Get To Know The Video Editor

Don't know much about us? Get to know The Video Editor and what services we provide. The Video Editor is an award-winning video production, video editing, videotape transfer, and CD & DVD duplication company. We can help you tell your story through video. Our experienced staff uses the latest in digital broadcasting quality video and promise timely and high-quality. Whether we are taping a five minute sales or marketing video, or a one hour complete training tape, our crew has done it all and we will deliver the best results.

Here are just a few examples of the corporate video communication solutions we offer:
Corporate Video. Every company needs a corporate overview DVD. It communicates effectively who you are, your purpose in business and your competitive advantage. Give a company tour; tell your history, show the audience why you are a forward thinking company.

Training Videos. Your company can reduce effort and expense of employee orientation and training by using video to do the job. Not only does video perform the task perfectly, everytime, it's available 24/7 on your secure website.

Live Events. Attract attention and traffic to your trade show booth with a company or product promotional video playing on a big screen monitor. Corporate Meetings or seminars, we video tape the event for multiple uses later.

Advertising. We produce commercials that cut through the clutter. We work with you to create professional advertising pieces from 15 seconds to full 30 minutes infomercials. We also produce short welcoming messages or product overviews that are available for viewing on your website.

Sales Presentations. We can create video that can be integrated into PowerPoint presentations, CD's or DVD's and even placed on your website that can raise the bar and electrify the crowd.

Non Profits. We have worked with a variety of charities to produce low budget emotional appeal videos that are designed to enlist volunteers, solicit donations and challenge the viewer to get involved.

Public Relations Video. If you need to promote a campaign, convey a concept, build a brand, or media train a client we have your solution. We have produced Video News Releases and have experience training management how to speak to media.

We produce videos that support your need and we look forward to helping you with your next video project.

The Typical Production Process

Today is it possible to shoot a high quality video at nearly half the price you would pay just 10 years ago. This allows clients to get more bang for their buck! While each video production is significantly different, the following guidelines are the basic production steps in creating a successful project with The Video Editor. Call us concerning your particular project; we will set up a meeting and carefully construct a solution that fits your exact needs and expectations. Until then, take a look at the typical production steps of the video creating process.

1. Client consultation, we discuss intended audience and how to best convey the message points. You or we will begin writing the script.

2. Pre-production planning. This is one of the most important steps in the production process. The shooting schedule is planned; we discuss how the shoot day will happen and when. This pre-planning is where potential pitfalls are averted. Proper planning is were we save customers times and money.

3. Production day-we efficiently shoot all the elements of the production.

4. Post production begins. First we edit a rough cut of the production to show the client how the video is coming together. After approval is given we proceed to the final edit where we polish the project up with the addition of music, titles and other special effects if necessary.

5. We deliver you the final product in the format of your choice. DVD, CD, Web, videotapes or other formats, you name it! Typical completion cycle takes from 14-30 days.


Contact The Video Editor today to get started on your next video project.

Off the Charts!

Youtube has recently announced their addition of the Youtube Chart feature to rank and organize top videos. This feature was designed to keep viewers updated on the trending videos of the day as well as surface "interesting and timely content" from the site. The video are listed several different ways; you can choose from the top 100 viewed videos, most liked videos, or most subscribed videos of that day. This list of around 900 videos will keep you up to date on which videos you should be watching and how they stack up with the competition. Youtube is also looking for suggestions from viewers on what other categories they would like to see on their charts. The most subscribed comedy channel this week or the most liked music video today? You decide. Take a look at The Video Editor's Youtube Channel and subscribe and help us climb those rankings!



Resources:
19 August 2010. O'Dell, Jolie. http://mashable.com/2010/08/19/youtube-charts/

Video Planning

Planning for a video is the best investment of your time you can make. If you are appointed to produce a video, ask questions! Ask management, what do they want from a video? Some may want the video to accomplish a specific goal and others may want to accomplish something on a totally different side of the spectrum. Form a consensus of opinion and stick with one objective. Trying to achieve several goals from one video will end up not achieving any clear goal or message.

Next consider what is the best way visually to achieve your objective. What do you want to show, or more importantly what does your customer, client, or viewer want to see? What's in it for them? Answer that question as you design the video and you'll have an effective structure to build on.

I am a big fan of comparing other videos and competitor brochures to see how they approached presenting their video. I might find myself integrating an idea or two from several others. Remember it's all about the client and what they want, so tailor the video towards them.

Actors or Real People?

Bottom line when you are looking to create a corporate video, you are investing in a video that you want to work. The best location, camera work, lighting, and scripting can all be lost if an amateur is not believable or has some funny mannerisms that distract the audience from the message you are trying to convey. The audience will either be quietly chuckling to themselves or already thinking about something else causing you to lose the sales opportunity. Real people will work successfully in a video if they are company management or workers explaining their job or talking to other employees but a video to be watched by customers has the goal of effectively communicating and often real people cannot deliver. Remember, your customers are used to watching television and they will rate their video by that standard.

Using real people can be useful as background actors or as people that might only have one line to say but professionals can deliver a smooth and believable presentation. They deliver the message without "getting in the way". They work quicker, having already memorized their lines, or they use a teleprompter or ear prompter. If the scripts changes on location a professional will be able to adapt quickly. In short, the investment in actors pays high dividends in a believable video with a faster production time.

The Three Types of Online Videos and Their Uses:Educational Video

The last type of online video is educational video. Unlike the previous types this video doesn't have to be focused as tightly on a specific goal to be successful. These videos don't usually appear on your homepage but instead are placed beyond the landing page for those viewers looking for more information. Educational video exists to educate but can also establish trust in your company brand and a sense of leadership. When users begin to go deeper into everything your site has to offer, educational video can give the information they are searching for while differentiating you from competing businesses.

Educational video can also act as a helper to your customer service team. The visitors can use to these videos to learn everything they need to know about your product or company and will mostly likely come back to you when they are ready to purchase. Using videos as part of your online support can help answer the frequently asked questions your customers might have in a format they are comfortable with. These videos can make a difficult process easy for your viewers by showing a step by step process and at the same time can build a relationship between your site and you visitors.

Unlike the other types of videos, educational videos guidelines for duration and content are pretty lax. It is harder to measure the success of these videos because it will not be based on the number of views like a viral or conversion video. The more important metrics to pay attention to are how many chapters of the video were viewed and how many time does the average viewer watch the video.

Here is an example of an educational video posted on the help section of the Twitter's website. It shows customers how to use the new Tweet button on their websites. Check it out.




References: Sevitt, Daniel "Online Video for Business" ReelSEO. http://www.reelseo.com/types-online-video-business.

The Three Types of Online Videos and Their Uses:Conversion Video

A safer and more easily managed type of video for business owners is conversion video. Usually placed on the homepage, these videos are created to reach a specific goal business owners have. They are used to engage users so they will spend more time on the business homepage and eventually make more money for the company. A good conversion video clearly works towards driving viewers towards a specific goal such as downloading a certain file or buying a product. These videos contains a call of action that is inline with the goal so there is a clear path the user can follow.

Once an effective conversion video has been produced you must make sure there is a big enough audience to promote your video. Conversion video on your homepage should be easily visible and accessible especially if it is a integral part of the conversion strategy on your website. Often times business owners put the video on auto-play and start it automatically when users reach their website to grab their attention the first moment they can. Strategies depend on the individual but when the percentage of conversions rises after placing a video on your homepage, it can have a very positive impact on your revenue and success.

References: Sevitt, Daniel "Online Video for Business" ReelSEO. http://www.reelseo.com/types-online-video-business.

Three Types of Online Videos and Their Uses:Viral Video

The three types of online videos can be distinguished in many ones, one of them being where they are placed in relation to a company's website. Mostly videos are located on the site's homepage, within a specific page on the site, or embedded from a third party site such a YouTube, FunnyorDie and CollegeHumor.com. Strategically placing the different types of videos help a business achieve different goals.

If online video was launched with the creation of Youtube, viral video was the first "breakout star" of the medium. The definition of a viral video is "a video that become popular through the process of internet sharing, typical through websites and email". In order for a video to have a chance to become viral but must either original. unusual, unexpected, funny or mysterious. Viral videos are almost impossible to create because they must have that "buzz" that will inspire people to not only watch it but share it with their friends regardless of the content. Viral videos are usually placed on third party sites in order to generate traffic back to a company's home page. The aim for this type of video is to be embedded on many different sites to reach as many viewers as possible. The only downside to the distribution and promotion of this video is lack of control companies have over these videos. If they are put on websites that have surrounding text or ads that aren't inline with the company's image, the unsavory content could give your company logo a bad reputation even if it does increase the popularity of your video.

T-Mobile pulled off an extremely successful example of viral video with this pre-planned flash-mob at the Liverpool train station in London, England. It has received almost 15 million views on their official Youtube channel alone, have you seen it yet?





References: Sevitt, Daniel "Online Video for Business" ReelSEO. http://www.reelseo.com/types-online-video-business.

Marketing Advice from the Creators the Snuggie

Marketing with testimonials, short film, and promotional videos is no longer an option for the future but has already become a popular promotional tool. Video feedback is "marketing gold" especially when it is readily available to the online audience. Posting customer feedback via video on your website is a great way to get people’s attention while giving your company a good name. Another great way to use video feedback is in training or new employee welcoming videos. Interviewing current employees and asking them to tell how they’ve grown with the company inspires the new employees and gives training videos a personal touch.

The infamous Snuggie, the most popular late night TV product ever, has created their own video marketing strategy using video feedback submitted by others to promote their product. Allstar media has created the Snuggie Film Choice Awards and are requesting users to submit "commercial, short film, documentary or parody" videos to the Snuggie Fan Club website. The one who submits the best video will win a $5,000 cash prize as well as a trip to New York City with a possibility of being included in the newest Snuggie commercial. The company has already posted some of the less-insulting Snuggie video parodies found on Youtube on their website and they have generated quite a buzz. They also allow users to send pictures or videos of themselves or their friends in a Snuggie and post it on Allstar's Facebook and Twitter pages. Together with video and social media, Allstar Products Group are effectively selling Snuggies to all types of people around the world, no matter how ridiculous the product is.

Here is one of the Snuggie parodies from Youtube.




References: Jeffries, Adrianna. "Snuggie Hopes to Recruit Youtube Parodymakers to Make its Next Viral Ad" ReadWriteWeb. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/snuggie_hopes_to_recruit_youtube_parodymakers_to_m.php

Questions to Ask a Video Production Company

Choosing a video production company can be a difficult process. Remember you are trusting them to represent your company brand, owners, and employees when making a corporate video. Here are some questions to help you choose the best company for you.

1. Clarify what you want to accomplish with the video with your team. Are you trying to impress, educate, motivate, train, sell or market? How will this video be used? Ask them what their suggestions are and the most cost effective way they could accomplish this.

2. Establish background credentials, is the video company new? How much experience do they have? How many projects have they produced, shot, and edited? Do they have any references or samples of their previous work?

3. You should have final approval of the script before the project begins. The script is the map the entire video that follows so make sure to ask for a wording agreement that this happens.

4. You as the client should have ultimate creative control, you should approve the music, narrator and the look and feel of the video. It is after all your brand that you want to promote and protect. Ask for wording that states that.

5. Re-write and re-edit. A professional company will have allowances for client script re-writes, reviews, and re-edits of the video with your feedback.

6. Does this video production company offer their services in house or do they use outside vendors? This can affect the quality and timeliness of work. Many so called companies are nothing more than a clearing house and never do the actual work themselves. Instead they subcontract the work out to multiple sources. The disadvantage to that can be poor communication of exact needs which leads to false timetables resulting in delays for the client.

7. Does the production company offer a guarantee? One that guarantees that you get the video requested on-time, on-budget, and at the quality you expected?

8. A professional company should give you a no-cost quote with a line by line budget.

Night of Lux

The Video Editor worked with Elizabeth Wahler of Kiere Media to create this video showing highlights from "A Night of Lux". Walher hosted "A Night of Lux:A Fashionable Fight Against Cancer", a charity event benefiting The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, on May 13, 2010 in Corona Del Mar.

Center for New Medicine

Steve Kosch, owner of The Video Editor, spent several days videotaping 10-15 medical staff members from the Center for New Medicine to introduce the unique medical center to the public.

The Center for New Medicine specializes in combing modern scientific medicine with natural healing traditions. The company will use this video on the web and interviews with the doctors and medical support staff will also be available.

Tips and Tricks of Online Video

Creating successful and engaging online video is difficult. Here are some tips on what to avoid during your online video production process.

1. Keep It Short.
Promotional videos are meant to be short and sweet. “When is the last time you watched a five minute promotional thing on the Internet?” asks Tim Plum, the owner of Plum, a video production company based in Chicago, IL. “I bet the answer is never.” If the videos go too long viewers don't get hooked and will click away before your message is delivered.
2. Remember Your Production Values.
If you disregard the importance of production values, your videos end up looking unprofessional and turn the viewer off. Cheap looking videos can distract viewers from the message you are trying to convey. Make sure all aspects of the video are professional looking such as lighting, sound, camerawork, and backgrounds. No one is going to take a video seriously if it looks like it was shot in back of someone's garage with a shaky camera with a built-in microphone.
3.Hire a Professional.
If you are hiring a video production company, think twice about going with the cheapest choice. You might save a couple dollars but your video could end up suffering. These companies often have poor taste in font choices, colors, narration, or music and the finished product will reflect this. "You want your video to look fresh and cool" Plum says, "not hacky and slightly wrong."
4.Stay on Topic.
Keep in mind what you want your viewers to feel and think after they watch it the video. Do you want them to take action or remember anything in particular? "Clients tend to want to sneak in a lot of other messages", says Plum. Don't overload them with too much information. Keep to information that supports the goals of the video instead expanding on every little detail about your company. Make it simple and don't go off topic.
5.Viral Isn't Always Right.
Often time companies try to go viral but don't realize it is extremely difficult pull off successfully. "It’s easy to make a bad viral video" says Plum. Feel free to try something crazy and different but make sure your goals are clear. Although viral videos are "cool and hip and mind-blowing", you can still be a hit without being "the next viral video".


Resources:
Dreier, Trou. “Five Online Videos Don'ts.". 20 July 2010. OnlineVideo.net. http://www.onlinevideo.net/2010/07/five-online-video-donts.

Get your message out to the world...

Did you know that over 1 billion users from around the globe surf the internet every month? That is equivalent to over two hundred fifty million users a week! Video on the web creates an image, drives traffic, boosts conversions, and adds the personal touch to your business!

Grab the users attention with engaging web videos with help from the experts at The Video Editor. Web videos can help businesses successfully sell, market, communicate and brand their company and are accessible to customers all over the world.

YouTube!

According to a recent survey YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. The Video Editor produces corporate, training, trade show, recruitment, marketing, sales, TV and promotional videos for businesses all over the country that can easily be uploaded on to YouTube and shared all over the world. See a sample of our work below and make sure to check out The Video Editor's YouTube Channel to see more samples of our corporate videos!

Tips to Producing Corporate Videos

When planning for a corporate video there are a number of questions to ask yourself before you start the script writing.

1) Who is the intended audience? What do they look like, male, female, age, education etc. How will they receive a video? Perhaps a brochure or a one on one is a better training tool. If you are still convinced that a video is the best way to proceed then ask yourself the next question.
2) What does your audience need to know? People will always ask the question what’s in it for me? So if your audience senses that watching a video and learning from it are important to their job, career, or livelihood; they are vested and will listen and watch intensively. Remember, it is not what you want to say or show in the video but it is really all about the viewer.
3) What format for the video is best for my audience? The format can be constructed in many ways. Interview style, news format, a tour, an overview of reinforcing bullet points and recaps. What is popular these days on the internet is realistic, almost clandestine amateur looking video. Most advertising gurus know this and have actually produced some highly effective amateur looking video; made to look natural like some regular guy shot it, but of course the power of Madison Ave. is behind them.

Once you have answered the above questions and understand the planning phase of a corporate video, the next step involves the scripting phase

4) Now you can move to the scripting phase. I always suggest to my customers to jot down concepts on a blank sheet of paper [Here is an idea for educating bank tellers how to count money: take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of it on the right side is where the script or the ideas are written down; on the opposite side is where you would write down what you want to show when those words are being said: a video shot showing teller in front of client counting money.] It is best to quickly write down your ideas, the actual words of the script can come later. Try to get others to contribute ideas and concepts that should be covered in the video.
5) Prioritize those thoughts. simply number in order, then begin the scripting phase. You can do this yourself or you can hire a professional who does this all the time. The difference in the script will be amazing, and could be the difference if the video is effective or not. An option our company suggests is that the client writes the script and then let our wordsmiths clean it up and add the polish needed.
6) Remember every script (video) must have an objective. What do you want to accomplish? In our bank example we want to train tellers the proper way to count money. How will we be able to tell if the video is effective?

Follow these guidelines and you will have the bases of a great video.


Steve Kosch, President The Video Editor, Inc. Newport Beach