It’s been a long time since the last blog post. I’m happy to say this is down to being super busy! Some small changes have occurred since the last post too, including the formation of a separate division of YourFilm: ‘We3′.

We3 deals with the conception, scripting, production and post-production of TV commercials. This arm of our production is charged with the creation of creative TV ads, with a massive amount of time and energy being put into creative concepts that make a difference. For the We3 mission statement go here: www.we3.tv

Plenty of other projects being worked on here at YourFilm HQ, more samples of work when theyre complete can be viewed on our YouTube page: www.youtube.com/yourfilmuk

As always if you’re looking for more information on video production and how it can work for your business get in touch with us for an informal chat- (0191) 490 9123, info@your-film.com.

… to Gateshead International Business Centre. You can now call us on; (0191) 490 9123.

Why not pop in for a coffee and doughnut. You’re buying.

Quick note from us at YourFilm: whatever you’re celebrating at this time of year enjoy your time off work and don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!

2010 is already looking like an exciting year for YourFilm, more from us soon…

YourFilm are delighted to announce that we have been accepted into the Entrepreneurs Forum.

The Entrepreneurs´ Forum was created in 2002 by a group of the region´s leading business people. The idea was simple – to create a cross sector peer–group of likeminded individuals who could share ideas, knowledge, inspiration and opportunities in a confidential environment. A non trading environment where real business is discussed and introductions are welcomed. Somewhere younger entrepreneurs can tap into the experience of those who have been there and done it – learning from their mistakes and soaking up invaluable business knowledge. A transfer of wisdom that supports growing businesses, nurtures emerging talent and helps to create the wealth, jobs and opportunities that are a major contribution to the sustainable transformation of our regional economy.With the support from the Forum, YourFilm aim to continue our plans of becoming one of the regions brightest, buzzing, creative video agencies.

Each year the forum receives applications and interest from 100’s of individuals they can only take on around 40 a year into their nurturing pool. they are looking for tomorrow’s successes, those businesses that will continue to grow and shine in future years.

 

 

Acceptance into the Entrepreneurs Forum is great recognition of our company as it shows that our vision is one that the Forum agree with and will assist us in achieving.

We look forward to working with the Forum to reach these goals and are hugely grateful that we have been accepted into such a fantastic pool of successful and talented individuals and businesses.

 

We would also like to announce that YourFilm are a Gold sponsor of the SuperMondays Christmas event on 18^th December 2009- SuperChristmas.

 

We are working on a great promotional video for the SuperMondays which will be screened at the event, so if you’re attending keep your eyes peeled!

Statistics involving how many people watch online video always interests us here at YourFilm, and more often than not our prospective clients too!

We wanted to share these stats from ComScore, published November 2009 regarding the online viewing figures last month is the US:

• 77 percent of all US internet users watched online videos.
• The average online video viewer watched 273 minutes of video.
• 97 million viewers watched 5.1 billion videos on YouTube.com (52.3 videos per viewer).
• 52.5 million viewers watched 371 million videos on MySpace.com (7.1 videos per viewer).
• The duration of the average online video was 3.1 minutes.
• The duration of the average online video viewed at Hulu.com was 11.9 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten.

People are watching video online, and lots of it… more often!

 

I knew we’d gotten into this business for a reason…

It’s been busy here at YourFilm HQ in South Tyneside. Very busy…

The creative juices are in full flow as we are looking to realign many of our business practices to allow us to focus on our all important creative process. Expect to see many changes to our website in line with these changes.

We’ve just had sign off from QHotels on their video project for their careers website (created by Pearsons)- this great piece of employer branding can be viewed on our YouTube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/yourfilmuk#p/a/u/0/2mn4oMhVfuM

May we also congratulate Mr. Russell Bowen on landing a dream job with a big animation studio in the Big Smoke. YourFilm had the pleasure of working with Russ on the Mango Studio promo, which is due for imminent release upon the world, watch this space!

Our film project with Beacon North East has also hit the final stages of post-production, so expect more work samples soon.

On a different note, Matthew has finally given into Twitter. He loves tweeting now and enjoys all of the benefits! His favourite thing to do is to add the letter ‘T’ to the start of other things. Follow him here:

www.twitter.com/YourFilm_MN

Who needs a promotional video?

 

After 4 years in business we here at YourFilm have found that some people believe that video is just another form of marketing. Not only that, but also a form of marketing that is bottom of the priority list, with the biggest price tag, holds a minefield of unknown factors and is well out of most people’s comfort zones.

 

It just ain’t so!

 

We’re all too familiar with these pre-conceived downsides to video, and I’ll try and counter them with this post- but I wanted to talk about the upsides first:

 

The fact is that video is massively effective at communicating with your customers and it is a form of engagement that they are coming to expect from the companies they buy from. Your customers want to be impressed, dazzled and swept off their feet by a funky, forward looking business.

 

A well-produced video is a massive leap toward the future of new ways of communicating with your customers. 

 

A great promotional video doesn’t just look good, it communicates: it inspires, it intrigues, it involves, it influences and it informs.

 

A funky promotional video gives your business an edge on your competitors by getting the attention of your target market and highlighting your products features & benefits but most of all delivering your USP.

 

A standout promotional video creates buzz, it excites people and it provokes a response.

 

The difference between a promotional video and a great promotional video is (among many things) in how well the video production company understands your company, your market and your target customers.

 

The first question to consider is; ‘who is the promotional video aimed at?’

The second is; ‘how will they see it?’

 

These are the first 2 questions we ask our clients, and they are key to our entire video production process.

 

Depending on who will see the video has a massive impact on what it needs to contain.

Getting the video seen is massively important. Advising in the pre-production phase about where to use the video is a massive element to our process. We’ve got lots of experience is getting your message seen by as many relevant people as possible:

 

Website

External sites [Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Vimeo]

Vodcast

Exhibitions

Conferences

Portable device e.g. iPhone, iPod, MP3 device, mobile phone.

Bluetooth/SMS/MMS transmission

Training events

Webinars

Sales meetings

 

Usually the first question we’re asked is; ‘how much does video cost?’.

 

Creating a video is all about being creative. We’re very creative in our approach to producing a video and brainstorm concepts around their product or services key features & benefits. We are ideas people- our concepts are born from great ideas which put us well on the way to a great promotional video.

 

We are always aware that our clients want a strong return for their investment and therefore need to work to a budget.

 

Usually from a concept we can begin to price up how much a project will cost. The fact is that video can cost anything depending on what you want. If you wanted to shoot your MD riding a Harley Davidson through a burning ring of fire in the atrium of your North American office then that’d cost more than shooting a testimonial in the office of one of your favourite clients!

 

To destroy the notion of video being expensive, part of the production process is looking at the budget available to our clients and advising them of where money needs to be spent as well as where it can be saved.

 

We appreciate the value of our clients’ money and work within realistic budgets without compromising the quality of our work.

 

So there you go, a ramble from an experienced video producer, which has hopefully shed a little light on the much misunderstood world of video production. When all is said and done, a good video production company will always advise you as experts, not salesmen. Whether it is about scripting, camerawork, music, effects/ animation or even getting a celebrity to front it!

 

We at YourFilm work hard to hit all of the above principles of a good video production process and have the work and client testimonials to back it up- so give us a call if you ever need to know more.

 

July- crazy weather, crazy month.

YourFilm continue their quest to produce great digital video content, strike down inacurate notions of video production costs and [Jarrow] march towards increasing our client base. (For the record, we’re both swine flu free so far, but as I understand it it’s much milder than man flu.)

Our screening room has been updated to incorporate some of our DFDS Seaways work, so please pop some corn and take a gander. We’ve secured repeat business with DFDS, which we’re very happy about and we look forward to producing even bigger and better projects for them. We’ve produced a variety of web videos, incorporating the ‘Commodore class’ cabins and facilities onboard the ships. Take a peak in our screening room or our YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/YourFilmUK

We’re aligning ourselves with other businesses that we can work alongside, in business speak you could call them ’strategic alliances’. In the current economic climate, more so than usual this is a very natural and wise move. These relationships allow businesses to thrive from sharing information, resources and in some cases working with the same clients [Video production/ Digital Film fits in with many other IT and digital based industries]. There are some exciting moves that may come off in the short term future that we’re very excited about. As always, watch this space!

We’re very dedicated to keeping our clients happy, which is why we love to show off some of our recent reviews!

“I’d have no hesitation in endorsing Your-Film to anyone looking to have cost effective promotional films produced. Highly recommended!” Ken Day (Marketing Consultant & Trainer, Teesside)

“We were very happy with the quality of the video and the effort that went into creating it was fantastic. I would highly recommend YourFilm to any company looking to further their digital marketing strategy.” Sarah Taylor, Urban Digger

These two young enthusiastic men are very passionate about their job and go with you and for you, to wherever it takes. I’m absolutely grateful for their professional attitude and recommend them to everybody. Fatemeh Sajadinia, Seena Health

[All reviews can be seen on our FreeIndex page]

We’ve also joined forces with BACK Consulting to produce a series of free Vodcasts from the very successful BACKFlip networking event. Click below for tips and tricks on creating your own successful PR and learn how to ensure your clients pay you on time!!

‘Getting Paid on Time’ with Andrew Charlton: http://tinyurl.com/l22v2v

‘The Power of PR’ with Kate Slater: http://tinyurl.com/nafl5f

Until next time…

It’s been a great month at YourFilm HQ. A great month indeed.

We’ve been very busy on a varity of video production projects for Seena Health, DFDS Seaways, Mind of Kennedy, Learn Direct, Gateshead Council as well as becoming a sponsor of the new North East creatives networking event Thursday Fizz.

It seems the hot weather and global recession aren’t stopping us!

Myself and Matthew have also checked each others’ expenses accounts, you know, just out of interest and we both came out clean!

We’ve also been approached to hold a video production workshop at the very secondary school that spawned us (very lucky to have a media studies dept. in our day!) so that should be fun, and who knows where it might lead?

Other than that we’ve had the usual stuff going on here, plenty of proposals, discussions and meeting with new potential clients and the continuing fight to prove video is a fantastic investment.

On a side note, we recently placed an order with Decorum based in South Shields for some work wear and were very, very happy with the results. Cheers guys!

Also, a big thanks to Lisa at NE8 Castings who came through for us last week.

YourFilm office landline now functioning- so give us a call: (0191) 428 3507

Also feel free to follow us on Twitter:

Kev- www.twitter.com/YourFilm_KO

Matt- www.twitter.com/YourFilm_MN