to think of it.
I need a billboard.

I mean, I wonder. Needs one.

I tell you what, you came up
with the thumbnail, then I.

Get real DV. Okay.

I wonder if you can answer
these questions.

Yeah.

What is the original idea
or design for a billboard call?

Billboards are printed on
what to materials

What does resolution mean?