File Error!

File Failed to Send!

Please contact your IT administrator.

If you’ve ever seen one of the above or similar messages on your computer while transferring files, you need to know about firewalls. You may think that a firewall exists solely to make you miserable and unnecessarily elongate your work process, but the reality is far from the truth.

A firewall keeps out bad players, hackers, and competitors from accessing your company’s sensitive data and is a required blockade of information traffic within any organization. But, if you need to get personal access for specific tasks that are important to you, then what you need to do is speak with your IT administrator about surpassing the firewall.

Video File Transfer Access
If you’re working with a local video production company or one that’s remote, you’ll end up transferring – both uploading and downloading – a large number of heavy files. When you engage in a file transfer over an FTP server, it opens up a port of exchange between the outside and inside world. A firewall would immediately recognize this kind of activity as a threat and block the transfer.

In order to surpass this you need to give your admin a heads-up so that they can setup a username and password that your video production company can use to securely login to your network and engage in the transfer.

Third Party File Transfer Apps
If you would rather not bother your IT department about large file transfers, you may use one of the following sites that allow for transfer of giant files at relatively quick speeds:

WeTransfer (free, with paid version)
FileZilla (completely free)
SendAnywhere (free, with paid version)

Social Media Access
If your final project is a marketing video intended for public viewing, then chances are you’ll also need to get access to sites like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and the like. Most IT departments ban these sites to reduce distractions. But, once again, as a marketing manager you should get special permission to manage the company’s social media pages to upload your content on a regular basis.

Video making for marketing should be a fun process, get the right IT setup to make it run smooth!

You typed in a quick search for a video production company near you and moved ahead. But in addition to the videos they have produced in the past, there are 3 litmus tests available to know that you should get into business with them. 

Every production company needs the following things. 

1. Liability Insurance – Having insurance gives you a hint that the video production crew knows a lot more about production than making a short video. Liability insurance protects you and the company in case of any mishaps during the production. Every policy is different but primarily, the kinds of things you want to see should cover the audio and video equipment including lights, wires, drones, and so forth. Most liability insurance will protect the entire video crew while they are out filming. Say a light falls or a drone crashes into a window – all these things need to be covered so that you don’t start fighting a lawsuit while trying to create a brand video. A comprehensive insurance would also include worker’s compensation. A production company will have a set number of individuals who work on any given shoot. All these members need to be protected by insurance, in the case of an accident or emergency.  

2. Professional Equipment – Your video production company should have the best equipment. A camera is one of the most important aspects of your production, but not the only one. Ensure that they have reliable, tried & tested sound and light equipment, as well. A video production is all about the setup and finding the right visual that will deliver a compelling corporate or marketing video.

3. Experience – A lot of young filmmakers want to hit the ground running by trying out their freshly gained skills in film school on your business. While their chutzpah is admirable, nothing beats experience. As you’ve probably grasped by now, the professional video production company you choose should be able to do a lot more than just film a pretty visual. This means pre-production, scriptwriting, location scouting, obtaining licenses, registrations, managing the entire cast and crew, overseeing the post-production and ensuring final delivery within your deadline. In video production, very much like in life, things can and do go wrong. Having an experienced video production house makes the difference between a hit and a disaster. 

What will you film in Paris that hasn’t already been shown to viewers thousands of times? That’s the challenge of Paris. You can never leave the space without at least one mega shot of the stunning Eiffel Tower. A true testament to its longevity and beauty is that each view of the deceptively simple structure will make you long for your own Parisian romance. 

Pont des Arts Bridge

The love locks. Lovers would put a lock on this bridge to secure their happily ever after moments, though that isn’t allowed any longer. Still, this bridge offers a beautiful view of the surrounding architecture.

Louvre

While the pyramid made famous by the Da Vinci Code is here, the adjacent garden of the Louvre is also a beautiful space for filming. 

Pont Alexandre III

The bridge closest to the Eiffel Tower is ornate and iconic. A great place to capture the River Seine and Parisian charm at its finest.

Promenade Plantée

Walk into this secret garden – an elevated walkway in the 12^th arrondissement – in spring to capture cherry blossoms, gorgeous green plants and Parisians strolling by. In 1993, this was the world’s only elevated park, providing you plenty of opportunities to capture video of the delectable Parisian architecture. 

Montmartre

A great place to take in walks and get lost. You’ll notice tourists gathered around Café des Deux Moulins where the film Amélie was shot. But this neighborhood is home to some rare libraries, interesting characters and fashion boutiques. It’s also in walking distance of the Moulin Rouge. A residential neighborhood, you’ll find your fair share of creperies and street accordion players. And who knows, maybe a mime or two. 

Monmartre is also home to Sacré-Cœur, the Roman Catholic church which after the Eiffel Tower is easily one of the most recognizable domes in Paris. Situated on top of a hill, you’ll get a sweeping view of all of Paris from here. 

Père Lachaise Cemetery

A haunting and beautiful space – this is where Parisians go to rest after a well-lived life. Here you can visit the graves of Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Édith Piaf, Frédéric Chopin, and more.  The cemetery is located in the 20^th arrondissement and can capture a different mood of Paris. 

Welcome to Mexico City! Capital of Mexico, of course, but also home to several beautiful video and filming locations for your next video production project. 

Mexico City has a huge population within its dense cityscape. You’ll find baroque architecture alongside the 13^th century Aztec temples, amazing art, and a growing hip urban scene.

The Day of the Dead

If you want to see the city’s colorful side, you can come anytime. But if you want to see a parade filled with cultural heritage on full display, you need to visit on November 2^nd, better known as Dia de los Muertos (or Day of the Dead). Combining Aztec and Catholic traditions, locals will paint their faces like skeletons while paying respect to their ancestors with offerings or ofrendas. 

Mercado Roma

A hipster market for those with ample pesos to spend. You’ll find a lot of tourists nibbling on cheeses and sipping on wines at this uber cool hangout spot. 

Floating Gardens of Xochimilco

Colorful gondolas? Check.

Beautiful canals? Check.

UNESCO World Heritage Site? Check!

An exceedingly gorgeous excursion with plenty of interesting footage to grab along the boat ride. 

Museo Jumex

From the outside, one of the most modern buildings in Mexico City and on the inside, home to one of the largest collections of contemporary art in Latin America. 

Teotihuacán

Ancient pyramids in an ancient part of the city, thought to be the home to several tribes. Seep in the history and grab unbeatable shots that are guaranteed to be part of your sizzle reel. 

Mercado Coyoacan

If you’ve always wanted to fly away to an Arabian night without crossing the Atlantic, you’ll find that this marketplace is pretty similar to the ficitional streets of Agrabah. Founded in the 20s, it is one of Mexico City’s most iconic shopping locations. You’ll find burlap bags filled with spices, interesting clothes, a lot of local produce and much more. A great filming location for grabbing the hustle and bustle of Mexico City, especially due to its narrow streets. 

Torre Latinoamericana

It looks almost like the Empire State Building in New York and the Torre doesn’t disappoint. Once you’re at the top, you’ll get breathtaking views of Mexico City. Filming is ideal here since it’s usually not that crowded. Go on a late evening or during the day after a rainfall to grab beautiful videos without the smog.

Testimonial videos give prospective customers a reason to trust in your brand. They also give your existing customers an additional reason for repeat buy-ins. 

A great brand, if nothing else, is good at repeating its value in your life.  It gives you FOMO if you don’t have it and makes you feel at ease when you do. 

More than even your own brand videos and ads, a customer testimonial hits home harder. People relate to people who are in similar situations to them.

When it comes to making testimonial videos, there are 3 topics that you need to ensure getting covered so that you have a convincing and brand-boosting testimonial. 

1. Ask Why – Ask the customer why they use your product. What is the one strong reason behind their purchase? This will give you an emotional response from them – even if it is fact based. Board members of FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) companies know that these few honest answers often turn out to be the most valuable.

2. What Problem Did it Solve? – Chances are your brand or product serves more than one purpose. But when you are on the production or service side of the business, you don’t necessarily see it clearly. Your testimonial videos should elicit the solutions that you provide to your customers. By focusing on the pain that your brand solves, the video connects once more with prospective customers who are facing the same issues.

3. Put it in Context – Your brand lives far away from the boardroom where it’s conceived. It’s used far away from the assembly line where it’s manufactured. Give real world context to your testimonial video by filming it in its natural habitat – your customer’s world. Tap your video crew’s vast knowledge of location scouting to help you pick the right spot for filming your video.

A testimonial can be pre-planned with an in-home or in-office interview or it can be a man on the street video done at the spur of the moment. 

Make sure you carry a video release form with you so that you are able to use the video testimonial in all your future marketing purposes. 

The windy city can get quite cold in the winters but offers great shooting locations year round.

Not as crowded as New York City, video production crews looking to film in a darker, stylistic, metropolis often turn to Chicago – like the creators of the film The Dark Knight. 

Goldcoast 

Located next to Lake Michigan, this neighborhood is Chicago’s most affluent. Perfect for filming stately mansions, row houses and modern high-rises. Nearby and perfect to capture on video is the historic Astor Street District with 19^th century architecture. 

Chicago Riverwalk

Comprised of 6 inlets, the Riverwalk has everything from fine dining restaurants, wetland gardens, to kayak rides and breathtaking views of Chicago’s downtown. 

In the evening, you’ll see couples enjoying quiet time together. There is an outdoor art gallery and if you’re filming, this is your chance to grab an up close look at the river’s ecology. 

Wrigley Field

Home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field is one of baseball’s most storied stadiums. It is known for the ivy, which covers its outfield wall made of brick. Kept in pristine condition, the stadium is a great way to step back in time and capture the history of Chicago.

McCormick Place – Chicago Convention Center

Inside of the convention center is home to several trade shows, which may be interesting to film for interviews. Outside of the center is a docking area where trucks pull in to deliver trade show materials and other goods. It is situated uniquely on the riverside – offering a Gotham styled view of the city. 

North Avenue Beach

Considered the best beach in Chicago, its piers hold the sand in space. You get sweeping shots of the Goldcoast from here, with Sears Tower in the backdrop.

Lincoln Park

Also an affluent neighborhood, the Lincoln Park area offers a variety of filming options. Your options range from the Lincoln Park Zoo, to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, as well as an outdoor theater, a rowing canal, and the Chicago History Museum. Another filming location to check out is the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool which features country-like ponds, playing fields and famous statues of General Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, among others. 

The Soo Line railroad also passes through a section of Lincoln Park, with an old-style engine fully on display. 

Five ways to make better training videos

Training videos and good video content in general assists in increasing your placement on search engine rankings. 

Customers love a good training video. And that’s a good reason marketing teams should focus on making more of them.

Just like the perfect mac n’ cheese or the best cup of coffee in the morning, the secret to a good training video is in the details. Follow these to achieve great results for your brand. 

Be specific about your topic

“How to easily peel a pomegranate” is a great example of a perfect training video. The title itself tells you what the video will feature. And the video should follow. 

The more specific you are with your video topic, the easier it is for your consumer to find it. 

Sometimes brand managers and CMOs will try to cram their entire brand ethos into a single video. While you can sprinkle in details about your brand image through color, music and backgrounds – your training video should be easy to understand, crisp and absolutely surgical in its execution. 

Use storytelling 

Smokey the Bear knows that only you can prevent forest fires. You remember the videos as though they just happened yesterday. Despite living in a major city, you knew what not to do when you entered the forest – why? It was because of good storytelling and a deep emotional connection. Smokey the Bear was a memorable character whose kind appearance and gentle demeanor helped you absorb the core message from the U.S. Forest Service. 

Humor me

If you’ve boarded a British Airways flight recently, you’ll know that they’ve taken a lighthearted approach to the mandatory flight safety video. Using a team of celebrity comedians and actors, British Airways’ training video is equal parts hilarious and useful. 

Animation videos

Explainer videos using animation are helpful for illuminating new concepts. You can also try whiteboard animation videos or custom videos that showcase your brand’s unique selling points. 

Focused writing

An excellent training video will always have a polished script as its pillar. Write, rewrite, and revise your script. Include visual cues within the script itself so you’ll know exactly what kind of video footage you’ll require. 

Follow the above steps to create the perfect training video. Questions? Give us a call! 

Since the beginning of time, we all have wanted to do things faster, better, and with greater power. 

In the world of entertainment and video, the race has been on for clearer, sharper and brighter images. 

Even though consumers watch video content on their mobile phones, there is still a demand for big screen television sets – for special home viewing of sports, movies and well-produced entertainment.

The latest Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas featured the introduction of 8K resolution television sets by companies like Sony, LG and Samsung. 

What is 8K?

According to the 8K Association, an 8K television set has 7,680 x 4,320 pixel resolution; input frame rates of 24p, 30p, 60p; more than 600 nits peak brightness; HEVC support; and HDMI 2.1. 

The television is going to try to immerse you further. 

But 8K Fell Flat. Why? 

Lack of content – The social media video network Vimeo has said it will support 8K and Japan has said that they will film the next Olympics in 8K but besides these two, there is a lack of stuff to watch on 8K. So there’s no need. 

Not much of a difference to the human eye – As we’ve discussed on previous blogs, there are only subtle differences between 4K and its predecessors  – and the same is true for the 8K. The real difference of 8K kicks in when you choose larger sized screens from 55 inches and above. For smaller TVs, Ultra HD or 4K videos will deliver just as great of an image.

High pricing – Since 8K is just being introduced, it still has an uncertain position in the marketplace. There is no cheap version of 8K that you can feel comfortable buying right now. As time goes on, 8K sets will definitely get cheaper. Right now, most 8K sets are priced around $6,000. 

Virtual Reality Videos & Augmented Reality Experiences – If you’ve noticed marketing trends and content changes, there is a great demand currently for 360-degree view videos and immersive virtual reality and augmented reality universes. While televisions can get to 100 inches, they’ll still be a piece of furniture. With newer technology, content creators are innovating with holographic videos and VR. If those trends catch on faster due to an increase in content, it would render the entire screen based entertainment useless. 

And why it’s important

Your bandwidth determines how fast you can work. 

Every business today that wants to scale needs infrastructure designed for growth. 

Your business does not need to be ecommerce based for you to need good Internet bandwidth. All businesses today require faster communication to keep up with the pace of digital innovation.

What is it? Internet bandwidth is the speed at which you are able to download and upload content online. 

Some businesses, like video production houses, cannot afford low-bandwidth if they want to thrive in the marketplace. For a professional video production company working with multiple team members – the higher the Internet bandwidth the better. 

Snippies is a video production company based in New York City with offices in every major city around the world. Snippies is known for its unbeatable speed, professional productions and exceptional interviews. 

The only way we are able to deliver high quality videos to our Fortune 50 clients is by investing in greater Internet bandwidth speeds. 

Today, we will be filming in 5 different cities around the globe, and while we could wait on delivery of actual tapes, we would much rather download the data in a few minutes and deliver the final edited video to the client. 

So, just how much speed should you have? Well, in the year 2017, in the United States, the average Internet connection speed clocked in just shy of 19 mbps (megabits per second). 

A video production company has heavy bandwidth usage. And if you have more than 10-15 people working in your office at any given time, speed is your top priority. For a mid-sized production house in 2020, you should consider having speeds of at least 250 mbps. This speed allows you to conduct cloud computing data transfer of large video files (think of all that HD and 4K footage you used). This speed also allows for video streaming, which you can share with clients to preview the footage before final delivery. At 250 mbps you are ensuring basic usage of the Internet as well as accounting for larger digital activities, including data backups and conferencing. 

But you can always scale higher if the number of users or uploads and downloads increase. 

If you want your brand to be global, then having your fingers on the pulse of the international audience is absolutely necessary. 

At Snippies, we have had the privilege of shooting marketing videos in every continent. 

One of the fastest growing economies in the world today is India. And, while New Delhi is its capital, Mumbai is the metropolis where brands can truly reinvent themselves in a new way. 

Why Mumbai?

Mumbai has one of the world’s richest men – Mukesh Ambani – who has his own skyscraper that employs hundreds of people to support his family of 6. 

Mumbai is also home to one of the biggest slums in Asia. The “slum” is home to 5000+ businesses with combined annual revenue of $1 billion. 

Video Marketing Opportunities

While being affluent and home to the upper-middle class, Mumbai is a brand conscious city. The majority of residents are extremely brand aware – whether it’s the food they eat, the coffee they sip or the modern Western clothes they wear. 

If you were thinking of launching your brand in India, there is no better way than to conduct man on street interviews. You may also consider doing detailed focus group videos in Mumbai.

The city is also home to some of the world’s best cinematographers and film crews who know how to get things done on a shoestring budget. 

Bollywood, the moniker for the Hindi speaking film industry, is based in Mumbai. They produce more films than any other country in the world. And crew members are not only savvy about the latest video equipment, they also know how to produce great brand videos.

Snippies is headquartered in New York City, but we have video crews in Mumbai to shoot any number of marketing videos immediately. Our record for fastest brand video to date from Mumbai is 4 days from idea to final cut. 

Send us a message if you’d like to shoot a marketing video in Mumbai or any other Indian city to boost your brand’s reach and credibility!