May 16. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

You’ve seen it-Video on Google Video or YouTube, shot by someone with a consumer camcorder, it may be edited or not, and it has really bad audio.  You know, the videos that everyone wants to watch!  So, you may be thinking…”I need a video, I’ll just shoot it myself”.  That may be fine if you are going to post it on a site like YouTube, but what are you intentions for the video?  Am I trying to get new clients?  Am I trying to sell my services?  Am I launching a new product?

Now consider your skills or that of your staff.  Do they have professional video production experience?  Do they know how to properly light a scene for web video or for broadcast? Do you have a high resolution camera?

Tough questions!  Your small investment to hire a professional production company can reward you with huge dividends.  It may seem like a lot of money, but what about that first impression?  Is it worth it to have a well produced video on your website or running as a commercial on your local cable franchise?  You bet!    You can’t change a first impression.  So if you produce your own video, and it is not of the quality your clients expect, they may translate that into the quality of your product or service-you do not want that. 

So consider hiring us to produce your next video.  You’ll be surprised at how inexpensive it really is.

Ed 

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May 13. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

We all knew that internet video was huge, but, exactly how huge?  Here is a story I received in my inbox yesterday.  Web video is the wave of the future.  It is time to hop on and take the ride.  Video is a great way to reach your target audience, web distribution is almost always free.  So for a minimal investment, your company can have its video potentially seen by 139 million viewers.  That’s way more than you could ever hope for using local TV ads, magazines or newspapers and even network broadcasting. 

Thanks to the Shoot Magazine Publicity Wire for this information….

Reston, VA, May 12, 2008 | SHOOT Publicity Wire | — comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released March 2008 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, indicating that U.S. Internet users viewed 11.5 billion online videos during the month, representing a 13-percent gain versus February and a 64-percent gain versus March 2007.

Google Sites Extends Lead in Online Video Market Share

In March, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with more than 4.3 billion videos viewed (38 percent share of all videos), gaining 2.6 share points versus the previous month. YouTube.com accounted for 98 percent of all videos viewed at Google Sites. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 477 million videos (4.2 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 328 million (2.9 percent) and Viacom Digital with 249 million (2.2 percent).

Nearly 139 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 83 videos per viewer in March. Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (85.7 million), where they watched an average of 51 videos per person. Fox Interactive attracted the second most viewers (54.3 million), followed by Yahoo! Sites (37.5 million) and Viacom Digital (26.6 million).

Other notable findings from March 2008 include:

> 73.7 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
> 84.8 million viewers watched 4.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (50.4 videos per viewer).
> 47.7 million viewers watched 400 million videos on MySpace.com (8.4 videos per viewer).
> The average online video duration was 2.8 minutes.
> The average online video viewer watched 235 minutes of video.

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May 6. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

If you are in the market for an HDTV, keep an eye out for drastic price moves by Sony.  As a result of sagging sales, Sony is expected to dramatically reduce the price of its HDTV sets.  So, if you are getting an Economic Stimulus Check, and had eyes on the TV of your dreams, you may be able to get more bang for your buck.  Happy Viewing!

Ed

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April 28. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

The last few posts here have dealt with using web video for your business, but how important is web video anyway?

Web video is so important and is so impactful, that major advertising agencies are tapping the skills of feature film directors such as Spike Lee and Martin Scorscese to direct web ads.  These power houses of film, are being hired for their expertise in story telling.  The Director’s Guild of America, is currently running a a competition to seek out new directors for all types of video including web video.

If there is a nationwide talent search underway and if such heavy hitters like Lee and Scorscese are signing up, the internet must be the future of communication.  These guys would not be in it if it were a fad. 

So what do you do if you can’t afford to hire Spike Lee?  Locate a competent video production company to produce your video.  Carefully plan your content and message-ensuring it is clear and concise. And post it on your website and on all the free video sharing sites you can and then let people know it is out there.

Ed

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April 23. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

If you are considering repurposing your old television commercial for use on your website, consider it carefully.

Today’s surfing culture requires quick-consice-and to the point messages.  Your once usefull television commercial may do the opposite of what you had in mind, it may drive viewers away from the message.  There have been many studies done on how internet surfers use the web, one of the studies concentrated on how long the average web surfer stays engaged with a page.  That survey revealed that the target range for any web ad should be between 15 and 18 seconds.  Now that is short!

If you have every intention of using a commercial or video ad on your website, carefully choose your wording.  Keep it short and sweet.  If you have multiple services or products that you want to market, do seperate videos for each service or product.

As always, we have the expertise to assist you in the creation of your web video, give us a call for a no obligation consultation.

Ed

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April 21. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

I read an article this weekend about the issues surrounding the delivery of HD broadcast signals to subscribers of cable and satellite.  It seems that in order to feed the HD appetite of owners of plasma and LCD screens, the providers of HD signal to your home are having to compress the signals to allow room for more HD channels.  That stinks!  If you have spent $1000 or more on your dream television, you want to see every game or episode of your favorite show in full HD.  But, many viewers are getting a compressed signal that shows up as pixelated, distorted or otherwise not pristine. 

Rest assured that the delivery system operators are working on the solution, hardware upgrades.  That is expensive and time consuming, and may result in higher monthly fees for you.

What does that mean for corporate video users?  Well, if you are using your project strictly for in-house or web use, nothing.  But, if you are talking about a television commercial, be aware that your spot may end up compressed on air.  Check with your placement firm or the traffic department at your local TV station to see if they are compressing the signal to accomodate the required band width.

Have a great week.

Ed

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April 14. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

Wow!  We have been asked by our friend Chris Kettner, AKA, The “Specialist” to be a guest on his radio program, tomorrow afternoon at 5PM .  His show is carried on WPMH  670 AM here in Hampton Roads.  He is also carried in the Richmond Virginia market, but unfortunately, I do not know what station.    Tomorrow I hope to discuss how you can use web video to drive customers to your business, and how much of an impact web video is having upon advertising. 

I just completed a TV commercial for The Specialist, look for it to air soon on the cable system on ESPN, CNN and other stations.

AND…

Please don’t forget Chris’ food drive for children.  We can use all the food you can bring in.

Thanks.

Ed 

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April 11. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

Video produced exclusively for the internet is quickly becomming the hottest trend in media.  Everyone is getting into the act.  Every television network has some or all of their current line up and archives available to viewers online.  Advertising campaigns almost always involve some sort of web video content.  So, why not you?  Does your business have a web video?  It can be just a short introduction to your web site, or a full blown production on You Tube.  Either way, you should have a video associated with your product or business. 

Web video is cheap to distribute, in most cases it is free.  Consider this, companies that have been users of traditional media such as print, are shifting their marketing dollars to web based video.  Shopped for a home lately?  Have you run across the real estate marketing sites?  These companies would traditionally advertise homes for sale in real estate magazines, now see the impact that video can have on their sales rates. 

Web video is the future of media.  Its time to get into the game, whether you produce a video on your own or hire an experienced pro to produce it for you.  Don’t get left behind and miss this surging wave of opportunity.  You can bet that your competitor is using video.

As always, if we can assit you with your video needs, give us a call.

Ed

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April 7. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

Pre-Production?  What’s that?  Pre-Production is where you save money!  Pre-Production is the process of planning every step of a video project, from the concept to distribution.  Why is this important?  Consider this, you want to shoot a TV commercial, you hire a production company, hire talent, and set a shoot date at your location.  Everyone arrives at the designated call time.  When all the greeting is completed, everyone has had a cup of coffee, and the camera and lighting is set up, you then tell everyone that you need to take some time to come up with a script.  What!, the crew exclaims!  The crew is ready, but you are not.  Well, they say, it’s your money.  And it is.  If you do not take the time to plan your video shoot, you will spend money needlessly.  It is much quicker to shoot a project if there is a script.  You do not want an expensive video crew sitting around while you decide what to do.  If there is a plan, an experienced crew can come in and shoot every scene quickly and efficiently.  The talent will also be able to perform better if they are familiar with the script content, and if it is a commercial, they probably will have the script memorized on shoot day. 

Here is a real world example of what I am talking about, I did this shoot 2 weeks ago…

The project is a video home tour.  Call time is 12 noon.  This client allocates 2 hours to shoot the home, talent stand ups and voice over as well as b-roll of surrounding ammenities, such as shopping and a golf course.  Not a lot of time, but it is possible to do.  At noon, all the parties have arrived and we begin our walk around of the home to familiarize ourselves with the property.  It is at this time, that the talent first sees the bullet points he is to discuss about the home.  There is no script, we will be crafting one on the fly.  Lighting is set, camera is ready and the talent is mic’d. 

12:30, we begin our first attempt at the opening.  Wrong wording, too many words, not the correct adjectives…  By 1:15, we have completed the stand ups and VO, we now have 45 minutes left to shoot 6 rooms, an agent intro and close and the b-roll.  The agent stumbles, but we get her done in 15 minutes.  30 minutes left.  Shoot, re-light, shoot, re-light…6 times.  The house is done, we are now 20 minutes over.  We race to pack up.  We still have to shoot 4 seperate locations for the b-roll, each require driving no less than 10 minutes. One of the locations requires permission to enter the property, this takes 20 mintues.  All told, this 2 hour shoot takes 4 1/2 hours. 

Since you are paying by the hour for this shoot, you just wasted 2 1/2 hours because of no planning.  Granted, this shoot would have gone overtime because of the b-roll locations, but we could have saved no less than 1 hour if there was a script.

Pre-production is really the key to making your video project a huge success.  If you take a few hours to meet with the production company( which usually costs nothing),  and plan the shoot, you will be much more satisfied with the outcome of your project. 

Ed

www.corpvid.com

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April 5. 2008 by Ed Tworek.

So, you are considering producing a video for your business and want only the best-so you decide that you want to go “Hollywood”.  Full HD, 16:9 1080p-a really big deal.  Wrong!  Most business applications only require the use of standard definition video 4:3 525i.  And if you are going to use your project on the internet, you better keep your end product in 4:3 aspect ratio.  You see, HD (high definition) requires massive amounts of band width when you stream it.  So in order to allow your video to upload quickly for your client, you must be in the SD format.  But fear not!  If you have had your heart on shooting your project in high definition, you still can.  HDV is an intermediate step between standard definition and full high definition.  With this format we can still shoot in HD wide screen 1080, then down convert it to 4:3 for editing and distribution.  And best of all, we still have the original footage in HD ready for use when the time is right and the internet is capable of handling the bandwidth.  Cool Huh?

Ed

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