SVG Shoots Two Marketing Videos for Arch Painting

This week, Skillman Video Group shot two online promotional videos for for Arch Painting, a Boston area company providing quality painting and wallcovering throughout New England. Wednesday’s shoot showcased Arch Painting’s superior craftsmanship in residential home painting, and on Thursday the shoot was based around the company’s quality work for commercial clients. Skillman Video used a combination of client testimonials, footage of the professional painting crew in action, and a voiceover outlining Arch Painting’s capacities as a company.

Making two videos was essential to the success of Arch Painting’s marketing campaign. Commercial and residential clients are looking for very different capabilities from a painting company. A residential home may be concerned about the painters’ cleanliness and friendly attitude, where a business may need the painting to be done quickly and for the paint crew to work seamlessly within the space while business continues as usual. Combining these specific needs into one video would force the company to leave out important information that could, in turn, lead to missing out on important clients.

If your company’s client base is broad, sometimes one video for your website or social media pages isn’t enough. If you try to reach every group of customers in one clip, trying to include all the necessary information will lead to the video being too long. Online customers are not the most patient people, and probably won’t wait through a 15-minute video to learn what they need to know about your company. On the other hand, if you cut out too much information to shorten the video, you risk viewers not learning enough about how wonderful your company is. By breaking the information down into several shorter videos aimed at specific clients, the information they need is presented in a simplified way, making it more likely they will learn about all the advantages of your business.

If your business has a broad client base, talk to Skillman Video Group, and we’ll work to find the best way for you to reach each and every one of them.

Is it Time for a Tumblr?

In the past decade, there has been a boom in  Social Media. According to comscore’s 2011 wrap-up of internet use for 2011, 1 in 5 minutes spent online are on a social media site. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, and a myriad of other sites keep people up-to-date and informed with friends, family, celebrities, and even businesses. Social Media websites are key to viral marketing, but it can sometimes be difficult to know which ones you should join, and which ones will fall by the wayside.

One of these sites that is gaining popularity is the blog Tumblr. This social networking website allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their short-form blog. Although the site has been around for 5 years, it has seen an explosion in usage over the past 12 months.  Last year, Tumblr saw a 172% growth to the audience on their site, particularly in international markets.

It’s no surprise then that businesses are getting involved with the site. Coca Cola recently launched a tumblr called “happiness is…”, which consists primarily of photos showcasing young people with Coke products and vintage advertisements.  The site’s goal is to engage the brands teen consumers on a site where 11 million of them spend on average 37 minutes a day.

With the site’s popularity increasing and businesses getting involved, is it time for your company to hop on the Tumblr train? The biggest things to consider here are your key demographic and the visual interest of your company or product. Coca Cola succeeds on a site like Tumblr because it allows them to reach a high volume of teenagers. If your demographic leans towards an older audience (for example a law firm, home renovation, or tax preparation business), Tumblr may not be the best use of your time online. Another thing to consider is the visual qualities of your company or product. While Tumblr allows text posting, it is still primarily a photo and gif website. This means that a photography company could benefit from showcasing their work, but many other businesses lack that visual interest, and would not benefit from starting on the site.

Ultimately, you probably don’t need to sign up for a Tumblr account right away.  However, as we have seen with sites like Facebook and Twitter, there is a good chance that what starts as a social media site for teens and celebrities will turn into a valuable viral marketing platform. If the trends continue, Tumblr may become a great resource for internet and social media marketing.

Listen up! The new Pandora Radio, and what you can learn from their website design.

If you’re a music lover, then you are probably familiar with Pandora Radio. Pandora is a free website that allows users to customize radio stations based on their favorite artist, genre, or song. Users can further hone the music selection by giving tracks a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down”, allowing them to listen to their favorite tracks and find new artist with a similar style. Pandora has a music selection for almost any taste, from electronica to easy listening, and has seen a lot of success over the past few years.
Several months ago, Pandora announced that they would be updating their website, making both aesthetic as well as program changes to enhance their listeners experience. The site went through some major changes, and overall the response to these changes has been very positive. Blogs and websites ranging from music enthusiasts to tech fans have been abuzz with the new site design.

While there are a lot of great advantages to the site’s new layout, the most of the bloggers agree that several factors make the new Pandora great. These include the streamline appearance and bigger buttons that make it easier to use, the use of  HTML5, and the new social media aspects of the website that make it more user-friendly for the 21st century twitter/facebook-crowd. People are also excited about the removal Pandora’s of the listening cap, which used to cut off the music at 40 hours unless users upgraded to a paid version of the site.  The new Pandora will stop your music with advertisements, but it now allows users an unlimited amount of time to listen to their favorite music.

I have been a Pandora user for a few years now, and I must say that their new website design is a welcome change. It’s streamlined, sophisticated, and simplified, making it a thoroughly enjoyable site to use. This got me thinking about how your business can use the same methods that Pandora did to update your website. As we’ve said before, people make judgements on your site a mere 50 milliseconds upon viewing it, and so the design elements must be able to draw potential customers in, and keep current clients engaged. If your website is out of date, hard to use, or just unappealing visually, it can seriously hurt your potential business and online appearance.

So what can your company learn from the new updates that Pandora has made? Here are the biggest changes the site made that can be applied to your website:

Streamline: Your homepage should give potential customers a strong idea of who you are and what you do. But this is just an overview; wordy specifics and details of what you do should be saved for landing pages on your site.  Keep your homepage simple, elegant, and easy to follow, so that clients have an impression of company as a whole, rather than individual elements.

Be Social: The new Pandora allows you to connect to your friends and your social networks. Having an online presence that crosses from your website to facebook, twitter, youtube and other social media sites is beneficial. People may not check your website regularly, but they may be on twitter or facebook more often, and so reaching out on a variety of sites increases your company’s visibility.

HTML5: Even if you’re not tech-savy and HTML is lost on you, all you need to take away from this is that keeping your website up-to-date, both with the information from your company and with the latest technology, is very important. Making sure you have the latest technology will keep your website running smoothly and efficiently. The faster the site loads, the better it looks, and the better you look.

Make it Easy: People want to explore a website that is easy to use. Keeping things streamlined will help, but remember that organization and placement of important links or videos can also ease a customer’s use of your site.

Updating your website design can be a great way to increase traffic to your site, and to make sure that customers and clients get the information they need. While website design may not be your forte, Skillman Video Group has the tools and experience necessary to take your website from hard to hear to easy listening.

SVG shoots viral instructional video for Brewster Home Fashions

A couple weeks ago, Skillman Video Group shot an instructional video on wallpaper installation for Brewster Home Fashions, a Boston-based manufacturer and distributor of fine wall coverings and home décor. This video will be posted to Brewster’s website to enhance their online visibility and web-based marketing. As mentioned previously, on Wednesday we built the set for this video, using drywall flats, paint, and a little elbow grease to give it the appearance of a real room in a home. It was the first time SVG had built a set for a shoot, working with the client to ensure that the space was optimal. By Wednesday night, the set was ready to go, with white walls just begging for a fun, new wall treatment.

The stylistic choice for this instructional video was  shots of our talent, Lauren,  putting up the wallpaper in her

“room”, and a narration recorded separately to be added in later. The video covered the most common issues a homeowner might have when installing wallpaper, such as insuring the first sheet is straight, successfully navigating around a corner, and working around outlets, light switches, and doorways.  A scripted narration is a great option for a how-to video; it ensures that the instructions are succinct and easy to follow, and takes the pressure off the on-camera talent to get the information out and allows him or her to focus on doing the job right.

Once again, a video like this can be a great way to introduce potential customers to your company. The use of a real customer like Lauren with the straightforward instructional narration gives the client a look at the beautiful wallpapers Brewster Home Fashions has, and the simple, stress-free application of the product.

This two-day shoot was a success, and the “room” looked fabulous after it got a makeover with a fantastic Brewster Home Fashions wallpaper. We were able to shoot some more footage for our “behind the scenes” video, which will give people a glimpse at the process from start to finish. Check in soon to see the final product!

For the first time: SVG builds set for Brewster Home Fashions!

On Wednesday, Skillman Video Group built the set for our  shoot with Brewster Home Fashions, a prominent manufacturer of fine wall coverings, wallpapers, and home decor products. The shoot, coming up this Friday, will be a how-to video on proper wallpaper installation.

A how-to video like the one for Brewster Home Fashions will be a great viral marketing tool for the company.  Many people turn to the internet for tips on everything from making the perfect souffle to installing a car radio. Putting a video demonstrating  proper wallpaper installation on Brewster Home Fashions site will draw frustrated homeowners to their website, and when they see the professional demeanor of  the company, as well as the beautiful wallpaper they create,  the viewers will be more likely to use the company for their business in the future.

SVG worked closely with Brewster Home Fashions and Hollywood  set designer (and former Skillman Video intern) Chris Plummer to conceptualize the perfect set for their shoot. We put together a mock room made up of 6 drywall flats, including a door, light switch, and outlet to replicate all the challenges a homeowner comes across while their putting up their wallpaper. We painted the “walls”, and put together some furniture pieces so the video feels like a real room.

Skillman Video Group also shot some footage for a behind the scenes video of the set construction. Check in soon to see the process, and what the final set looks like when Brewster Home Fashions has installed the wallpaper!

SVG Produces Live Event Video for Abram Little-Gill Lobrefeld PC Conference and Newton Marriott

On Tuesday, Abram Little-Gill Loberfeld PC held a conference at the Boston Marriott Newton Hotel. Skillman Video Group was in attendance to capture the event. The event was not exclusive to Abram Little-Gill Loberfeld employees as many of their local partners were in attendance from business associates to bankers. The topic of the day was tax law. Multiple speakers shed light on the intricacies of the codes and regulations.

A very interesting point that was raised had to do with bank closings. During the recent financial crisis, only one bank in all of Massachusetts had to close its doors. This was due to a conservative community that did not invest in a lot of the toxic assets that lead to so many banks going under. Sometimes sticking with what works is the most innovative thing a person or organization can do. Skillman Video Group understands this and knows that quality video production is a tried and true method of spreading your message, be it tax law or anything else you care to share.  Have a live event coming up?  Call Skillman Video Group today to see how quickly and affordably you can video tape & edit your presentations, lectures or meetings!

Skillman Video Shoots Safety and Training Videos for Feeney Brothers Excavation Company

Last week, Skillman Video Group did a shoot for Feeney Brothers Excavation Corporation, located in Dorchester, Massachusetts.  FBEC is a contractor for the gas, electric, water and telecommunications industries. Skillman Video Group shot several types of videos, including truck safety, on-site procedures, and several instructional videos on the operation of various pieces of equipment. The shoot was done over two days, both on location and at the Feeney Brother’s headquarters. We used two cameras and the knowledgeable FBEC employees to walk us through the precise and often complicated steps of operating hydraulic machinery.

Feeney Brothers Excavation Company is dedicated to the safety of its employee’s, partners, and customers, and so their use of training videos will be helpful in the future success of their company. A Safety and Training video can be a great way to introduce new employees to the equipment and procedures of your company, or can give other members of your team a refresher course whenever they need it. While instructing your employees one-on-one can be tedious and somewhat overwhelming, a video insures that all of the information is covered in a succinct, understandable way. When working with dangerous or hazardous materials, it is very important for everyone in your company to be up to date and informed, and by having a safety and training video available as a resource, they can access this information at any point and keep your business running smoothly.

For several years, I worked at a company that built packaging for microwave and RF components that went to aerospace. Because we worked with such delicate, sensitive parts, every year we went through Electrostatic safety training, where we learned about the various equipment and procedures used to keep the parts safe from any errant electrostatic. Every year, my coworkers and I sat through a laughably out-dated PowerPoint slideshow, complete with corny sound effects and horrible clip art. The layout was hard to follow and the information was not easy to decipher, so at the end of the presentation every year, people had lots of questions.  I think if there was an updated video that had the same information but delivered it in a way that was easy to follow, it would have been much more effective, and the training could’ve been half as long.

Time is money, but making safety and training a priority should never be sacrificed.  By delivering all safety and training information in simple, understandable videos, you can be sure that everyone is informed and your company continues to work efficiently.

Behind the Scenes at SVG: Editing

“You make three films. There’s the film you write, the film you shoot, and the film you edit.”

-Ancient Filmmaking Proverb

Shooting a video or film is unglamorous. It is an inherently structered, regimented, slow, and tedious process. On set you aren’t creating, just following the instructions laid out in the script: a shot from this angle, a line from that actor. The real creative inspiration comes from the writers, while questions of structure, pace, and taste go to the editors.

Imagine: the writer finds the diamond, the director digs it up, and the editor cuts to find the natural beauty. It’s much the same for social video marketing as it is for film.

We shot our own video commercial a few weeks back. You can read about the shoot here. On set we worked to cover the angles and actions laid out in the script. Apart from lighting, however, there was very little creative energy. Putting the pieces of the puzzle we shot together in the editing room, however, proved to be great creative fun.

The first thing I noticed, after the painful transcoding and backing up process, is how many things we shot that didn’t work. Sometimes it’s continuity, sound, framing, performance, etc. Most of the time it’s pacing, especially in a marketing video. You only have a couple minutes to hook your viewer and tell a story; beyond that you bore them, especially in the age of countless kitten video distractions. I started with a three minute cut and struggled to trim it to a taught two minutes two seconds at a time. the cuts always seemed to be my favorite shots. They just didn’t fit when I reduced the piece to it’s essential parts.

Perhaps I’ll come up with a 3 minute “Directors Cut Special Edition.” Then again, the edited film is better than the ones I wrote and shot. The boundary of running time helped.

This is why SVG shoots so much footage for our clients. We want to bring many pieces to the editing room so we can use only the best and most essential ones in our final cut. We spent two days shooting at the Al Huda Society and boiled the footage down to two minutes. Don’t be surprised when something we shoot for your company doesn’t make the cut.

With Non-Linear Editing technology powerful enough to do almost anything, the artistic choices an editor has are nearly limitless. (If you want to see that power used poorly check out this behind the scenes video of the first Star Wars prequel.) Then there is sound editing, mixing, and visual effects. You can do anything you want nowadays, but it’s often best to stay within boundaries.

That’s why production companies like SVG exist: To collaborate with clients on branding and content, go through the process of shooting, and craft everything into a cohesive, snappy social video.  That’s in addition to technical editing expertise with encoding for the web, uploading with a CMS, printing DVD’s, and so on. We have the experience and expertise to quickly turnaround a final cut.

I’ve hardly scratched the surface here, but I thought I’d share some of our experience editing at SVG.

UPDATE: Watch our new Videomercial on Youtube.

On Writing Content

Stephen King said of writing, “The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

We think that is why many businesses don’t make marketing videos. They don’t know how to develop content. That’s our speciality. Skillman Video Group works with clients to develop content for social videos. We can do the writing and you can focus on your day-to-day business.

SVG starts with a dialogue about your organization. We ask lots of questions not just to get to know who you are and what you do, but also search for an angle for our script and find your audience. We take copious notes and eventually pitch some ideas to you. SVG comes back quickly with a script that focuses your ideas into a short, understandable, and effective video. Together your company and SVG edit the script into something we shoot.

But revisions don’t end there. There’s a saying in the business: “You make three films. The one you write, the one you shoot, and the one you edit.” Together with you we keep revising, editing, and improving your video throughout scripting, shooting, and post-production. Our work doesn’t end until you get the perfect marketing video.

This might sound like a lot of work, but it moves fast and we make it so easy. There’s nothing to be scared of call today.

SVG Video Of The Week: What is a Facebook Landing Page and How Do You Create One?

A landing page is the first webpage that someone will see when they click on the main link to a website. It is the first page that a user “lands” on, so to speak.  As a default, Facebook sets its landing page to the Facebook wall, so any account, whether for business or personal use will send people to the Facebook wall unless settings are otherwise changed. Now eventually you do want people to see your Facebook wall, but it can sometimes be a bit much with the pictures going across the top, and posts from others, as well as comments and advertisements. That’s why it is a good idea to consider creating a “Facebook Landing Page”.

Creating a landing page on a Facebook business page is a great way to make a positive first impression. Using images and text, the landing page can be seen as an advertisement to give viewers an idea about what your business does and why people should care. As with most social media, the more engaging landing pages will have the best success. The more a company connect with a viewer the better chance that someone will want to know more about the business and thus proceed on to look at the Facebook wall, photos, and discussions. Also, most standard landing pages will feature a “Like” button, so having a good landing page can help to generate more “likes” and better buzz for businesses! SVG is currently in the process of creating a unique landing page for our Facebook account so be on the lookout for that! http://www.facebook.com/BostonSocialVideoMarketing

Here is a link to an article showcasing well designed landing pages: http://bit.ly/ibGpGX

ALSO, here is a video on how to create a Facebook landing page:

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