The reason? The article goes on to discuss the psychological underpinnings of why video is such a strong tool for any company or organization’s marketing initiatives. Based on studies by Susan Weinschenk, a PhD and consultant for brands like Amazon and Walmart, people respond powerfully to four key points: the face, the voice, emotion, and movement. By using online video, organizations are able to touch on each of these aspects in reaching out to new markets.

Skillman Video Group is poised at a perfect moment to help leverage the power of online video. When paired with a collaborative approach that emphasizes creative story telling within a specific context, we feel confident that video is a powerful tool for any company or organization looking to make bold strides towards future growth.

SVG Crew setting up

This past weekend Boston faced some seriously sour weather, getting hammered with more than 2 feet of snow in less than 24 hours.  While the city locked down it’s streets and businesses impeded sales due to the emergency, nothing stopped Skillman Video Group (SVG) from doing what they do best: providing their clients with creative professionalism and paving their way to more structures and styles of commercial video.  This time, it’s animated videos!

On Tuesday, February 12, SVG collaborated on a series of online marketing videos with John & Dan Gollinger, two real estate guru’s, as they launched the “next generation of  real estate marketing.”  While the shoot was limited to a talking head and voice-over production between both parties, SVG has a lot more in store for this project than a simple multi-cam structure.  With professionals working in Adobe’s After Effects, Motion, and Illustrator, SVG is launching a new approach to marketing using animated video(s), full of intricate designs and enlightening graphics to better communicate the logistics of the Gollinger clan’s new business strategies.

View from High Rise Apartment in Boston MA

That’s not to say that the setting for the commercial was anything that needed some animation!  The Gollinger high rise had a magnificent view of the South End, a neighborhood of downtown Boston, and made for quite the scenic environment to get inspired.  With animated videos dominating majority of the commercial and viral industry, it’s only necessary that an entity like Skillman Video Group is making strides to further their commercial and clients’ interests with motion graphics and computer animated additives.

The shoot took place at the beautiful Cruiseport Gloucester. The venue itself, looking out over the harbor and a variety of fishing vessels, was a pertinent reminder of the natural resources available to Gloucester.

Surrounded by a beautiful harbor vista, professionals and experts from across the region and the nation came to discuss the shifting nature of maritime economy. In particular, the focus was on how Gloucester could benefit from different initiatives, including scientific research and new methods of seafood farming, in order to add more options for the city’s future growth.

Skillman Video Group, with our partners at Mills PR, interviewed local business owners, town officials, and research scientists in Gloucester. They outlined the bounty that Gloucester has to share with the rest of the world, while inviting other businesses and organizations to take part in the town’s future. The afternoon preceded with a series of panels and discussions, with our production team sprinkled amidst the crowd taking footage of the various initiatives being presented.

In filming and editing this video for the city of Gloucester, we hope to help illuminate this charming town’s potential and open it’s seaport to a new world of possibility. This is just one example of how Skillman  Video Group can utilize video content to further your public relations effort. There is a vast sea of potential, and we are looking forward to assisting others with economic development and future growth.

Nowadays, the Super Bowl commercial spot has become such a powerful position that companies ran commercials for their commercial. Big name products like Doritos and Volkswagen aired what were essentially teaser trailers for the commercials that would air during the game. The ads hinted at a larger story or viewpoint, leaving open a trail that viewer could only connect by seeing all of the subsequent material. The viewer could then go online and see the same message taken a step further. The campaign hinted at a larger world that unfurled itself the further one cared to go. Much like a T.V. series, the campaign treats the viewer as ‘audience’ and asks them to invest time in uncovering the full story of the product. There is a narrative at work, albeit a simple one, that is self-referential. See a piece of the marketing campaign, get a hint of the product, and be enticed to ‘stay tuned’ for more. The viewer is tantalized to go online, to search out more of the story. Companies like Volkswagen are therein able to create synergy between online marketing videos, their social media efforts, and the ads they air on television. Coca Cola took this one step further, creating a truly epic series of ads centered on a central quest. They didn’t air one advertisement, over and over – they aired a series of advertisements that all tied together to make a campaign.

Not every organization or company has the capitol to run a campaign like Coke. However, nearly every business can learn from these Super Bowl campaigns. There is increasing effort placed on synergizing story, character, and viewpoint across multiple media. In this way, the marketing effort looks less like advertising and more like television, movies, books, or comics. It becomes an experience to be sought, rather than a distraction to be skipped over.  Video marketing, social media, SEO and blogging  can go way beyond traditional 1-dimensional marketing campaigns and truly create an interactive, compelling experience for your perspective clients.  Call SVG today!

SVG’s Associate Producer Christopher Plummer working on the set at Teachers21!

Next SVG successfully spent two days on location, 1st interviewing the “Aspiring Principals” (or participants in the program) at Teacher21′s offices in Wellesly MA, and the 2nd day visiting 2 schools in the Boston area where the Aspiring Principals are being apprenticed. To help tell the story visually, SVG wanted to capture the program in action so the viewers would have a sense for how it operates.  In addition to shooting the Aspiring Principals in their day to day activities, we had the opportunity to interview the Schools’ current Head Principals on how the program has benefitted them personally, which we thought was a key perspective in the video’s message.

Currently the project is in post-production where SVG’s  editors are working collaboratively with Teacher21′s staff to produce a  video that will tell their story effectively and powerfully…in as little time as possible (a key to successful video marketing).    It is a time consuming process to edit down hours of footage and can be difficult to choose which sound bites are the best of the best.  However, this editing process is ultimately where the story – once and for all – comes together.  Have a story worth telling?  Call SVG today to see how our video marketing services can be of use to your company or organization!

SVG crew on the set at Teacher21's HQ in Wellesley MA!

In December 2012 Skillman Video Group was hired to produce a marketing video for Teachers 21′s “Leadership Academy” aiming to train and mentor Public School Principals to enter turn-around schools in some of the State’s toughest school districts. The Leadership Academy is an extensive year long program with lots of theoretical and practical study, workshops, and weekly on-site mentoring.  The Academy only selects the best of the best in its aspiring principals and wanted to highlight the success and strength of the program to school Superintendents around the state of Massachusetts.  Understanding the power of video, the MA Department of Education encouraged Teachers21 to produce a video marketing the program, and not knowing where to turn or begin on their own – Teachers21 came to SVG!

SVG’s 1st job was to interview all the key players within the program including staff AND the program’s participants.  While in just a few minutes of meeting with the “aspiring principals” it became obvious to us that they key strength to the program is in fact the people in the program.  Simple but true!  So the direction we took for their video was relying on the strength of the participant’s stories vs relying on scripted voice overs with charts & graphs explaining the strength of the program.  That story telling aspect of video production is what SVG really excells at and ultimately is a far more compelling marketing and sales tool for any company or non-profit organization.  Don’t just tell them what you do.  Tell them who you are!  The producers at SVG can help you refine your message and help tell your story.  Call today to learn more and check back soon for more details on the Teacher’s21 video project!

Shot of Statehouse in background

SVG was hired to produce a promotional video on the program, and to do it at NEFA’s office, which is in downtown Boston across from the State House.  The choice of venue was a professional decision on the part of both NEFA’s executive staff and SVG professionals, who decided to maximize the visual impact of an organization located right in the center of everything.  That is a message in itself.

The choice presented some professional difficulties, however, as it is very complicated to get good shots from inside a building taken shooting out through windows open to a brilliant, bright sky.  To make this shot happen, SVG used two Kino lights that were powerful enough and flexible enough to provide two different light temperatures as needed (blue – outdoor or yellow-indoor).  In addition SVG’s lighting crew (called “Gaffers”) used a special “ND Gel” to cover the windows to cut down much of the glare from the sun.  Using neutral density (ND) gels applied to the windows made it possible to take great shots of the people inside, with the golden dome of the State House in the background. Going further our Director of Photography then carefully adjusted the camera’s exposure and selected the perfect lenses to get the exact shot wanted.

Whatever your video ideas, whatever or however you want to draw attention to your business or service, the professionals at SVG will take your ideas and make it a reality.  We have the training, experience, equipment, and skills to put a spotlight on your story.  Give us a call or email today.

SVG Crew prepping for the shoot at NEFA

In 2009 the United States Department of State and the New England Foundation of the Arts(NEFA) partnered to create a bold new approach to cultural diplomacy that cultivated into the “Center Stage” program.  Whereas historically the State Department would export American artists over seas….for the 1st time they began importing foreign artists to small town USA.  Over a 6-month period in 2012, over 10 ensembles from Pakistan, Indonesia and Haiti toured over 27 states, meeting countless “Main Street” Americans along the way.

NEFA is currently prepping for the 2nd round of performing artists, and  understanding the power of  video, hired Skillman Video Group (SVG) to produce a promotional video to raise public awareness of the program and help attract private investors. Given the size and scope of the project, SVG has very carefully crafted a game plan for the production.  For starters, SVG professional held a two hour “discovery” meeting with the NEFA team to discuss the logistics  of the video,  as well as to learn the ins and outs of the program (how it came to be and why it is in existence) as well as to review the hundreds of hours of  performance footage shot during the various tours.  After the discovery meeting, SVG wrote an outline and script based off of the detailed notes, and forwarded it to NEFA for approval.

Since NEFA and SVG had decided to go for a more “documentary style” interview approach vs a scripted teleprompter approach, SVG principal, Christina Skillman, gave media training to the two NEFA principals appearing in the video (the Executive Director and the Center Stage Program Director).   Two hours were spent on site coaching and directing the talent to help them think through their answers and look and sound their best.  For those unaccustomed to speaking on camera (and it is an art) media training can be an invaluable tool in easing nerves and  it can  help the talent express themselves with clarity and confidence.

The next step in the production process was to book the shoot date.  On January 7th 4 crew members arrived to set up lights, gel the windows and record the interviews.  “B-roll” footage was also shot of the office and environs, mock meetings, etc. that will later be edited into the final video.  Currently the video has enetered the post-production phase where SVG will edit all of the footage, including that of the 2012 performing artists where appropriate.  Even after all these other steps – SVG’s work is just getting started!

A professionally produced video will be available to NEFA to present their story and visually explain to the public how powerfully the performing arts can bridge the gap between people and cultures. Check back soon for more details of the NEFA project on our blog!

That’s why dual camera shoots are the norm for us, it is why immediately after a shoot we back up to an external hard drive, and then to another! It’s why we archive footage in-camera until after the product has been handed over! We also provide raw footage data if you’d like to be even more careful. There’s no such thing as “That won’t happen to me”. No matter what Murphy’s Law has in store for you, Skillman Video Group has you covered.