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Its official! Our new location!
Purchasing this space just means that Crowe Video is here in Prince Edward County for the long haul. Since moving our basment Belleville operation into The Headlands in early Spring, we have since seen an increase in gross sales of over 400%. I think I would have never considered purchasing a space, if I didn’t get a taste of it at Headlands where we currently have outgrown. As a side note, ‘The County Showcase’ has taken off like crazy, despite tight times for most business’s we are currently producing 21 promotional videos for local business’s, with another 18-20 Tentatively for the fall. This is on top of our growing regular growing clientele. Come join us at our grand opening mid Sept 2010!
Super Fun Little Camera!
I have always been into photography. Its fun to take the a bunch of stills and combine them into a movie. This is known as 'stop motion' or 'time lapse' photography. Recently I produced two video like this, which were sort of a test bed for future paying projects. Testing is critical to know what your doing when the real shoot day comes, and people are depending on you! We recently bought a tiny helmet camera called a GoPro Hero HD. This little camera, records HD video at 60 frames per second, meaning it can be slowed down to 24 frames per second (regular web video) for amazing 'slow motion' effects. It also does time lapse photography, taking pictures every 2,5,10,15, or 30 seconds until the card is full. I recently took over 2000 pictures on a 8 gig card! Quicktime Pro, which can be bought for $20, can combine all those pictures into an 'image sequence', and allow you to save it as any video format. Also, this camera is equipped with a 175 deg viewing angle(fish eye), and is waterproof to 170 feet! and was only $350! I love technology!
Here are some sample videos we have done with it:
Does Web Video Work?
I recently received an unsolicited email from one of my clients that I would like to share. David is an entertainer, and came to us to add his personality to his homepage. You can see the result HERE ! 4 months later, the feedback is in, was it worth the investment?
Here is the email:
Trevor,
"As a direct result of working with Crowe Video Productions and adding video to my webpage not only have I seen an increase in traffic but, an increase in over all sales! I can't say enough about the incredible service and quality they provide. The professionalism and attention to detail is superb and helped me in achieving my online marketing efforts. I won't work with another production company."
Professional Magician and Corporate Entertainer
David Johnson
Trevor, I have wanted to share this with you for sometime now. Please feel free to use it anyway you wish."
iPad, iPhone 4G, Social Media & Interactive Content
The world of technology is moving very fast today. When I look around me, I see individuals and business’s either embracing the opportunities, or ignoring them. Since my business of video production is really just another avenue for business’s to advertise, I’m really in the advertising business. I have a lot of friends in this business. They are photographers, journalists, editors, directors, writers, artists, and all part of the creative economy. I have had many conversations, and heard time and time again, ‘business is slow, because the market has changed’. Again, they either embraced new market opportunities, and took action, or ‘missed the boat’, either by simply not knowing, or refusing to forge ahead.
It takes ambition to forge ahead. Ambition comes from a love for your job. Loving your job means it has to stay fun. I know that sounds shallow, but I have told myself many times, “This is not fun anymore, I need to step back, or change direction”-maybe even fire a client!
So what does this have to do with the iPad or iphone? Let me give you two examples of how each of these devices is changing my trade of video production.
iPhone 4g:
Did you know that the this new phone records HD video? Did you know that the processor is taken from the iPad? This now gives the phone the power to handle iMovie 09, as a video editor. Did you know you can upload those edited high def videos to youtube wireless from anywhere? Isn’t it obvious how this might change things?
Social Media demands fresh content. Content that is concise, information packed, entertaining, current, and of high quality-and a lot of it! Business’s can add video to blogs weekly, without ever sitting down to a computer, or touching a wire, using the new iPhone 4g. Think about it.
iPad:
Recently I spoke to a professional Photographer from Toronto that was hungry for work. He told me that “all the magazines that he typically shot for were either going under-or drastically revamping things”. Apparently, nobody is reading magazines anymore-content is moving online. Guess he’s out of work right? Wrong.
Recently we did video coverage (coming soon) of a new arts magazine being launched right here in Prince Edward County called Square2 . Begs the question, ‘why start a new one when all the others are struggling?’ Because this one is different. For one, its small, I was shocked to hold it in my hand, and flip through the roughly 5”x5” booklet. Secondly, no ads, at least not until the last 4 pages. And even then, they were STORIES of business, not typical commercials. Thirdly, and most importantly, the magazine in paper form, is only 1 element of a much larger idea. At the launch party, we recorded musicians playing, poets reading, actors performing, artwork displayed, DJ’s mixing-NOT something you can put in paper form-But you CAN with interactive content! This is where the iPad comes into play.
You see, the new iPad features something called eBooks, and Amazons online bookstore. This is where you can download magazine subscriptions, books, newspapers, and read them from the comfort of your couch, in what feels like a book. But no longer is anyone restricted to paper text and pictures, now we can ‘tap’ with our fingers, and instantly watch a music video, a short play, listen to a DJ’s remix, chat about it, share it, etc. Can you see where the market potential is here? Think about it.
I’m not the only one excited about these new opportunities. I would like to give an ode to P.E.C Economic Development , who has commissioned us to produce a content-interactive Youtube video. Their vision always amazes me. They ‘fan the flame’ of local talent and entrepreneurs, casting vision, and having the ambition to forge ahead. I would also like to thank Kyle, Rene and Chrissy for having the drive to complete Squared Magazine . I would also like to thank The Grapevine Magazine for hiring us to produce a video interview for their website. Its obvious I’m surrounded by ‘like minded’ individuals. -Trevor.
On Location Shoot This week...
Wednesday night we were 'on location' at Angeline's Restaurant &Inn, shooting both video and photo. Rene Dick from Scout Design was directing Micheal Grills Photography for an ad in DINE Magazine . We were producing a cinematic video as a separate project (The County Showcase). We were collaborating together, using the same actors/models, and scene setups. This saves a lot of time, and allows Angeline's branding to be consistent, whether that is a magazine ad, or video showcase. This is one of the key benefits of being part of such a great collaborative working community such as Prince Edward County.
The County Showcase
We are in the middle of our sales process for The County Showcase , which as most of you know, is a series of local business web videos to be featured on local association homepages. So far, associations on board is the Picton BIA , the PEC Chamber , Taste Trail and Arts Trail. We already have 8 business’s signed on for web videos produced, with another 8-12 pending! It really is a great opportunity to promote business’s, because on top of getting onto those homepages mentioned above, they also get it on their own website, on YouTube for Facebook, and on DVD and Blu-ray for sit-downs with clients, and Trade shows etc. For a video explaining everything click here!:
Cleave Energy Solar Panel Video Coming Soon!
We are producing a promotional video for Cleave Energy here in Picton, and the MicroFIT program. My sister In-law, Elaine Bouma, (613-968-1940) is a salesperson for Cleave Energy, and has sold several installations. I had to get up to speed on what exactly the MicroFIT program is for our script narrative. I think that solar power will be widespread in the coming years. The goal is to reduce 'peak hours' when Central A.C. is being used on hot sunny days, EXACTLY when solar power is running at top efficiency. The governments Microfit program is an attempt to appease our province's growing power requirements. For those interested here are some excerpts from the script:
"So, what is the MicroFIT program?
First, here are the basics:
You produce power, and sell it to the grid at a profit. You don’t use or store the power yourself. Its a completely separate system from your residential power.
As part of the Ontario governments green Energy Act, MicroFIT is an incentive program to see encourage the development of micro-scale renewable energy products such as residential solar installations. Cleave Energy is leading the way in providing a streamlined process for home and landowners to take advantage of this program.
You get paid for the power you produce with FIXED tarrif rates designed to cover the cost of purchase, installation, connection, and maintance, while still allowing you to earn a reasonable rate of return on your investment over the term of your contract.
Loyalist Intern Working at Crowe Video...
Mitchell Henderson, an intern from Loyalist College 3rd Year Television & New Media, has been with us for 2 weeks now. He has been mostly editing Final Cut, and occasional camera work. Mitchel resides in Kingston, but wanted to work for a local smaller company, as opposed to larger city broadcast stations. Often times, internships in those corporations mean fetching coffee, or logging tapes all day! Welcome Mitchell.
It's not all about the # of hits.
Being a full time producer of mostly web videos for local business's,one of the top priorities is to ensure those videos get the 'hits'. Often times we hear of Youtube videos getting thousands of hits, like"Charlie bit me " receiving over a 180 million hits! Mostly, they are funny videos worth sharing with friends via email, texting, Twitter, or Facebook. When a video begins to rack up thousands of hits in this way, the video is termed "viral"-and for obvious reasons. Large corporations try to mimic this phenomenon with some great success, and some huge failures.
For our business, we have over 140 videos produced on Vimeo ,getting on average 200 plays a week. We use Vimeo instead of Youtube mostly because Vimeo is better picture quality, has more features and has no advertising like on Youtube. However YouTube is still the 'hit king'. Our Youtube account, while fewer videos, receives about the same hits as Vimeo. Specific videos that have done well? By far the most viewed is THIS,which is a video of my dads combine receiving over 13 thousand hits! The second, is Rachel and Joseph's Wedding montage, with over 700 hits.
One thing to note, is that the number of hits is not always a measure of good marketing,because you can be missing your market completely. In the case of my fathers combine, it wasn't selling anything, people just like seeing big farm equipment try to squeeze down a small lane! A video may receive a lot of hits, but if the content is so poor, that viewers move on to something else, what message have you sent? This can be seen on YouTubes 'insight' (shown above) feature inside your video settings. It rates how interesting certain sections of your video are based on how many people rewind, or simple stop watching. Its tools like this that allow us to tweak our next video, by maybe making it shorter, or improve the quality or content.
Many people believe that web video quality doesn't matter, hence why pay a professional (like myself!) to produce one for you? From my experience, when it comes to business web videos, it's the good quality videos made by a professional who understands web traffic, that receive the most hits AND are effective marketing tools.
Also, web video becomes REALLY effective when it is incorporated into larger marketing campaigns. We have been working with local marketing agencies on certain projects, that we are proud to be a part of. The people, the enthusiasm, and seeing 'it all come together' is what its all about! -Trevor
Video for the Web
I will be teaching a night course at Loyalist College on Video for the Web. If anyone, including my friends and family are interested in learning about what I do, and maybe even do some of your own work (please don't become my competition, or I will be forced to kill you), then I encourage you to take this course! It will be a fun interactive time, with plenty of time to ask questions, and practice on yours, or my own equipment. Check out the course details HERE, and sign up at the loyalist website HERE. Our first night starts in 4 weeks!