Tag Archives: video

Autocue at Change Group office

Green screen presentations

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If you’ve got a long and detailed values and mission statement to present to a global audience, what’s the best way to go about it? Change Group, an international retail foreign exchange and bureau de change company, with headquarters in London, is launching its new Vision statement. But how to inform staff at over 120 branches worldwide? Sacha Zachariya, CEO of Change Group, chose video to reach out to his workforce.

The creative brief was to come up with a stylish visual presentation to help win over hearts and minds. The concept was for a series of presentations by the CEO, combined with motion graphics and an animated character to lighten the mood.

The filming was done in Change Group’s new offices in Holborn, in between building work on refitting the new offices. This allowed us to turn it into a TV studio for the day. We first hung our mobile green screen and rigged up the telepromter to the Sony HD camera. Then loaded the script, mic’d up the presenter, Sacha, and started to roll.

Each section of the script was filmed in wide, then we went to a mid-shot for key sections. Finally we moved onto the sections with props – who knew that Sacha could flambe and juggle whilst presenting!

Now we’re adding the graphics layers to the video, working to create the animated character that will help Sacha to deliver his message.

Ovo Energy AGM

Event Filming – Ovo Energy AGM

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On Tuesday Skylark Media got a call from Ovo Energy, an energy supply company based in Cirencester, England. They were in the final stages of planning for their AGM and wanted a film to record the event.

We quickly responded to their brief, to create a short, engaging film that they could use to record the event and hold onto those memorable messages. A video adds diversity to corporate communications, and it ensures messages stay consistent and entertaining time and time again.

Two days later we are setting up with two cameras at Paintworks in Bristol. The HD Sony EX3 and a Canon 7D for close ups and cutaways. At 3pm 10 coaches disgorged over 200 staff, eager to start playing the Ovo Quiz to win a flying lesson. The AGM was a great success, the company laying out its business strategy and plans for the year ahead. There was even time for a round of bingo. Before the refreshments at the end a group photo recorded a bumper year for employment in this fast growing company.

Skylark Media’s editing team will be preparing two videos for Ovo Energy; a full record of the event and a 10 minute cut-down version for showing to staff, new recruits and those who couldn’t make the event.

Dronecam in Watersmeet

Drone cams

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Experience Exmoor National Park like never before.

Cameras attached to silent drone cams swoop up tree-filled coombes. Fly over the gushing waterfalls of the River Exe then sink into the water on the back of a leaping salmon.

We employed Cineflex cameras to give us staggering rock steady aerials from a helicopter flying along the highest cliffs in England.

The video is reaching the final stages of production and will be shown at Exmoor’s new tourist pavillion in Lynmouth in Spring 2013.

helicopter-for-web

Helicopters over Exmoor National Park

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Well we’re back from our week filming the wonders of Exmoor National Park. The film will be shown at Exmoor’s new pavilion in Lynmouth, opening in Spring 2013. It’s to be an immersive experience, where the audience is ‘flown through’ the landscape, appreciating the sounds, animals and history as they go.

The weather during the shoot was variable, however through the excellent organisation of producer, Rebecca Bangay, we had long enough at each of our amazing locations to catch the shafts of sunlight when they fell. From Watersmeet to Dunkery Beacon we explored Exmoor from the macro to the micro. Our on the ground cameraman was BBC Natural History expert, Richard Jones. Although normally waiting for big cats on the African plains, he flexed his camera at dippers, red deer and slugs (not too hard to find this year!). Our drone cam operator was Phil Dalton, who picked up some amazing shots, flying up trees, under bridges and over waterfalls. Castle Air took on the job of getting the helicopter aerials. I’m pleased to say that we stretched the budget to a cineflex camera and got some beautifully steady tracking shots across the cliffs and valleys.

We’re now into the edit and choosing just the best 10 minutes from the hours of footage! Then, once this is signed off by our clients at Exmoor National Park the work will begin on CGI animations of iron age settlements and bronze age processions. Then the composer will work her magic on the music score. Come back in about a month and I’ll let you know how we’re getting on. Until then, it’s back to the edit suite for me. Jo Haywood, Executive Producer

Running this shoot was very much back to my days as a BBC documentary producer/director. We pulled out all the stops to make this a truly epic experience of Exmoor’s hidden wonders.

5 x cameras
3 x cameramen
2 x helicopters (one remote controlled)
22 x locations
6 x extras

3 for the price of 1

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Our clients are increasingly putting their rushes to good use.  Once we’re with them, on location, we’re filming for not just one, but several films at the same time. Our ‘Virtues of Video’ video explains more…

With a little pre-planning so that we know which shots to get and which questions to ask in the interview, it’s relatively straight forward to edit together a number of films based upon the same footage.

For example, you’re having your company filmed for a promo to show at a trade show.  Whilst we’re there we film your staff at work and find out more about the quality of your company – all great material for an induction or a recruitment video for new staff.  What if your customers want to know more about working with you, well answer their queries in an interview and help build trust and understanding.

So, if you’re thinking of commissioning a video, think about all the other uses your company has for video and get the very best from your rushes.

At Skylark Media we work with you on your business development plan and can advise you on the different styles of video that could be put to work for your company.

 

Filming Events

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In June, Atrium Software launched their new product, Atrium Vision.

The launch was given via a series of presentations by industry experts in the top class venue, The Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

Atrium wanted a series of short YouTube videos from each of the speakers.  We filmed these against a green screen so that we could be creative with their backgrounds, and also add in the relevant slides from their Powerpoint presentations.

The event videos will be used to promote their new software on YouTube and for internal training purposes.

youtube-logo

Make a video for YouTube for under £200!

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Two promo videos optimised for YouTube for under £300 – yes you heard right, just £150 per video.

Online video reaches your customers in real-time with what they need to know, in the most engaging, informative and entertaining way.

You know it makes sense – so how will the course help you?

The morning will be spent with marketing consultant, Alex Woodward, who will run through:

  • Strategies and tactics for effective YouTube marketing
  • Getting to grips with all the key sections of the site itself
  • Understanding how to make great videos that users want to watch
  • Search optimise your videos to deliver potential customers
  • Drive action from your viewers that drives sales
  • Promote your videos within YouTube and beyond
  • Measure and track effectiveness via YouTube Insights

Then Jo Haywood, BBC producer/director will work with you on your script in preparation for the afternoon session, when you will have exclusive access to a professional camera operator filming against a green screen onto which your company graphics will appear. A few days later you will receive the link to your video on YouTube, ready for you to drop into your website.

This course is offered exclusively to the first 10 to sign up – so don’t delay, sign up today.

Video for Trade Shows

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When you’re visiting a busy trade show, plastic bags full of flyers in hand, you scan upcoming stands wanting to understand what they do. A video display is one of the most effective ways for you to find out what a company does and how it may be able to help you.

Put another way, a video on YOUR trade stand is one of the most engaging, informative and entertaining ways of attracting your customers. If your product is too large or too small to display, then a video will provide all the context you need. It can also show how your product is put to use by your existing customers – there might even be a client testimonial to help with your sales message.

Staff who are manning your stand can use the video as a sales aid, pointing out features and benefits as it plays on the screen behind them.

The same video can be put to use as a marketing handout. DVDs of the video can be printed with your sales message and handed out to delegates for less than the price of a brochure.

Skylark Media Group is currently producing a trade show video for precision components manufacturer,Polamco, to appeal to their customers from the defense, aerospace and communications industries. Through the video Polamco can show off its state of the art machinery and production processes, also its high caliber staff and the quality of the company. After the trade show a version of the video will be used online as a recruitment tool.

5 Reasons to Use Video on Your Website

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produced by Skylark Media Group

1. Boost your search engine optimisation (SEO).
• A video on your index page can make your site 50x more likely to appear on a Google first results page, if you link back from YouTube to your site.
• Google has already begun to factor in the use of video on a web page when determining where it ranks on a results page – after posting a video to your site potential clients will more easily locate your URL and its video content.
• People like it – over 21 billion videos are watched online every month worldwide.

2. Keep visitors on your site for longer.
• Video is one of the best ways of increasing the amount of time visitors spend on your site. Video appeals to anyone who wants easy access to information.
• 60% of us are visual learners.
• Retention of information is 6x greater when presented visually and orally.
• Video widens your potential audience because it adds an extra communication channel.

3. Improve the experience for a visitor to your site.
• By including video on your site, you are offering viewers some entertainment and a welcome break from text-heavy web pages. When reading online we are about 25% slower than when reading a book.
• Video is an interactive medium and an opportunity to target potential clients.
• You can use video to promote new products and to notify customers of upcoming specials.

4. Find new customers
• By uploading a corporate video to a social networking site, you are opening up the possibility to getting the attention of people that otherwise would never have found you.
•  YouTube has over 500 million unique users worldwide every month, producing around 92 billion page views/month.
• An estimated 3 billion hours are spent on YouTube every month.
• On average there are more than 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link.

5. Add a personal touch
• Including yourself or a member of staff in a corporate video is an effective way of creating a more personal relationship with viewers.
• Video brings: a face to the name, shows body-language, voice and personality.
• It can tell your audience a lot more about you than just the written word.

Suttons Seeds Gets Grafted

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This week Skylark Media has been filming with Suttons Seeds at the impressive Plant Raisers, the site of the largest tomato plant propagator in the UK. We filmed 3 films in the day, getting real value for money from the presenter, camera operator and location.

Suttons are adding to their highly successful library of videos to offer help and advice to their customers. These new videos are about grafted plants and sweet potatoes.

A stunning lifestyle set had been created by Suttons marketing department. Then it was a matter of conveying 10 foot mature tomato plants from the perfect growing conditions of the green house to our outdoor location. Once everything was in place and the script was agreed then filming commenced. The weather was kind to us and a warm low sun gave us direct light and reflected balance from the green house wall – perfect. As the sun set we had all 3 films ‘in the can’.

Presenter, Rebecca Morris, did a magnificent job at presenting and Luke Fleming was operating the Sony EX3 and Canon 7d. The videos will be available on the Suttons You Tube channel from April 2012.