Ok…so we’ve all been there, experienced it, lived through the disappointment. The simple fact is we don’t always get the project that we’re called for. Hey…it happens.

Case in point, earlier this week we had a call from a past client telling us that a project that we were up for wasn’t going to happen. They are a local church here in the Orlando area that bases their Sunday worship service out of a theatre. Interesting concept, and very popular! They thought that they might need a second theatre for overflow purposes on an upcoming service later this month. If so they were going to need a company come in to do a 3 camera live switch and send it to the theatre down the hall. Turns out that they were able to stay in the theatre that they house their regular Sunday service which is ample for their needs.

We were happy for them!

It saved them several thousand dollars, funds that they can use to do a lot of good work in their church community. Short term losses aren’t necessarily devastating, in fact more often than not, things work out just the way they are suppose to.

It’s a lot bigger than the world our parent’s grew up in, but in some ways it’s smaller too. It’s tougher to get lost even if you’re driving to Chocowinity, North Carolina. Why? Because of devices like Magellan and TomTom. To sum things up our world today is constantly changing, constantly growing, constantly evolving, constantly constant.

So what does that have to do with media production?

Well, naturally the video world changes with the times too. The big bulky expensive cameras have been replaced with the sleek smaller ones. Everything is about efficiency.

Our industry is slowly moving away from shooting on tape, instead we shoot on solid state cards. Cards that can hold up to 32 gigs of media. Why? Well, it cuts down on transfer time entering the footage you shot onto tape and ingesting it into the computer. With cards, you take a USB cable from your camera, plug it into your computer and copy the files over. Faster than real time.

What’s better than that?

Maybe coconut cream pie, but that’s the subject of another entry altogether. The moral of the story is that the future is here, the technology keeps getting better, and it’s the client that wins.

Corporate video presentation in search of heart.

Does that statement hold true for videos that your organization has produced? It almost sounds like an online dating ad! The sad thing though is it’s true.

What makes a video successful? What resonates with audiences? What will resonate with your employees? It all starts with people. Real people. Answering real questions. Questions that matter…questions that elicit passion and substance.

What makes this work environment a special place to come to every day?

Why do people here go the extra mile?

Tell me about your biggest challenge everyday…how do you succeed in that? What makes you want to?

No organization is the same…there are no tried and true formulas, but finding what makes a company tick, and keying in on their success is the best place to start. Because in the end, any successful organization has to have a passion for what they do. Our job as storytellers is to deliver that emotion to their audience.

So what does a homepage video say about your company?

Does it communicate your message? Does it just talk about your service…or does it reach out to your target audience? How can images project your company favorably? What do they convey? Are they stronger than text that can fill a whole page?

So many questions…

The key to a successful homepage video is focus. Maintaining focus, not getting too far off message. If the essence of your company is customer service… stay on target, don’t lose focus and feel the need to talk about your affordability too.

Concentrate on what makes you great!

Is it the time and care that goes into creating your product? Project that image then…don’t talk about it; show it. Find the passion that’s in you…that’s in your company. People that are passionate about what they do express that visually…you see that in their body language, you see that in the way they smile, you see that in the care and craftsmanship that goes into making a great product. Text simply can’t compete.

Focus on that and broadcast it to the world.

Quality? Extremely important….in fact supercalifragilisticexpialidociously important. We think Mary Poppins would agree!

Quality speaks to your firms reputation, it establishes your image…your Brand. It means that your company doesn’t take short cuts especially when it comes to satisfying your clients. It speaks to the fact that “you do things right the first time.”

But what happens when allowances have to be made? What happens when the budget has been reduced…the deadline moved up….the staff downsized? I mean your team is already lean as it is, you can only do so much….right?

Of course. There are realities that we are faced with. What it boils down to is trying to make the best decision to produce the best outcome possible. If the time or the resources aren’t there…they aren’t there. But you what is…your deadline! That doesn’t mean that you can’t try to do the best job that you can…it just means that you have to work smart. It means that you have to understand the big picture and not get caught up in the small details. It means accepting that some projects will have limitations, but where you succeed will be in the fact that you can adapt to the situation at hand.

And that….is supercalifragilisticexpialidociously important.

About Bright Circle, Inc.

Bright Circle is a video production company serving the Tampa Bay area. They offer a range of creative services as well as professional teams that offer support in video production for conventions, as well as commercial video production.

Strategic partnerships are a creative device to weather the downturn in a poor economy. This type of alignment breeds creative thinking, builds relationships, and fosters teamwork. When you have those three elements working together, good things are bound to happen!

So what are some companies that can partner with a media production group? We’ll look at two examples.

1. A Web Design Group. Video is growing rapidly on the Internet today. It’s part of the “Web 2.0” magic. Website companies specialize in what they do, designing sites that bring to life the message of small and large companies, as well as the vision of entrepreneurs. It’s a specialty in it’s own right, as is producing a homepage video and a corporate video message. By partnering with a media production group, a web firm automatically brings more value and service to their clients.
2. A Trade Show Exhibit Firm. Again the key is all in one shopping. In a poor economy the solution is more marketing, not less. If you’ve been to a trade show recently, chances are you may have seen a video or two at a booth. Often times the message gets lost because the video isn’t heard over the roar of the crowd and it’s not displayed prominently enough. A trade show firm could easily outfit a booth with a plasma screen as well as speakers and offer to their clients an option for a produced video. If you want to stand out from your competition there’s always a way.

Finding businesses to effectively partner with, ensures a long life for your company and just as importantly, a long life for theirs.

About Bright Circle, Inc.

Bright Circle is a video production company from Orlando offering a full range of creative services. Bright Circle provides professional teams that offer support in Orlando corporate video production, as well as commercial video production.

Do you have a video that you want to submit and upload to more sites than just YouTube? If so you may want to take a close look at Traffic Geyser.

Traffic Geyser distributes your content instantly to a plethora of video sharing sites, podcasting directories, as well as social book marking arenas. In doing so it creates a chain of activity that garners the attention of search engines like Google. It also saves you several hours from the task of uploading your video to each and every one of these sites. The cost varies on the service that you need but it can run $50-$100 a month depending on your campaign and frequency.

The concept of Traffic Geyser certainly makes sense. Distributing your video content to a vast array of directories and video sharing sites will increase attention to your website and should show up well in SEO results.

This is just another indication that video on the web is only getting stronger.

Media today travels fast. Clients & media production companies have more advantages in today’s day and age to work together over large distances than ever before. They’re in Wisconsin, and you’re in Florida?

No problem.

Convenience is just a click away. We export our video out as a Windows Media File or a QuickTime; email it and away it goes. If the piece that’s being sent out is roughly 2 minutes in duration getting it less than 5 megs shoudn’t be a problem at all. At that size it’s easy enough to download….and fast! 320×240 is pretty standard and those dimensions provide a good gauge on how a project is shaping up. It’s even large enough to offer an adequate representation for approvals.

So…say the project’s been approved and it needs to be sent because training starts tomorrow. Naturally the project needs to be exported out to higher quality settings, and a higher resolution…that makes the file larger. No need to FedEx, FTP it. Sending the file to your server whereby the client using a password can easily download it offers convenience, security and reliability to the nth degree. And the best part…no loss of quality. What goes in, goes out.

These advantages make B2B partnerships more fruitful, stable, and cost-effective. It’s a wonderful time we live in isn’t it?

The strength of video cannot be denied.

It can be used as a tool for fundraising. Getting funds to construct new churches, bringing endowments to foundations, increasing awareness to the needs of not-for-profits…these are all areas where video succeeds through the power of emotion.

Yes, the power of emotion.

Video brings the mere spectator closer into the life of a person in need. How? Because the lens of the camera tells all. It doesn’t blink. It captures the hunger of a child’s eyes, it penetrates the soul of a man pierced with an addiction, it encapsulates the spirit of a pastor who wants to build a bigger church. Dramatic imagery, poignant moments captured in testimonials, and music that stirs the heart, are all forces that move people to action. Positive action. Action to bring upon change; change that betters communities.

All through the use of one simple medium…video.

Competition these days is fierce. We all know it. In the workplace it’s no different. Retaining your best talent is getting harder and harder. More and more companies like Google are turning to recruitment videos to not only tout their offerings but also to showcase a willingness to think outside the box in terms of attracting new employees. Using a social networking site like Youtube to “broadcast” the vacancies a company may have makes perfect sense because of the sheer numbers of the Youtube viewing audience.

So what should your company concentrate on in producing it’s recruitment video?

Well, the size of your company and the openings that you’re trying to fill have a great deal to do in determining that…but the best strategy for a recruitment video should center on one important factor.

What makes your company tick?

A recruitment video shouldn’t only focus on what the company is looking for, but it should also reveal the personality of the company at hand. This is important to prospective employees and will go a long way in developing relationships that are the “right fit”. A recruitment video needs to capture the essence of what makes that company special in it’s own right. This can be done in a couple of different methods: taping interviews with employees both on a senior level as well as an entry level, taking a documentary approach and showcasing a day in the life at ACME company.

Another thing to consider is the fact that prospective employees want to know what they have to gain from your company. What opportunities exist to move up within the company? What are some of the perks? The pay and the benefits…are they competitive?

Prospective employees need to see “success stories”, they need to feel moved, motivated, and compelled to say within: “Ok, this is a company I can work for. This is a company that I can devote a great deal of time to.”

When you have a video that can do that, you’ll have employees knocking on your door…and asking to come in.