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.

Former SVG Intern and current SVG Set Designer & Assitant Editor, Chris Plummer working on the set!

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!

Non-Linear Editing in its purest form.

“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.

Last week Skillman Video Group had the unique opportunity to videotape two Ramadan services for the Al Huda Society in Chelsea, MA. Al Huda hired SVG to create a marketing video to help the Islamic community organization raise the funds to complete their community center.

Al Huda is in the process of creating a permanent home for themselves, but they are short funds to complete the project. They struggled to make a fundraising video by themselves to attract donations, but the organization had difficulty scripting and planning their video and lacked the equipment, skills, and experience to execute their plans. With all the activities and services Al Huda conducts, they had no time to complete the project. Making a fundraising video was not as quick and easy as they thought. Al Huda focuses, after all, on community, education, and faith, not marketing videos.

Frustrated, they called SVG.

Fundraising videos are one of our specialities. In a matter of days we collaborated with Al Huda on content, shot two services, and delivered an attractive, thoughtful marketing video. We make the process quick and easy. Check it out. This is one of my favorite projects at SVG. Standing amidst any religious service is always an moving and energetic experience, but I may never get to witness another Muslim service delivered in entirely in Arabic. Check out the photos on our Facebook page. The finished video looks great and is unique in our portfolio. Adam Guzewicz was our lead photographer and shot the footage using a Canon 5D.  The end result was breathtaking footage! The people were welcoming, open, and genuinely appreciated our work. Al Huda tells us that the fundraising video will be key in achieving their vision for the organization.

If your organization wants to use video to supplement your outreach and development efforts, but lacks the time and expertise to make your own, give us a call. We’ll make it easy.

To promote YTS&T they hired Devilfish, a collection of Boston artists to create videos depicting the interactive adventures of a miniature car named, appropriately, “Car.” With some clever eye-catching visuals “Car” demonstrates how to leverage annotation, cross-linking, comments, and other features of YouTube. This video seems to use them all. The videos are fun to watch and fun to play with whilst showing how to use youtube’s many interactive social video tools.

The videos are aimed at a strictly B2B audience: YouTube to Agency. They also supported the growth of a community of agency creatives and art directors on YouTube. Now, of course, YouTube is THE place to upload your social marketing videos. The “Car” videos were instrumental in attracting a young, artistic following.

This is another example of how merging social media with some high-quality video content can kickstart a marketing campaign. Skillman Video is experienced at working with companies of all shapes and sizes on more B2B social video campaigns.  Call today to learn more!

The other Youtube acquisition is the video production company Next New Networks, which will specialize in helping to improve and accelerate the video production process in order to bring more money to Youtube’s content partners. Youtube’s content partners would include those that have established Youtube channels, which are making money by allowing for display advertisements to be posted next to the videos.

It would appear that through the acquisition of these two companies, Youtube is attempting to create more consistent and quality video channels to compete with media outlets such as cable television and Hulu, which broadcasts high quality video programs. Youtube’s steps toward creating a inexpensive and easier way to create and upload high budget caliber video at a low budget cost is great news for all content creators. It also means that Youtube is investing in the idea that more people will be turning to the internet for their entertainment programming. This is a golden opportunity for a Medium to Small business to  market their product or service using video on the #3 search engine on the web – YouTube.  With their new focus on quality, YouTube is hedging their bets that more and more people will be looking for their entertainment and information from Social Media as opposed to traditional Broadcast or Cable television.  Is your company taking advantage of Social Media and video marketing to their fullest?  At Skillman Video Group, our service Social Video Marketing, uses all aspects of Internet Marketing -  from high quality video to SEO, web design, blogging  and Social Media – to both drive more traffic to your site and then convert those visitors into business prospects.   We have our own Youtube channel, which we continue to grow by posting our high quality videos and directing others to the channel through our various social media outlets.  Ask today how Social Video Marketing can increase business for you!

To see the type of enhancements Green Parrot will provide to Youtube users, follow this link: http://www.greenparrotpictures.com/stabilization.php

Mike, "The Intern" helping out on our shoot at Duane Morris LLP

I worked as a production assistant on many video shoots, working with a crew,  setting up lights, moving equipment, and learning the intricacies of professional video production. I was able to produce a  “behind the scenes ” video press release and edit it myself for the company website.  At the same time, I was given the chance to write for this blog and learn SEO and online marketing techniques. Perhaps most noteworthy, was my opportunity to create my own original viral video from start to finish. The Producers at  Skillman Video Group gave me the leeway to be creative and funny and I wrote and produced our  first ever viral style video Gerry’s Waterbed Emporium. Making this video was a great experience and a lot of fun. I was given the chance to explore new styles of shooting & editing, like utilizing a green screen, in a safe and educational environment.  This internship was a wonderful opportunity. It gave me the chance to work on the professional level in video production, writing, and marketing. I would recommend working for or with Skillman Video Group to anyone.  I can’t believe my time is over already and would like to thank everyone at SVG for making this experience so positive.

Mike McGuinness

We started implementing these techniques ourselves in October 2009. Google ranks website traffic and searches on a scale of zero to ten, with nines and tens being the Facebooks of the world. When our new site launched in October 2009, our website was ranked a zero by Google. Our old html site was static and we weren’t generating leads from the web. In October 2009 we started an agressive Internet marketing plan using the services outlined in our soon to be published Case Study.  By the time our case study had concluded, we were coming up as #1 in 9 targeted key words.  Within 6 months of us launching our new program, our paged jumped to a number four ranking on Google, a very impressive feat for a company of our size. The results of this online marketing effort is that our traffic is up, our content is fresh, and it’s helping our business grow. For example, our recent blog post on Video Legal Depositions was the direct source for Duane Morris LLP locating our services (please read about that job below) though a Google search and booking us just a day later. Our Social Video Marketing program is the most efficient way to market on the web. Our online efficiency techniques direct maximum traffic to your site, and our quality videos tell your story in the most effective and dynamic way possible. Call us today about your Online Marketing Video!

Marketing for any law firm begins and ends with their attorneys.  If your lawyers are essentially your product, then video allows a law firm  to showcase those lawyers in a personal, intimate way.  By allowing potential clients to see and hear your attorneys speak about their experience and goals  – you are allowing them to build trust and repore with a client before they pick up a phone to call!  In the legal field, where personal relationships are crucial, video marketing is the only medium that can clearly and accurately represent your services.

It is also important that your legal marketing videos look and sound professional.  Lighting and audio are key components to any video shoot.  If your attorneys look or sound unprofessional, it will do a poor job marketing their skills and abilities to the public!  Producers at Skillman Video Group are adept and not just lighting and audio, but also directing the on-screen talent.  Speaking on camera is sometimes very difficult for those who are not used to doing so in their every-day job.  Our producers will work with the on-screen talent to make them feel comfortable and help them look and feel their best.  Call today to learn more our Legal Marketing Videography and Video Production services!

Another great attribute is the “ Aha!” moment. Without slowing the video down or changing it in anyway, the viewer sees something they completely missed the first time (I know I did). This is the kind of mind trick video that people love to forward to their friends. In this case, the “Aha!” moment has the added bonus of being hilarious. They were not afraid to be silly and it paid off. Check back in for next week’s Corporate Viral Video of the week or contact Skillman Video Group today to see how your company could use a viral video!