A friend of mine likes to say, “experts make it look easy.” When we don’t understand the process behind a finished product, we tend to underestimate the time it takes to produce what we see. I’m as guilty of that as anyone else.
I am often asked by clients to make a ‘quick change’ to an existing video, let’s say to change a header or a title. Here’s why that isn’t actually always a quick process. If Capture Video is currently working on the project, and all the original footage is still on our system, changes can happen quickly. The problem with time happens when the change requested is for an older, archived project, or for a video produced elsewhere.
When I am given a DVD to work from, for example, first it has to be ‘ripped’ to my computer. That means taking the video off the physical DVD and creating a useable electronic file. That takes time. Once it is on the computer, it has to be converted to a file format that works with our editing software and then imported into that software.
Once I have the video in a format I can work with, then I can start to make changes. I first need to determine the font and style of the existing titles so I can match them. If there are stylistic features, such as a title that fades out, I have to find the exact place that the fade begins and ends, which sometimes requires covering some extra footage on either side. Then I can put the new title over the old title.
If that is the only change, then I can export the video again from my editing software as a new DVD file format. From there, the file is imported into the software that creates the physical DVD. DVD’s have options such as be menus and chapters, that need to be created all over again. Once the DVD features have been added, you can burn a new DVD.
Depending on the length of the video, that ‘simple change’ can take 2-4 hours. Video files are large, and video production is complicated. Simple changes take time.
When you are completing a project, give some thought to whether or not you’re likely to need to change anything in the next six months or so. If you know a change is coming down the road, talk to your video production company about keeping the project on their system. This is a space issue so it may not be possible, but if it is, it can save time.
Capture Video is dedicated to supporting customers in having exactly the products they need for their marketing and training needs in Northern Virginia.
The internet is a fantastic resource. Information, pictures, everything we could need to know about a topic is all out there. YouTube, as the second most popular search engine, featuring videos on every possible topic, is of course dear to my heart.
I often have clients who want to incorporate online videos into their own presentations. The question of permissions aside, using a video from Youtube comes with some complications. If all you want to do is play the video from Youtube, or use it as is, that is fine. The trouble comes when you want to edit it, or integrate it with other, original footage or graphics.
When you post a video to Youtube, it gets compressed. It has been made smaller. After all, online you can expect that people are viewing the video on something between a 3 inch smart phone screen and a 21-inch flat screen monitor. When you expect the final image to be that small, the amount of resolution you need to see it clearly is pretty low. The problem is, the details aren’t there if you try to integrate that compressed footage into a full size project.
Think of a t-shirt. That fabric stretches quite a lot, but the more you stretch it, the thinner the fabric becomes. The holes in the weave become more visible. The whole piece becomes more see-through.
Similar to the two images above. The first is a still from a recent corporate video shoot, as it was captured. The second is from the same shot, only enlarged. You can see a loss of image quality and some graininess in the second image that doesn’t occur in the first one.
That’s what happens when you enlarge a compressed video. You can make the display any size you want, but that doesn’t change the size of the actual file. The details just aren’t there. I know we’ve seen tv shows find remarkable details in the footage from a traffic camera or a cell phone image. I’m afraid that only happens on TV – or possibly at some super secret government agencies, but most video companies don’t have that kind of backing.
When you’re looking at online video as a resource, it’s important to consider how critical the image quality is going to be in your presentation.
Capture Video provides the highest quality video solutions to businesses in Northern Virginia. Contact us about marketing materials that make a statement at every size.
Many corporate videos are shot onsite at company headquarters. That can solve a lot of location problems though, depending on how happy staff is to have their office space invaded, it can cause a few other issues! But that’s a post for another day.
If you are not staying at your usual offices, here are a few things to think about when you’re deciding where you’ll go.
Choosing your location:
Like what you wear, the location of your video is part of how you present yourself. What message are you trying to convey? If you are trying to sell expensive services, then you’ll want to have a location that says “high end” without question. Are you a life coach? You may want to choose a quiet, attractive home office. Your Yoga video may work wonderfully in a local park, or feel better in a studio. Make sure your scenery fits your story. Read the rest of this entry »
A question that regularly comes up in an initial consultation with a prospective client is “How much does it cost to do a two minute video?”
The answer is, what kind of video? They may have priced things by the minute way back in the old days of actual film, but today, with modern editing options, the length of the finished product doesn’t give any idea how much effort went into creating it. It isn’t about length, it’s about content.
If you have one person talking to one camera, that’s pretty easy and relatively inexpensive. Is a talking head all you need though? It might be, if there is a prepared statement to be read, or you’re presenting a personal image. If you have a lot more people, statistics, new equipment, or anything else that needs to be shown in a dynamic way, the complexity, and subsequently the cost, increases.
The function of your end product will really affect the pricing. How are you planning to use this video? Is it going to be on a huge HD monitor at a live event? Is it for broadcast or the web? Is it for internal use only? Capture Video can help you determine budget, but it is mainly based on how high end the video needs to be, how glossy.
The cost is also affected by the size of the production. How many cameras will be needed? How long is the shooting day? How many times will the crew need to set up or take down? For example, if you’d like a record of a major conference, does each room need a separate camera, camera operator, possibly even a sound mixer? Does everyone need to work the entire length of the conference day, or is the evening reception less important? If you’re shooting an advise video for your blog, you might only need one camera operator for a half day, or you might need a teleprompter with operator and a hair and makeup person, depending on how you want the end video to look.
So, when the question is, “how much for a video,” my first question back to you is going to be, “for what kind of a video?”
This was a full day HD video shoot, with one camera and operator, at multiple locations. Post production included some basic titles for opening and closing as well as lower thirds to identify interviewees.
Capture Video expresses your brand and supports your goals. Our video services cover every aspect of new media production, from concept to final cut on DVD, Blu-Ray or the Web.
We provide video productions services for Northern Virginia and the entire DC Metro area.
A word that isn’t always understood the same way between videographers and customers is ‘animation’. Animation just means graphics that move. Many people jump straight to dancing teapots.
Not that dancing teapots can’t tell a good story; using animated characters to tell a story works very well and can be a great way to simply explain a complex subject. What we think of as cartoons are often created on a low budget using 2D animation (think South Park), but have recently started being created using the more expensive 3D animation (think Coraline). Still, most companies are not going to want to present their product, service, or information using a cartoon. A 2D or 3D animation using corporate branding might serve to deliver the message more effectively.
Storytelling is an art form as old as humanity. We have always told stories and we continue to tell stories because they resonate with us as people. Every culture has stories that everyone knows and understands and even a brief reference to them evokes a certain set of feelings, or actions, or memories.
In US culture, many of the stories that everyone knows and can resonate with are taken from popular media. A character will have a specific tag line, or a way of speaking that we can emulate and anyone who hears us will understand not only what we are saying with our words, but the cultural context that we’re bringing in by referencing that character.
This can be a very effective tool for internal corporate videos. I see this often in Real Estate, banking, and other kinds of business, where the management wants to motivate a large group en masse. By referencing popular TV show or commercials in a video, you can create an immediate response, by banking on the story the audience already knows. It can be done subtly or overtly with humor, but either way, the connections are made.
Sometimes one little decision takes your life in an unexpected direction.
Jessica Piscitelli Robinson is at her heart a storyteller, whether she is on stage with Better Said than Done, or creating marketing videos as the owner of Capture Video.
Growing up, she wavered between her love of visual arts and her love of writing. She always knew one of those things was going to be her career. Then she got an opportunity that showed her she wouldn’t have to choose.
Her high school offered a video production program, Communication Arts and Science Training (CAST). For two years, in exchange for 3 classes, CAST students could work with a local TV station learning to write, direct, shoot, edit and produce video. Jessica fell in love with it. Here was an opportunity to combine visual and written art, both the things she loved best. She says “The videos started out very, very bad, but we didn’t care!”
Jessica stuck with it. She went to NYU and studied film and television production. Once she received her BFA she went to work in the New York City film industry working on indie films and commercials. After three years she realized that she loved the production process, but she didn’t love the film industry hours. She joined a video production company and found her niche. In 2000 Jessica moved to Virginia and started her own video production company, Capture Video.
She still loves creating. Both her passions come together when she writes scripts and sees the video process through to completion, but one of the best parts of the process is the constant exposure to new concepts. “I get to learn new things with every new customer and project. You really need to understand their business and product or service so you can help them. It could be a scientific process or how to make concrete or how to navigate child protective services, but I’m always learning something new.”
When you’re looking for something new and creative, take a look at Capture Video!
Have you thought about videotaping your live event? It can be a versatile investment.
Video recordings let you use the content for multiple purposes. Presentations can be reviewed and analyzed for effectiveness or to refine content for future opportunities. If your event generated ticket sales, you can sell copies of the recorded sessions for anyone who was unable to attend. Or you might just want to offer some of the sessions online, gratis, as a thank you to your members or attendees.
Some of the best marketing for next year’s big live event is footage from this year. Show the highlights from this year. Clips from your best and/or most prestigious speakers and attendees, snippets with the best lines or the most interesting visuals, crowds of happy faces networking and mingling to generate buzz and interest.
‘Graphics’ means a lot of things in video. Any time words or pictures are added over the video, or before or after the video, that’s graphics. Most professionally produced videos include them. It enhances the polished look of the final product.
The most common graphic in a business video is the opening title. Here is what you are about to watch, the name of the video, the relevant information and/or the logo and branding information relevant to the video. This is sometimes a stagnant image, like a slate, but is often animated, with music and/or voice over starting while the title animation draws the audience in. The closing title, or the last thing the audience will watch, is the next most common graphic, and is usually a great place to leave a last thought in the mind of your viewer.
The quality of the audio is one of the things that really makes the difference between a professional recording and something that looks, or more specifically, sounds, like a home video. Using top quality microphones gives you high quality sound, and allows the audience to really hear your message loud and clear.
One microphone commonly used in professional video recording is the lavaliere microphone, often referred to simply as a lav. This is the little clip on that you see on many TV news anchors and on interview shows. Lavs can be wireless or wired. Wireless can sometimes have interference from other wireless devices, like cell phones, but are generally pretty resilient. However, in areas of bad interference, a wired mic could be employed.
Boom mics are the ones that you can sometimes see in a movie, that really shouldn’t be in the shot. If you’re shooting a scenario, where the audience isn’t supposed to notice the technology (like a lavaliere microphone), you use a boom mic, so the fourth wall isn’t broken. A boom mic usually requires 2 people, the boom operator, who makes sure it is in the right places, and a sound mixer or engineer, who records the audio and levels it. Read the rest of this entry »
