Evolution of cinematic special effects

The entertainment industry is limbless without special effects today. Special effects are a blend of science and art. Both of these bombard to influence the brain’s sensory parts in perceiving the things happening around us and at the same time also involve in manipulating the sensory system.

Why are special effects used?

In simple words, special effects make everything and anything possible under the sun and so they are used to spice up the movies and give utmost entertainment to the viewers. It is fair enough to say that revolution occurred in the entertainment industry just because of the special effects.

“Think about it and make it happen” – this is the motto behind special effects. Be it aliens or the dinosaurs, we can bring them to life through special effects.

A brief insight on the historical milestones

Can you believe that the history of special effects dates back to 1700s even before a camera was invented? Yes! Magicians used techniques to entertain viewers by performing optical illusions. This was the stepping stone for the origination of special effects.

The first motion picture was staged in 1895 following that came in sound and color which lead to the birth of special effects.

After special effects came into regular usage, a revolution happened in the 20th century with the merging of the idea with computers. The technology used in computers helped in revolutionizing the scenario of special effects in movies and films.
On the other hand, from the very beginning, film makers have used mirrors and smoke to create tricky effects or illusions to startle viewers. Interestingly, the earliest special effects were in-camera effects which included small movements like jumping.

Magic spill

Today, the impossible is made possible through special effects. Either creating anything or destroying the same is now just a click away.

“Titanic” and “The Matrix” were super hit movies just because they succeeded in startling the audiences with amazing scenes that were created through special effects.

Special effects have been getting better every year with the introduction of new techniques and technology. While the revolution has begun, the best keeps coming always. This is all very well, but how can your business profit from the techniques that Hollywood has pioneered?   Well we will cover that subject in our next blog!

How to Get Online Video Noticed?

The days have gone when companies used to display their advertisements in newspapers and televisions. Now the Corporates and small businesses use online marketing methods to promote their business and trade. Today Internet is flooded with online videos promoting many corporate.

With the increase in use of Internet, the popularity of the video promotion has also augmented. Moreover, online marketing is also extremely cost effective. There are certain rules that one needs to follow to get on the top 10 pages of Google, the most popular search engine.

Even if, you are a beginner in online video marketing, there is nothing to worry. Some of the best videos can be submitted to the video sites such as YouTube and that will help your business gain more traffic for your website. Here, are some guidelines that can help you gain additional business:

Select precise keywords: A customer can search for any word and if the words are similar to your video Google would show your ad. It is particularly crucial to choose the perfect keywords to promote your videos on Google. One can use Google’s keyword search tool for getting required keywords. There are many suggestive keywords on Google’s tool. The keywords suggested should be included in videos title and description.

Split your video as an answer:  when the video is placed on the YouTube it helps to know what kind of videos get highest viewership. With the assistance of YouTube, you can get more creative. Moreover, you can attract more traffic by adding popular video clips with your business videos.

Watch competing videos: the most notable thing while putting an online video is to view and observe the competitors videos. There is a term called “benchmarking” which means to follow the stage that is best according to the set standards. The titles, descriptions and content placed on the popular videos would help to make your video look more attractive.

Search out the new video sharing websites: one can also get your videos placed on many video websites other than you tube. Selecting precise keywords and title would also help to locate your video on other commercial sites.

A specialized video Production company can easily help to promote your online business videos. At the end what matters is your video should look good and impressive enough to attract customers.

The Closing Stage of Video Production Editing

Once the pre production and production stage of the video production is finished the next stage is the editing. In the previous two stages, raw footage is already prepared of the whole shoot. Subsequently now the time has come to make all the rational and motivating choices that will make your final master piece.

Professional editing companies use many different types  of software to edit and modify the video program. Since it is a digital era, everyone uses a computer to make changes in the video. There are many computer software houses that help in professional video editing. There are different levels of editing software, since it is a post production level one can use final cut pro (FCP).

Media 100, pinnacle, premier and FCP editing softwares are used by many professional video producing companies. Among all the software, FCP stands as one of the best editor. One can also generate more bucks while using FCP in video editing. Other than FCP there are programs that are too used in the video editing process including Photoshop, 3D software and illustrator.

Photoshop helps to create graphics and manage the still images from the shoot. Sound loops, soundtrack pro, live type for text, studio pro and others are the programs used to totally edit the video and make it more entertaining. First of all, you need to transfer the video in the computer so that it is converted into useable file format.

There are varieties of things that one can do in the footage with the help of editing programs. The footage can be slowdown, speed up, cut, move and do other things via FCP. The professional video producing companies transfer the final footage to their internal disk initially. The final video is transferred to the external hard disk at the end by the companies.

One vital thing that is to be considered is maximizing RAM of the PC while editing. The computer never has enough RAM that is required for the editing process. Moreover, to prevent crash of the drive make sure you have at least 10% free space on the drive. Things such as text editing, sound editing, and others should be done with proper care so that video looks more impressive.

No matter how long your video is, it is crucial to go through a full testing procedure before final screening.

Video Production Stage 2 Production Stage

Once pre-production is complete, it is time to continue the work with production. The script should now be ready and approved by all.

There is a number of elements that need to be kept  in mind while starting the production stage of video. The things that need to be taken care are as followed:

Safety: The first and foremost issue that needs to addressed during the production phase is safety. One should take all the required safety measures to ensure that there are no chances of accidents. It should be seen that lighting and any rigging are handled properly, and there is no risk of falling. Sandbags should be placed around heavy lighting and wires do not cause a trip hazard.

Set up & break: The next step is to secure the equipments used in the shooting. If the shoot is going to involve public areas, extra care is required. One should also test all the tools that are to be used in the production, before the shoot starts. Everything should be kept ready before the actors come to the shooting site. All the props, the audio decks, lighting and other components should be checked before shooting.

Make up: If your budget allows, makeup and wardrobe crew can be employed to enhance the look of the film. Makeup can help your actors shine. The makeup team would be there every time the actors need them. The makeup team would also help the actors clear their sweat and clean the oily skin. They are also in charge of the actors’ general appearances. This is more important when shooting a B2C commercial with heavy lighting rigs and less important on general corporate videos.

Camera person: Any video production cannot take place without camera man. The camera men hired should be proficient enough to undertake the project at hand. They should know when white balancing is required, when to move the camera, where to focus and at what time. The camera person should also know to handle the situation if any trouble occurs with the camera while shooting.

Audio level: Before starting the shooting one should take the trial of all the audio systems that are to be used in production. If the shooting is planned out of the studio, the team should be properly equipped with the wireless microphones.

With proper planning and proficient team, the production stage of the video production can be easily accomplished.

Pre Production – An Essential Part of Video Production

Video production, the latest and advanced marketing technique, is been adopted by many companies. With video production, a company can display all its potential products and services in an effective manner. Moreover, with the fast growing world, one has to be easily adaptable to change, and video does just that!

Producing a video for the company is divided into three parts, pre-production, production and post-production. Pre-production is the planing stage in producing a video. Any professional video would require pre-production planning. A common mistake when corporates set out to produce a video is they do not spend enough time on this part of the process and want to rush into production. This can prove costly down the line!

Pre-production is a fundamental part of video production. Only a professional video production company would know the import elements of the pre-production stages and you should ask your suppler to explain the detail before you commission then to build your video.

Pre-production stage starts with identifying the aims and objectives of video production. The target viewers are recognized and analyzed whether they have potential to make our video production a success. The language, the actors, the speed, music and others of the video production are entirely dependent on the target audiences. As every person has a different attitude and interests, so the target addressees should be chosen correctly.

The next thing that one needs to decide is the total cost to be spent on the video production. A company can spend from a very few pounds (DIY video) to over six figures. If the video is an essential element to your business, then you should be sure that you spend an appropriate part of your budget on pre-production. Spending more on video production can make video look more impressive to the prospective audiences.

So, if you are looking to engage with a video production company, be sure to ask your potential supplier to go over every part of the process and make sure you understand what is required of you and more importantly, what will your video production company take care of for you.

Video Production – an Effective Marketing Technique

A business can use various promotional techniques to showcase its products and services.  Initially people in the corporate world used the basics such as print, brochure sites and direct mail to increase their client base. As the world has changed, the simple techniques no longer work, or at least do not set themselves apart from the competition making customer acquisition more difficult.

Corporate video production helps companies to increase their sales in a cost efficient way.  One can use video production to display products and services to its customers.

There are several benefits of using video production:

* Video production is a cost effective.

* Sales can be enhanced with the help of video production.

* Video production can also be used to train and guide newly hired employees in the company.

* Proper demonstration of products and services can be demonstrated with video.

* Video production is a very cost efficient way to advertise.

* Using video production on a company’s website can help increase market reputation as well as driving more traffic.

The advancement and growth of the competitive market has forced the companies to adopt the new technologies. Every business today has its own website to promote its products and services. Sales can be increased, if there is something striking on your website that snatches the attention of the visitor. Video production can help you attract more customers as it helps you reveal the products in an effective manner.

Video productions can be shared on social media networks, mobile applications, and such other to increase transactions. Video productions are also useful in displaying the company at trade exhibitions. Always remember to appoint a professional video production company to display your products and services. Stay ahead of the competition and create your own identity in the corporate world!

Corporate Video Training Past and Present

While the current economic downturn has meant that many companies have had to trim costs in certain areas of their business, the individual and collective knowledge of their employees still requires regular investment. Without ongoing training and constant product knowledge updates for employees, a company cannot hope to remain competitive in the marketplace. However, the need to curtail spending and maximize effective use of resources has inevitably led many companies to rethink their corporate training strategy.

In the early days of globalization many companies deployed teams of ‘in-house’ trainers to deliver training to their employees. These teams of ‘in-house’ trainers would travel between the company’s offices and production sites to deliver onsite training and to bring employees up to date with any new product releases. It was an essential but expensive strategy costing companies many thousands of pounds in employee downtime and traveling expenses.

As globalization gathered pace and the cost of maintaining ‘in-house’ training teams began to rise, many corporations began to outsource their employee training needs to specialized companies in order to cut costs. Invariably, training costs were trimmed at the expense of control over how instruction was managed and delivered. Moreover, the new training environment became sterile and lacked the personality of a corporate identity.

In an effort to maintain some semblance of corporate identity, companies began to integrate training videos into their employee instructional mix. Although seen as an effective method of delivering information uniformly across the various departments that make up a company, training videos were expensive to produce and still required employees to be gathered in one central point to view them. However, over the last ten years technological advances in video production and video delivery platforms has changed all this.

Corporate training videos can now be delivered across a range of delivery platforms including the Internet, webinars, seminars and conferences, thus making them accessible to the most remote of company employees. Furthermore, the cost of producing a corporate training video has dropped markedly to the extent that they are the most cost efficient training tool available to a company today.

Thanks to the impact of video technology on the corporate training environment, companies can now reduce their training budgets considerably. In addition, employee downtime is effectively eliminated as they are no longer required to travel to a central location for training sessions.

From a business efficiency perspective, the speed at which video training can now be delivered means that information and product updates can be distributed uniformly to every employee within the company with few, if any, time gaps. This in turn has made knowledge continuity within the corporate structure that much easier to manage.

The downside to corporate video training rests in its lack of interactivity. In short, it is difficult for employees to give their feedback or question the material contained in a given training video, unless the company provides a channel or trainer for this specific purpose.

Furthermore, how much an employee’s knowledge has increased as a result of watching a training video is difficult to measure. That is why corporate training video should always be delivered as part of a blended training package. Blended training packages make use of traditional quality assessment methods, such as feedback forms and questionnaires, to measure the effectiveness of a given program.

Corporate training video certainly presents a company with an exciting and cost effective means of disseminating information and for managing that all important employee knowledge base. It has also presented companies with the opportunity to regain control over how and when training should be delivered, effectively bringing the concept of corporate training full circle and back ‘in house’. But, as with all training methods, it is essential that video be seen as part of an integrated instructional strategy rather than be served up as an all encompassing training tool.