Following the success of their first single and video ‘Twist’ we were very pleased to be asked to make the 3rd video for sensational new duo Miss600.
The creative
The video needed to showcase a full band production and include scenarios that are mentioned in the lyrics. It was an exterior shoot in December and so we were limited to time because of the weather conditions. – Even though we rigged tarpaulin above the entire band and used continuous lighting there was always the worry of changing weather conditions that will affect the continuity. – Luckily everyone was willing to work flat out until we had worked our way through the storyboard of shots that we had created in pre production.
We knew that we wanted a very deliberate pace to the final edit and this was implemented during production by creating movement to the shots that matched the song.
In order to create the scenarios for the video and to make it stand out by adding a somewhat quirky element we decided to film Hannah, the lead singer, in front of a green screen, and then create an illustrated look to the image, an idea that we got from the brilliant opening credits to the film Juno. – By doing this is allowed us to create a look that contrasted with the black and white live action band shots and allows the viewer to concentrate on the performance.
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Do you have a business, product or service that you want to promote?
Are you are looking for a video promo for your website and external hosting such as facebook, youtube or twitter?
Dynomite Productions Ltd offer a low cost service whereby we will help you plan the concept for your video, spend a day filming a single camera High Definition shoot anywhere in the UK and create a fully edited film for you.
Our objective is to offer a high quality service at very competitive rates.
For more information contact us for a quote and to discuss your requirements.
What is crowd funding? Well its when you create a campaign for something which asks people to donate / pledge money to, and you will often give them something for their donation (a perk).
We are currently running our third crowd funding campaign for our upcoming feature film ‘All that remains’, which is being done through a company called indigogo.
When setting up the campaign we supplied as much information about the film and the company background as we could, including synopsis, a promo video, artwork and relevant links to blogs which allow people to track the progress of the film. We then created a number of ‘perks’ that people would receive depending on the amount donated. Perks are a great way to give something back to those who are kind enough to have donated and show your appreciation.
A great way to spread awareness about your campaign is to email bloggers, especially those who could have an interest in your film, and tell them about the campaign, the project, why you are making it and why it is important. Another easy way is to email your friends and family and ask them to pass on the email to anyone who they think could be interested.
How important is it to have motion graphics animation in your video production. Well that depends on the level of animation and how you would want to use it.
Title animations – Animating your title / logo, no matter how simple, can have a big effect on your video production. It is often the first thing that the viewer will see and therefore gives the first impression of your company. Motion graphics animation can be effective when they are designed to fit in with the brand/service/product that the company is promoting. For example if you are an architect a fitting title animation would be to animate a blueprint that spells our the company name.
Once the title animation has been designed it can then be replicated for any other text animation throughout the video keeping the branding consistent.
Just a short post today about using video production to promote your company, product or service.
Video can be used for virtually any company whether it be straightforward client testimonials, a 90 second promo, or a company overview. It can feature presenters, talking heads, motion graphics, animation, whatever is required to make your video stand out with original and creative content.
As a production company it is also important that we understand what you want to achieve from your video, who is the target audience, what do you want them to get from it, is there a call to action. Once we understand your company we are able to help advise you on the best way to structure your video to deliver the right message and develop creative ideas that are bespoke to your company.
We made our first feature film last year ‘Finding Fatima’ which was a drama documentary about the events in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Once the film was made we then had the task of finding a distributor / distributors for it.
Here are some tips if you are looking to do the same.
1. Festivals – This can be a good way of introducing your film to a wide market that is full of people who are there to buy the rights to films. A few things that are worth considering are 1. decide on what festival you want to enter your film into, some have a disclaimer whereby you aren’t allowed to enter the film into any other festivals, they also have very strict guidelines with regards to entering the festival which is worth looking at before entering. Something else to look at is the type of film that you have made and which festivals would suit it. Is it a quirky indie film or a big budget looking blockbuster. There are a number of smaller festivals around the world which could also be good for your film and are often more tailored to the type of film that you have made. I should say that although these are often not the best places to find distributors, if you win awards or get critical acclaim it is a great way to help promote you film once you have a distributor, as you can add the ‘winner best ….’ title to your marketing, press release film cover.
2. Sending films to distributors – I’m going to take it for granted that you started a video production company that the film was made under, if you didn’t I would recommend creating one for sending screener copies of your film out to distributors. Now when you send the screener out one thing that I would recommend is to make it look good – If you can afford it have the DVD’s duplicated with labels on the disk in a DVD case with your proposed artwork on the cover. This way when the distributor receives the DVD they can see the exact product that they could acquire which will be a lot more exciting than a DVD in a plastic wallet with the film title scrawled on it. – When we sent the screener out we included a letter to each distributor, the DVD screener of the film and a CD-ROM that contained different pages linked, similar to a website, with the trailer on, short synopsis, film information (run length, main cast and crew, rights owned – 100% worldwide initially, and links to the films website.)
3. One thing that is important is to make sure that the film has a watermark (which can appear a few times during the playback) this just shows that it is a screener copy, I would also put a disclaimer at the beginning, explaining that it is a screener copy and not for re-sale etc..
4. Finding Distributors, when we were searching for distributors obviously the first thing that we did was go into Google and type ‘film distribution companies’. Which is fine and brings back a plethora of results. It is worth looking at films that are similar to yours and searching for their distributor, you can often get this from IMDB. There are also lists that you can buy and websites that contain external links to distributor websites. Once you have a full distributor list and you are ready to contact them, before you send your screener either phone or email the company and explain that you have just made a new film, include a short synopsis and links, and ask if you could have the name and address of the best person to send it too. – I would always recommend a phone call where you can and ask to speak to someone in new film acquisition.
5. Finally once you have a distributor interested in your film look at what they are offering, are they offering an advance and is that paid back out of your percentage or film revenue. Look at where your percentage comes from, is it from net or revenue, if net you need a breakdown of where the initial money will be spent and at what stage you will start receiving an income. Also speak to the distributor about what method they will take in the distribution of your film, cinema, local screenings, straight to DVD, will it be available for download or through film rental companies, will they eventually look for a TV deal. You will normally receive a different percentage for each of the above and these can be negotiated when signing the contract. Look at the territories that the distributor is offering, and if this would cause problems for other distributors – for example if they want all Portuguese speaking territories then this could stop you getting distribution in other countries, so offer them distribution rights for Portugal only, as there is one thing that you always want to be able to offer distributors and that is exclusivity for their proposed territory.
With Finding Fatima we now have distribution in N/America and Canada, UK and Ireland, exclusivity in Mexico and a sales agent in S/ America and France and Belgium. This is through 4 different distributors all on different deals and contracts.
We were commissioned recently to create a 30 second video for an exhibition and awards ceremony. The company already had a video that was on there site, and they wanted to incorporate certain elements of that video into the new one.
We created a concept for the new video which combined the existing video with new footage that we filmed against a green screen. The new footage was simply there to create a more interesting way of transitioning and moving between the different stock footage. The existing video contained stock footage which we had to re – purchase from a royalty free site, and then manipulate in post to fit in with the new footage that we had filmed. This is the result:
The point of this is that stock footage can be used effectively, whether on its own or combined with new video footage, but there has to be a genuine reason to use it over filming something yourself.
1. Budget – If you want to create an animation that could take time and money, and this is beyond the budget, a solution may be to look at a royalty free site.
2. Location – If you need a shot of a busy street in (lets say) Japan and its one shot, then the majority of the time you will be able to find a stock example of this. Unless you have to show something specific and there is budget to do this, stock footage can often help you overcome this problem.
3. Historical events – We produced a documentary recently and used stock footage to show actual events, which worked very well, however, on our new documentary we are looking at ways of incorporating stock footage into re-enactment footage that will blend together by grading the stock footage and re-enactment footage to match up. This way the audience wont be aware of what is stock and what we filmed ourselves.
Although the above examples are useful ways of using stock, there is still one big problem with it; Its not original. It is still a generic video that you can see in any number of other productions and is not tailored or designed for any definite production.
Having just returned from filming in Japan for our upcoming documentary, we thought that it would be a good idea to share some of the experiences from our trip. You can find an in depth blog about the japan trip by following this link. Japan experience part 1
When we were there we decided to take 2 cameras to film with, the first was a panasonic HPX301 and the second was a DSLR canon 550D.
The reason for this is so that we could have a camera which was a dedicated lock off for interviews (Panasonic) and a roaming camera to pick up side angles / cutaways of the interviewee.
The DSLR also made life very easy when filming general shots in and around Nagasaki, the light weight and more subtle design allowed us to be far more inconspicuous than carrying a shoulder mount camera.
Whether promoting a product, service or company video is an excellent way of doing this. We were asked to create a 30 second promo for Uniglobe travel that summarized what they do in a creative and visually exciting way, using the strap line ‘Around the corner around the globe’.
By using a combination of HD footage and animation this is what we came up with.
I don’t know about you but here at Dynomite Productions we dont particularly like the term ‘corporate video production’. It smacks of low end, cheesy videos that lack creativity and look dated.
What’s in a phrase?
Quite a lot actually. Corporate video has no definition, it is a broad phrase that covers a multitude of video production work, one company may require a number of different videos, for example, a promotional video, company overview, training video, viral ad, product launch internal communication etc and this is all classed under the corporate video name.
So, when looking for a video production company to create your next film, make sure that what you are getting is not just designed to deliver your message, but is done so in an engaging, original and creative way.
