There are 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every single minute. 

That’s a lot of content, which means every video uploader is fighting against others vying for the audience’s attention. 

So, you’ll hire an experienced and mature video production company near you for your marketing video and it will stand out, correct? Yes! Partly. 

Making an engaging, audience-focused video using a professional video crew will set you apart from the crowd, for sure. 

But marketing and promoting that video is equally important when it comes to grabbing social media eyeballs. 

One of the best ways to ensure your video is seen by many more than your competitors is by using SEO or search engine optimization. This helps Google’s algorithm recognize your video faster and index it higher on their search results. 

And one of the best things that will give you a higher ranking is a transcription of your video. Google and YouTube consistently rank videos with transcriptions higher than those without one.  This means that having your video professionally transcribed will assist in getting you more views, immediately. 

When uploading to YouTube, you will notice an option to transcribe automatically; resist the urge to press this button. This feature is not yet ideal to use because it is still buggy. You will notice discrepancies between what is actually being said and what is on the automatic YouTube transcript. 

You can ask the post-production team of your video production company if they will help you transcribe your video. The process is pretty simple. Once you upload the video to YouTube, you are able to sync the audio and video components for a complete experience. 

You may also want to include an unabridged version of the transcript file on a separate section of your website. This way, in case your video has been edited, you will be able to give greater access to all the information available as a bonus. 

Why Transcripts Help in Post-Production

In addition to the marketing aspect, if you are in the process of editing a focus group video, documentary, corporate video, branding video or even a film, a transcript of all the footage helps the editor know where to make the right transitions. 

By having that piece of paper with all the details, your post-production process will become smoother and also much shorter!

Transcripts Help with Accessibility and Captions

Another bonus of transcribing videos is that you’ll be able to embed them on your website, Facebook and Instagram accounts with captions. Videos are often watched on cellphones. This means users may or may not want to listen to the video, but they will definitely watch the captions. 

Transcripts for videos are definitely worthwhile. They serve multiple purposes and end up increasing the reach of your videos online. 

In video production, details are always important. One major detail is the background. 

Your video background helps establish tonality, visual appeal and can help to define your on-screen personality. 

It can also make a video easy or difficult to watch. If you want your audience to be focused on the person talking on screen, then you need to opt for a neutral backdrop. If however, you want the audience to feel as if they’re a part of the story, you can break down any walls and boldly opt for a natural background. 

Choose Your Background Based on Your Goal

The evening news or late night television hosts opt for the same studio background each night. Their goal is to be the center of attention.  If there is too much happening behind or near them, you’ll lose focus and stop paying attention. On the other hand, a weather reporter out during a storm is more interested in capturing the natural activity and will place themselves in front of a dynamic background.

Indoor Background Choices

For indoor video production, you can choose from paper backgrounds or natural surroundings as your background.

A natural office, home or commercial background may add some interesting visual aspects. But, if there is too much happening, you will lose your audience’s attention.

If you have a talk show host video, then it makes sense to set up a minimalistic backdrop or set with the help of a set designer. 

You may even opt for a green screen or Chroma key background, which will allow you to project any type of background during editing. This process, known as composting, enables you to add special effects by giving the illusion of someone standing in a far away place, like the moon, when really they’re just there in your office. 

Backgrounds for Outdoor Shoots

When shooting outdoors, you may want to let the audience know where your video is by putting famous landmarks or clues to the location of your shot. And, if it’s a moving shot, then you must establish a clear path for the on-camera talent and the videographer to avoid any accidents. 

Choose your backgrounds carefully and you’ll have an excellent video on your hands. If you want help, call a video production company near you to help you pick one out. Lucky for you, we happen to be one of those companies located conveniently in New York City, with presence worldwide. Get in touch!

What does an on-site producer actually do? 

Literally, everything!

An on-site producer is the person in charge of making a great video, communicating with the client and managing the crew on the day of the shoot. Their work starts before the shoot and doesn’t end until the video is live. 

The video production process definitely works better with a checklist, but, even with all the planning in the world, something always goes wrong. This is why having an on-site producer is a must for your video. 

Checklist of all Tasks an On-site Producer:

• Pre-Production 
  • Discussion of video with client, identifying the audience for the video, figuring out the purpose of the video
  • Working with scriptwriters on creating a flow of the video
  • Obtaining permits & licenses where required 
  • Visiting the site of the production, especially if filming will take place in a factory or industrial location
  • Hiring a video crew
  • Hiring video prop stylists
  • Hiring catering or craft services if necessary

• On-site Production
  • On the day of the shoot, ensuring everyone has their jobs list
  • Being present during shoot to iron out any issues
  • Ensuring client feedback during shoot
  • Obtaining extra footage or improvised content, as required
  • Creating a happy and friendly work environment 

• Post-Production
  • Sitting with the editor to ensure video is created as intended by the client 
  • Delivering the finished product and suggesting ways to maximize its effectiveness

A great video production company near you will definitely give you an option of having an on-site producer for the shoot. This is to ensure that you get the maximum yield from your production time. 

There are several video production related matters and logistical issues that need to run smoothly in order to produce a great video. An on-site producer is your insurance and assurance that your video will be created according to plan. 

A seasoned producer knows the value of time.  In addition, they understand your audience and work with you to create the most effective video possible.

The popularity of social media has made it easy to understand how your customer feels.  People are very comfortable posting comments—whether positive or negative—about your brand online.

Nevertheless, focus groups are just as relevant as they were decades ago. A well-managed focus group allows you to access your customer’s psyche. They are conducive to obtaining brilliant insights and motivations of consumer behavior, which can help launch new products and services, or alter the existing ones as needed. 

Focus group videos, when produced well, are great resources for brand managers. One major advantage of having a focus group video is that you can see the consumer’s body language as they interact with your brand. 

There is an art to focus group videos, especially since what the customer says is only a part of what you need to capture. It is the body language which truly reveals the hidden intentions behind their responses.  

How to Set Up Your Focus Group Video

Traditional facility cameras used in focus group videos are meant for capturing footage for documentation to be archived later. This is the basic minimum requirement. But, after years of producing focus group videos, we’ve learned that a great insight captured in a focus group can be the tipping point during presentations.

If you have access to an internal video production crew, here is how you should do it:  Instead of capturing audio from a central microphone, opt for individual lapel mics for all the participants. In addition, use multiple cameras to capture every possible angle. 

Combining these, you will be able to hear and see the subtleties in the interaction, which may otherwise be missed. 

Presentation of Focus Group Videos

A well-produced and edited focus group video is a great presentation booster. Reading statistics and graphs build the base of your case and seeing and hearing customer opinions on video seal the deal. 

So, the next time you use plan to produce a focus group video, keep these tips in mind.

A respectable video production company will let you know the truth about fad videos. You may actually want to try them out. 

There is nothing wrong with doing an ice bucket challenge or no hands challenge. But it completely depends on your personality and brand. 

What is a Fad Video?

Video content is king. 

Whether they’re educational or entertaining, you and your customers love watching good videos. 

A fad video is one that starts trending because thousands of people begin participating in them. These are typically viral videos like the Kiki Challenge – which ended up causing some news because of people getting involved in accidents. 

Others are quite harmless, like the 7-second-challenge in which people complete tasks in exactly 7 seconds. 

Some are silly – like the No Hands challenge where a person voices all tasks performed using someone else’s hands! 

Fad videos are usually funny, interesting or shocking – all qualities associated with high view rates. And the numbers of views are exactly what each video uploader is after. 

Should You Participate in Fad Videos?

There is a difference between a fad and a trend. 

A trend in video production is either a style choice or an innovation in equipment or a combination of the two. Trends will outlast fads and may become part of common video practices in the future. 

Fads, however, usually follow a wave pattern where they could peak enough to break the Internet but fizz out just as quickly. 

Are you a Fad Brand?

There are certain brands that are known for being aligned with the news and their users count on them to be up to the minute with their content. If you are an FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) company or producing fashion, then a fad video may be in your best interest. 

You may even participate in fad videos on a personal level. But if you are looking increase your brand value, then it may be better if you sit out on fad videos altogether. 

Hire a Video Production Company Near You

A professional video crew is able to sniff out a fad from a trend. If you are unsure whether a fad video is the right move for you, consult with your friendly neighborhood New York City video production company.  

If you go through fashion, home and living magazines like Martha Stewart Living, Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens, Food & Wine or similar, you’ll get a taste of what great prop styling looks like. 

A prop stylist collaborates with a producer and director to come up with vivid, striking, indulgently beautiful ways to display the props in a video. 

A prop stylist is someone who adds a mood to every photograph or video shot. They breathe life into inanimate objects and give character to every frame. An excellent prop stylist will turn a dead room into a work of art and something worth looking at! 

Prop Stylist for Video Production

Magazines and still photographers use prop stylists all the time. But today, if you’re creating a video production that you want to be shared by millions, chances are you need a prop stylist. 

You don’t necessarily have to be selling a product in order for you to need a prop stylist. Even if your video is a single person speaking directly to camera, you will need to decorate the room that person is in to engage the interest of the audience. 

Great films and documentaries do this all the time. At any given point during a video, the elements of light, depth of perception, contrast, scale, texture, and composition are focusing the attention of the viewer.  A prop stylist for your video is cognizant of each of these elements and provides you with several unique and outstanding shots for your video. 

The world looks different from a lens and with the help of a prop stylist you have the opportunity to frame this worldview to your liking. 

Hiring a Video Prop Stylist

Experienced video production companies will already have an available list of prop stylists who may work on your brand. Their roster of creative individuals will include those who have worked on projects similar to yours. 

If you’re unsure of the type of stylist you need, a quick glance through prop stylist credits in your favorite magazines is also a good way to track one down. 

So if you’ve never used one before, remember to make your next video with some style.  Hire a prop stylist!

Whiteboard animation videos are always compelling.  Even if you will never buy the product or a service, you’ll still be tempted to watch whiteboard videos for their unique setup. 

A whiteboard animation is usually an “explainer” video where you see only a hand with a marker making all kinds of fun drawings. When it first came out, it was different, easy to follow and helped make a convincing elevator pitch. 

Since then, however, several companies–big and small–have launched their own whiteboard animation videos to varying degrees of success. 

When discussing fads or trends, we think a whiteboard video is closer to an evolved trend. There will be innovation on this front in the future and there is always something you can do to make yours stand out from the crowd. 

So, How Can I Make A Whiteboard Video?

There are two ways to do a whiteboard animation:

1. By hand
2. Using software

Kids nowadays have it easy. Back when we were . . . a few years younger than now . . . we had to hand-draw every whiteboard video we made. Oh the marker stains, the destroyed white t-shirts, the unspeakable blooper reels of bad drawings! 

Today there are plenty of ready-to-use whiteboard video software programs that make your job easier. These programs feature drawings, animations and everything you need to create a decent-looking whiteboard video.

But the moment you sit down with the software, you’ll realize that the task on hand is much more difficult than you thought.

Checklist to Make a Great Whiteboard Animation Video

1.  Write a Great Script 

The best whiteboard animation videos are short, sweet and memorable. They follow a logical sequence of steps, guiding the viewer from the problem to the solution, never forgetting to keep the audience entertained.  Emotional, humorous and dramatic elements are essential in creating a worthwhile video. Be sure to give your script a few drafts until it feels right.

2.  Software or Hand-drawn? 

Evaluate multiple software programs, ensuring that they’ll provide you with what you require. If you plan on doing no drawings or images of your own, be sure that your whiteboard animation software contains enough free-to-use images that will tell your particular story. 

If hiring a video crew to shoot the whiteboard animation, ask for examples of past work and be convinced that they’ll be able to get the job done right. 

3. Speak Clearly

While your animation will clearly illustrate the value add of your brand, your voiceover needs to be paced, enunciated and appealing. After all, it’s the second most important part of the video!

Once you’ve completed your whiteboard animation, upload it to your social media channels and let it reach the masses! 

So you’re shooting inside a factory! How exciting and . . . OH WAIT, WATCH YOUR head!  

Factories have a lot happening inside them all at once, making them ideal places for filming. But factories also have way too much going on at once, making them a challenge to shoot inside. 

Fear not! Follow these considerations before embarking on your next food, automobile or any kind of factory shoot. 

The list of challenges you’ll face when shooting inside of factories may include some or all of the following:

• Heavy equipment that may be dangerous
• Sparks that will interfere with lighting
• Low or ultra bright lighting
• Loud noises 

Gear Up to Shoot Inside of a Factory

Before anything else, gear up to enter the factory. You may need to have steel toe shoes, hard hats and protective eyewear to move about safely within the complex.  

So, once you are safe, make sure you have enough protection for your camera, microphone and any other equipment for the production.

Planning Ahead of your Factory Video

A good production starts with a great scouting expedition. Go in a few days before the actual shoot to map out the location. Take this time to jot down the process flow of the factory.

A factory is big, making some places are hard to reach. Plan to use tripods, cranes, tracks or MacGyver-style innovative methods to secure the camera in a way to capture interesting shots. 

Be friendly with the people within the factory. They are not used to cameras recording their movements. Allow them to go through their processes naturally and be very specific about what actions—if any—you want them to take for your shots. 

If there is a part of the factory process that happens rarely or maybe you just have one shot to get it, make sure you grab that footage with multiple cameras. 

Use the natural light within the factory creatively so that your own light source meshes well with it. 

Keeping safety in mind, enjoy your video production at the factory!

“You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.” – Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine was right. While your video footage data may be stored in the cloud, you need to backup all your data onto a stable hard drive as well. 

Wi-Fi troubles, data breaches and ransomware attacks are all too common on the Cloud these days. If compromised, any of these could wipe out months—even years—of your work in seconds. 

An expert video production crew is aware of the great value of video footage and always plans for multiple ways of backup. 

If you are unable to manage data storage services, consult with your video production company. They may have a plan to help you archive your video footage; including raw and finished files. 

Carrying hard drives, USB disk drives and physical storage devices will add a bit of luggage, but will definitely give you peace of mind. 

It is tempting in these times of touch, tap and air based technology to forgo the seemingly antiquated bulk of extra hardware. But it is these pieces that will come in handy if any of your iCloud, Google Drive or Amazon AWS accounts goes out of sync. 

Archive Footage

In addition to the Cloud and physical storage of existing videos, it is a good idea to archive all your video footage. 

Archival footage makes it easy to access specific types of video content for your internal or external needs. 

Whether it’s a fad video that you participated in or an insight you captured on a focus group video, archiving is one of the best practices for video production today. 

Archival footage may even create a new avenue of profit, whereby you may license the videos for usage in documentary or film.

Major retailers such as Coca Cola and Budweiser are also known to use archived footage in new advertisements. 

So, remember to backup your video footage today because its benefits will be experienced for a long time to come!

Films and documentaries usually begin with a montage to establish the setting for the story. The narrative’s pace is set using a combination of music, sights, sounds and interesting angles. 

The easiest way to let the audience know where you are is by showing them landmarks: the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Great Wall of China.  These are just a few landmarks that clue in the viewer to your exact location.

But is it always right to use them in your marketing video? Landmarks can be tricky. They are popular because they possess something innately unique to begin with, but their over-usage in movies, postcards, or marketing messages related to their cities makes them a bit tired. 

Deciding on Using Landmarks for your Marketing Video

On the one end, a positive aspect of landmarks is their ability to convey your message—fast. 

The downside is that several other videos feature the same exact landmarks trying to capitalize on their “cool” factor. 

So, you have an important question to answer:  is the presence of a landmark going to impact your brand video in a positive way? Or will its appeal be lost on your audience? 

The answer is simple—you need to know what your audience will enjoy. 

If the person watching is going to have a positive reaction, definitely include the landmark. But if you aren’t sure, there are other ways to address this problem using a local video production crew. 

Establishing Location without Using Landmarks

Often times, it is not necessary to show a major landmark in order to give your audience your location. Sometimes, it’s better to use sweeping drone footage shots to create a feeling of grandeur. But be careful, many cities around the world have rules against using drones in marked off areas.

You may also show people, public transport systems, roads and architecture to give your audience a feel for where they might be. 

Using Landmarks Differently

But if you feel like it would be a missed opportunity to not have a landmark included in your video, there is an alternate way—hire an expert video crew.  An experienced video production team in New York City, for example, will have shot the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Fifth Avenue, Central Park or the World’s Fair Globe in Queens in multiple ways. Work with them to establish these landmarks in a way that is aligned to your brand and shot differently. 

In addition, new perspectives on a landmark can be captured by changing the angles, approaching the landmarks during different times of day, and shooting under varying weather patterns.