This video has been a long time coming. I did my first Movement and Colour tests just a couple of weeks after posting Field Notes 2. But the beauty of this series was also one of its biggest challenges: zero expectation, zero priority.

Before I got the chance to push forward with the creative process, some incredibly high expectation, high priority opportunities came in. One of which, was a DLC commercial that allowed me to scratch the “playing with Movement/Colour” itch for a while:

After wrapping these nationwide commercials, I started budgeting out my dream Field Notes video. Big lights, big crew, big ideas, big expectations. But before I could add up all the zeros, another huge opportunity landed on my plate – a fantastic series that took me across Canada for one hell of a summer vacation.

If the DLC commercial had me dreaming of excess, Beyond the Arc had me thinking of efficiency. If a small team carrying everything on their backs can make great TV, then maybe you don’t need a crazy set-up when your goal is experimentation.

Cross Canada travel also helped Field Notes by putting me in contact with Jonathan Mason. Based in Vancouver, he was moving to Ontario to join the Stratford Festival at the end of the summer. And when you have access to a trained actor you of course, let them do their favorite monologue.

Everything was done in-camera, one take, with three people in total: no extra crew, no extra rentals, no extra rehearsals. I added wheels to the camera for a subtle push. I had my friend (the actor’s girlfriend… aka the real reason he was convinced to stop in Toronto), cue my Phillips hue lights live, as he performed a piece from Macbeth.

Check out the result:

Camera nerd takeaways:

1. …I should have cleaned my living room.
2. always double check all the batteries are fully charged.
3. pushing the tripod/gimbal combo straight was harder than it would seem, especially using a spinning camera monitor as a guide. Dolly grips are real pros.

|| Check out more of Steven’s Field Notes HERE || 

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The post Field Notes III: Movement x Colour appeared first on Q Media Solutions.

If you want your story to be read or watched, you need to start by thinking, “what does my audience actually want to see?” No one wants to read an article about a bunch of product features, no matter how great the product is.

One company that’s nailed this is GoPro. They produce a rugged camera that’s synonymous with young, action-seekers. So, what did the brand do? They built on that. They’ve created a whole online platform that consists of videos submitted by users. And the videos are spectacular. If there is such a thing as content marketing nirvana, this is it: UGC that becomes your ongoing content marketing campaign.

Unfortunately, not many products are as visually oriented as GoPro cameras. But there are lots of lessons to learn from their success. Who are your avid customers? Where are they? Do they have a story to tell? And what do they want to read or watch?

That’s the approach we take a Q. We look at companies and organizations and ask ourselves, where are the stories?

There’s no set pattern for finding stories. Sometimes organizations have testimonials from satisfied customers. That can be a start. Two years ago, Q producer Caitie Drewery was tasked with finding stories of YMCA members across the province who had a story to tell. She began looking for people like Valerie who had experienced a life-changing transformation at their local Y.

In this story, there’s no need to plug the YMCA or provide a laundry list of features. Valerie’s story is the YMCA. Yes, it provides fitness classes, but more importantly, it represents community and friendship. Watch any of the videos in the series and you come away with a warm feeling, a portrait of a community, a community you’d want to be a part of. Sure, you could call it content marketing, but it doesn’t feel like that. It’s a story, one that a lot of viewers would share. Finding those stories is key.

For some organizations, traditional storytelling like this doesn’t feel like the best approach. That’s how we felt about Birks. We could have told a story about a ring, or a couple and their magical moment, but somehow that felt a little generic, so we took a different approach. In the whole “ring buying” scenario, it’s usually guys going into the stores by themselves. Most are first time-buyers, which means they are either a) totally overwhelmed by options b) intimidated or c) totally intimidated and totally overwhelmed. We wanted to speak directly to young men who are beginning this journey and help demystify the experience.

What about products like cars? There are endless car commercials and car and driver videos, but surprisingly few videos about regular drivers. That’s the tactic we took for a series with the Globe and Mail and Lincoln. Profiling real people who are changing their industries – while going about their day-to-day in a car. Ensuring that our real people share values of the product or sponsor is key to being the right fit. In the film below, we produced a story about the architectural design firm, Partisans. The company is working on a number of fascinating projects around Toronto like the Union Station refurbishment project.  The Partisans team has a keen design approach and aesthetic and could identify the unique aspects of the new Lincoln, without feeling like an overt sales plug.

And sometimes, you just need to be entertaining. Recently, we worked with Havas Worldwide to launch the New Balance Canada line of running shoes. The folks at Havas had a great launch concept: give away a pair of shoes to every person in Canada and film their reaction. The hook being everyone in “Canada,” Kansas. It’s hard to watch the video and not smile as rural Kansas folk try on their new running shoes and their “Canadian” personas.

Successful branded content shouldn’t feel like an overt product push. Instead, it should be informative, or simply a great story.

Good videos or stories share a number of features:

1) The films work as films. They’re powerful, watchable and informative, no matter the sponsor or product.

2) While the films are branded, that branding never feels overdone and doesn’t impede the story. Product plugs feel like a commercial break and pull you out of the story. People don’t like to be pulled out of a good story.

3) The story or piece should feel complete, well-researched and well-produced. And branded content should never be produced on the cheap: ie poorly shot, or poor audio quality, etc. People watch a vast quantity of media these days. Poor production always pulls you out of the story.

CHEAT SHEET

So how do you produce branded content that doesn’t suck?

1) Think story. People like stories. Or, be useful, educational. What don’t customers know? What questions should they ask?

2) Do your research, find those stories or situations. That takes time (and money) and perseverance.

3) Think about your brand from a customer’s point of view. What do they want to see, or know about your product? Why would they even be interested in your product? A lawn mower for instance might seem likely an incredibly dull tool. But dig a little. What does a lawn mower represent? A garden, a sanctuary? Find people or stories about beautiful gardens and their makers. That helps your story to become more personal and interesting.

4) Overt product pitches pull people out of a story. Be judicious with those plugs.

5) Budget / quality. Plan and tell your story well. If you have a small budget, tell a small story. Ambitious stories with weak production qualities feel incomplete.

‘Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.’

– Jeff Bezos

Authored by: Richard Quinlan, Senior Partner

The post How to Make Branded Content that Doesn’t Suck appeared first on Q Media Solutions.

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For this Field Notes, I was inspired by Birdman in conjunction with an American Cinematographer article about a particularly tricky ‘oner’ in “Escape from Dannemore”.

Which is why I decided the newest Field Notes should tackle faking “a long single take”.

I wanted to show how you can secretly stitch together multiple shots to create the illusion of a long single take, while using edits to simplify the process. This workflow ensures a small production or actor error late in the scene doesn’t blow the entire take.

I also needed to show a concept usually reserved for 9+ minutes in under 3 minutes.

I decided the answer was to sneak in as many cuts as possible into my fake long single take. In total, the spot contains 10 cuts in 2 minutes and 15 seconds, averaging 1 cut every 13.5 seconds. And because I love a challenge, I wanted a variety of different techniques to hide the cuts; like dip to black, wipe the frame, whip pans, and frame matching. And I wanted to challenge myself to move the camera in unique ways – switching from Gimbal, to car mount, to handheld. This subtly informs the viewer that something is happening, while being hidden enough to maintain the seamless illusion of a long single take.

Now that I had my technical wish-list planned out, I could get to the part of the project that any good filmmaker will tell you should have (and in client circumstances would have) come much earlier: the story. The challenge? I didn’t have one. People do not want to watch a clipboard be carried through our office in one long fake shot with no payoff. Believe me, I tried it, that was Version 1.

Eventually, a plot featuring secret agent shape-shifting aliens delivering the suitcase from Pulp Fiction took shape over the framework of a single-take heist. The Field Notes budget skyrocketed with the addition of Sam in-front of AND behind the camera, bringing cast and crew from 1 to 3, along with a beautiful Canon EF 11-24mm F4 lens, capable of covering the full frame sensor on our Canon 5D Mark iv. Time to get shooting!

First thing I learned was I really should have spent more time on the writing. The characters are weak, and there is a crazy amount of loopholes all over the place. The second thing was the importance of planning ahead. An hour was spent the day before simply working out the logistics of getting Zu into the car and pulling away, in one take. With the number of shots taking place outside (during a brutal time of year) we had to get moving quickly so as not to lose daylight and ruin the continuity.

Matching frames directly or during a whip pan is incredibly important to selling the single-take effect. And as seen in Birdman, a slow movement where only a single frame is clear of all actors can be used as a hidden cut point if the frames match precisely. The less the frames match, the faster the move must be to incorporate motion blur to hide the cut. However, an unmotivated camera move can bring attention to itself, and the suave viewer will know something is being hidden from them in your fake long single take.

The use of a handheld camera was built into the script for technical reasons, creative reasons and to work around our time constraints. Using handheld meant finding a balance between matching frames as close as possible, and speeding up the movement to find the happy medium for a successfully hidden cut.

With a cast and crew totaling 3 people, all on location, we had a blast brainstorming, otherwise known as calling out my terrible story, trying to logic our way around the hidden backstory of agent 1’s mission to take over the van, and developing reasons behind the camera direction. What would I have done differently? In retrospect, we could have used a few more hands. Someone dedicated to viewing the takes on a wirelessly connected monitor with an onion-skinning program would allow reviewing and matching frames from two sides of a cut much more comfortable. Multiple operators could have added to our roster of impossible hidden camera moves, and sometimes it’s just nice for someone to do a Timmies run when shooting in the snow.

That being said, I had the full strength of Q to help during the post-process.

Sam operated the camera for my cameo, Josh’s graphic wizardry allowed the camera to travel through the screen, and Matt flushed out the final piece with fantastic sound design.

An exercise in transitions and camera-moves became a complete and coherent (very) short film worth its weight in mysterious black cases.

Having trouble spotting all the cuts in the long single take? Check out below to see how it’s done!

|| Check out more of Steven’s Field Notes HERE || 

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The post Field Notes II: Camera Move x Transitions appeared first on Q Media Solutions.

Increasingly, animation is becoming a favourite way for brands to communicate, market and sell. Why? Animation is the perfect way to illustrate ideas that are difficult to visualize, or that haven’t been fully realized. Animation can solve your communication and budget challenges, and it gives you the freedom to be creative. So, next time your CMO says they need a commercial or a sales tool to build excitement for a product or service; think animation.

There are a number of reasons why animation is the perfect choice for a range of content conundrums. We are going to tackle 5 challenges our clients regularly face, with a number of the best-in-class animation solutions.

< 5 WAYS ANIMATION CAN SOLVE YOUR COMMUNICATION AND BUDGET CHALLENGES >

1) Animation as Invention

Need to communicate a concept that can’t be (easily) visualized?

Animation is a great way to create images and communicate concepts that only exist in the imagination.  From Star Wars to Avatar, and just about every feature film you can think of in-between, there are a team of animators bringing to life make-believe worlds that couldn’t happen in any other way. And animation in the world of marketing can bring conceptual or the virtual ideas into reality too.

Bringing a Cyber Attack to Life: VISA

Imagine having to explain how your credit card protects you from a potential cyber threat? It’s complex and it’s difficult to visualize. This inventive animation represents a super sophisticated technology process, in a way that’s easy for audiences to digest and absorb. Created by animator Yaniv Fridman.

A Virtual Partnership: Barrick/CISCO

Barrick wanted to do a video news release to announce a partnership that would forever change the future of mining. However, this powerful partnership had yet to be fully realized. The concepts and technology that needed to be explained in the release were still in the planning and building stage, leaving us with nothing to film. Our creative director Graeme and lead animator Josh took the script we developed with our partner Andy Lloyd, from Barrick to bring this complex information to life. The result? A stunning visualization of dancing data points that communicates how digital information from the rock face will be gathered and analyzed to increase productivity and profitability.

Wondering “how much does an animated video cost”?

|| Download our Animation Budget Samples Guide Now ||

2) Animation as Explainer Videos

Do you have a visual idea that’s tough to simplify? Or too expensive to shoot?

You have just been given 150 pages of documentation for a new product or service and tasked with condensing it into a “marketable minute” to sell to the world.  Or maybe you figured out how to transform that complexity into a brilliant script but you can’t figure out how to shoot in China, India, and Korea, in the next 10 days, for under 25K! Impossible, right? Well, animation could be your most budget-conscious and most effective way to make your complex story, digestible.

Bitcoin Explained

Yep. Turns out you can explain the complexity of Bitcoin currency in under 3 minutes when you use animation like this wonderful video.

Anatomy of a Computer Virus: Stuxnet

Or the complexity of a computer virus in this video.

The Clinic of the Future: University Health Network

For our UHN client, we were asked to visualize the arthritis clinic of the future. Animation gave us the freedom to create a healthcare world that does not yet exist.

3) Animation as Packaging

Are your source materials historical stills, mixed-source video, or low-quality footage?

How many times have you been given archival sub-standard material and asked to incorporate it into a cutting-edge presentation?  It’s a challenge. This is when animation can be the glue that brings all your elements together to create a consistent and original look and feel.

Historical Timeline: YMCA Canada

This was a project created by our team to celebrate the YMCA’s long and storied contribution in Canada. With stunning text on screen and handwritten layers, our animator Josh Kaplan turned this 150-year history into a contemporary brand story.

4) Animation as a Versioning Solution

Need your video versioned in dozens of languages?

Check out this blog by UK-based animation experts, Cognitive, who show you the ease and the benefits of using animation to create videos that can easily, and affordably, be versioned into multiple languages. You can record a simple voiceover in another language, or version text elements ito a new language quickly and cost-effectively. Perhaps the greatest advantage of using animation for videos that will require language versioning is that the versioned videos feel like they were designed for that local market, not simply an adapted.

Wondering “how much does an animated video cost”?

|| Download our Animation Budget Samples Guide Now ||

5) Animation as a Budget-Friendly Solution

Can’t afford to hire actors for a commercial or marketing spot?

Are you on a tight budget with a script that screams out for actors but don’t have the money to cover costs (not to mention a studio space and craft services)?

This is when creating simple, 2D animated characters with clean and simple illustrated backgrounds can really deliver a story at the fraction of the price of shooting live action.

Beyond Average

This visually stunning essay addresses what’s wrong with our education system. Beautiful work by director Elliot Lim:

Character animation can solve your communication and budget challenges, but it can also bring to life the most mundane information; used with excellent creativity in this video on how the new parking violation dispute process works in the city of Toronto. If this was shot on location and with actors, the budget would have been at least 10X the cost of animation.

Here are two examples where we used one simple location, minimal actors and then added animation to live-action scenes to take viewers on a journey that didn’t require the crew or the actors to even leave the room. This allowed us to keep the costs down when creating PSAs for our NFP clients SickKids and Bikes for Kids.

Great Camp Adventure: SickKids

Created with a variety of Q staff and SickKids patients, this video uses an animation style that evokes the feeling of summer camp.

A Dream Come True: Bikes for Kids

This video uses animation to bring to life a child’s imagination.

Animation is like a Swiss Army knife — it can solve any number of communication challenges.

Trying to explain a difficult concept? Need to summarize large sums of information in a marketable video? Want to portray your brand in a fun and innovative way? On a tight budget or timeline? Animation can solve your communication and budget challenges.

And animation is a fun way to engage teams throughout the creative process. With budget concerns like travel, actors and locations fees taken out of the equation; clients and creatives are free to brainstorm conceptual ideas. And those far out, wacky ideas, are a little less crazy in an animated world. Sometimes it’s those ‘crazy’ ideas that become the most sticky and memorable concepts for your brand.

Wondering “how much does an animated video cost”?

|| Download our Animation Budget Samples Guide Now ||

The post 5 ways Animation can Solve your Communication and Budget Challenges appeared first on Q Media Solutions.

These are my 10 Rules of Filming on the Road. 

1. Pack light

When packing up the gear, it quickly became important to make the distinction between what would be “nice to have” vs. what we couldn’t live without – especially because we had to pay for every checked bag on every flight. Two tripods made the cut… a motion control time-lapse rig did not. This meant we could be efficient and move quickly throughout all our varied locations.

2. Balance your shot list with real life 

Shooting in a documentary style meant relinquishing a lot of control. We needed to balance the goals of executing on our vision with capturing the authentic moments as they happened. While it would have been easy to get discouraged by harsh lighting, background noise or miscellaneous clutter that we faced in some locations, we learned to adapt and simply appreciate the people who were giving their time and resources to the project. Capture as much as you can in the moment with real people, and shoot the beautiful shots in your off-time.

3. Depend on the kindness of strangers

As a super small crew of two with no cart/dolly; a simple logistical challenge we constantly faced was getting all of our gear in and out of locations. Sometimes we got lucky with a parking spot right next to the entrance, but more often than not, it meant dropping everything off on the sidewalk with one of us while the other found parking. When you have no other options you just channel your inner Sherpa and tough it out… and hope the stereotypical Canadian politeness causes a few strangers to hold doors open as you shuffle through gratefully.

4. Sometimes finished is better than perfect

For the first half of the trip in Vancouver, Ben and I created same-day edits of the material we shot: highlights of the day along with a soundbite that was particularly poignant or inspiring. At the outset of the trip, our focus was to create as much content as we possibly could with the hopes of kick-starting Jamil’s social channels and building public engagement. But shooting in several locations for 12 hours a day, meant we were starting to edit around 9pm and continuing well into the night, leaving little time for revisions, tweaking and to be honest, perfectionism. Turns out when you’re pressed for time, you can ramp up your output and still be happy with the results. The down and dirty highlights we created drew hundreds of new viewers into Jamil’s story strictly because the videos felt raw, authentic and hyper current.

5. A little pre-planning goes a long way…

Calling ahead to coordinate with theatre directors or community centre managers not only saved us time and effort, but allowed us to visualize each unique location and develop a plan of attack. Knowing potential camera placements or privacy concerns ahead of time allowed for Ben and I to strategize and make use of the limited setup time we had to get the best content we could.

6. …but always have a backup plan

Things go wrong. It’s the nature of the business. So plan for things to go wrong with a backup plan. Use your lav and the camera mic, film WAY more b-roll than you need, take someone up on their offer to share the footage they shot, plan to film in a second location, be flexible to re-work your schedule. When you’re on the road, you only get one opportunity to capture the events, moments and interviews that are happening, so hedge your bets and be ready for everything (or for everything to go wrong).

7. Rent the bigger car

While great on gas and cost-effective, our rental Hyundai Elantra was not a great production vehicle for three guys with 2 x tripods, cameras, lights, and a whole bunch of accessories. The Cadillac Escalade we eventually upgraded to had glorious leg room and an ability to clear speed bumps/curbs that the Elantra simply couldn’t match. When you’re on the road, you spend a lot of time doing just that, being “on the road” so invest in a ride that will allow for some of that travel time to be enjoyable and help you refresh for your next shoot.

8. Have a support system

From Steven’s packing expertise, to Caitie/Zuleika/Richard’s social media management, all the way to Mike’s emergency troubleshooting, this entire project greatly benefited from the whole Q team’s support back in Toronto. Having someone who is not on the road with you (i.e not stressed and sleep deprived) who you can call on for support or problem-solving is key to success.

9. Divide and conquer

Doing so many jobs on the fly, it was important that Ben and I got into a rhythm when it came to setting up, shooting, and tearing down efficiently. A big part of that was constant communication to divvy up the responsibilities and requirements of each location. On a strenuous project like this one, dividing and conquering was also essential to managing our energy and getting enough sleep – when possible, we’d alternate who stayed up late to edit. This is also a time for you both to recognize strengths and weaknesses and divy up accordingly. Are you terrible a morning driver? Hand over the keys to your crew and be in charge of grabbing AM grub instead.

10. Remember to have fun!

It may sound super cliché, but having fun on productions like this actually helps everything run smoother – keeping things light helps get better interviews, bonding as a crew during adversity or absurdity rather than letting it push you apart. You can’t control a lot of things when shooting on the road, but what you can control is how you let those things affect you… and that can make all the difference.

VIDEO LINK: Check out the fruits of our labour HERE.

What about you? Have you learned any tips and tricks while out on the road? Share your own 10 rules of filming on the road below!

The post 10 Rules of Filming on the Road appeared first on Q Media Solutions.

It’s a challenge everyone faces, regardless of industry. For us, creative inspiration comes from a combination of problem-solving, discovering innovative ways to generate and capture content and, most importantly, brainstorming with one another. Getting away from our desks and coming together is hands-down the best way to stir up creative juices. We’ve made these brainstorms part of our weekly culture and we gotta tell you, it’s done wonders for video marketing inspiration.

You’ve likely heard about our Friday family lunches – a time when we come together to hang out, decompress and eat fried foods. They’ve also become a time when we share cool things and talk about how to be more innovative in the field. To create structure around these conversations, one staff member a week picks a video that resonates with them, shares it with the group and leads a chat afterwards. This has been a great tool for inspiring creativity within the team. Each team member’s expertise and interests come through in their video choices and we think the current list is simply too great to keep to ourselves.

So here are Q Media’s top must-watch videos for video marketing inspiration.

1) Graphic Video

via Josh, Lead Animator

I chose this video because of their use of using photographs, iPhones and found objects instead of computer graphics. During a phone interview, which normally has no visuals, the filmmakers filmed the iPhone with audio waves and photographs around to make the interview more visually interesting. It’s an interesting way of presenting what could be a boring topic. This videos shows how pre-planning graphics, using practical effects and found objects can help create interesting looking visuals and develop a unique look.

+ *Josh BONUS video*

2) Slow-Motion

via Steven, Director of Photography

I picked this video because it shows how amazing things can look if you change your point of view. Similar to macro-photography, slow-motion shows you the world in an new and exciting way that really sparks creative thinking. AKA these guys do cool things.

3) Practical Effects

via Steve, VP of Production

I love the concept of telling Honda’s history through the eyes of Honda engineers. Everything takes place on an engineer’s drawing board and with live hands moving the story forward. The engine is the thread that transitions the story to the next type of vehicle/technology. This is all done through practical, stop-motion effects with an incredible attention to detail. The scraps of paper surrounding the vehicles are drawings from the original design of that particular product. Even the curbs update during the Formula One sequence as the eras change. It’s just a really unique and interesting way to show sixty years of technological advancement.

4) First-Person Storytelling

via Andrea, Production Manager

I loved the creative use of simple, inexpensive visuals to tell a complex story effectively. The writing was also witty, relatable and the ending was effective because it truly drives home the message.

5) Creative Marketing

via Sam, Editor

This video does the obvious things well: simple yet powerful cinematography, well-paced editing, and effective sound design. But what I appreciated most is the way it sells VELUX’s products/services without feeling preachy or even like a commercial at all – it simply presents facts in a cinematic and engaging manner, and leaves the viewer pondering what they’ve seen and heard.

+ *Sam BONUS video*

6) Dramatic Storytelling

via Caitie, VP of Content

This short is beautiful; hitting all the marks on cinematography, sound design and editing. But what I loved most, is the way the story is told. You are on a journey inside this man’s head, who suffers from a debilitating speech disorder. This POV allows viewers to truly understand the struggle of this disorder, as we see how rich his internal dialogue is, and feel his frustration of his inability to express himself. It’s films like these that allow filmmaking to transcend simply telling a story. The Director and Writer have given us an amazing opportunity to peek inside someone’s brain, to give us a whole new perspective on the human experience.

7) Storytelling Twist

via Matt, Digital Media Producer

A well shot, straightforward narrative that has a nice twist at the end. Clever misdirection gives an interesting perspective on the message, and also makes it very re-watchable to see the clues you didn’t notice your first time viewing.

8) Repurposing Content

via Zuleika, Production Coordinator

I picked these videos because I loved the concept of repurposing content. As a photojournalist, you would have an archive of thousands of pictures with only one ever seeing the light of day. The stories were impactful, the editing was jarring, and the intent was genius. In my opinion, a sadly underrated series from the New York Times.

You can watch all 3 in the series here.

Join our Friday lunches for more video marketing inspiration! Click and email Caitie who will get you booked in for eats and creativity.

The post Video Marketing Inspiration – 8 Must-Watch Videos appeared first on Q Media Solutions.

I’ve always told myself, and others, that being one credit shy of my Bachelor of Arts degree isn’t a big deal. If I was talking to young people about being an entrepreneur, I’d confidently say “lots of people who’ve fulfilled their dreams didn’t finish university”.

But if I’m being honest, (and that’s the point of these blogs) I’ve actually been having intermittent nightmares about not finishing school since I left university 36 years ago. The dream starts with me standing in the middle of a cacophonous, fluorescent-lit hallway with teenagers streaming by me and bells ringing in my head. Then I feel mounting horror when I realize I’m trapped there, and I now have to finish my high school degree as an aging adult. I wake up with a sense of dread, sometimes in an epic panic. Now we don’t need sophisticated Freudian analysis to decode that all that bravado about “who needs a degree?” was just that; bravado. Deep down, part of me felt like a failure for not getting my shit together to finish that one course. But another part of me thought I’d get it together and one day, knock that off my to-do list – proven by my dog-eared, incomplete university transcript that has sat at the top of my “important documents” folder for 36 years and 15 moves.

My unfinished degree was like a dangling reminder; I’m a loser, not a closer. I’m not disciplined enough. And over the past three decades, the pain from this has dulled as my career, and my life became more and more exciting. I thought I was okay with my failure to launch. Then, four years ago, I took a trip to Kingston for a tour of Queen’s University with my 18-year-old daughter.

As we walked around the campus, with a stream of kids and parents from across the eastern seaboard, I pointed out a couple of key landmarks. Someone from the crowd asked me how I knew so much about Queen’s when my daughter jumped in with… “she went to school here…” (wait for it; emphatic pause) “but she never graduated.” Punch. Direct hit. Winded. Gutted. By the one person for whom I wanted to be my best self. The perfect mom. The perfect entrepreneur. The perfect feminist. The perfect role model. With one small phrase, everything I thought I had done right was erased. Because I wasn’t walking the walk. I’d told her that if you commit to something you have to see it through. You have to finish, and that quitting isn’t morally, ethically, or personally a good thing. I was imperfect. I was a loser, not a closer.

I’m not going to tell you that I went directly home, called the university admissions office and sorted it all out. Again, I let it linger – after all I’d waited over 30 years, I could wait some more, right? For three more years the inertia lingered.

Then, after taking a two-month solo trip to Costa Rica I had the time and the space to sort out my “dream map.” Near the top of the list was applying for a Master’s degree at Dalhousie. I’d read about this unique Masters in Creative Non-Fiction program and it sounded right up my alley. So now, the need to complete and tie up loose ends wasn’t just unfinished business, it was a necessary part of getting starting on a new journey.

A few months after returning home, I created a plan that would give me the window I needed to finish my degree (the way I wanted) with 100% of my focus and energy. In September, I stopped going into the office and started working from home, I told my staff and my business partner husband, that I’d write some blogs and continue to do some business development but that my courses were going to be the focus of my days, nights and weekends until December.

After reviewing a bunch of online material about academic requirements at Queen’s, I determined the easiest way to get my degree was to complete two half credits online. I chose 19^th Century Art History and a Creative Entrepreneur course. Then I got down to the business of tying up this loose end and hoped that the nightmares (although infrequent now) would be replaced by some new fear, some new doubt.

So, what did I learn? I learned that I still care about marks, despite what I have always told my daughter. I took pride in learning about Turner and David and all the political and social forces driving their creations. I learned that while I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my life, there were so many things I didn’t know that will help me conquer my next business challenge. I learned that although writing is something that I’ve done for my employers and clients for over 30 years now, taking time out from writing for work has allowed me to rediscover the joy of personal expression.

The reality in embracing my imperfections is that I’ve discovered a new sense of purpose. I’m still driven enough to want to ace my courses and tie up unfinished business. Most importantly, I learned that while I am obsessed with doing things well, being perfect isn’t the point. Imperfections are the lessons that inform our actions and motivate us to move forward. Imperfection is my new perfect.

On December 1^st at 12:42PM, I submitted the final essay to complete my Bachelor of Arts degree. I’m planning to graduate with my amazing daughter, from the same university, in the same program, 36 years after I first left. After all, this is all her fault, because she made me accountable to myself.

Want to follow Dorothy’s journey? Read more of her search for imperfect perfection here.

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Who doesn’t love the beach… in January? Earlier this week our DOP, Steven and the newest member of the team Zuleika, went out for a little field trip to the Scarborough Bluffs to do some drone filming and gimbal tests. Using the Canon 5D Mark IV, Moza Air 2 and Mavic 2 Zoom they created this short film and captured the experience of a truly Canadian day at the beach.

Here are some of Steven’s “Field Notes” from the test:

1) The Canon 5D Mark IV has amazing autofocus. Simply tap on the screen to select the subject and as long as it stays in the frame, the focus is consistent. Of course, that affects some creative choices, and it’s not perfect, but I was very happy with the results. BUT I was not pleased with taking my gloves off every time I had to set focus in the cold and snow.

Filming Tip: Invest in touch screen gloves or better yet, use a follow focus.

2) Drone filming is a lot of fun and the DJI Mavic 2 Zoom is no exception. With years of experience under its belt, DJI has created a drone that has no problem hovering and delivering smooth shots even in the wind and snow of a January day in Toronto. Of course, there are many rules (which are also changing this year) to follow when operating a UAV. Finding a location in safe airspace, avoiding bystanders, and operating within visual line of sight during a snow squall, all present some challenges, but the results are well worth it. It did, however, have to be grounded shortly into the shoot when the weather became unsafe to fly.

Drone Filming Tip: Check the weather and airspace before assuming you can fly your drone. Have a backup plan.

3) The MOZA Air 2 is a new one-handed* gimbal with a payload capability more than enough for the 5D (even with a fair-sized lens). And the form factor, ease of transport, setup, balance, and operation of the MOZA Air 2 are starting to change my view on the superiority of two-handed* gimbals. I have to say, for such a simple design, it does offer a fantastic amount of control and customization. For the most part, it was almost “pick-up and play” – the first shot of the day became what is now the first shot in the video.

*Although the easiest way to distinguish between the two styles is one-handed vs two-handed, let’s be honest, no one is using the MOZA Air 2 for a full day, with just one hand.

Filming Tip: Watch for Z-Axis movement in your steps. One-handed gimbals are extra susceptible, thanks to the lack of pivot points in the design. Walk like you’re operating a glide-cam, and enjoy the electronic perks.

|| Check out more of Steven’s Field Notes HERE || 

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The post Field Notes: Drone Filming x Gimbal Test appeared first on Q Media Solutions.

In the early days of user-generated content, a lot of big companies reached out to customers asking them to share their stories using footage shot with their phones. The experiment; while engaging customers, really didn’t work for advertisers. Why? Because people tried to use a professional/unionized commercial production agency model, using badly shot home video. The result was, well, weird—hundreds of thousands of dollars for agency creative and post-production, and the experiment didn’t last long.

Then social media exploded and everything changed, again.  Now, everyone is a content creator. Young people are amazing with their phones and apps; they tell stories all day long, every day, and boomers are following suit.  And on the client side, everyone had to think about how to do more with less because of the increased demand for content. Video in particular exploded, and put pressure on budgets and timelines.  This is when our team started to work on a hybrid model; incorporating client or customer video for certain projects, or integrating footage into our professionally shot material. Why do we think it can be a fantastic creative exercise? Because we’ve done it… a lot.

We’ve been incorporating client-generated video into our production for at least five years now. And while we’ve had lots of success, we had some growing pains — bad audio, blown out video, file corruption, portrait instead of landscape and other stumbles along the way. But those experiences shaped the creation of our Q Media “DIY Smartphone Video Production Guide” that we’ve put together for our clients at Direct Energy, Kinross Gold and HR powerhouse Odgers Berndtson. We knew our insights would really up the production value, so we shared our corporate smartphone video production tips with our clients so they easily deliver better content on their own. Just this September, we created three stories combining smartphone footage with material we shot for Plan Canada’s International Day of the Girl. It delivered content clients wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, added an element of authenticity and Plan and their partners were thrilled with the results.

Here are the five most commons mistakes (or misconceptions) we have consistently witnessed during smartphone video production.

1. Assuming everyone knows how to shoot video

When you’re a big company stretching across the country or globe, getting everyone involved in content creation can be a huge expense and logistically complex. Which is why more and more companies are reaching out and asking their teams to part of the video creation process. But just because most people are creating and posting video all the time, doesn’t mean they couldn’t use some help. Education and support in the form of clear guidelines, a DIY style guide with smartphone tips for professional video – with suggestions on framing, lighting without professional lights and the tools to share the material seamlessly – can create an engaged remote communications team at the ready.

|| Download our Smartphone Tips for Professional Video Guide Now ||

2. Worrying about the quality of the video

These days, phones shoot 4k broadcast-quality video and take camera-ready stills; image quality is no longer the issue. The reality is there are so many situations where shooting with a phone is the only affordable way to capture video material. We’ve done it for lots of big corporations in remote locations: sourcing employee testimonials from the wilds of Siberia for Kinross; customer clips from the 46 states where Direct Energy does business; and getting employee engagement from staff in every region across Canada for McDonalds. Using a phone can get you material you could never afford to shoot with professional crews.

But remember: good video is only going to help you on your next production if you pay attention to Rule #3!

3. Not paying attention to audio

Audio matters more than picture. Believe it. After getting some footage from overseas that was shot in a super remote part of the world, everyone at the Q shop was depressed when we realized the interview was unintelligible. Watch this video to clearly understand why sound is so important. 

That’s why we insist on small mics to be used for all interviews. Most of our gear recommendations to clients can be purchased online for under $50 US and add huge value to user-generated video. If purchasing a mic isn’t possible, we also provide tips for getting the best out of the mics built into smartphones.

|| Download our Smartphone Tips for Professional Video Guide Now ||

4. Going it alone

While we have no doubt you have team members who can edit and construct a video using footage culled from across your network, we believe you will get better results if you find a content partner. Shooting on phones can be a brilliant way to get footage and engagement from your staff and customers, but by following the PWP rule — Partner With Professionals – you can take the cost savings from shooting on smartphones to get professional help with strategy, creative post-production and distribution. It’s not the right approach for all content creation, but sometimes it really comes in handy. With Direct Energy, we shot in all of their locations for a big re-launch of their brand.  A six-person crew on the road for three weeks with airfares, hotels and per diem made it a six-figure proposition. Then two years later, we ran the numbers for 30 interviews in 15 cities and knew it would be too expensive. So we pitched them another idea: a strategy and creative that could be translated in a few paragraphs and an easy to use three-page DIY smartphone guide for Direct Energy local staff so they could record the footage themselves. And guess what? About 70% of the footage was great!  We used our professional tools to adjust some cases of bad framing or lighting and then we edited the footage, added slick graphics, music and cleaned up the audio. The result was a professional product, at a greatly reduced cost. If we hadn’t suggested this hybrid model, the videos wouldn’t have been completed, or would have been so amateur that the CMO would have rejected distribution.

|| Download our Smartphone Tips for Professional Video Guide Now ||

5. Forgetting to manage your media

We live in a chaotic world of media management (just think about trying to find those family pictures from last summer!) so if your team can do some basic archiving, say on Google Drive, it will save you huge amounts of work down the road.  Think of your assets as your very own stock image library.  We know our clients understand the importance of managing a media library because we often get asked for the raw media assets before we even get started on projects.

And please keep in mind, it’s harder than it sounds – it takes skill and time to manage and organize media formats. So if you are gathering lots of phone video or managing media from a range of partners, don’t forget: organizing, sorting and archiving that material is essential. We recommend reaching out to a freelancer or a production partner to help you set up an internal system that will work for you – because when you are making quick changes, or need assets urgently, having an organized media library will be invaluable.

The good news? If you avoid these 5 mistakes, you can create professional quality video with your smartphone. The better news? If you’re feeling overwhelmed, have a question or want to brainstorm, we’re here to help. Give us a call (416 361 5907) or connect with our VP of Content, Caitie. 

|| Download our Smartphone Tips for Professional Video Guide Now ||

The post 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Content with Smartphone Video appeared first on Q Media Solutions.