beevideos19-blog

[beevideos19-blog]

Business owners sometimes opt to create their own videos, but need some help with upfront set up or post production and editing. Bee Video is here to help with your editing needs.

Bee Video Production Inc. does this by working with you to help select and setup the right equipment, lighting, set design, as well as in post production with selecting the right animation, graphics, music and voice over that reflect their business.

[beevideos19-blog]

Why Do I Need An Animated Video?

Why do I need an animated video? I think the better question is why don’t I have an animated video? Or if I have one, why don’t I have more?

Before I answer that question, let me tell you a bit about myself. I’ve worked in the production industry my whole career, mostly on the business side and entirely on the live-action side. I started Bee Video Production almost 3 years ago now which seems like a relatively short period, but it’s felt like a lifetime. In the past 3 years, I have made over two hundred videos.

One of the things I’m most proud of is that we can equally move between animation and live-action depending on what the story requires. Not many other production companies can do that. But it was important to me from the start that we be equally conversant in the language of animation as in live-action. That required building out two quite different skill-sets. I was told on quite a few occasions that I should specialize and become more niche. But I didn’t want to be constrained by what kind of story we wanted to tell so we worked hard to understand both genres equally well. And it was worth it.

The animation is a very powerful medium and as more and different animation software arrives on the marketplace it becomes even more so every day. 3D, 2D, VR, AR, whiteboard, kinetic typography, explainer videos, the list goes on and on. The ability to tell a story using animation is almost limitless. A lot depends on your budget and the time you have to develop your project. The rest is only limited by your imagination.

Okay so back to the question: why do I need an animated video? answer: because they work. as we’ve discussed in the past the demand for a product story has expanded to almost every sector of our economy. in other words- people want to know the story of a product before they buy it. Your clients want to know how your product is made, who made it, why they made it, what are the values around that product?

The easiest way to tell that story is to animate it. Tell your product’s origin story. Explain how it was made. Tell people why you made it. Demonstrate why it’s special. Be specific about why someone should buy it. If your product is complex use animation to simplify it.

We have worked with a big drug company, a big consulting firm and a think tank (we have NDA’s on all of them!) to create animated videos. A good animated video engages viewers from the first second. it is almost always less than 3 minutes and often just over one minute. In certain cases, a 30-second animated video can be highly powerful and effective.

Another great reason to choose an animation for your video is that you can easily incorporate the look and feel of your brand right into the story. Music selection, font, colors, icons, voice-overs, even the timing of the transitions can be used to reflect and support your particular brand.

Most animated videos start with the same basic act structure (actually live-action videos follow a similar format). We always start with Who? What? And why? These three core acts allow us to present a problem and then solve it.

Our animated corporate videos also follow a basic formula: they start with a great storyboard, they are concise, they solve a problem, and they do it with on-brand graphics, music, and voice-overs. The right explainer video can take virtually any concept and turn it into an engaging story.

Every day, video is gaining momentum as one of the fastest-growing marketing channels. It’s the perfect time to explore the power of an effective animated video. So call Bee Video today for a free quote. Because nothing is more powerful than a story well told! Source: https://beevideoproductions.com/2019/10/10/animated-video-need/

[beevideos19-blog]

5 Most Crucial Tips for Effective Video Storytelling

I hope I’ve convinced you already that video marketing is a simple and effective way to reach an audience. So why aren’t more companies doing it?

I think the simple reason that more companies don’t start with video marketing is that it seems overwhelming. Where most other forms of marketing employ only one or two mediums of communication, video marketing employs many- photography, sound, graphic design, music, editing, videography, text, animation and even virtual reality. That’s a lot of moving parts. So where to start? Start by grabbing a coffee and sharpening your pencil. Video marketing is ultimately a very creative endeavor. Then work with technicians to execute on your ideas.

Here are 5 steps to creating an effective video series:

1. Think of an engaging concept. Something that your audience will love to watch and return to. Don’t be boring. Funny is good.

2. Make sure the video is specific to the platform. Don’t take a video meant for television and place it onto YouTube, or a YouTube video and put it on Instagram.

3. Get your video out there into the digital world. Make sure you are putting your videos in front of the right audience- the data is at your fingertips.

4. Track your data. See what ad buys are working and which are not. Pivot often.

5. Do it again. Video marketing is an iterative process. In other words, it’s about creating content, putting it out into the world, measuring performance and then improving on it. Working with a professional video production company certainly helps.

While some might not get it, we do! Bee Video handles all your video marketing needs. An ideal client for us is a small or medium-sized business that understands their brand and wants help to tell their story through video. Source: https://beevideoproductions.com/2019/10/10/5-crucial-tips-effective-video-storytelling/

[beevideos19-blog]

5 Smart Ways to Use Social Video for Your Marketing Goals

Video for social media is a tricky thing.  On the one hand it's absolutely essential to tell your brand story. And anything that is related to your brand should be planned and on point. On the other hand video for social works best when done en masse. 

 To have an unlimited budget and unlimited time shooting video for social media can be a dangerous thing. Simply put, if it's done badly it can damage your brand.

 Here are a few ways how to create video content for your social media platforms without breaking the bank but still maintaining quality.

1. Stack shoot:  in other words plan a shoot day and stack a bunch of episodes into one shoot.  That way you get consistent lighting, sound and setting and maximize time spent in setup and takedown.

2. Schedule your uploads: we're on occasion it makes sense to upload all your videos at once ( if for example you're hoping your viewers will binge watch) generally speaking it's best to upload on a weekly basis at a regular time and a regular day. Research will tell you best times and dates for your particular audience.

3.  Build your content around a marketing calendar.  This could mean a marketing calendar for your particular industry or in general big tentpole holidays and events such as the Super Bowl, Christmas and Halloween. Write content that lines up to be released just before these events and then ride any hashtags that arise and take advantage immediate trends.  Remember the #icebucketchallenge? or how about #winning?

4. Partner with an Influencer:  There is nothing new in this piece of advice.  Many many brands have partnered successfully with the right influencer - one whose values align with their own.  This synergy is so popular because it's economical and it's timely. But be careful - aligning with the wrong influencer can also be disastrous. Remember Alicia Keys caught on her iPhone when she was being sponsored by  BlackBerry? Uh oh!

5. Partner with a company that specializes in social media marketing. This is not shameless self-promotion. We do not specialize in social media marketing. But we can recommend companies that do. It is in our best interest that your videos find their audience and we have some great partners that can help you do that. 

Here at Bee Video we've produced two YouTube series for clients ( both coincidentally cooking series).  One lasted about a year-and-a-half. It was called My Left Frying Pan and we got over two hundred thousand views and 4000 subscribers the other was called The Spicy kitchen and it lasted about six months and got 43000 views and 3,000 subscribers.  Both became great platforms for the hosts who ultimately were hoping to promote their businesses through their channels. 

If you want to be our next YouTube star get in touch and we'll show you how to do it right!  Source: https://beevideoproductions.com/2019/10/10/5-smart-ways-use-social-video-marketing-goals/

[beevideos19-blog]

Our team of video producers combine high quality branded video infused with a knowledge of marketing, communications, and promotion to develop meaningful, differentiated, and authentic corporate videos. We don't just shoot cool videos; we help you craft a story that will reach your customer and make them fans. We’ve seen firsthand how the power of video marketing can increase SEO, increase leads, build trust and relationships. We provide great videos and show you how to use them. The rest is up to you.

[beevideos19-blog]

Why You Should Use Your Own Video Archives For Your Business

At Bee Video we often joke- “Everyone likes to shoot- but nobody likes to edit.”

 We can all picture the scene, whether it's a concert, a children's sporting event, or a celebrity sighting-  a crowd full of people all with their phones up in the air recording the event for posterity. As a video producer myself, I'm rarely one of those people. Maybe because I spend so much time looking at the video, in my personal life I try to remind myself to stay present and enjoy the moment rather than recording it. I recently attended a beautiful wedding and I strongly resisted the urge to join the people in the pews that were recording the bride walking down the aisle.

 I am as guilty as anyone though, of having hours and hours of video footage On my phone that I rarely if ever watch.

 The problem is, it's relatively easy to record a moment and it's relatively hard to edit and to store that moment in a cohesive way. The same is true for a corporate video.

 I have met many clients who tell me they have vast corporate archives of still and video footage that they don't know what to do with.

 Take for example our wonderful client Camino Chocolate. They produce organic, ethically sourced cocoa and chocolate products. They came to us with this exact dilemma. They knew the story they wanted to tell and they had the footage (or at least they thought they had the footage) but they weren't sure how to pull it all together. In fact, they had tried their hand at editing a short piece for a YouTube pre-roll ad but were rejected by Google on the basis of low production value.

 So we started this project first by writing out a simple storyboard of the message they wanted to convey about their chocolate. The message was simple: when you buy Camino not only are you buying delicious chocolate, you are also supporting thousands of small-scale, local farmers and an organic farming process.

 So once we got the messaging down we went on a search through their archives for video and still footage that matched each of those points. We also supplemented the archival footage with strategically-placed stock footage. We added an upbeat music track and some fun animated quotes.

 We did a 30-second version, a 60-second version, a French version and an Instagram version.  We charged an hourly rate for editing services which included the storyboarding, the music rights and the stock footage cost.

 Camino was very happy with the result. The entire process was done remotely because Camino is based in Ottawa and we're here in Toronto. We communicated through regular Google Hangouts so it felt pretty personal but technically we didn't meet anybody from Camino in person.

 Video editing services have become a bigger part of our business as more and more clients look for simple ways to stretch their marketing dollars by repurposing their footage. It's also great for Bee video because we can easily work with clients from anywhere in the world since we've eliminated the need for a shoot day.  

 We've done similar videos for Gravitate Travel, Sotheby's International, Sterno Home Candle Company, Accenture and for the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. The key to success with each of these projects is that the client had access to an archive of video footage that we can supplement with stock video.

 What differentiates Bee video editing services from the rest is that we will consult with you on a creative level to create something that works for your brand. If you hire an editor, you are not going to get that level of feedback. We will curate your content rather than just edit it.

 It's also a very inexpensive way to try us out. A short curated video produced in this manner can cost as little as $750. Because we work on an hourly rate, we can keep going if you get more ambitious.

 So if you have your own video archives reach out today let's talk about making something great!

 Written by Brigitte Sachse

[beevideos19-blog]

2019 Is The Year Of Story- Here's Why

People have been telling stories around the campfire for as long as there have been campfires and as long as there have been people. So why now is storytelling so important?

 Stories have always been important - the difference in 2019 is that almost everyone now has control over the means of distribution. In other words, we can all broadcast our own stories through digital media and video production.

 Through the ubiquity of Instagram and various other social media platforms allowing us to broadcast our personal stories, we now expect brands to do the same. Before we reach for that ketchup, before we buy that car, before we invest our money, we want to know the brand story.

 Who's the CEO? What are they like? Are they ethical? Do I like them? Do they share my values? These are all questions consumers now ask themselves before they purchase.

 Take for example one of our video clients- Altima Dental. This large dental franchise was founded almost 30 years ago by two dentists who discovered economies of scale by working in a collective model with other dentists. These partners have built a huge Canadian dental chain with over 100 locations across Canada.

 The video we did with them told their origin story and revealed them to be dedicated, knowledgeable and truly caring CEOs. They come across as warm family oriented individuals and strong and capable partners. They have a great story.

And that is the power of good video marketing.  It tells a story like nothing else. The warmth of their friendship as they nod in agreement at each other's statements can't be conveyed in a blog. The smile of recognition as a dental partner greets them when they enter their office cannot be captured on a billboard.

For the video closing, we created a map of Canada and animated each of the 100 Altima locations as they populated the map.  It's one thing to say you have a hundred locations, but showing that quantity in a visual way really drives that message home. If there are over a hundred Altima locations right across Canada then surely these guys are onto something.

In the end this was a simple video to make. We worked with their agency to produce a script that was vetted and approved by the Altima marketing team, which we then loaded on a teleprompter. We did the interviews in half a day in studio and then spent another half day shooting b-roll. We collected archival photos from the Altima marketing team to support the dentist's stories of starting out and building their brand slowly over the years. We spent a few hours creating the animation and in about 2 weeks we had a rough cut.

 The dentists were very pleased with the results. The video has become a powerful testimonial to the trust they have built with their employees, their patients and their partners. The format of the video was quite simple but effective.

 We recommend personal CEO testimonial videos such as this for certain companies but not all. Before we start on a project such as this we will meet with the CEO. We will be honest about whether or not the CEO will come across well on video. In this case, we were sure they would - but in other cases where the CEO is not authentically likable, we might propose a different approach. Another popular approach is an animated explainer video. Or we may propose having the CEO voice over the content without appearing on camera.

 So this is why 2019 has become the year of the story. Our Altima Dental video is just one of the thousands of such videos uploaded to YouTube every day.  Storytelling has become the way in which many people make their purchase decisions. It's no longer enough to surf the net reading websites. People want to press play. In 2019, they want to hear the Brand Story. By 2020, they will expect nothing less.

Blog Written by Brigitte Sachse

[beevideos19-blog]

A New Way Of Looking At Training Videos

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then how much is a video worth? If you consider that the average video is 3 to 4 minutes long and is shot at 30 frames per second then a video is worth about 1.8 million pictures. So consider this if you are in the market for a training video.

Video is a very powerful tool and like Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility. A training video conveys your company's corporate values and commitment do its employees. Done correctly a training video can save time, money and resources as well as eliminate what I like to call the “dumb question syndrome”. Where employees are unwilling to ask a “dumb question” for fear of looking foolish, they will watch a training video over and over again until they understand it. In this sense, training videos are actually more effective than in-person training. Done poorly, a training video can become an unintentional source of great humor among its recipients. ( I remember a training video that I watched as a teenager when I worked in a retail store. It was called “Hands Off My Sandwich” and it was intended to train employees about lunchroom etiquette. it was so hilariously bad that I still remember it to this day.)

When we did the training video for The Beer Store we worked very closely with both human resources and marketing. Our goal was to create a video that explained to all Beer Store staff how to install a new piece of hardware on the shelves of The Beer Store. We wanted the employees to know that this piece of hardware would save them time and yet reassure them that it would not replace any of the existing labor force.  We had to consider regulatory, technical and human resources issues. We also had to ensure that the video was engaging enough to keep employees watching, but informative and specific enough that The Beer Store wouldn’t have to send out trainers to each of the hundreds of locations that they have around Ontario.

Here are some of the things we considered when producing this video:

Objective: We wanted a clear objective for the video. Who were we talking to? what did they need to learn? what could go wrong? we had to be careful not to fit too much information into one video. We wanted the concepts to be concise and easily digestible.

Video: We shot over two days, on location in two different Beer Store locations. While the locations looked great as a centerpiece for the brand, the lighting for video was terrible so we had to focus on improving the lighting. (we also had to shoot in non-store hours, which meant we were ready to shoot at 6am)

Audio: The Beer Store locations had large refrigeration storage units that hummed very loudly.  Since we didn't have the ability to turn them off, we made sure that we shot well away from these fans. Do you know the most significant deterrent to quality training videos is not the visuals? It is the audio. So many DIY training videos have crackling sounds or hard to hear audio that bore the audience.

Animation: We used a few simple animation techniques to illustrate installation points. Animation is a fun way to break up the instruction and can help brand the video.

Trainer: we use actual employees to do the training-  not paid talent. Using corporate headquarters with real employees sends a subliminal message.  Employees see their colleagues delivering the best product possible. Also, the videos make you feel like you are on-site for getting in-person training. The side benefit of training videos is that they are a permanent source of consistent information and can eventually be used to train your trainer. Your training video library can grow over time so that it becomes a valuable archive. Call Bee Video today to learn more about making a great training video. 

Written by Brigitte Sachse