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(Part 1)

On-line content viewership is growing at an exponential rate with no signs of slowing down. In fact, somewhere in there, on-line videos replaced TV as our main entertainment source and we barely even noticed. In short, you couldn’t offset this addiction with a thousand Los Pollos Hermanos covering a thousand miles. People want their blue and they want it now, and if you don’t give it to them, well, they buy something else or go somewhere else.

Does your business website have search engine optimized product and services videos? Do you need quality, branded content that will grow your business through YouTube, FaceBook, Vimeo and other social media sites?

Whether you are an established company or looking to launch your brand, McElroy Films will help you develop the video content and strategy to reach the right audience, at the right time, with the right product solution. The digital marketing age is upon us and your business can not afford to be left behind. Here are a few of the “How’s” and the “Why’s” online videos are so effective at selling product and raising brand awareness.

1. Mobile, Bite-Sized Entertainment

We all have super computers in our pockets that let us watch videos anytime, anywhere. But peeling our eyes off our devices for one second requires effort plus, we might have to interact with people or pay attention to the road. Who wants that?

The reality is online videos are bite-sized and convenient like a bag of chips (let’s say Twisty Fritos for you chip connoisseurs out there) and just like a bag of chips you don’t realize how much you’ve consumed until you finish the bag. The difference is the bag is never empty on the internet, there’s always something new to watch. Smart companies make watchable bite-sized content to generate viewers, increase sales, and raise brand awareness.

2. Entertain and Inform

The competition for viewers means companies are constantly searching for new ways to stand out and get noticed. The online audience is a harsh and fickle place. Getting the attention and then keeping the attention is an ongoing challenge. Your product/service video should inform, but also compel more and more companies by relying on humor, storytelling, interesting information and internet personalities. Meaning it’s becoming more like TV, only mini-shows. Of course, the goal is never to get too cute. People that want your product will want to learn about your product, so moderation is key. It varies from industry to industry, but McElroy Films, a full service video production company, can create a campaign from scratch by incorporating writing, directing, editing and optimizing for YouTube, company websites or wherever the video will be seen.

3. Share and Share Alike

People love to share things almost as much as they love to watch things. “First” isn’t something to just write in the comments section. This is great news for business’s looking to launch a brand or gain more recognition, because your audience in a way becomes your marketing partner. They most likely have friends with similar interests and backgrounds so when you reach one of them, you have the potential to reach a hundred of them. All you have to do is make the quality video content that people are willing to share. It’s that simple. Make it watchable. Make it shareable, and Likable (as in FaceBook) and you can gain viewers and customers overnight.

4. On-Line Video Advertising is Cost Effective

Of all the places you can spend your marketing dollars, on-line videos yield the best return on investment. A professional video production company such as McElroy Films can produce affordable videos with superb production values that generate sales and interest. The video doesn’t run only when you buy airtime. It’s available to watch at all times at the viewer’s convenience. Nobody seeks out a commercial on TV, the commercials are blasted at them and the advertisers hope to reach enough of their target market to make it worthwhile. A video that is optimized for search engines is precisely calibrated so that potential customers are typing in the words that will ultimately help them discover your videos. It’s been said before, but must be said again, after Google, YouTube is the second largest search engine. Get found on the internet with a video that has the right tags and content that pop up most on YouTube and Google.

5. On-Line Videos Get Measurable Results

Maybe the greatest thing about videos optimized for the internet is you can see how many people are watching, who’s sharing, who’s liking and most important of all: Who is buying!

Is your video hitting the right audience? Is your video producing the desired action and getting the viewer to make a decision, whether it’s to buy or support your business organization?

You can adjust these things in real time during the marketing campaign to boost your reach, enhance the precision of your marketing campaign and get more views and sales. Digital marketing is a real time, results oriented process and quality video production services can help your company reach its potential.

BStart your video production journey today, contact a production specialist with McElroy Films and start getting your business recognized and found.

The post Breaking Brand – How On-Line Videos Launch Brands and Create Customers appeared first on McElroy Films.

The old saw about the 3 most important things in real estate could rightly be applied to video production: “quality, quality, quality”.

You know a cheap commercial when you see one. You make fun of cheap commercials when you see them. The internet and TV are filled with unwatchable dreck, and I’m not just talking about the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory. I’m talking about real product and promotional videos that started out as a business’ honest effort to communicate their products and service but ended up confusing, alienating and pushing away viewers and clients.

There’s another old saying, “Good service ain’t cheap and cheap service ain’t good”, well, that’s how it is with video production services.

If you have a great product, a great cause or a great organization, show it in the best possible light. Before you hire a video production company or “that nephew with a camera” consider that a quality video requires experience, talent, great equipment and professional skills. At minimum you need:

1. Composition

Whether you’re selling hot dogs, electronics, or insurance the color palette is a critical design element used to trigger certain emotions and feelings. Color profoundly and deeply effects how we feel about a product or business. Consider that most sleepy time pills are blue. There’s a reason for that. We associate blue with serenity and sleep, thus manufacturers make pills blue, except in Italy. There, due to the national Italian Soccer Team color being blue, the color has the exact opposite effect so most sleep aids are white or orange but you’re probably forgot all about that as you just realized how laughably easy it is for marketers to hack your subconscious…

But anyway, the other side of composition is: What is in the frame? What is the interesting element? What is required to make it stand out visually and create a memorable, informative moving picture that tells the viewer how to feel while communicating everything about the product/service/organization? This is where the artist’s eye and imagination are most useful.

2. Camera

HD Camera Technology is advancing at a truly incredible rate. While anyone can pick up a high-quality camera at an affordable price, using the right camera with the right accessories for the right job under the right conditions (indoors/outdoors – daytime/night time) is what gives your product video that quality element.

3. Lighting

Often overlooked because, ‘hey there’s enough light to see my product through the little thingy-hole, let’s start filming’ but the fact is lighting is a huge part of the process and takes time and proper attention to set up. Great lighting makes great images.

4. Audio

“Can you smell what I’m saying?” Uhm, no I can’t. And that friends is the garbled, confused, incongruence poor audio can inflict on your video. Nothing turns off or confuses a viewer quite like bad audio. Our ears are very sensitive, ambient noise, poor equalization, terrible effects or low quality microphones gives viewers that “something is wrong” feeling right off the bat.

The audio is like color, a palette. The volume of accompanying music, the speakers voice, the selection of music, the tone, when to and when not to use audio effects, all these things help shape the emotional impact and quality of your video. Like a great camera, you might have great microphones. But capturing great sound is just the first step. The proper mixing and fusing of the sound design elements gives your message maximum impact.

5. Editing

As far as I am concerned, this is where the rubber meets the road, shakes hands, and says howdy-do. Give me a great editor over a great director any day. They are the unheralded yet most powerful tool in video production and not just because after effects can make me look more handsome and my hips more slender. The impact, quality and content of your video production is greatly enhanced with a great editor. McElroy Films has some of the best and most experienced in the business. They make sure your video is on message, that the dialog is succinct and on point and that the run time and content excite and maximize viewer interest. They mix together all the different camera angles and footage to create comprehensive, entertaining and informative videos.

McElroy Films Studio is stocked with the latest professional editing software suite, high powered computers to give our professional editors all the tools they need to mix composition, camera, lighting, graphics, titling, actors, action, dialog and audio into a powerful film product that will engage and inform customers about your business and product. Start your video production journey today and contact a producer at McElroy Films for a free quote.

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Attention fellow video makers, viewers, and sharers!

McElroy Films is excited to share the latest reports and predictions regarding online video consumption released in Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2014-2019. Cisco, the multinational technology company that designs, manufactures, and sells networking equipment presented data forecasting global IP traffic in the next few years, and video is a huge part of it. The following are just a few of their jaw-dropping predictions:

• Globally, consumer Internet video traffic will be 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic in 2019 – that’s 85% in the US.

• It would take an individual over 5 million years to watch the amount of video that will cross global IP networks each month in 2019

• Internet video to TV doubled in 2014. Internet video to TV will continue to grow at a rapid pace, increasing fourfold by 2019

If you think Netflix and viral YouTube videos are already taking over your life, wait until 2019. 80% of Internet traffic will be video traffic, and if you include peer-to-peer file sharing, this number increases to 90%. The study includes Internet video to TV (Netflix), short form video (YouTube), long form video (Hulu), video calling (Webcam), Internet PVR, ambient video, and mobile video.

This impressive increase is of course partly due to the popularity of online streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu and our increasing use of smartphones and tablets. (Half of our daily consumption of digital media already takes place through these devices, and traffic from wireless and mobile devices will rise to 66% of all traffic in 4 years.) But it is also simply due to the number of people that will have access to the Internet by 2019: around 3.9 billion people!

We better get started on making some new videos! How do you think your online video viewing will increase?

Reference:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/ip-ngn-ip-next-generation-network/white_paper_c11-481360.html

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Just this past year, Burlington unveiled 3rd Ave adding new restaurants and a bowling alley to an already buzzing area. In addition, New England Executive Park is transitioning their office park on Mall Road to become “The District” , which will become of the most luxurious office buildings to work at in the area!

The team here at McElroy Films wanted to make a special little video solely to showcase some of the amazing spots around Burlington! We truly couldn’t ask for a better town to work in!

Burlington Massachusetts Video Production from McElroy Films on Vimeo.

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Boston based video production company, McElroy Films is enjoying the success of their growing corporate video division. The recent influx of clients looking to film their commercials on-location around Massachusetts is the inspiration behind our newest blog post.  This necessary step in pre-production planning is easier said than done, which is why this blog works to provide people with a few helpful tips for scouting the perfect shooting location.

The post Helpful Hints for Location Scouting appeared first on McElroy Films.

1.Location: Scouting the filming location is key, especially if the client is working with a limited budget or number of interview subjects. Access to multiple filming locations or backdrops will make the subtle difference between your client’s videos looking manufactured instead of interesting and professional.

2. Lighting: Lighting a set can be tricky because of the various factors that need to be considered, especially when filming on-location instead of in-studio. The time of day/duration of filming, location, and lighting setup should be selected and scouted before the shoot.  Depending on the budget, hiring an experienced gaffer that understands all facets of lighting will save time and money, particularly during post-production.  For corporate interviews, a three-point lighting scheme should work…just don’t forget to bring extra bulbs and a pair of gloves!

3. Camera Setup: Interviews are typically framed for medium shots (MS), medium close-ups (MCU), or a wide-shot, (WS) depending on the style of the interview. For stylistic shots, try framing close-up shots of the subject. A traditional interview setup places the interviewee and interviewer diagonally from each other so that the interviewee does not speak directly too the camera, which can make the client’s interview message feel contrived and or forceful to the audience. Have the producer or interviewer sit to the side of the camera’s and at eye-level with the subject.

4. Audio:  Audio can make or break a video. Bring a variety of mics, batteries, sound blankets, and cords because when it comes to audio, you can never be to prepared…wardrobe incompatibilities, weather, and location can throw audio curve balls. For interviews, the lavaliere mics are ideal because the mic has a short pickup and is omnidirectional, which means the mic picks up noises from every direction. A shot gun mic should be setup to record room tone and is suitable for recording audience questions or commentary.

5. Wardrobe: Provide your client with a list of suggested attire in advance so that they have time to find the right outfits. Your client should bring AT LEAST 4 to 5 different outfits to set. Need more specifics? Come to set with at least 2 different suiting blazers and several dress shirts. Avoid wearing whites, greens (especially for green screen shoots), stripes, fluorescent colors, bold patterns, graphic prints, and clothing that shakes, rattles, or rocks because the lav mic will pick up the sound and compromise the sound clarity.

6. Makeup: Command the set. Show you’re confident and capable. Satisfy the client by coming prepared with a basic makeup kit that contains a roll of paper towel, makeup remover wipes, hairspray, combs, a mirror, disposable makeup applicators, and various shades of translucent pressed powder. Understandably, applying makeup to a stranger’s face can be awkward but powdering your client’s t-zone before rolling is a standard practice that should not be avoided. For quality content, your interview subject should feel comfortable and confident enough to speak open and honestly. These subtle touches will relax whoever is in the hot seat… sitting under the lights can make can anyone sweat and feel self-conscious so powder the forehead, temple, nose, chin, and any other shiny spots ahead of time.

For more information contact us at info@mcelroyfilms.com or call 718 229 5900.

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To promote the novel, Brian reached out to McElroy Films to create a concept and execute a basic 30 second trailer that will be shown in AMC theaters in the United States and beyond for several months. McElroy Films previously created a trailer for Brian’s ‘At Fenway’ music video that also aired before movies before the start of the Red Sox 2013 championship season with great success.

The Horrorscope trailer features a ‘star chart’ design complete with the Zodiac signs. The music was customized and composed by Chris Bezold, a frequent partner of McElroy Films over the last year, composing work for such videos as the ‘WWPass’ overview and others.

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An FTP transfer or File Transfer Protocol is what we, in the video production world, use to transfer files from one host to another host through the Internet.  Clients of McElroy Films often ask us what our preferred method of delivery is for files and completed videos.  Often times, there is no singular answer to this question because the method is  dependent on the client’s time frame and technical capabilities, not to mention the size of the files. As a video production company with a far reaching list of clientele, we are accustomed to sending files and products quickly and effectively throughout the country and overseas. This blog works to translate a hardy technological term into a comprehensible explanation of the FTP Transfer process.

FTP transfers occur when the client and the server connect through the Internet to share files.  Unlike a tangible hard drive, the FTP transfer is an ideal method of delivery if the client is not interested in paying for the storage drive, sales tax, and the shipping fees. Despite the shipping cost of hard drives, they are still the best and fastest way to send a large quantity of files, not to mention, they provide timeless data storage. FTP transfers are ideal for sending files remotely, however the process is timely as it takes equal loading and uploading time, from client to the server, therefore a strong and safe Internet connection is recommended for a successful transfer.

FTP transfers can require a login and username in order to allow access whereas other FTP transfers require no login or username.  Be sure to ask your client or vendor if they have a login or username for FTP transfers.  Once the client or vendor has access to the login or files then the files are ready to be transferred. Be sure to monitor the transfer throughout the process. Trust us, we enjoy helping our clients to understand the entire production process, including the delivery process.

If you have any questions regarding various methods of delivery or other facets of the production process then submit your questions to info@mcelroyfilms.com and we will dedicate our next blog post to answering your question.

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