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Uncategorized

Sep 08
Love1

History of the Camera Part 2

By For the Crew, Uncategorized

History of the Camera Part 2 For part 1, click here.  The importance of this information is in giving you, the new camera production person, background into why things are the way that they are.  We discussed progressive film rate and interlace film rate in part 1. The 1990’s The call was out for quality.  For decades, the television signals and standards stayed exactly the same.  But technology was starting to improve and though the television industry resisted change, eventually it to caved.  Why did they resist?  They have millions of dollars invested in equipment.  You change to HD and all that expensive gear would become garage sale material. But eventually, the call for quality started to overcome the call for everything to stay the same.  Everyone agreed it would be called “High Definition” or HD, compared to Standard Definition…

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Sep 04
Love1

Harvey Cleanup Continues in Houston

By Uncategorized

Along with clients, we also have friends in Houston who were hit hard by Harvey.  The SFilms crew put away the video cameras and put on boots and gloves and got work for a couple days.  One friend’s mother’s house was a total loss.  The 89 year old woman was safe (rescued by boat), but her belongings were pretty much gone.  Among the antique furniture, we found her photo albums from the forties, fifties and sixties– they had been under the flood water.  We’ve done our best to save them. To read about our arrival, click here.  The work is incredibly difficult.  There’s the physical part– and it’s brutal.  The Houston humidity mixed with the August heat and it zaps you quickly.  One of our team members had some heat exhaustion.  But it’s not the physical that drains you the…

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Sep 02
Love1

Houston Harvey Aftermath

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

Houston Harvey Hurricane With the exception of one fast food worker in Fort Worth, most people have heard about what the hurricane Harvey has done to Houston.  We’re reporting today from Houston where we’ve spent the last few days doing some filming and lending some helping hands. Driving Down The drive from Fort Worth Dallas was pretty much a non-event.  On Thursday morning when we left, there were some gas stations in the DFW area that were closed.  So we drove with the philosophy of refilling when we got down to 3/4’s of a tank.  But we never had any issues.  As we neared Houston, we still couldn’t see any of the devastation we were seeing on the news.  And fuel was fine and actually cheaper than DFW prices. As we headed to our clients headquarters near the NRG Stadium,…

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Aug 30
Love2

Shooting Video at Tradeshows

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

Video Tradeshows One of the calls we get a lot, is to see if we can shoot video at tradeshows.  Because companies and corporations drop a serious investment in tradeshows.  The cost of attending, with travel. The exhibitor fees.  And the booth construction.  With all this investment, businesses want to make sure the marketing pays off.  And that’s the bottom line: Sales. So video at the tradeshow extends the reach of that investment.  Whether video is used to grab the attention of potential customers walking by or used as a broadcaster on social media, video at the tradeshow can magnify the marketing and multiply the results. Tradeshow Video’s 4 Components Usually this has four components: Pre-shot and edited content to be displayed at tradeshow Video coverage of the tradeshow, both the booth and the tradeshow itself Interviews and testimonials with clients…

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Aug 29
Love3

Dallas Area Can Help Houston

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

Here in the DFW area, many of us have friends, family, clients, loved ones in the Houston and South Texas area.  While it’s good to donate to national organizations, I like to see help at the local level… where the rubber meets the road.  If you live here in DFW, one of our partners Encore Live, is actively taking steps to help.   Here’s what they write: Encore Live will be headed to Houston later this week to help with the cleanup from #Harvey – we will be taking donated goods to various Houston based charities seeking help. If you have supplies listed below you would like to donate, please drop them by our office at 1635 Rogers Road Fort Worth, Texas 76107 between now and Wednesday at the close of business. The supplies they list include: • Canned goods • Non-perishable food…

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Jul 21
Love1

Hot Corporate Filming

By Uncategorized

Corporate filming in the summer!  And down here in Dallas, Texas, that means things are heating up this time of year.  For the corporate film set, this can have some major impact.  So in today’s blog, let’s talk about temperature and it’s effect on shooting industrial and corporate video. Hot Corporate Filming When shooting in a hot environment (July in Texas certainly qualifies), you can expect production to slow down.  If you’re shooting indoors, it’s not as big a deal.  But if you’re shoot is taking place outdoors, this can lead to a huge time delay.  With the heat, the crew starts to move slower.  People need more breaks.  When you schedule the shoot, make sure you allow for these delays. Logistically, try to avoid parking the base camp in unprotected hot areas.  Look for shade and areas that people can take…

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Jul 05
Love2

Top 5 Corporate Video Genres

By Uncategorized

Here are the top five corporate video genres in use today.  The important word is “today.”  It’s amazing how much the industry has changed in the last couple of decades.  Because new technologies result in new video uses and corporate video genres.  Decades ago, corporate video was fairly exclusive to training and advertising.  Consequently, tomorrow’s list might be different. Top 5 Styles or Genres of Corporate Video Today Internet Marketing – Social media creates a whole new usage for corporate video.  Facebook, twitter and instagram have become important avenues for telling your corporate story.  Or highlighting a product or service, like this. Training/Education – Getting all the employees on the same page requires consistent training and education.  This is a key benefit of utilizing video in your learning department.  A video is going to say the same thing, the same way, every time….

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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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