Why film, video and media is PERFECT for business, events and more! New infographics from APVideo on telling stories for you!

Now, more and more audiences are accessing content on mobile devices, all the time.

What is the best method of reaching them, promoting your products/talents/business/events, building a personality and telling a story? It's film, video and media of course!

I've researched the latest statistics from Cisco and other sources, combined with my own experience for these new infographics. The results are fantastic as it shows:

'Using film, video and rich media is proven for a high return on investment (ROI)'

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Why film, video and rich media is perfect for business, organizations, online, offline, live marketing, branding, promotion, communication and advertising. Tell your story with APVideo.

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The stats speak for themselves. Video is now a powerful communication tool for connecting and reaching audiences on a global, 24/7 platform. Tell your story with APVideo.

If you would like more info about how film and rich media can benefit your business, products, events then just get in touch!

Proud to share some client testimonials!

Thank you all for the feedback!

I've finally had a chance to whip up some of the testimonials I've received from past clients, it's always great to read what an impact your work has made!

APV wows Screen Subtitling Systems with promo animation

APV has completed the first phase of the new 'Screen Subtitling Systems' branding campaign, designing and producing an animation about the company.

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I began the pre-production of the Screen animations at the beginning of the year, developing a house style and recognized visual aesthetic that can be followed for future productions, this became the identity and format of the animations. Getting pencil on paper is my favourite way of developing ideas, especially for a graphics-based production. It allows you to clearly visualize ideas, inspiration and lay out the beginning, middle and end of the story.

The assets were all created in Illustrator or After Effects (using the Shape Layer tools), in 4K. I chose to offer this resolution because it would allow the Screen Systems marketing team to re-purpose the animation for print and digital media as well as future proofing for years to come.

After the assets and basic storyline was set, I blocked out the animation with voice over ideas to determine the duration and visual content - motion infographics must be entertaining and eye-catching, but must also convey the branding and professionalism of the client. An animation that is too long will bore viewers, so I capped the duration at 1:45.

I kept the marketing team up to date with progress and idea updates as well as a number of drafts through Vimeo, and after a number of months of production the animation was completed just before the NAB deadline. Screen are over the moon with the results, and so am I!

Screen will be displaying the animation on their stand at NAB Show 2015, in its native 4K resolution! Check out the animation here, and read the feedback/testimonial below.

Dean Wales (PR and Marketing, Screen Subtitling Systems) gives his fantastic feedback -

"Fresh, keen, knowledgeable, assertive, great to work with and incredibly talented. They're attributes you don't find together too often these days in one person but Adam has them all. Having met Adam at IBC when he filmed a colleague of mine, we knew he'd be the guy to produce our corporate, animated video. He grasped the brief instantly and completely understood our company, its values, our brand and indeed the industry within which we operate. And as for the video? Well the results are amazing. So much so we've commissioned him to produce individual product presentation animations for us. Thanks Adam."

Colour grading to achieve a 'gritty' yet cinematic look.

As you know I filmed some great material for a Canon/Manfrotto/Elinchrom promo video, which is going to be shown at The Societies SWPP conference next week. Todays challenge was to grade one of the videos; here are a couple of screenshots to show you what I was working with. The first is my first grade, which I then changed shown in the second.

The colour balance was not good in the gym that we were shooting in, so try and overcome the warm/green hue I applied a blue tint to the image, as well as adding negative bleach bypass to give it that film process look. I then adjusted the grade, removing the blue tint as throughout the clips it did not look good all the way through. I then added a knock of contrast to enhance the colour and depth of the image.

The video will be available to watch possibly next week or the week after!

Interview with John Sinclair and new Manfrotto gear!

Hello, yesterday was an awfully hectic day.. Just as I was due to leave for London to film and conduct an interview with John Sinclair, there was a massive knock on the door.. A delivery man with two big Manfrotto boxes, Christmas came early!! For the new year, and as I now have the financial backing to launch Adam Plowden Videography I needed to step up the grip gear I use, especially as I am a single shooter keeping light is key.

Kit list - Magnesium Q5 ball head, Hydro-static magic arm + clamp, 775CX3 legs, 500AH head - pictures soon!

After much research into the many models of fluid video heads, tripods, ball heads and more, the list came together and off it was sent. I had been wondering to myself when the bits would arrive, as I was due to be going down to Devon this weekend to film with Bjorn Thomassen for product promotion and films for a conference, so the timing was perfect.

I quickly unboxed the gear and checked it out, to quickly pack it away again into my kit bag and leave for London! Having a carbon fiber tripod makes so much difference to the carrying weight, and it almost feels nicer to use.. Probably because it is so new haha!

Filming the interview with John was fantastic. If you don't know who John Sinclair is (like I did a couple of months ago) then wikipedia gives a basic overview, but listening and talking to John during the interview opened up a whole new person than what was written.

Here's a still from the interview, that I will be editing over Christmas for a short documentary for Iron Man Records. Cheers Caleb for the use of your massive flat!

Anyways, I am now finishing off the John Sinclair Viper Madness gig video, and it should be up and viewable by the end of the weekend, so if you missed the show and want to check out John and his Vipers LIVE, then keep checking for the link!

GLF Promo Video is complete!

https://vimeo.com/79003484 CHECK IT OUT NOW, THEN SHARE!!

What is GAMMA? Colour Correction Advice!

When out capturing footage, how many of you use the 'Standard' picture style in your camera? Do you shoot 'Neutral', 'Cinestyle' or ever RAW? It is always interesting to find out, as the workflow and manipulation of the footage is different depending on your input video signal.. Did you burn in your brightness and contrast, or did you give enough dynamic range to push and pull your shadows and highlights when colour correcting and grading in post production? As I capture my footage on a Canon 60D, it records in compressed .MOV format, which is not great due to the compressed signal. However, by making your image 'flatter' or what looks like hazy and grey, you are able to add or remove detail that may have been baked in during acquisition.

A little case study for you, take my footage that I am working on currently. Here is a screenshot of a clip before I took it into Premiere Pro -

I then colour corrected or 'graded' the clip using a couple of the video effects built into Premiere Pro, namely the 'Luma Corrector' and 'Three Way Colour Corrector' to perform the basic exposure and colour balance corrections.

Where using the 'Luma Corrector' has its advantages over using the 'Brightness & Contrast' or 'RGB Curves' effects is that the 'Luma Corrector' allows you to adjust the Gamma level of the image. Gamma being a extra luma curve that is added to the image after the sensor captures the data which allows the image to be constantly correctly exposed when played back on old school CRT displays. Now, these displays are not so common these days, but it is still a standard practice to apply a gamma curve to the processed video signal.

The advantage of increasing or reducing the gamma using the 'Luma Corrector' is that it removes the 'flattened' or neutral look to the image, while still retaining a constant contrast, resulting in a sharp and nicely graded shot. Here is another shot of the Luma Corrector and Three Way Colour Corrector being used on the same clip as above -

I hope this example demonstrates the advantage of capturing your footage a neutral setting to get the most out of your final product!

Always thank those who've helped you!

Good rule of thumb!

The 2nd edit of GLF video is on its way!

Apologies for the recent silence on here, I have been busy in the edit suite working on the GLF video, and I got a few extra shots yesterday to finish it off. It is looking extremely good, and I am happy how it is coming on. As I'm using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, I have the very useful Mercury playback engine so working with HD video clips and graphics is not a problem until I get into the grade, which is to come later.

Here's a quick snap of where things are at, and I'll be working on the sound mix and grade later on today and tomorrow!

Continuing the GLF Video Edit

I've been working on the GLF edit again today around Sams, I miss Glen in times like this :( I worked on a map graphic to display the various GLF schools, creating a pin-type graphic -

I also got the backing music for the video, so I'm now working on the first constructive edit (after all the faffing with footage I don't need!)

Been waiting for it to render in Premiere for the last 10 minutes, here is a quick shot!

More will be uploaded soon, but I'm making great progress!

DO YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES?!! HELP ADAM!

Got 5 minutes?!! Please help me choose two songs from this list to use as the backing soundtrack to the GLF promotional conference video!! TRACK 1 - I Know You Wanna

TRACK 2 - How's It Going?

TRACK 3 - Teenage Love Dies

TRACK 4 - Monkey Dust

[contact-form][contact-field label='First Choice' type='name' required='1'/][contact-field label='Second Choice' type='name' required='1'/][/contact-form]

GLF Promo Video Title is now complete!

I've been working on the title sequence for the GLF video; started in Photoshop to create the graphics (using the original GLF logo created by CleverBox as a template). I then imported the elements into After Effects to animate them, as well as adding background footage of the schools and students! Its uploading to Vimeo now so here is a screenshot from a draft render :)

Thank you very much Sam for sending over the fonts!

I'll post a link up to the video very soon, or just keep updated on my Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or even my Website!

Still editing! Motion GFX actually..

I'm working on the title sequence to the GLF conference promotional video, incorporating their new logo and house style as well as colour graded cine-footage to show the schools and students!

Editing!

Todays job, first edit of the GLF video!

What's all this talk about work?!

Yep, lots of work talk today as I had a meeting at Glyn Technology School about producing a promotional video for the GLF schools conference! I didn't go to Glyn to study many years ago, but I heard about their Media department from Glen.. So I wrote up a proposal offering workshops for media students interested in getting into the video and broadcasting industry!

That however is a side note to today's events! I'm just about to send off the project breakdown for the video, I've racked my brains and done a load of research into the primary and junior schools that are part of The Glyn Learning Foundation in the surrounding area, to include in the video. Fingers crossed it gets the go ahead as it will keep me busy for the next month!

The school is taking advantage of the awesome 10% discount I'm offering on all productions until the 15th of November so if you want to save then get in touch!