What Should I Budget for Making a Professional Video? A Smarter Way to talk Money with your Video Production Company by Michael Kolowich One of the most challenging questions we at DigiNovations have to answer — just about every day — is “What will my video project cost?” It’s challenging because the correct answer is almost always: “It depends.” That sounds like a cop-out, but it’s also honest. Anyone who can quote off the top of their head what a five-minute video about X will cost is either being naive or deceptive. An Alternative Approach to the Budget Conversation But what if there were a ..read more

Behind the Scenes: How a Live Video Streaming Event is Created by Ted Canova “Ready camera 2.” It’s Tuesday morning at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston and we’re closing in on a worldwide presentation. “We’re rolling.” The crew at DigiNovations is minutes away from live streaming the IFS World Conference with some of the biggest tech firms looking on.  “30 seconds to open.” On a square riser sits a television news set, a lighting truss and three cameras. Two on-camera hosts welcome a guest who’s a mover-and-shaker in the tech world. In the background, the convention floor where comp ..read more

Using Drones for Aerial Videography: A Do’s and Don’ts Cheat Sheet by James Donald Drones are a hot item in video production. Drones provide a cost-effective, efficient way to get aerial shots while on the go. They are portable, powerful, and, most importantly, priced so that anyone can get their hands on one. Drones are piloted using a smartphone, tablet, or an RC transmitter.Drone cameras have a large range of resolution, spanning from <480P to 4K. Recordings are done both locally (on drone-mounted MicroSD cards) and via transmission (to your phone or tablet). When deciding to ..read more

For Marketers: The Ultimate Video Production Cheat-Sheet by Catie Foertsch Here in Boston, video production runs the gamut from quick one-camera shoots to high-end projects with multiple cameras, multiple shoot days, and very complex edits. But regardless of how big or small a video project is, we find that our projects go more smoothly, and our clients are happier with the outcome, when there’s a basic understanding of the video production process. Making mistakes is no fun, especially when those mistakes blow your budget or result in underperforming videos. But if you’re new to video product ..read more

Why Do Marketers Screw Up Facebook Videos? 6 Mistakes and How to Fix Them by Catie Foertsch We all know that video gives us the best opportunity to engage with our customer base. And we also know that with its 1 billion active daily users, Facebook more than any other social media network is where our customers live. So why is it that lots of Facebook video content is a big, flat, un-engaging, un-compelling Meh? Why do we find it so easy to scroll right by so many videos? If marketers go through all the trouble and expense of creating video specifically for Facebook, why don’t they get it righ ..read more

10 NEW Best Practices for How-To Training Videos by Catie Foertsch It’s a good bet that your company needs how-to training videos, to help your customers understand how to use your products, and how to trouble-shoot them. While you might be tempted to make your videos the way you’ve always made them, you should know that best practices have changed. To make more effective how-to training videos, you need to understand these new best practices. It used to be that making how-to videos meant getting a product expert, filming them talking through the whole process of assembly, operation and troubl ..read more

The 25 Biggest Video Production Mistakes Marketers Make by Catie Foertsch As a Boston video production company, we work with a wide variety of marketers on all sizes and kinds of projects – from small budget one-offs to yearly retainer contracts. Over thousands of videos, we’ve seen marketers make lots of mistakes that impact cost, timeline, and quality. Here are our top 25 video production mistakes, so you can avoid making them. It’s a long list, so rather than provide an endless list, we’ve broken these mistakes down according to video production phase. Planning Planning is everything that h ..read more

What is a Video Producer and Do You Need One?  What Marketers Need to Know by Catie Foertsch If you’ve got a video project and you’ve asked for proposals, chances are you’re seeing the words video producer. Here’s the information you need to understand what a video producer does, and whether you need one for your video project. What is a video producer? A video producer is the person in charge of making sure the video that gets produced is the video you want and need. They are responsible for every aspect of production, from concept through delivery. What does a video producer do? A ..read more

by Catie Foertsch Like all industries, video has its own set of technical terms. If you’re going to work successfully with a video production company, you’ll need to understand what they’re talking about – so you can avoid misunderstandings and bring your video project to completion, on time and on budget. Here are the top 13 video production terms you need to know:  1. Pre-production Pre-production literally means “before production.” Pre-production is everything that has to happen before your video shoot. This is the most important part of your production – and it’s where you ..read more

What You Need to Know for Successful Multi-Camera Live Video Streaming by Catie Foertsch If you have an upcoming event and you want live video streaming, you’re thinking about the end product: you want your event up on the web, and you want people to see it. But before that can happen, there are an awful lot of moving parts that have to come together. And there’s a lot that can go wrong. Here’s what you need to know to make sure your event is successfully live streamed. What is Multi-Camera Live Video Streaming? Today, anyone with a cell phone can live stream an event. But while cell ..read more