Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Production Planning

Planning a Video Production is the most important part of the entire pre-production stage. Although 80 % the final look and feel of your video will be determined while editing it, there are two aspects that will dictate the scripting.

  1. Determine who your target market is.
    Your audience will determine what you can and want to say

  2. Set the goal your video must accomplish.
    The goal will determine how the video is executed.


Main elements in creating a video


When you set out to create a video there are a few key elements that need to be completed.

The runtime of your corporate video. Choosing the length of your video is the first step, runtime determines the cost involved in the production process. The key here is to determine the shortest time you need to convey your message. Few people have 1 hour to watch a video, but an induction video can be 1 hour.

The writing of scripts and story board. This can be either be done by the production company or by the person within the organization responsible for public relations, marketing or in the case of an induction video the HR department. The script has to be written in a conversational manner to come across as if the information is being told.

Identifying of shoot locations. This is done by analyzing the script and deciding what shots are needed. This requires some planning and informing of site managers so that the store room or site can be cleaned and ready for shooting. Make sure the location is clean and neat and all employees are dressed appropriately.

In the event that shooting will occur in a high risk environment like a construction site make sure the videographer is educated in your company’s safety policy and has the proper PPE at his disposal.

Choosing a Voice over artist is critical part in the video, a professional voice in the chosen language or gender will affect the atmosphere of your video.

The selection of stock photos and music, will set the pace and flow of your video production.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Video Production and Marketing

Increasing your visibility and productivity this article will give you tips and advice for finding the perfect video product that will help you market your business and improve profitability in the long run. Improve your performance and get your business noticed.

There are hundreds of viable alternatives for advertising your business and one of them is video. Developing a commercial or corporate presentation for online marketing is a great way to enhance and flaunt your business. In south Africa there is many production companies to choose from that’s why we also have an article dedicated on choosing a video production company.

Video production and marketing companies goal is to provide the customer with a marketing tool that portrays your business in a professional light and drives people to buy products or make use of the services offered.

Your first step will be to identify the target market. Whether you are making a video to show at a trade show or perhaps a commercial to be shown on local television, video advertising is one of the most effective tools that you have available in the world today. But it is useless if your video does not relate to your target audience. Do the research and decide who is going to view your video.

Our advice is to see a video as a advertising campaign, production companies will have a creative team that will work with you in choosing the correct platform for your advertising campaign. This will be done with their expert advice and should cater to your individual needs as a consumer. Whether you are making a video to show at a trade show or perhaps a commercial to be shown on local television, video advertising is one of the most effective tools that you have available in the world today.

The focus should be on your capabilities and the advantages of doing business with your company. This is a very important step towards your getting the best possible video. It is a high tech way of marketing and shows sophistication in the business world that is sure to make a great first impression.
Do realize that you only have one shot at making a good first impression so it is imperative that you have a good creative team working with you.

If you are launching your business into a new market, first impressions are very important and video shows a professionalism that is hard to beat.

It is a very competitive world out there and as such your next step is to capture attention.

Depending on the delivery method of the video, you only have as high as one minute to as low as three seconds to get the attention of the viewer. Without capturing their attention, the rest of the video is wasted regardless of how awesome and informative it may be.

Make the video intriguing, leave them wanting more.

Keep the pacing of the scenes tight and to the point. Introduce some variety with the camera angles, lighting, etc.


Once you have their attention, you must communicate the benefits of your product or service, or simply deliver the message and bulk of the content you wish to convey.

If you’re doing a promotional video for your organization, you must prove and demonstrate what you do, how you’re different, and why the viewer should agree with your propositions.

Make every effort to prove your points versus talking about them.

Video is one medium that enables you to actually demonstrate your message, so take advantage of that as much as possible.


If you have kept the viewer’s attention and conveyed the benefits of your message, you must close with a strong and clear call to action.

What do you want the viewer to do with the information you just gave to them? Nothing is more fruitless and frustrating than watching a video and at the end, it leaves you asking "What was that about? What as the point of that?”

You have created a video for a purpose and with a goal in mind (ie, increase sales, branding, fundraising, entertain, etc.), so you must summarize what action you want them to take.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Promotional Video

Article Source: AD-Land Video Productions

Promotional videos are an essential internet marketing tool for any kind of business. The essence of a promotional video is to advertise your business’s advantages to potential customers. The plus side of using a promotional video on a website is that you broadcast directly to your target audience unlike traditional TV commercials where you play the numbers game. It can be used through email, search engine marketing and video sites like Google and YouTube. At trade shows, conferences even public television advertising.


This guide will help you with producing a promotional video.

Identify the goal of the video.

With some planning you can produce a video that becomes a priceless marketing tool.

The very first step is to think about what our video must accomplish. Here are a few questions to consider:

Who is the target market?

The intended viewer of any video has to be identified, in broadcast television time slots were specifically shaped for viewers but with the internet you have to create a video that will speak to your visitors.

What exactly will be shown in this video?

Will you be demonstrating a product or talking about the business as a whole. You can cover anything in a video, from testimonials of happy customers to the manufacturing process. So choose what the focus of your video.

What do you want the audience to do after watching your video?

Every video has to have a goal and that goal ultimately is the action someone takes after watching your video. Contacting your company for more information, sending the link to a friend.
Budget for producing your promotional video

To produce a high quality promotional video, you will have to consult a professional company for assistance. The best way to go about getting a budget is to get quotes from different production houses and comparing quality. Watch their show reels and see who offers you the best value for the best price.
What is the next step?

Plan Your Promotional Video

Once you have decided on a production house that will produce your video it’s time to enter the pre-production phase of your promotional web video, you’ll need to plan out how the video will look and what elements to use like graphics, illustrations, actors, spokes persons, Voice over artists. All this is very daunting but have your production house give you advice on how to best portray your products or services.

Here is a few ideas for your promotional video:


Video of your product in action- Website visitors thinking about purchasing a product love to see how it works or people using it. Create a video of your product in action

Video clip of a recent media interview- Were you recently interviewed on television? If so as long as you receive permission you can display this video clip on your website.

Video Testimonials- If you work with your client’s one on one or provide workshops, why not collect video testimonials from them.

This process includes scriptwriting and finding the right locations for your video.

Producing your promotional video

When the planning is finished it is time to get down to business.

By identifying exactly what you need for your video in the post production phase shooting for your video should go smoothly. A professional video production company will save you time and money by helping you to get the exact shots you need. This will save allot of time and money.

The Editing is where it all comes together and your final production video is completed. Your final product will have to reflect your company, brand and have a purpose.
A professional production house will cover all the aspects of the production phase and deliver a video ready to be used in any kind of marketing condition.
A few tips for your promotional video

Keep your video short. A promotional web video should be less than 3 minutes long


Keep your video interesting. A variety of shots, angles and perspectives will make your promotional web video more interesting to watch.


Advertise your promotional video. Use your other marketing media, like newspaper adverts, posters, and fliers; show your promotional video at tradeshows.


Don’t overwhelm your website visitor. Limit you’re elements to one or two per page and only use only one element that plays automatically.


Read more about : Training Video, Corporate Video, Video Production

Monday, November 9, 2009

Article - When do you need a video

Article Sourse http://www.ad-land.co.za

How a Sales Video will help your business


Innovative and effective ways to promote your business Sales Video can often be overlooked in marketing budgets yet it is one of the most important sales tools out there.

Why you need video to promote yourself.

Branding and your corporate look and feel.

We are all in competitors in our industry. Yet what makes a business really stand apart from other competitors is the people, the look and feel of the company.
Video is a perfect solution for showing of the innovative qualities that make your company unique, showing off your state-of-the-art factory in action or your professional staff working in your appealing office

Professional Presentations.

Using your corporate video within presentations is a effective way to differentiate yourself from your competitors. Playing your video at the start of a sales presentation is a great way to connect with your audience.


Exhibitions

If your business is always exhibiting at a trade show and want to stand out in the crowd a corporate video will give you the edge when drawing attention to your service offerings.
Giving you the ability to show live demonstrations of your products in use in their respective industries. Playing a video of your business at trade shows is one of the best ways a passer by can learn about your business.

International business

International buyers can’t see your factory or facilities or your staff at work. Providing them with a corporate overview just by presenting them graphs financial reports and statistics wont help you convey the feel and look of your business.


Demonstrating your products and services

When your product is to large to fit into a briefcase, don’t rely on a brusquer or the clients imagination. You need a product video that can show your products work, perform, its reliability, and demonstrate in which it operates.


Read more about Ad-land Video Production services and how we can help you get your business noticed.

Tips for making a training video

Tips when making a Training Video

Educate, inform and motivate your staff.


  1. The script is your starting point in any training video, getting the right message across.

    Speaking in the language they understand.

    Make sure the video stays fresh with new forage do not use the same clip over and over again.

    Use graphics and titles to keep their attention and emphasize key points.

    Use lots of overlay shots, this explains procedures in more detail


  2. Find the best way to engage with your viewers


    Use a professional voice for the narrator to talk the staff through what’s happening.

    Do not use complicated dissolves and effects in the video, this distracts the staff from the message


  3. Make sure you have all the footage you need.


    If a voice-over mentions a form on the video make sure that there is a shot of the appropriate form being filled in. When explaining safety procedures ensure that the person or actor is wearing the right safety equipment.

    Make use of 3D animation or trained stunt men to illustrate any kinds of dangers and what could happen if the procedure is not followed.


If your business has a diversity of people use titles in English and have the voice over in their native language.

Provide a summary of what was discussed at the end of the video.

This will account for any specific procedure, situation or simulation being presented to the staff.


Read more about video

Create a Good Video Production

There are many powerful and high quality Image ways to communicate let us look at online video.

In the last few years, our industry has seen a huge rise in the use of videos online; to address this change we are going to give you a few hints on creating a great video for buyers on the internet, to help you create a successful video.


  • Focuses on action - Always think about action-about what you require your audience to do, building your video close to that action. Failure is the outcome of a lack of focus.


  • Be effective - for people to remember your message-focus on a individual power point and deliver it as truthfully and as entertainingly as you can


  • Connect with your audience - and roll everything in human terms-make it something your next-door neighbor can connect to, finishing with a healthy conclusion that reemphasizes your theme. When you have an idea for your video recording, you will recognise it is the correct one if you can answer "yes" to each of the following points.


  • Runtime of your video - Choosing the length of your video is the first step, runtime determines the cost involved in the production process. The key here is to determine the shortest time you need to convey your message. Few people have 1 hour to watch a video especially online keep it short and focus on key point


It is a very competitive world out there and as such, your next step is to capture attention.

Depending on the delivery method of the video, you only have a small window of time to grab the attention of the viewer, without capturing their attention.


  • Make the video intriguing leave them wanting more.

  • Keep the pacing of the scenes tight and to the point. Introduce some variety with the camera angles, lighting, etc.


Once you have their attention, you must communicate the benefits of your product or service, or simply deliver the message and bulk of the content you wish to convey.


  • If you are doing a promotional video for your organization, you must prove and demonstrate what you do, how you are different, and why the viewer should agree with your propositions.

  • Make every effort to prove your points versus talking about them.

  • Video is one medium that enables you the ability to demonstrate your message, so take advantage of that as much as possible.

The power of structure is essential start with a powerful, attention-grabbing lead, clearly stating your subject in the first minute. Use soft changeovers to link one section to another. In the commentary, use action verbs, varying them in a passive voice to active verbs but keep adjectives and adverbs to a minimum.

A standard has been set by the media of today, if it is not interesting people tend ignore it and move on to the next thing on their list of things to do. Video makes people stop and take notice, it is also the reason why adverts are based and created on a demographic scale, products are sold with the use of characters specifically designed that the marketing company thinks their target market can relate to. The same goes for the corporate environment in today’s world.

Find out more about video production