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When venturing on your next video production (Boston), you want to make sure there are no surprises during the shoot day. Surprises could come in the means of unwanted noise, echo, disruptions, space constrictions, parking issues, location permits, lighting issues and weather considerations.

Doing a site survey can greatly reduce these types of problems and enable you to focus on your MA video production. Your site survey should involve your videographer or video producer. Try to be aware of the following:

- Check out the room(s) you will be shooting in. If sound is important, you will want as much soft material in the room as possible to absorb echo such as carpeted floors, furniture and drapes.

- Is your location near a main street or crowded public area? Some noise you can control but others you can’t. Closing off a main street could be problematic.

- Is your space big enough for all the production equipment including camera, lights and products? If studio space is out of your budget, try renting a meeting room at a hotel.

- How about food for the talent and crew. Make sure you are near an area that delivers food to your location. You don’t want to waste valuable video production time in going to pick up food.

- Can the crew park close to the location in order to bring in the gear? How about elevators. Also make sure contingencies are in place for enough parking, especially doing a downtown Boston video production.

- Uncontrolled lighting can make the most well prepared shoot into a nightmare. If there are windows that don’t have blinds or drapes, your boston area video production company must take the time to block out the lights.

- Planning an outdoor shoot and need sun? Make sure a rain date is scheduled as well.

As a video producer in Boston MA, I wear many hats. I am a videographer and editor, sales/marketing person, production designer, location scout, talent coordinator, director, crew chief and video production project manager. It always makes for an interesting day.

For the first part of my career I was an award winning videographer for local news.  I learned how to shoot a video production and edit it all in one day. I learned about deadlines and putting together a quality production in a team environment. A videographer shoots video, knows composition and hows to visualize a shot into a final edited form. My years as a videographer prepared me to be a video producer.

I got into the corporate video production (Boston) business when digital video first made an explosion onto the market. As a videographer, I became involved in the previous Boston Chapter of the ITVA, International Television Association. I was on the board of this organization, producing public service announcements and non profit video productions (MA) for organizations in the community that couldn’t afford to produce their own PSAs. This organization helped me transition from a videographer to a video producer.

A successful video producer who runs an online marketing video production company must have either a strong videography background or is well versed in the entire B2B video production (MA) process. They have to work equally well with clients and crew. It’s not just about shooting and editing a good image, it’s about listening to your client and producing a product that will successfully help them save money or generate revenue.

It’s also about juggling a series of projects simultaneously. A good video producer and a dvd production company can do a lot but also has a talented team backing them up on creative video productions. On my team I have an animators, voice over and make-up artists, production designers, video production assistants and technical writers. My team and I enable our clients to trust us with their corporate video production needs.

Boston Digital Video and Jerold Gelfand are known for high quality medical device and life science marketing and training videos. We also do a fair amount of non profit video production (MA). Early in my career, as a, videographer (MA), I was was also an interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah: Visual History Foundation where I interviewed Holocaust survivors in the Boston area. The foundation provided intensive training to their interviewers on proper interviewing techniques. These skills, in addition to my years as a photojournalist for local network news organizations, enabled me to extract the right information from interviewees during on-camera interviews. Here are some techniques I learned that led me to run Boston Digital Video, an award winning video production (Boston) company.

- When possible, do a pre-interview either in person or over the phone. This will enable your interviewee to feel more comfortable with you and in turn open up during the actual on-camera interview

- Never ask questions that will let your subject answer yes or no. Ask open ended questions that force them to elaborate on a particular subject. Good lead in questions might start with, “Paint me a picture of …” or Tell me about…”

- Always maintain eye contact with your subject. You want them to know you are listening to them and understand what they are telling you. Even if you are taking notes, keep that eye contact. You always can review the interview later for content details.

- Use the senses to help your subject remember experiences. Many interviewees can be nervous in front of the camera and get a bit forgetful when it comes to details. If you are asking a subject to remember a period of time, ask them about what they were wearing or the weather. Awakening their senses will often open their mind to experiences lost in their subconscious.

One of the most important parts of putting together a custom video production (MA) is crafting the storyboard. This simple document allows you to envision a finished online marketing video (MA) before a single piece of footage is shot or edited. It contains the entire script as well as corresponding visual content and any type of visual and music effects. We use this document to help us create a shot list for our shoot(s) and we follow it during the entire video editing process. Typically there are multiple changes made to the storyboard before any video editing services (MA) take place.

This exercise saves valuable time during the shoot and edit and makes sure there are no end of project surprises. Make sure the video production company you work with puts together a storyboard. This is not a place to cut corners.

Jerold Gelfand is an independent video producer, doing business as Boston Digital Video, an online marketing video (MA) company.  With over 20 years experience in B2B video production (MA), Jerold specializes in high quality marketing and educational videos, corporate industrial, non profit, documentary and interactive DVDs as well as streaming video for the web.  Jerold is an experienced video producer as well as a skilled videographer (MA). With this background, he is able to consult with clients on how to develop their videos and animation for maximum impact. He shoots videos, but more importantly, he designs, edits, and produces them, creating a professional final product. In addition he has received multiple awards for his work.

Jerold’s hallmark is compelling visual imagery. He finds innovative ways to express his clients’ ideas – creating an image that is powerful and tailored to their message.  Jerold is able to creatively work with varying budgets, schedules, and production constraints. He prides himself in consistently completing projects on time and on budget.

Boston Digital Video specializes in medical device, renewable energy, manufacturing, technology and life science industries as well as non profit video production (MA).  Clients receive a cost-effective, high impact way get the word out about their products and services.

Recent clients include:  Smiths Medical, Nokia, ITT Corporation, Vision Sciences, OMNILife science, Spire Corporation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts General Hospital, The Massachusetts Medical Society, BioTrove, SRU Biosystems, Parker/Chomerics, Greene Rubber Company, Market Forge, Connecticut Fertility Associates, Evergreen Investments, Fleet Bank, Harvard/Pilgrim Healthcare Foundation, The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling, Honeywell Corporation, and Mac-Gray Corporation.

Jerold received an Emmy nomination for his documentary, “Trudy’s Dream” and was also nominated for his public service campaign, “Think Twice”.  He also won a Telly Award and was honored with creative excellence in the International Film and Video Festival.

Let’s say you have looked at corporate video production services (MA) and decided on which company you plan to work with. What is the next step? Hopefully you already know why you are putting a video together, who your audience is and what you are looking to achieve. When this Boston, Massachusetts video producer holds his first production meeting with a new client, we talk concept. If it is a product training video, will it be shot on location or in a studio? If it is a promotional marketing video will it be driven by sound bites or will it follow a tight script? Your video production (MA) company will discuss these and many other options and help you decide what concept will best fit your company’s needs. Other concepts might include:

-    Virtual tours

-    Simulated sales calls

-    Capability videos

-    Employee information videos

-    Customer testimonials

-    Executive and staff presentations

-    Content marketing

-    Product training videos

-    Guerilla marketing videos

-    Corporate overview

-    Round table sessions

-    On-line publishing

-    Video marketing campaigns

-    Web video marketing and training

-    Just in time learning

-    Day in the life videos

-    Post sale support

-    Success stories

-    Product presentations

-    Snyc video and PowerPoint

-    Product reviews

-    Show openers

-    Pitch videos and

-    Video new releases (VNR)

High definition video is everywhere. It’s playing at trade shows, our living rooms and even board rooms. High definition video production (MA) is becoming more main stream every year. YouTube has gotten into the HD game by offering you to upload up to 2GB of your favorite high def videos. These can come from a professional high definition camera or from even an iPhone.

SD or standard definition is still widely used by videography services (MA) and website video production (MA) companies. HD is still more expensive that SD. The cameras are more expensive, the edit process takes longer due to transcoding and it takes longer to export and compress to high resolution files. If you are incorporating animation in your production, HD will increase your budget.

Don’t get me wrong. high def is great. I shoot on it all the time and it looks terrific. It should definitely be used if your corporate video production is shown during a large presentation such as a trade show or displayed on a large plasma screen. If you are just showing your video production on the web and you are on a tight budget, HD might be something you can do without. Hi definition does look slightly better on the web than SD but it might not make that much of a difference to justify a larger budget.

This is the fourth in our series on the process of putting together a video. This time we are talking about getting ready for your upcoming Massachusetts video production shoot. A portion of your budget is dedicated to the video shoot(s) so you want everything to run smoothly. This means little to no videographer down time. Video shoots are usually budgeted for a half-day (under 4 hours) or a full day (over 4 hours and under 8 hours). Preparation is key. Your Videographer (Boston, MA) should help you formulate your things to do list. These could include:

• Setting your location
• Setting up interviews
• Preparing any last minute on-camera presentations
• For product and demonstration videos, you want make sure your products are in-house. Work with your engineering team to make sure your products are actually running smoothly.
• Coordinate on-camera experts
• Finalize PowerPoint if used during a presentation
• Prepare teleprompter script
• Work with internal staff and prepare them with on-camera information

While you are preparing things on your end, your video production (Boston, MA) company is coordinating the following:

• Working on your script and storyboard
• Preparing your shot list
• Getting the crew together including videography services (MA), production assistant, sound, teleprompter operator, etc….
• Preparing video production equipment
• Import teleprompter script
• Rent rarely used equipment
• Auditioning on-camera talent
• Schedule a phone conference with client contacts to go over last minute details

As you can see, a video production shoot requires a team approach. An award winning video production (Boston) company will be your guide to make sure your video shoot runs on schedule and stays within your budget.

Sometimes a picture doesn’t always tell a thousand words. Prospects need to see a product in action. My clients tell me that if they can just demo their product to a prospect, they usually can turn them into customers. Due to global commerce, it is not always economically and logistically possible to coordinate this type of live demo. Creating a demonstration or promotional video production (MA) will not replace a one-on-one interaction but makes an ideal virtual presentation for luke warm prospects.

The medical device and life science industries routinely use video production companies (MA) to educate and train clinicians and research scientists on proper set up and procedure of equipment. Proper handling is essential and videos can significantly reduce a company’s training budget and create a consistent level of user competency.

Here is an example of a website video production (MA) - medical device training video:

Have you ever tried to e-mail a large video file and the message gets bounced back? Most e-mail programs don’t allow you to send more that 5-10 MB of information in a single e-mail. There are a number of methods of getting your video file from point A to point B. In the Stone Age we overnighted VHS tapes. They were expensive and you ended up with a low quality product.

Today promotional video production companies (MA) have many options at their disposal. You can send high quality (HD) high definition video over the web at reasonable costs. An FTP or file transfer protocol allows users to copy files between their local system and any system they can reach on the internet. The only problem is that uploading and downloading can be a bit complicated for the technically challenged. It’s not as simple as downloading with one click.

Many non-video production studios (MA) use free services such as YouSendIt. They allow you to easily upload and send large files for free as long as they are under 100 MB.

Most Boston MA videography services need to send very large files. Boston Digital Video is a MAC video production house and we use Mobile Me. It allows us to upload GBs of information and enables our clients to download them by clicking a single link. Mobile me also allows us to create public folders where our clients can access a number of password protected files at their convenience.