By Michael Goldstein
In the world of video marketing, the options are vast, the pricing confusing, and the results at times are hard to measure. In addition to all this, there are more video production companies to work with then there are Christmas flavored lattes, and they are all promising you the same thing; “We make the best videos.” Yet, despite the similarity in claim from one company to the next, you might find while shopping for a video production one thing seems to change considerably, cost. Where does this magic number come from? Is someone trying to rip you off? Does this company make crap videos? I cannot speak for all video production companies, but in an attempt to de-mystify cost of production, I thought it would be helpful to go over the basic things that can raise, or lower the cost of making videos. In this series of blog posts I will break down individual things to consider regarding keeping your shoot in budget. Length: Whenever a client asks me how long their video should be, my answer is always the same- As long as it needs to be, and not a second longer. Unless you are working within a television commercial time constraint, web videos really have no limit. So, why not talk it up? You have a great product or service, so let’s do a song and dance for the next hour, throw it up on You Tube, and let the people see your business for the glory that it is! Problem is, it is very unlikely people will stick around to watch the whole thing. And if they can see the total running time of the video is long, it might turn them off to watching it at all! Brevity is key, especially with promotional videos. Keeping your video production short and sweet can not only save you money, but it will increase the likelihood that a potential customer or client will watch the video all the way through and get your message across to them. After all, if a video falls in the woods, and no one is around to see it, does it really make a difference?
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A few months back, our client, Jerry’s Artarama, contacted us about writing and producing a commercial for the animal-friendly paintbrush company, Black Swan Brushes. What came to mind almost immediately were the Swan Lake ballet and also the film, Black Swan. Prior to working at Burning Oak Studios, I toured with the Moscow Ballet throughout the US and Canada as their photographer and video producer. I hate to admit it, but I know a little too much about ballet!
I knew I wanted to show the brand as more than just a paintbrush, but more of a sophisticated tool that performs at the highest standards. I wanted to figure out a way to parallel the perfected movements of a ballet dancer with the strokes of a paintbrush. After watching countless product commercials and ballet performances, the ideas started flowing. The idea was to build a very minimal set, similar to an artist’s studio, and have an artist paint the audience a picture while a Tchaikovsky track plays in the background. It wouldn’t be until the end of the commercial where you get the big reveal of the project. I wanted someone that was an artist, but not necessarily a painter. Since the artists face is not really seen nor as important as the brushes, I decided to use our designer, Adam. I found some reference photos online and I showed Adam what I wanted the final painting to look like. Adam customized the photo a bit and sketched it out on a large canvas. Once I figured out the best way to film the painting being created, the next step was to start filming. I directed Adam to do a combination of both long and short strokes while also using a variation of different brushes. Below is a link to the final project! https://vimeo.com/114665012 By Daniel Herzog (@HerzogDaniel) Just so I didn’t overwhelm anyone with all that content in my last blog post, I broke it up into two bits.
Later on Thursday morning, a dapper young fellow came onto the stage and dazzled us with his wit, charm, and lots of stories. Spike Jones (@SpikeJones), no not that Spike Jonze, reminded us that the power of word of mouth is still just as powerful today as it was before social media came along. The reasons are the same, but kind of different. We share things online, in order of importance, because it feeds our ego, to share information, and to evoke emotion. This is a pretty useful piece of information for those of us that share things online. Such as… videos! Videos like the Invisible Children’s KONY 2012 combine the three elements – it was packed with lots of information which pulled at our heartstrings and after sharing you felt pretty good about yourself. Like you’ve done your part to help the world today. Maybe that’s why it has almost 100 million views! Swap the order (emotion, information, ego) and these are the reasons we share things offline – ya know, face to face. Even though it is the old fashion way, conversation is still where 90% of brand talk is happening. Never forget that the two affect each other and each can lead to good and bad movements within your brand’s community. When the bad talk happens, remember customer service rules. When the good talk is happening, don’t just leave it alone. Spread the news! If you have consumers that are passionate about your organization, you have a lifetime member of your brand community. Thanks again for a great conference Triangle AMA! As a sponsor for the local Triangle American Marketing Association chapter, Burning Oak Studios was on top of the High 5 event – not only filming the two-day conference, but also attending workshops, collaborating with other creative minds, and enjoying the delicious sustenance that re-fueled us for more knowledge.
While there was much to take away from each of the speakers, I’ve been reflecting over a few major tidbits since last week. I wouldn’t want to give away all of these presenters secrets, so I’ll share what stuck out most. I was only able to attend Thursday’s session, so my High 5 started with Rohit Bhargavaexpressing, “Great trends are curated, not spotted.” The audience laughed along and agreed with most of his Top 15 Non-Obvious Trends of 2014. My favorites: 1. Media binging. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, I’m sure you can name a dozen more – all online streaming providers allow us to watch show after show after show. Studies reported that users watch an average of 2-3 shows per day. I know in my house, that’s usually all in one sitting. Until you just have to tear yourself away so you can remember to be productive again. This kind of activity allows providers to track how much we watch, what we watch, and then take that data to create shows like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, combining all of the elements we love into shows we can’t help but “binge” watch. 2. Anti- Stereotyping. Times they are changin’. Gender roles are being reversed and alternative lifestyles are becoming mainstream. More brands are seeing this and reach out to these families with commercials that show dad doing some of what we usually see as mom’s job around the house. Books encouraging a world without gender bias are flying off the shelves. Toys are gender neutral. Boys have pink painted toenails. It’s happening, so just deal with it. Thanks to the AMA for hosting and keeping us informed! Minds were loaded up with tasty information about design at the Triangle American Marketing Association (AMA)’s High Five event. Wednesday was launch day for the two-day marketing and design conference. Burning Oak Studios was not only there to film, but also to feast on the knowledge.
One of the design related presenters was Christina Beard, design consultant and author. Beard, was at the High Five event supporting her book Critiqued: An Iterative Design Experiment, which chronicles her experience developing her master thesis. The idea was simple, create poster to convey the message “Wash your hands,” however it would be her process that illustrates the idea that there are millions of ways to approach the same project. The designer took her original poster to her professor to get it critiqued, and then created a second poster based on the professor’s recommendations. She next took poster two to a second designer for another rap session A third poster was created to reflect the suggestions. This practice continues for over twenty designers over several states and two countries. The result of the experiment was twenty+ different posters with subtle and dramatic differences all with the same goal, to get folks to wash up. Christina Beard’s process yielded concepts that you can apply to your own work. Keep your mind open for possibilities; creativity can flourish when your mind is not on one track. The goal of a poster or any marketing tool is to communicate; having a conversation about said tool could lead to a stronger, cleaner message. Take in as many opinions and ideas as you can, but ultimately you as the designer are the filter that will ensure needs of the project are being met in the best way possible. For more about the Triangle AMA’s High Five Conference hop on over towww.highfiveconference.com Check out Christina Beard’s Critiqued This year, Burning Oak Studios has decided to go all out with producing our very own video blog. We’ll be discussing everything from branding in your videos, to pre and post-production, and ultimately, what to do with your completed videos. We hope you enjoy Oak Notes as much as we do, and if you have any suggestions or ideas for what you’d like to see from us – we’re all ears!
The Raleigh chapter of AIGA just wrapped up their last “Home Grown” luncheon for 2012 with a presentation on social media with Gavin O’Hara, Global Social Media Publisher for Lenovo. The computer tycoon is in the process of reinventing their brand, with a fresh, fun, and exciting new approach to marketing their machines. O’Hara’s presentation dealt primarily with using social media as a way to shape your branding.
You may not know Lenovo the company, but you have probably come across their products, the reliable Think Pad laptop and their new versatile Yoga tablet PC. O’Hara is hoping to change the company’s lack of name recognition by using social media to connect the company to the people who use their products. “The overall goal (to social media) is storytelling,” explains O’Hara. By incorporating the subject in unusual and interesting events, your product can stand out and leave lasting memories with your viewers. Social media allows you to become causal, and have some fun with your audience in way press releases won’t allow for. It is a great way to engage your viewers as well as a way to get feedback from them. Social media is often times your first line of defense against any negative P.R. O’Hara suggests that you can learn from hate comments, and often times these complaints are helpful ways to improve. There was a lot to learn, a lot of laughs, and of course a lot of food at the “Home Grown” event. We really enjoyed getting to listen and talk with the folks from Lenovo. How often do you get to take a picture with a “real live” jackalope? Local artist, Penny Pierce, came to Burning Oak Studios with a song and an idea. Before Penny even wrote the song, she knew what she wanted. The concept behind “Forever Home” was to replace the sad and depressing pet adoption commercials with something uplifting and motivating. After she wrote and recorded the song, she brought it to us. From there, Penny and our creative team crafted a music video that would tell the story of an abandoned dog being rescued.
Behind the scenes filming for Penny Pierce’s “Forever Home” music video. To get the job done, we spent several days analyzing the lyrics of the song and mapping out a storyboard. After a day of filming and a couple of weeks editing, we are pleased to share with you Penny Pierce’s “Forever Home.” Special thanks to Care First Animal Hospital on Oberlin Road and Morning Times in downtown Raleigh for allowing us to film. The star of the show is actually Penny’s very own dog, Chuckles! To see the video, click on the link: “Forever Home” A new Oak Notes episode is up! In this episode we discuss the pre-production process. After watching previous episodes you have a better of idea of how important your logo and branding can be. Now we’ll dive into how pre-production can make the filming process much smoother. Thanks for watching!
Our video blog series this year has focused so far on branding and logo design. In this episode, we take it a step further with reaching your target audience. Let us know what you think, we love to keep the conversation going!
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February 2018
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