When determining which product format is right for your market, take several factors into account: How does audio hold up as a product and/or marketing tool in your industry? If you are a professional speaker, it’s best to use video for marketing, since your stage presence is such an integral part of your performance. However, occasionally you will find those who would prefer an audio brochure as a sample of your speaking ability. The same is true for the music industry. If you are a band trying to get gigs, a video will work best, but it’s nice to give your prospect the option to listen to audio. These days the audio tracks on video can sound excellent—it used to be the opposite when video was first coming into use. Don’t sacrifice quality in your marketing materials and always accommodate your audience. Do people in your industry actually listen to audio demos? An audio demo could be your whole performance, or just a portion of it. It could be a slick compilation … [Read more...]
Your Performance Is Recorded-Now What?
After your performance has been recorded, you have two more steps to complete before selling your product. Next stop, the editing suite. Once the footage is shot or the audio has been recorded, find a good studio to edit and mix (if it’s audio) and design graphics and titling (if it’s video). The editing house does not necessarily have to be the same company that did the recording, but there are obvious advantages to working with one company. When different companies are used, you have to budget more for the edit, to account for the learning curve of the editing house. By using a single company you can streamline the production process since they are familiar with the project and know exactly what you’re looking for by the time you go into the editing suite. This type of full-service facility is called a production company. My company, Primeau Productions, LLC, is that type of facility. I designed the company this way on purpose because I am a producer. Once a job or … [Read more...]
The Scouting Approach to Getting Great Footage Every Time
People often ask me what is the best format to ask for when getting a copy of a keynote speech or CEO’s presentation. Anyone who is video recorded while giving presentations can use the following tips to prepare for getting great footage. Take the scouting approach to acquiring great video every time: always be prepared! In a perfect world, a professional speaker should carry two external hard drives: one formatted for Mac and another formatted for PC. Most field crews are Mac based, especially in Vegas. Hand the hard drive to the video engineer or ask the technical director if it is okay if the video engineer copies the digital video files over when you are done speaking. You always want to ask for the full quality digital video files. We can work with any format here at Primeau Productions and many video production companies can convert and edit just about any format. In fact, we can format the external hard drives for you as well. We are finding that when an … [Read more...]
Get Ready to Produce a Great Product
READINESS: How close to perfect can you get? Perhaps you already have a raw recording sitting around (music or spoken word) or video footage (single- or multiple-camera) and you want to release it to the public. Or, perhaps you’ve just confirmed the event of a lifetime that has the makings of a great video or CD. The actual recording is the foundation of your product. Everything else revolves around this part of it, so be sure to do it right! There is a basic process for producing a perfect product: -Perfect the performance or presentation before you record it -Hire a pro to record it -Schedule time in a studio or editing suite of find a producer to edit and finalize the recording -Design the packaging -Duplicate copies of the master -Develop a marketing plan for product sales and distribution If you are going to create a product, be sure that it is your best stuff. Why make a product that could have been better? Rehearse it until you are consistently … [Read more...]
What’s the “Competitive Score” in Google’s AdWords Tool?
Google's keyword ranking tool, AdWords, can be helpful for finding keywords to improve your SEO. The "competitive score" column may confusing at first glance, but here's some insight into what it means and how to use it. The competitive score is not related to organic search, but is related to the number of advertisers bidding on a keyword. It shows the number of advertisers worldwide bidding on each keyword in proportion to all keywords across Google. Google says that the "high," "medium," and "low" classifications (which were depicted by shaded bars in the past) "provide a general low-to-high quantitative guide to help you determine how competitive ad placement is for a particular keyword." Low competition means that there are few advertisers battling over that keyword. If you wanted to advertise, you’d probably only have to pay a few cents/click, but it might not be a very lucrative keyword. (Sometimes the low competition keywords have had low success in the past when … [Read more...]
Part 8: You as the Movie Editor and More: How the Hollywood Pros Can Help
You as the Editor The film editor is the person who assembles the various shots into a coherent film, with the help of the director. There is no one way to edit because editing is like art: it is a creative process. The one characteristic of editing, though, is to make sure your shot sequences are cohesive. In other words, people who are watching your video must “get it”. To help you edit, take good notes when video recording so you can tell which takes are best during the editing process. There are several editing programs you can choose from. Windows Movie Maker is a free program already installed in your PC if you use the Windows platform. I Movie, also a free program, is installed in your Mac if you operate on the Apple platform. Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro are two other excellent video editing programs. You as the Music Editor The music supervisor, or "music director", works with the composer, mixers and editors to create and integrate the film's … [Read more...]
Part 7: You as the Vocal Coach: How the Hollywood Pros Can Help
You as the Vocal Coach The vocal coach can identify vocal difficulties that might be keeping the actor from best achieving the director’s vision. The vocal coach can also provide an analysis of why these problems may be occurring and give strategies to the director to address them in the rehearsal situation if desired. The coach can create a program of specific vocal exercises for the actor to release or expand the voice to better fulfill the director’s vision. The coach can present a company vocal warm-up or an individualized actor warm-up. The coach can distribute basic vocal hygiene guidelines, if needed. General vocal use challenges: shallow breathing, lack of support, physical tightness, or limited pitch range. A vocal coache corrects habitual speech patterns: mumbling, whispering, adding extraneous sounds, stressing too many words, stressing inoperative words, dropping ends of words or sentences, or other speaking habits which are in the way of clear expression. A vocal … [Read more...]
Part 6: You as the Lighting and Sound: How the Hollywood Pros Can Help
You as the Lighting Technician Lighting and sound both play a part in quality video production. Lighting technicians are responsible for the movement and set up of various pieces of lighting equipment for visualeffects. Lighting Technicians may also lay electrical cables, wire fixtures, install color effects or image patterns, focus the lights, and assist in creating effects or programming sequences. Lighting is very important to video, especially if you are using green screen technology. Fluorescent lighting strobes when lit, which conflicts with the shutter on your video. It is also the wrong color of white, so it may make you look older on video that you are. When lighting with incandescent lights, spread the lights far apart and and as close to you as possible without getting in the shot. That way any shadows that are created will be outside the frame. You as the Sound Engineer The production sound mixer is head of the sound department on set, responsible for … [Read more...]
Part 5: You as the Director of Photography: How the Hollywood Pros Can Help
The Director of Photography (DOP, also known as a Cinematographer) works with the Director and the Production Designer to achieve the cinematic "look" of the film. This involves choosing the type of film stock to use and the type of camera and the lighting style to complement and enhance the way the Director and Production Designer wish the movie to look. What kind of camera will you be using for your video? Who will operate the camera if you will be the actor? Will you be operating the camera while another person from your team is the actor? Initially the DOP works with the Director to plan and storyboard the way scenes are shot, and once filming has commenced, works with the camera team(s) and the lighting team to decide on camera and light placement. Lighting is another consideration. How do you want the scene to look? Are you using multiple scenes? If so, make sure there is continuity from scene to scene with both camera angles and lighting as well as sound … [Read more...]
How To: Make Your Windows 7 Machine Run Faster!
Windows 7 PC Tuneup Quick Tips There are many different techniques to keeping a windows computer happy and healthy. Today we will discuss just a few simple tips to get your Windows 7 machine operating at top notch! Primeau Productions Recommended Software: (Beginner Skill Level) CCleaner is the BEST spyware and registry cleaner that Primeau Productions uses on a daily basis. It goes deeper than cleaning out internet cookies moving files around to save on space. It goes deeper to find problems within your registry and make your software programs communicate to your machine better. Not to mention it's completely FREE! AVG Anti-Virus is FREE and it works! No need to manually scan or update your anti-virus software anymore. AVG makes it simple to stop malicious scripts from tearing your windows 7 machine to bits. It not only quarantines threats it comes into contact with, but also locks them in a virus vault for future removal and information on how it got into your … [Read more...]
