Work with an experienced film company, within budget, and use vibrant, motion picture-style camera technique.
To get your corporate message across quickly and memorably, there’s nothing like video. More than 131 million Americans now watch video online alone and the audience is growing. But whether your video appears on your website, You Tube, TV, DVDs, cell phones, or at tradeshows, it better not look like an untried, fresh out of film school novice has created the film with the help of some of his friends – or your corporate brand will pay the price.
So what’s the best way to make corporate video work for you and not against you? Like movie industry professionals, you’d better work with an experienced film company, within budget, to produce a video with a cinematic look and feel.
“A good corporate video production is like a full color brochure that moves and talks,” says Asbjorn Christiansen, an industry veteran. “The viewer should never get distracted by errors or poor quality. The viewer needs to be engrossed in it, they need to understand and listen to what is being said and not forget it two seconds later.” AC is the executive producer of Seven Pictures, a Hollywood, CA-based company with over 25 years of experience in film and corporate video production. The company takes an “old school” approach to film and video production while applying the most up-to-date technology and new talent.
Countless decisions in video camera angles, movement, lighting, framing, background, sound, transitions ― not to mention casting, staging, storytelling, and the economical use and movement of still photos and graphics ― ultimately add to or detract from your professional corporate brand and credibility. You need to be proud of your production
Get it right and your corporate image is polished, your message planted. Get it wrong and you may wish you never made the video.
“We live in a visual, fast-paced world where people demand entertainment and instant gratification,” explains Christiansen. “If a message fails to be communicated in a fast and powerful way, it can get lost.”
On the subject of what a corporate video costs these days, Christiansen points out that this, of course, depends on what you ultimately need in terms of the final product. However, he labels any “pricing-per-minute-of-produced-video” as essentially meaningless because it overlooks the production values, locations, and number of set-ups that would directly impact the final cost of the project.
“A corporate video with several different angles of a company spokesperson talking to a camera might go on for twenty minutes and only cost a couple thousand dollars,” says Christiansen. “On the other hand, a high definition digital montage from various locations might only last 45 seconds but cost $150,000. This is why pricing based on the length of the final product doesn’t work.”
Instead, some corporate video production companies, such as Seven Pictures, prefer to start with a budget and work within that budget to produce the very best video possible within the parameters.
“Knowing where and how to put your effort is a big part of the craft of high quality video production,” says Christiansen. “I’m actually investing their budget into a production value they’ll see in the final product. We work with each client to walk them through what’s possible, create a dynamic plan, and essentially customize the video to their needs, within their budget.”
For instance, when Seven Pictures helped Clark Construction tell the story of its part in the award-winning Nokia Theater LA Live project, sponsored by AEG, it found the right context was the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles, culminating in the completion of the 7,100 seat concert theater, constructed in 22 months on time, on schedule, and on budget.
When the video project started with a certain budget, Seven Pictures was able to provide a powerful video presenting the story of downtown L.A.’s rise, decline, and renaissance. A blend of camera establishment shots, pans, and zooms, incorporating historic video and photo stills with movement, transitions, voice over narration and a soundtrack worked to engage the viewer.
It provided an overview of Clark Construction’s work in L.A. ― from constructing a 2.7 million sq. ft. addition to the L.A. Convention Center, to L.A. City Hall’s seismic rehabilitation, to renovating the LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal, to completion of the Nokia Theater LA Live project ― at a very reasonable cost.
“The creative approach to the project was a stroke of genius and brought the video to another level,” states Erica Hansen, Marketing Coordinator for Clark Construction Group. “I truly felt that Seven Pictures was collaborating with me on this project.”
Seven Pictures is dedicated to delivering professionally crafted film and video, with a fully trained crew, in 35 mm film, digital broadcast-quality multimedia, and high-definition video. With the most up-to-date technology, it delivers streaming video to the Internet and builds advanced, fully selectable DVDs. Some of its recent clients include Disney, Motorola, Red Cross, Bank of America, and MySpace.com.
For video demos or a free video consultation, visit Get A Quote; or call 323-462-0987
