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Mar 28
Love0
longterm construction timelapse

Longterm Time Lapse for Construction

By Corporate Video Production

Defining “Time-Lapse” (or timelapse) One of the services we’ve had an increasing call for is longterm timelapse for the construction industry.  And by “long term”, we mean a camera that is up for six months or more.  This presents a unique set of challenges. Timelapse Camera Placement First, the placement of the long term time lapse camera.  The best spots are usually elevated, as high as possible.  When we get the call, we look for a building overlooking the construction site.  Ideally, a camera placed inside looking out a clean window mitigates the necessity to weather proof the camera.  When we have placed indoors, we come prepared to battle glare issues off the window in front.  If we are placing on the roof, we have to weatherproof the camera. If a building is not available, we’ve had clients install a…

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Mar 22
Love1

The FAA 333 Exemption for Drones

By Corporate Video Production

Okay– I’m starting to see more and more activity for the FAA 333 Exemption and want to throw some thoughts in there– especially to help those UAV operators who might consider plopping down some fat stacks to companies offering to help them with their 333 exemption. Now I’ll preface by mentioning it’s all changing anyway. But right now, if you want to legally operate a drone for commercial purposes, you have to either have a commercial pilots license, or you have to ask the FAA to give you exemptions from those rules. To be the Pilot in Charge of a UAV, even with a FAA 333 Exemption, the PIC must have some level of pilot’s license. Some people (I know a few), have applied for and gotten the 333 exemption without having a pilot’s license. What this means, is that…

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Jul 22
Love0
Wayward Son Carries On

Wayward Son Carries On

By Corporate Video Production, Faith Filmmaking, Music Video Production

When we shot our faith-based movie “The Imposter” in 2008, we were fortunate to cast Kerry Livgren.  In the 1970’s, one of the biggest acts in rock music was the band “Kansas.”  Kerry Livgren, with the long blond hair, was one of the main songwriter/musician of the group.  He write their break out hit “Carry On Wayward Son,” followed by one of the biggest all time hits “Dust in the Wind.” Kerry is the real deal.  We sat down with him on the set of the movie and talked about his own personal journey.  Here’s that video.  Hope you enjoy!

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Jul 14
Love2

Why I Struggle With DJI

By Corporate Video Production, Reviews

I use DJI products.  About 7 or 8 years ago, they saw the future and jumped.  Now they’re the Coca-cola of the consumer drone world.  Congrats.  So why am I hating on DJI? It all started with an Octo.  This particular octocopter was a custom-build.  Of course 3-4 years and further back, everything big like that was a custom build.  For the custom builders, the best “brain” for running these builds, was the wookong, made by DJI.  This was the technology that told the drone what to do.  You inputted a command in the controller, it was received by the wookong and orders went out from it to the motors. One beautiful twilight evening at a park in North Carolina, I was flying this octo with a $4,000 camera/lens on it.  I had just finished the run and was bringing…

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Jul 13
Love1
Drones Corporate Video

Drones in Corporate Video

By Corporate Video Production

The UAV market is exploding.  It is the wild west out there.  The FAA is trying to come up with standards and procedures for the technology that has outpaced them.  With the incredible accessibility of drones, corporate video makers have found a new tool to add to their arsenal. What drone footage gives you, is a point of view seldom seen from a camera mounted on a tripod, five feet up from the ground.  The drone hits the sweet spot– 10 fee to about 60 feet– for unique visuals.  But just because a video producer has a drone, doesn’t mean they can fly it well.  Drone work still requires an artist’s touch. We are finding that some producers simply jerk the drone around in the air, moving it here and there, and not really getting the full production value.  Can…

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Nov 26
Love1

Experience in Corporate Video Production Matters

By Corporate Video Production, Tips/Techniques, Uncategorized, Video Production

Recently we asked some new clients what factors led to their decision to pick us for their corporate video production in Dallas, Texas.  We’re always glad they picked us, and trusted us to handle their video project, but we’re even more happy when the project ends and we’ve beat their expectations. Experience in Video Production Some clients searching for a video production company are concerned that they’re entrusting their story.. their message… their brand, to someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience in the industry.  Many business people understand that to become experts in an area, it takes much repetition and practice.  (Making the library of many corporate execs is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and this philosophy is a foundation for what he espouses.) So our clients tell us that we were selected because of our experience.  Our Producer/Director…

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Nov 22
Love0

Serendipitous Films Creates Web Videos for Permian Lide

By Uncategorized

Recently, SFilms was contacted to produce a marketing video for tank and vessel manufacturer Permian Lide.  The original scope was to create a 4 to 5 minute video, with shorter two minutes and one minutes versions pulled from the longer piece. Permian Lide is one of the leading manufacturers of steel and fiberglass tanks and vessels for the oil field industry.  They have plants all over the country and SFilms visited them all.  A key to the production of this video was to have drone work capture the scale of the facilities, as well as give a different perspective inside the plants. Here is the long version.

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Nov 20
Love0

Production Value in Corporate Video

By Corporate Video Production, Tips/Techniques, Uncategorized, Video Production

What’s Trending in Corporate Video One of the trends in corporate video production has been the increase in production value.  This can be attributed to several factors– companies realizing that their brand image is directly tied to quality of their corporate communications, and the advent of new and better tools for production. Old Days of Corporate Video Twenty years ago, only large corporations could afford a video department.  It could easily take a million dollars to build out a video production facility with a camera and edit room.  In Dallas, one corporation dropped over a million dollars in the early nineties to finish out a little studio. One tape deck (like a Sony BetacamSP BVW 75) was $45K new.  A camera could easily run $70K.  In the nineties, the computer revolution started taking hold (as it had with desktop publishing)…

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Nov 04
Love0

Use of Music in Corporate Videos

By Music Video Production, Tips/Techniques, Uncategorized, Video Production

The Corporate Video Music Track A powerful music track can change a corporate video dramatically.  Sure there are the times where a company is playing the video silently at their trade show booth, but most of the time, videos are watched and listened to. The foundation of editing is the soundtrack.  Often, when we’re in post production on a corporate video, the audio is the first thing we lay down.  This is common with the “documentary” style corporate video.  We find all the interview soundbites, lay in the music (so we know where to take a breath for a short video montage to music) and often cut to beat for the high impact sports style corporate video. The Source of Corporate Video Music Licensing music is an important aspect of corporate work.  Production companies looking to cut corners have placed…

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Nov 01
Love2

Why Dallas for Corporate Video?

By Corporate Video Production, Tips/Techniques, Uncategorized, Video Production

The Big D King of Corporate Video The Dallas metropolitan area is a have for corporate video production and corporate communication.  A strong crew base, many video production companies, studios and resources are available in Dallas.  Some might say this is due to the strong number of large corporations headquartered here.  Names like Exxon, Kimberly Clark, Frito-Lay.  But all the large companies will have their own video production divisions or departments.  And you can point to places like Houston– they have many large corporations but the video and film production resources available in Houston are small in comparison to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The key to the corporate video industry in Dallas is the number of progressive and growing mid-size companies.  Mid-size means they need the communication muscle that the large Fortune 500 companies have, but don’t have the internal…

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