The first thing I noticed about the video was its length at 10:06 it is far far longer than the either the Apple promo or the Holmefield Veterinary surgery promo. Personally when I saw it was a ten minute film about business I rolled my eyes and began to switch off which I think many people would so this video is very obviously not aimed at a large number of people but a very select group of people with a keen interest in business.

The length does reveals however like Apple that a lot of money was put into the video as making a video of this length takes man power and a lot of time which all costs money.

The video is full of different nationalities and ethnicities throughout the video. This is revealed almost instantly with a montage of sorts showing a number of students of different ethnics groups. This shows how international the course is and how renowned it is if people are coming from Nigeria, Germany and across the world to do this course. The director of the course is American not British so even though it is a British university the staff have come from around the world as well as the students to teach.

The editing in this is incredibly repetitive as they use the same transition of Tower Bridge, a time lapse of people walking and then the title of the next topic each time they move on to another subject. It does become fairly annoying when you see the same thing over and over again however it happens quickly and only happens a few times and as it is just a tiny add in to help the audience realise they will be going on to a different subject it is more of a help than a hindrance.

The pace of the video is quite quick at the beginning of the video with a lot of cutting. As people begin to talk it slows down dramatically. I think they made it slow as they clearly are more interested in the information being transmitted as well as it can and to cram as much of it as possible in.

The camera work in the video is largely quite varied and is relatively interesting to the eye, using shots such as close ups of hand movements and then cutting back to wide shots of what is happening in the wider event and then back to people’s reactions kept the video flowing and stopped it from being too boring as well as giving the audience a wider prospective of what is happening at the time. They make sure to get a lot of shots of the building and show its size and age which really hits the audience showing this is an incredibly important institution in this field take notice of it.

Judging the effectiveness of this video is very difficult as I have no real interest in business so some of the things the staff and students said were positives meant nothing to me. However it does give a lot of information, shows what the location is, has plenty of positive feedback from current students in it and appears to sell itself fairly well so as an outsider I would say it is affective as a product.

Holmefield vets analysis

The first thing you notice in the Holmefield video is the quality of the piece compared to the Apple one. This is obviously due the low budget they would have had as a relatively small company.

The use of camera is relatively basic, they have wide, mid and close shots as well as an establishing shot which is right at the very beginning of the video about 14 seconds in, the wide shot is of the Holmefield vets sign and building. A lot of the footage was handheld of the offices and the waiting rooms and the examining room which was probably used due to a lack of space and to cause less of a nuisance and let the staff go about the duties as usual. All these very simplistic shots to make the video feel down to earth and local which is what they are probably trying to portray.

One thing I noticed in the video was the fact that all except for one nurse who appeared to be of Asian descent, were white British, that also includes the clients. This surprised me as the veterinary surgery is situated in Leeds. Leeds being such a large city with a well-established, well respected university as well I would have assumed it was a multi-cultural hub. However after looking at the results of the 2011 census a staggering 82.58% of the population of Leeds is White British, with the second closest ethnicity being Asian British as just under 7% of the population. This probably explains the large number of white British appearing in the video. Another thing I noticed was all the nurses except for one were female and the male vet who was there was never interviewed. This may be because the director wanted the audience to engage with a woman who comes across more caring than a man with a deep voice may do.

Except for the diegetic sounds of the vets and nurses talking the only other sound that you hear is the music playing in the background. During the video there are two pieces of non-diegetic sound played in the promo. The first plays from the start until about a minute in this song is upbeat and friendly, during this the vets is introduced and the people that work there start to talk about their jobs. The second song starts just after this and at this point the tone of the piece changes to more serious matters such as "working at a high standard" and being inspected by "The Royal college of Veterinary surgeons and The College of animal Welfare". This is accompanied by the slower less stated music that makes the information stand out more.

I think this video is very effective at introducing the vets as a friendly, welcoming practice that are there to help. The video is good at making the audience feel involved by showing a large number of animals people can recognise without being an expert on animal breeds. There were also very conscious of getting a lot of footage of younger, cuter pets, to add to awwh factor to the video which is always going to be an great selling point. They also do well to include interaction between the pets and there owners showing there loves which is relatable with anyone who owns a pet. Finally one of the bestselling points is when they say that they all own pets themselves this calms the audience instantly now they know the nurses wouldn’t jeopardise the safety of the clients pets because they know how it would feel to lose a pet.

Apple corporate video analysis

Apple Inc. formerly Apple Computer Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. The grandeur of the company is very apparent quite quickly through the way the promotional video is filmed with its crisp high end visuals and editing. The mise en scene gives us many more clues to the strength of the company as well as helps show quite a homie, friendly work place for the professionals to work in. The money put into this is very clear from the huge number of shots in a scene showing as many perspectives as possible. It is also obvious money was put into this from the number of locations across the world that the video takes place in. This is used to show the great diversity of people and cultures working for the company. Apple also wants to show that they are not a sexist organisation and show women using equipment and having important roles within the company.

The pace of the video is very affective at selling the video as it begins very simply and understated and builds to a crescendo of positivity and self-worth. This build up in the video makes the information at the latter stages of the video seem more important. The information given at the end is a lot more personal to the more general information early in the video. Giving the more personal information a greater status makes the audience who are watching the video with the intentions of applying for a job or joining the company a real feel of having a purpose within the company as well as the knowledge they are going to a job that could help you find meaning. This is directly told to the audience at 4:15 only 20 seconds or so from the end.

The use of camera in this video is very subtle throughout with just tiny adjustments however these little movements make the video come to life and make it more three dimensional. A great example of a movement changing the feel of the images happens right at the start of the video where a shot of a sign introduces us to the company. It would have been very easy to stick a camera down and get a locked off shot of the sign. However in the video the shot pans over to the right adding life to the shot and that movement engages the audience instantly to what they are watching.

The sound in the video is really vital as well. The non-diegetic sound in the video adds to the style of the video with its calm and bouncy rhythm keeping the audience feeling good and engaged to diegetic sound, the people talking and what they have to say.  In several moments in the video the music builds up so it is louder and the pace of the music quickens this always happens when someone is trying to make a point they wish to get across.

I think the video is very effective in making the audience feel like Apple is a friendly and fun company to work for, that also keeps you engaged in your work and making great products for consumer. After the video finished I found myself feeling like backing Apple as the people in the video were all smiley and seemed genuinely nice and interesting people to work with which of course is what the company wants when making this video.

The site I used to find royalty free music for my edit

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

These are three screenshots of me editing my ceremony section of the documentary edit.

First I looked at all of the clips and labelled which were the most usable and would work best with the script I had written.

Once I had done this I looked for music to accompany the piece. For this I used a great site called Incompetech.com.

After this I began a simple edit to get a sense of how it would look before adding transitions and syncing it to more of a mood that I wanted to create.

After this my edit was added to the other sections for the final edit.

This book was published in 2006 and created to tell the history of Thornham and it's people, this was a great source for information and images.

We got permission to use the information and images by the authors.

The book has been invaluable source of inspiration and helped us with the research an unmeasurable amount.

First day at editing my section of the documentary

Risk assessments and hazard awareness for the filming days

These are some photo's I took of when David and I did the sound recording for our documentary with our voice actor Ellen.

For this we set up our camera and two microphones going into the camera to create the best stereo sound we could in the short time we had.

One of my jobs in the project was to write the script the following photo's are my process of writing the draft to the final written script for people to refer to and ready for the voice over.

This first picture is about our documentary group discussing times and plans for the filming that happened on 21/9/13.

The next two screen grabs were taken on the first day of the project when we split into two groups and decided our roles.

This picture is the first simple storyboard we created to begin to understand the order we wanted the documentary to go in.

This is when we split our documentary group into smaller sections so we could edit individual sections.

This picture is all the important dates we organised for ourselves, including filming, editing, meetings and our deadlines.

These last two are screen grabs of aims for the project

The new Village Hall and Sports Pavilion officially opened on Saturday, 21st September.
The evening started at 6.00pm in the Drill Hall where everyone drank a toast and bid farewell to a building which has served the village well for more than 100 years. Everyone then moved to the new Hall at 6.45pm for the official opening. This was followed by a buffet supper which was free of charge to everyone. There was a complimentary free drink to toast the new Hall. Following this, there was a bar which sold drinks at reduced prices. The Smithdon school band provided music. To end the evening, the Rector, Christopher Wood gave a blessing.

Thornham village hall has a twitter page

Notes from lessons with Luke

The most frequent purpose of a promotional video is to provide information. That information can be used to solve a variety of communication needs that the organisation might have, either internal (employee needs) or external (customer needs). 

Some typical conventions / current practice:

Use of graphics to impart information

Animated graphics to create / reinforce a brand identity

Music & graphics to segment information

Presenter ‘testimonial’ – the use of a presenter(s) to impart information. The choice of presenter(s) will both reflect the brand identity and appeal to the audience.

Interviews with key stakeholders

Scenarios – the use of narratives or reconstructions to ‘tell a story’ which communicates the videos message.

Voice over narration used to impart information

Music track to create an atmosphere

NOTES ON MAKING A CORPORATE VIDEO:

Get the most bang for your buck - Multipurpose it

Nail down a strong concept - Do some research and stick to a strong concept

Be realistic

How long should it be? 2 - 5 mins probably

Do not use brochure text!

Cast the right spokesperson

Be responsive to requests. You are employed by them.

Know your audience

Don't forget the script! Finalise it before production begins

GENDER

• Testicles
• Voice
• Looks
• Adam's Apple
• The way they walk
• Clothes
• Jobs

Anddrogynous?

SEXUAL IDENTITY

• Homosexual
• Heterosexual
• Heterosexism
• Attraction
• Bisexual
• Transgender
• Homophobic?

RACE/ETHNICITY
These are parts of everyday life for most of us.

REPRESENTATION OF ETHNICITY
Status

• Character role
• Occupation
• Job authority
• Social authority
• Conversation topic

Physical Attributes

• Race
• Age
• Accent
• Physical attractiveness
• Body type
• Dress/attire

                                                   Roles   

Our documentary group sat down to talk about our roles recently for the work. during this talk I became director and asked to write the script.

On Saturday the 21st of September, the two teams (documents and promo) travelled up to Thornham in order to gather more footage and talk to the locals about there opinions on the new hall and there feelings on the drill hall and the memories.

The crew recorded the inside of the hall, the ceremony and recorded the shield being carried from the old drill hall to the new pavillion.

Demographics

Thornham is a very small village of just under 400 people who are largely aging people who live there as a holiday home in the summer how ever the people who do live there are mainly older people in there 70's and 80's. When we make our documentary and promotional videos we need to know who our demographic is so we can create a piece they can relate to and find interesting.

                                                             The drill hall

- The hall was built in 1907
- Used to train the church lads brigade in the use of rifles
Site sold in December 2012 for funds for the new hall
- Built in the grounds of the rectory
- Used for concerts, dances and meetings.
- Farm harvest suppers hosted here after the second world war, but tradition eventually died out.

                                              Thornhams new hall

Villagers have been fundraising for a new building to replace the old Drill Hall after they gained a six-acre site for the benefit of the community.

They formed their own company, Thornham Village and Playing Field Ltd, to help bring about new facilities but quickly realised they needed to replace the dated Drill Hall, which had served the area for a century.

Having already installed a multi-use games area, they set about raising the money by selling the old site to pay for the facility.

They were then given a £475,910 Lottery grant to add to cash they had already raised in fundraising, meaning work could start on the £640,000 project earlier this year.

The new building, which is due to be unveiled to the public on Saturday, September 21, once work to the inside of the building has been finished, boasts a hall which can cater for 150 people as well as a meeting room.

There are then changing rooms for the coastal village’s cricket and football teams.

Despite the modern new building, Thornham’s residents are keen not to forget the old Drill Hall which served them so well for so long.

As well as an opening ceremony for the new hall and sports pavilion in September, there will be a farewell event at the Drill Hall before villagers make their way to the new building where they will spend many hours in the future.

Genealogy

 I researched any genealogy links on the residences that had already been interviewed to well known past residents of the village to see if there were any interesting family histories.

First day!

Today we had our first lesson on corporate videos and began our corporate video. After discussing the project we decided our roles and I became one of the directors of the documentary. We began our planning seeing what shots we needed to get and what information we needed to collect.

 I began researching the history of Thornham and any interesting stories we could include in the documentary.

  

Introduction

Hello my name is Luke and this blog is to log my progress on my work on unit 28: Corporate Video Production. I will be blogging examples of corporate videos, Analysis of videos and me development through the unit until I create my own.