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Oct 17
Love3

What is the Best Length for Your Marketing Video?

By Corporate Video Production, Info, Video Production

What’s the Best Length for a Web & Social Media Marketing Video? “How long should my marketing video be?” Clients ask this a lot.  Some think their marketing video needs to be in the “ten to fifteen” minute range.  Others say five minutes.  A few think less than sixty seconds.  Typically, companies that are just getting into making marketing videos tend to think too long.  But what is the answer? Less is more? A good, general rule to follow is “the shorter the video, the better.” The quicker you can get to the core message of your video, the easier it is for your audience to digest and understand. For example: two minutes is a great place to start.  But before we enter that two minute dictate into our rulebook, there are variables, rules and types of marketing videos that…

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Oct 02
Love5

Using Hedge for File Management

By Corporate Video Production, For the Crew, Info, Tips/Techniques, Video Production

Hedge Software for File Management Hedge is a great tool for video production file management.  The biggest advantage is that the file transfer from your card to the harddrive is faster through Hedge versus file manager.  Because Hedge bypasses the bus on your computer.  It also is able to verify the transfer, whereas File Manager doesn’t do that. This short blog is to show you how to use the software.  For learning about file management, visit our other instructionals: The File Management Intro File Management for Small Crews File Management for Large Crews Step 1 To begin, open Hedge.  You will have the Connected Discs window, which shows you which hard drives you have connected.  Make sure your primary and secondary harddrives are connected and show up in the center.  Then connect the card you want to transfer.  It will…

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Sep 11
Love2

File Management for Production Companies

By Corporate Video Production, For the Crew, Info, Tips/Techniques, Video Production

On Set File Management Production Companies Problems One of the biggest “gotchas” that production companies can encounter is lost or corrupted footage.  It sounds simple: “Copy camera cards over to hard drive.”  But it’s the most critical job on the set.  You mess this up, and you can lose that great performance, that wonderful camera work, those awesome sets.  So to avoid this pitfall, let’s look at the tools you need. File Management Tools First of all you need a computer and hard drives.  Preferably two (or more).  Industry best practice is to take the camera card, copy it over to two different hard drives.  And make sure you copy to each hard drive from the card—don’t copy to a hard drive, eject the card, and copy from the first hard drive over to your back up hard drive.  If…

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Jul 26
Love2

Best Strategy for Making a Viral Video

By Info, Tips/Techniques, Video Production

Viral Video– We all watched Charlie bite his finger.  We’ve seen cute cats and dogs and squirrels doing cute things.  We’ve watched, laughed and cried at what we’re seeing on the internet through youtube, vimeo and facebook.  But what is the key to making a hit viral video?  How can you make a video that will go viral?  What we’ll talk about here is the viral video for corporate marketing– not just the everyday guy that wants his fifteen minutes. Viral Video Defined First off, let’s define what a viral video is.  To be “viral,” a video must be passed around.  Someone sees the video and then posts it on their page, or tweets it to their followers.  And the numbers must be high.  YouTube monetization doesn’t really make a difference until you’ve got over 25,000 followers or a million…

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Jul 24
Love3

The Industrial Video Shoot- Have the Right Tools

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

The Industrial Video shoot comes with it’s own unique challenges.  And by industrial, I’m referring to a corporate video that is manufacturing/construction based.  As with any job, having the right tools can make the job significantly easier while increasing quality.  Try painting the outside of your house with a tiny brush.  Or no brush at all.  But have the right brush– or step up to a sprayer or power roller, and the job is completely faster and with better quality.  Tools are everything. Industrial Video Tools The tool box for the industrial video begins with the camera.  Most video professionals will use the camera and the tripod, and use it for most of their shooting.  It’s like the screwdriver.  Whether the job calls for big screws, or little screws, they might try to make the single screwdriver work for everything….

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Jul 17
Love1

Video Production – What are Apple Boxes?

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

Video Production Apple Boxes For you new to video production, or maybe you’re a corporate client on the set of a video being produced for you, you might hear the Cinematographer or someone else call for a “half apple.”  Well, he’s not asking for a previously bitten into piece of fruit.  Apple Boxes have been around in the movie and film business for almost a hundred years.  The history is a bit cloudy, but it’s reasonable to assume that early film crews saw a box sitting there and put it to good use.  And maybe it had some apples in it.  Or just looked like an apple box.  Either way, the term was adopted and stuck. Where Do You Find the Apple Boxes? Apple boxes are usually part of the grip equipment.  They are used for just about anything on…

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Jun 03
Love1

Job Posting: After Effects Artist/Editor/Shooter

By Corporate Video Production, Info

After Effects Artist/Editor/Shooter Serendipitous Films Inc, located on the east side of Fort Worth, is looking for an After Effects Artist who can also handle overflow editing and some shooting. While the position doesn’t necessarily require many years of experience, we are looking for someone who is “advanced” in After Effects. This will be a staff position at our Fort Worth offices. The most important aspect is how well the applicant fits in with us—chemistry is everything here at SFilms. Secondly will be ability. Everything else follows those two things. So if you like to have fun and enjoy working extremely hard, this might be for you. Contact dan@s-films.com by sending resume but more importantly links to your reel. No phone calls please. Responsibilities: Create 2D animations, motion graphics, logos and other animation support for video projects. 3D not mandatory,…

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May 15
Love1
shooting run and gun video

Levels of Corporate Video Production Companies in Dallas

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

When looking for a company in Dallas to produce that corporate video, you will find several different levels of production companies. And the corporate video production we’re talking about here are marketing videos, training videos, internal communications, sales and product videos, and web videos.  This is for the Director of Sales and Marketing, the head of corporate communications, the public relations team, or the person in charge of corporate training. We break down the levels into four sizes—the Big Dogs, the medium size, the small company and the one-man band. Let’s start at the bottom and work up. For some reason, the creative services industry can bring out some of the biggest egos in people. And this occurs throughout the following list. When you are looking for a great video production company in Dallas to work with, in addition to…

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May 12
Love1

Drone UAV Preflight Checklist 3DR Solo

By Corporate Video Production, Info, Tips/Techniques

3DR Solo Flight Checklists What follows is our UAV checklist specifically for the 3DR Solo drone (or UAV).  We require all operators to follow the checklist to insure safe and proper operation of the aerial platform. Before Leaving Charge drone batteries Charge controller Charge ipad mini Ensure GoPro Hero 4 has card   Arriving Exterior Location PREFLIGHT Visually inspect area of operation, noting poles, antennas and other physical hazards Observe wind direction and approximate wind speeds Place props on motors (make sure they are tight) Put fully charged battery on drone Remove Gimbal foam, protecting gimbal during shipping Choose launch site—make sure it is a safe place for an emergency “return home” command Place drone on launch site (must be away from metal and be level) Power up drone Discuss with Spotter the flight path and flight plan Power up…

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May 05
Love1
corporate video dallas with DJI Osmo

DJI Osmo Review – Great for Corporate Video

By Corporate Video Production, Info, Reviews, Tips/Techniques

Handheld gimbals are not new anymore, and the release of the DJI Osmo moves the handheld gimbal into the next generation.  Ever since we grabbed our small phantom drone, turned it on, and held on to it, moving around the location to get that “steadicam” effect, it was clear a new market (or call it a new tool for the videographer) was opening up. Several years ago, we here at SFilms in Dallas purchased a relatively cheap powered gimbal (sold by a US distributor, but clearly made in China).  It required a GoPro, but we used the device constantly in our corporate videos.  It was taken on road tours for a corporate retail client of ours, for internal communications, and we used it on construction sites and other places as well.  And it fell apart.  We had to take screws…

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