Re-Edited Corperate Promo

original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl-v1NQ8tL8
re-edited:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjzqe20KntE

I decided to re edit my corporate promo as at the moment it is quite unproffesional and looks student-made. Unfortunately, I didn't have the original footage so I had to re edit the existing video which was quite tricky with the cuts, transitions, and subtitles already in place. I decided to change the music to make it more upbeat and re cut the clips to make it flow better. The settings of the original video was NTSC (720x480) which came out as a square ratio on final cut so i had to change the setting to HD (960x720) to give it a more anamorphic ratio. Although this gave the footage a black border, it was in the right perspective and not stretched or pixelated. The other problem I still had was the sound of the chefs interview was of a really poor quality even though we went back and recorded the interview again with a different mic it still wasn't good quality.

I imported the mov. into final cut and started by sorting out all my footage into individual clips by cutting the clips where I was them using the razor tool, selecting the footage in the viewer window and going to Modify > Make SubClip where I renamed each clip. I also added the backing track "Crystal Film" by Little Dragon, although this song is copyrighted, |I contacted my client and they weren't using it on their website so I didn't need to worry about copy right issued. I thought the song flowed a lot better and the start was more eye catchy and professional.

Once I had all my footage organised I started editing my clips, I matched a range of shots to the music to give it an unbeat almost music video like feel. 

This is my final edit of footage, as you can see I kept the original motion graphics but changed the order of the interview footage to make it more professional. I kept the backing track running throughout but lowered it during the interviews, I also cut the video down from 4.03 to 2.20 which is almost half of the time to keep the audience interested. 

Overall, I think the re-edit of my corporate promo has improved a lot. It is to a lot higher standard and looks more professional. I feel the music and shots go together well and make the video more sharper. If I could change anything I would have preferred to edit the video again with the original footage rather than the final cut of the video because it would of been a lot easier and I would also been able to get the video how I wanted it to look. 

Existing Corperate Promos

Codes and conventions

·         Voice Over – The voice over will guide the audience through the narrative, and introduce them to the place and explain the information clearly. Someone usually speaks the voiceover with depth and range in their voice so it sounds professional and engaging to the viewer.

·         Graphics – The graphics may be used to present the main titles in a colourful visually interesting way. They are sometimes used as an eye-catching background when information or statistics are being displayed.

·         Music – The music may be used to set a tone/atmosphere and get the audiences attention. The music is often quiet in the background and is simply and repetitive.

·         Cutaways – These are brief shots that are related to the narrative and are driven by the voice over it helps visually explain and reinforce the information on the audience. The cutaways can be anything from a wide range of shots such as wide establishing shots, close ups of peoples reaction and objects, or moving shots (such as tracking)

·         Presenter – The presenter is usually there to present the information and/or statistics. They are usually dress in smart clothing and are very engaging to the audience. Some of the videos that I have looked at have an actor/actress as the presenter.

• Interviews – The interviews are extremely common and heavily used in these type of promo clips, they are there to get professional opinions, and are an effective to give information in the video.

·         Company Logo – The Company is usually used at the beginning and end of the video so that the audience will associate that symbol with the company.

·         Titles – Titles are used to during interview to introduce someone and their area of specialty, there are also used to break up the video into chapter or even present statistics.

·         Video and Audio transitions – These are used to fade from one cutaway to another to allow the editing to flow easily.

·         Selling Point – Each promotional video or advert will focus on different selling point; these specific points that make the business and product stand out among similar products.

·         Language/Script – The script is written in a way that it introduces the business o product to the audience as if they have no previous knowledge; this has a positive impact because anyone can watch the video and understand what the business offers. It also uses persuasive and emotive language to make its features sound as positive and exciting as possible.

 

Camera movement

The camera movement is always very slow and smooth, typically the camera slowly zooms in and out of cutaways and there are panning shots to show a location, craning shots to move around a building and an establishing shot. The establishing shot is common, for example a hotel may want an establishing shot to open and close there corporate video because they want the audience to know what it looks like.

 

Titles/Graphics

Corporate videos will generally use colourful titles to open and close the video. One of the videos I have seen used a colourful background with pictures of the hotel on the bottom half of the screen, the company logo and title then appearing in the top right corner. The colourful graphics grab the audience’s attention and creates a clear and positive tone for the video. The rest of the video is very colourful.

 

Editing Style

The videos that I looked at all have very specific editing techniques. Some videos use various transitions to create a visually interesting video that captures your attention.

 

Existing Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ-QkPGSRcs

This video by Mercedes is a perfect example of a corporate video, involving all of the codes and conventions mentioned, it successfully targets its audiences; selling the brand. The establishing shot uses a mix of moving image and motion graphics as well as voice overs to first entice the viewer, making them want to watch more. Within the first 20 seconds we also see a shot of the logo which establishes the brand to the audience. The transitions, editing style and shots are all very sleek to professional as well as eye catching. The voice over is also bold which again keeps your attention. The only difference to typical corporate videos is the colour. Most videos are light and bright but this video is very dark using mainly blacks, silvers, greys and whites. Although this doesn't fit the codes and conventions it does fit the image of the video to sleek so works well.

 

Corporate Videos aimed at or involving children usually fit the typical codes and conventions of promotional videos because they are bold and bright, have fun graphics and the transitions are often over emphasized to be eye catching for their younger target audience.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtF6ZMqLR60

Although this video by CBBC doesn't fit all the codes and conventions with interviews and voice overs, it is a clear example of how children's promotional videos need to be more obviously colourful and eye catching. The colours in this video are clear and strong, the graphics used are very lively which will entertain the children and the transitions used swipe in which wouldn't be used in adult videos but work well in children's videos
 

 

 

 

 

Corporate Video Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl-v1NQ8tL8

Evaluation

Our brief was to create an upbeat and atmospheric promotional video for a family run and orientated cafe. We were given a lot of details on what they were looking for in regards to length, target audience and features. We tried to stick to these to give the company the ideal promo they were looking for but we also negotiated some parts of the brief that we felt would help sell and market the cafe better. For instance, they wanted the video to be around 15 minutes long but we agreed around 4-5 minutes to keep it fresh and the audience interested. After receiving the completed brief, we arranged a meeting with the client to further discuss and negotiate ideas.

We worked well as a team; working on previous assignments together we knew each others strong points so could adapt well to creating the best possible video for the client. We all had an influence on each part of production but split the production into 3 main parts where each of worked to our strengths of pre-production/planning and ideas, shooting and editing. This meant each key part of production was done to a high standard and got completed quicker as we knew what each team member was doing and communicated well. In our meetings with the client, we arranged shoot days; keeping a professional and on going relationship with client and in our production meetings we arranged planning and editing days which we all stuck to, completing the video ahead of time. We also scheduled a second shoot after the first edit when we had to go back and re record some sound footage which was missing/of a poor quality. As we had planned ahead of our deadline, it meant we were able to fit in another shoot day and still reach a final cut in time.

We had very few constrains, we had no problem with time, financial or legal issues because we had well planned. Regarding legal constrains, the client has asked for an upbeat, happy backing track. As we couldn't feature songs that would be copyrighted we had to find a royalty free site and find a piece which would fit the video and what the client has asked for. As we were working to a brief, we needed to stick what the client requested so we didn't find we had any artistic differences as we were working to please the cafe. We had already planned and story boarded so each team member new the expectations.

We were pleased with our final product and we felt it fitted the brief well but also felt there were things that could have been changed. We would have liked one more shoot day to get more shots in better lighting as on the day the weather was poor and it was essential to capture the cafe in the best light creating a good pathetic fallacy. We also would have liked another re-shoot to get higher quality shots which we weren't happy with in editing. Our main obstacle we found with the promo was the sound; on our first shoot we used and external mic plugged into the camera and it wasn't till edit that we realised the mic had captured no sound in the interview scenes. When we scheduled a re shoot of the interviews we used separate recording device. Although we had now successfully captured the sound, the quality was still very poor and had to be edited in post-production. Overall we were pleased with the appearance of the video but the problems with the sound brought the general quality of the video down.

 Our client received the video well and was happy with the final product. They  it hit the brief successfully and highlighted the cafe to its best points, aimed at the right target audience and fitted the codes and conventions of a typical promo video. But agreed if the quality of the sound was better, it would've given the video and more professional look. It is key to get good feedback from the client, not only to keep them happy which what you have produced but also to create more work with future clients as testimonials is essential in corporate promos.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF:

         

-         What kind of briefs have you worked with and what was the most effective?

(Contrast with the least effective.  Give three reasons why it was the most effective – back this up with results.)

-         How effective was communication between you and the client and you and your team?  What strategies did you use to achieve this?  What strategies could you use to improve?

-         What obstacles were there and how did you overcome them?

-         Name three things about the final project that you are pleased with (give specific examples, if you are talking about a shot provide a screengrab)

-         Name three things you would want to improve (again give examples)

-         Feedback (screenshots of feedback, your summary, how important is good feedback from clients?)

Production (Including Sound)

Production photos:

Sound Production:

During our meetings, we discussed sound and the client told us they would like an upbeat, happy instrumental with no vocals. They would prefer a piano track and didn't want any guitars. As we couldn't use any tracks that had copyright, we found a royalty free site and chose a piece from there. 

We first put all our sound recordings of the interviews into Soundtrack Pro, we had to change some of the levels and distortion and remove back ground noise to give the best quality possible.

We then exported it into Final Cut Pro where we added the soundtrack and matched the interview levels to the backing track. As you can see the the levels are in the green zone so we know it is a good quality.

We then put this into our final footage edit and matched interviews. We had to cut and loop the backing track so it was long enough for our promo.

Meetings

First meeting 15/01/14:
In this meeting we asked the client of Huttons Courtyard Cafe if it would be possible to make a promotional video for them. They agreed so we planned a day to shoot, they asked us to come in on a week day morning when it would be quiet enough to have interviews with the staff. We have arranged to go in at 11am on the 24th on Janurary.

Second meeting 20/01/14:
We received the completed brief from the client and made notes to discuss with the client on the next meeting. In the brief they listed that they wanted the target audience to be 60+, as they had also mentioned that it was a family orientated cafe we suggested that it should only be 30-60 to target the audience of future customers more effectively. They also wrote in the brief that they wanted the promo to be 15 minutes, we recommended that it should be around 5 minutes to keep the attention of the audience as 15 minutes would be too long and they may lose interest, they agreed to this. Lastly they required they wanted staff and customer interviews and shots of dogs, we asked if these would be available on the day and they said that they would.

Pre-Production

Schedule 

Planned Brief - 14th Jan
Sent Brief - 19th Jan
Pre Production - 21st Jan
First day shoot - 24th Jan
Edit - 27th - 31st Jan

Script

"HUTTONS COURTYARD CAFE"

By

Aimee Lister

INTERVIEW 1 Rule of 3 mid shot of Café owner sitting on a sofa in dining area. Louise toner Hello, my names Louise Toner and my sister and I have ran Huttons Courtyard café for over 7 years. It is a family run business in the heart of Chelmsford located in Hylands Park next to Hylands house. The café is family orientated and accessible for dog walkers with animal safe patio areas. Through the summer our opening hours are 8.30 till 5 and in the winter we run 10-5. Our menus our freshly prepared and cooked on site including all day breakfast and Sunday roasts. We also have a large collection of home made cakes and desserts and a range of ice creams during the summer. INTERVIEW 2

Mid shot of chef standing in kitchen stirring soup, she looks up and begins to talk

Paula Weller

Hi my names Paula and I’m the head chef at Huttons Courtyard café. I’ve been working here for about 6 months and I love the environment and friendly staff. We prepare a range of meals from homemade curry to fish and chips to baguettes and sandwiches. We also make a variety of meat and vegetarian dog treats as our café is very dog friendly. Our ingredients are delivered freshly everyday from local suppliers. As our café is very family orientated we like to promote healthy eating.

INTERVIEW 3

mid shot of customer sitting at a table talking to her friend and eating cake.

Julie Shirwin

Im a regular customer at the poplar Huttons Courtyard Café because of its welcoming staff who are always happy to help, selection of home made cakes and dog friendly atmosphere. As I live locally I often walk the dogs around Hylands Park with its large gardens surrounding the café so this is the perfect place to stop and have a drink.


Shot list:

Risk assessment:

Location Report:

Budget:

Production Update 24/01/2014:

We had our shoot today and we planned to do one shoot and get all the footage on one day. The day of the shoot went quite well, we got all the shots we needed and the weather was fair to show the café in a good light. All the staff who were being interviewed arrived on time and we captured each interview successfully. It wasn't till we got home and looked at the footage that we realized on the interview scenes there was no sound. When the mic was plugged in, we checked that the levels were moving but there was no sound captured. We think there may have been a problem with the mic to camera adapter. We have planned to go back with an external sound recording device (shown below) to ensure we capture sound.

                                 

Production Update 29/01/2014:
We went back to day to film the interviews with missing sound. Unfortunately, some of the previous staff we interviewed were not available so we had to use other staff to fill in. This shoot went better and we successfully recorded sound with the internal camera mic and the external sound recording device, when editing we will have to match the external sound recording to footage.

Overview of Client Brief

18/01/14: we created a brief to send to our client to get an idea of exactly want they want from their promo video. 

18/01/14: sending the brief to the client

19/010/14: Client responds to email regarding brief

19/01/14: response notes to client brief 

Legal/Policy

When making a corporate promo, their are many legal issues to look into that many focus around copyright. As the promo will be featured on companies website to sell themselves, they must insure that they own the rights to video or pay for the copyright to anything featured in it.

Copy right could include music, logos, photos, footage of some locations and even fonts and colour schemes. Some of these can be requested to buy or 'rent' off the owner but some things are strictly copyrighted, such as the Google colour scheme. The film maker may have to create their own music or pay a musician to create a piece for the promo which they have to credit them.

Other legal issues consist of permission to use certain people in your promo, you will need to get them to sign a release form. This could be any person in public that hasn't given their permission to use their face, this especially is important when filming children. If you have any celebrities etc in your promo you will always have to have their permission, even if its just their voice or anything they've said.

In addition to these legal issues, theres also policies which concern the maker. When the film maker creates a promo for a company, and the company features it on their website you must make sure you are credited for the production.

Research - Market/Audience

Audience

target audience
The cafe is very family orientated so we would be aiming at parents aged 30+. Because of its dog friendly nature we would also market to dog owners and walker who would be stopping at the cafe. In addition to this, through research and visiting the cafe, we found the morning customers were a lot older at around 60+ so we would be need to aim at this age group too to reach a greater audience.

area
We are marketing to people who live in Chelmsford but mainly to the surrounding areas like Danbury, Billericay, Wickford etc. Most people in Chelmsford are aware of the café but people in further areas might not know about it. If they are dog walkers and live in areas that don't have good places to walk their dogs they may be more encouraged to use the café

devices etc
As the promo is internet based, we need to ensure that the audience viewing can watch it on all devices; phones, tablets, pc's etc.

Marketing 

distribution
We are marketing via the internet so we will use their website which will feature the promo on their home page. We will also be using YouTube and social networking sites like Facebook, twitter and linked in to link and upload the promo.

our idea
Our idea is to get a lot of footage of the surrounding areas like Hylands House and Hylands Park. We would also show what else the café has to offer like dog friendly areas, gift shops and the work shops. This will encourage people to come as it isn't just a café it has other things to do, it would also bring in a larger target audience.

media
In addition to the promo we can also offer the café stills to add to their website, we will also be designing text intros to the promo so they use these as idents on the websites or added graphics to the titles.

marketing tools
There are various tools the café use as marketing tools to sell to wider range of people, we will focus on these in production to sell the café at its advantaged. These tools consist of;

• Fresh food
• Promoting healthy eating
• Free range coffee
• Gluten free meals
• Vegetarian options
• All day breakfasts
• Sunday roasts
• Homemade dog treats

Research - Company

information from their website: http://huttonscourtyardcafe.co.uk

About the Cafe 

Huttons Courtyard café is a family run eatery and is located within the Stables Visitor Centre at Hylands Estate.
They provide an ideal venue to meet with friends for lunch or stop for a drink when out walking in the park.
They serve a wide range of hot and cold food, including breakfast (until 11am), daily specials, pasta, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and salads. Much of our  produce is locally-sourced. Senior citizens are entitled to a 10% discount on all food every Thursday. The Café is fully accessible for wheelchairs.

At Hutton's you can also enjoy a cream tea and some homemade cake also They sell a large selection of branded ice lollies . They have a number of children's options available and They sell a range of alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages.
Our new Dog friendly patio area is open 9am Monday to Saturday.
During 9am -10am They will be offering hot and cold drinks, toast & toasted tea cakes and a small selection of homemade cakes and cookies only.
Our full menu will be available from 10 o’clock.
Sunday They will open at 8.30 offering the full menu.

The café may also be open outside of these times depending on the season, but you should contact us prior to travelling if you plan to visit outside these hours.

Given notice, coach parties are very welcome. The café is also available for private hire and functions – but a minimum spend is required.

 Suppliers

    

GCS have been providing Huttons with a comprehensive range of professional catering & bar equipment for a number years.

They use GCS because of their unique personal approach. They visit us on a regular basis to ensure They're kept up to speed with all the latest equipment and special offers.

                      

After winning in the Food and Drink Awards in 2008 Ravens Bakery has continued to provide excellence in baking. Giselle and her team at Ravens Bakery supply Huttons with their range of quality breads. Taste and value make Ravens our preferred supplier.

Lane Farm is a family run farming business situated in the heart of Suffolk.

Huttons has been using Lane Farm as their preferred supplier for a considerable time because their produce is always of the highest quality.
Their business has grown steadily over the years and today they have extended their range into cooked hams, smoked products, air-dried Suffolk Salami and the Suffolk Chorizo.

All the pigs Sue & Ian rear at Lane Farm are born outside before being finished on a straw based system in a Theylfare friendly environment.

Hylands Park

The last private owner Christine Hanbury lived in Hylands House until her death until 1962. It was in 1966, with the House in a desperate state of disrepair, that Chelmsford Borough Council purchased the Park for the people of Chelmsford to enjoy. Hylands Park was opened to the public only 10 days later. It was agreed by Chelmsford Borough Council that Hylands House should be restored to its former glory and having stood empty for 20 years, the first phase of restoration took place in 1986. The final stage was completed in 2005.

Restoration of the house.

The House was in a state of progressive deterioration but, despite its poor condition, in 1967 Hylands House became a Grade II listed building. In 1985 the Borough Council set up a restoration fund and later that year English Heritage gave their consent to the Council's proposal to reduce the house to its 19th-century appearance. Prior to work commencing Hylands House was re-graded to become a Grade II* listed building.

Phased restoration work began in 1986, and by 1996 the external work to the House had been completed and the Entrance Hall restored to its Georgian grandeur. The Blue Room and Boudoir Theyre refurbished and once again the house was full of the sound of people.

The east wing was fully restored and opened to the general public at Easter 1999. The Theyst wing and basement restoration quickly folloTheyd and their grand opening took place at Easter 2004. The restoration of the basement area has brought to life the original red brick Queen Anne house and a number of exciting discoveries Theyre made. Interpretation boards throughout the house offer visitors an informative and photographic display of the restoration process.

The final phase of restoration in the House was completed in September 2005, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Hylands House is now fully restored to its Victorian splendour, giving visitors the opportunity to glide up the Grand staircase and imagine what it must have been like to attend one of the spectacular balls or banquets held there.

Restoration of the estate.

Intensive work on restoring the historic landscape of Hylands Park to its 18th century splendour, designed by famed landscape architect Humphry Repton, began in 2004 and was completed in 2007. The restoration of Hylands Park was financed by a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3.4 million and by the Council.

Restoring Repton's parkland - the original 'Widford Approach' drive has been reinstated for pedestrians and cyclists, providing beautiful framed views of the estate, before finally revealing the house itself. Repton's spectacular views of the lake from the house can now also be enjoyed, especially from the Repton Room located with Hylands house. 

Conversion of the stable block - the Georgian stables have been restored and converted into The Stables Visitor Centre which incorporates a new visitor centre, with craft studios. gift shop, cafe, interpretation rooms, education room and stabling for horses.

 Home Farm - these farm buildings have been restored and adapted for storage and offices for the Grounds Maintenance team.

Flint Cottage - a former gamekeeper's cottage and now derelict, has been brought back to its original appearance and is now used as a store to support the Council's events in the park.

Recent history

Since 1996, the park has hosted the annual V Festival. In the 2004 film Chasing Liberty, Hylands House doubled as the US White House In 2005 Hylands Park was the venue for the European Scout Jamboree and in 2007 Hylands Theylcomed scouts from over 160 nations for the 21st World Scout Jamboree, which celebrated 100 years of scouting. The One World Garden was created to commemorate this historic event, and now forms part of the estate.

Opening Times & Admission

Hylands Park is open to the public every day throughout the year. The gates at the park entrances are opened at 7.30am, and are closed and locked at the following times:
January: 5pm
February & March: 6pm
April: 8pm
May: 9pm
June & July: 10pm
August: 9pm
September: 8pm
October: 7pm
November & December: 5pm

After the gates are locked there is no arrangement for the release of vehicles left within the park until 7.30am the following day. Access to the House and park may be restricted at certain times due to large-scale events. To check opening times, please call 01245 605500.