News and views from Video Artisan - video production services on Essex / London border

April 3, 2014December 15, 2020

Filming a Video CV

Would a Video CV be right for you?

This week I’ve been at the marvellous Ashridge Business School (www.ashridge.org.uk) in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire shooting a Video CV with my colleague, and often fellow-shooter, Dilip Patel from double-barrelled.tv

The Video CV (or Visumé, or VCV or Video Resumes) is nothing new. When video cameras became commonplace there were some recruitment specialists who thought that they were going to replace the written curriculum vitae altogether. That obviously didn’t happen – for a number of very good reasons. Firstly, they are not suitable for every job position – and not all potential employers would find them useful. Employers cannot quickly scan through a Video CV – and they can also, “allegedly”, leave the employer open to allegations of discrimination. There’s also the fact that some candidates would be completely terrified at the thought of having to project themselves positively on screen.

In addition, a Video CV will also add to the costs and time involved in gaining an interview – and it will always need to be accompanied by a written curriculum vitae as the inclusion of full educational and employment histories would make for a very dull video – especially when the candidate has extensive experience.

However, there are situations and job prospects where a Video CV is absolutely perfect and could help to set you above other candidates. This is especially true when the position entails face-to-face communication and the employer is looking for someone with exceptional presentation skills. In these situations a Video CV can be exceptionally good at revealing your enthusiasm, how you engage with an audience, your knowledge, confidence and your personality. Whilst you can say all these things in a written curriculum vitae, in a Video CV you can make them a whole lot more believable.

Shooting a Video CV might be perfect - for you! — Shooting a Video CV might be perfect – for you!

A personalised Video CV

I’m sure you will understand why I’ve not including details of the person we were shooting the Video CV for. At the time of writing this piece the video had not been released by the client – and there’s a reasonably good chance that it will not be publicly released at all. Confidentially issues are obviously high on the agenda in these situations so it is always something that has to be talked through with the candidate and faithfully observed.

Suffice to say that this person was pitching for an executive-level appointment within an industry which values and rewards exceptional communication skills and creative thinking. Our candidate was blessed with both, and the interview-style Video CV enabled them to communicate this and give any potential employer an understanding of their expertise, industry connections and successes. These things can obviously be set out within a written curriculum vitae, but on video you can deliver them with personality and passion.

Whilst a Video CV can be shot pretty much anywhere, Ashridge Business School was chosen because it has an excellent reputation in educating business leaders. As our candidate was a previous degree student at Ashridge the venue also added some relevance to the piece and was referenced to within the interview. This gave us the opportunity to shoot some b-roll shots around the grounds to help carry the interview along – and at the same time gave the piece additional credibility.

Not every Video CV has to be produced this way but it was perfect for this candidate and the positions they are seeking. There is not a “one size fits all” solution to producing a Video CV so each commission needs to be considered carefully and creatively to produce something that’s right for the candidate and the employment they seek. No two Video CVs should ever be the same.

The shoot

I was working freelance for Dilip on this occasion. We often work for each other and have a great working relationship where we both concentrate totally on creating the best possible content for our clients – whoever they “belong” to.

On this occasion we were shooting on two Canon 5D Mkii’s, one as a “safe” shot and the other shooting “dirty” (wide of set including lighting rig and camera one, shot of camera monitor screen, pull focussing etc.). We also had a Canon 550D on a slider placed on the table in front of our candidate and we took turns in giving that a whiz during various takes.

Lighting was great in the room we were in with its floor to ceiling windows, but we added the sparkle on the candidate’s eyes by using my Lishuai LED lighting panels. Dilip handed all the audio side which was via cabled tie-clip mic and an additional stand-mounted directional mic fed back to his mixer and Tascam recorder. The audio would be synced up in post, which was again in Dilip’s hands.

How much would a Video CV cost to produce?

There are some situations where a home produced Video CV would be perfectly adequate and some where it certainly wouldn’t. In these situations you need to use a professional who is going to be able to create something credible for you. Apart from any pre-production planning and script development, for a relatively simple Video CV format the filming itself shouldn’t take any more than half a day to complete and, as long as there’s a clearly defined brief, no more than a day to edit. You can work out ballpark figures using my freelance rate card here.

The budget is however always wholly governed by the creative brief. A more complex idea might involve many more days filming, at various locations, with additional crew and kit requirements. This is normally quickly established in a confidential briefing with the delegate during which ideas, budgets and objectives can be discussed and agreed.

If your next appointment really matters, a Video CV might be just the thing to get you noticed. If you think this might be right for you, then please do get in touch.

March 28, 2014July 25, 2024

Producing a Video Selfie for your business

I’ve finally managed to do a video selfie for Video Artisan this week. Okay, it’s really an ‘Elevator Pitch’ as titled, but I thought I should get a link in whilst there’s still all this talk about ‘Selfies’ going around.

It all started with an invite to a breakfast BNI meeting where I was asked to give a 45-second presentation of my business. We tend to speak around three words per second so the presentation was only to run to 135 words at the most. Simple enough one would think – but presentation was to nearly 60 potential clients so I wanted it to be all the C’s which they say a great elevator pitch should be…

1 – Concise
2 – Clear
3 – Compelling
4 – Credible
5 – Conceptual
6 – Concrete
7 – Customized
8 – Consistent
9 – Conversational

Video Selfie aide-memoire

Having written out and timed my presentation I then set about getting it into my head – and for me that’s often a challenge. One of the most successful ways for me to remember things like this is to record it and play in back again and again so I thought why not go one stage further and film myself giving the presentation using my mobile phone – and then edit the best takes into a complete presentation. The editing process alone would also be helpful in learning the words and seeing me on screen should help with perfecting my delivery.

I did that, and whilst it helped me get the presentation in my head it also inspired me to do something a little more polished. The version above that’s been released this week is actually version three. Version two was an attempt at shooting it greenscreen but I didn’t like the look and feel of that; it was far too clinical. It did prove to me though that I do have just enough room in the edit suite to set up a greenscreen set – albeit that I can’t flap my arms about too much!

The BNI presentation went well by the way. You never know exactly where this kind of thing leads to as video production is not the kind of service which people rush to you for the moment they know you provide it. Let’s just say that the seed was sown and there are now at least 60 more businesses who know that I’m here and what I provide.

Of course you never get invited as a guest to a BNI meeting without them trying to sign you up as a member. I was tempted, and I can see how the BNI model could work for a business – but the commitment in time made it impossible for me to sign up. Things might change in the future who knows?

How much would a Video Selfie cost?

Assuming you’ve written your presentation and rehearsed it, shooting something like this would take a couple of hours – and probably twice that to edit and master. If you are local to Loughton that would be within our day rate (see rate card here) – but like any other work we carry out it’s always best to have a chat with us first so we can go through the options. It might be that you’ll want a little more than a Video Selfie after all.

March 7, 2014February 27, 2024

Filming exhibition stand interviews at #BVE14

I’ve been super-mad-busy in the past week following my adventures filming exhibition stand interviews at BVE at Excel in London on 25th Feb. This morning I finished editing the last of 11 short films that have now been uploaded to YouTube and Vimeo – and the viewing figures have started to go ballistic!

Whilst it’s not unusual for a video production company to be involved in filming exhibition stand interviews, this particular project was self-generated, self-presented and funded through me selling the service to my old industry contacts who were exhibiting at the event. Essentially, they pay me a modest fee (cough) and I shoot a quick interview with them at the event and then share the film through my various online channels and connections.

My Interview Theme – BVE for the Videographer

BVE is predominantly a broadcast event but it also encapsulates an element of professional videography. Whilst there’s a lot of video content already created by the guys at TVBay who are there every year filming exhibition stand interviews the emphasis of these is really on the broadcast audience. My idea was to create content squarely aimed at the professional videographer.

JVC interview — Interviewing BVE exhibitor who had something for the videographer

This is one of the very few occasions where I’ve tapped into and profited from my past life as the IOV’s (Institute of Videography) Executive Administrator. Having spent 17-years in that role I’d obviously built up a long list of contacts amongst the manufacturers and dealers – so why not? I’ve also maintained a reasonably high profile in this part of the industry too through writing articles and reviews for various publications – as well as gathering a reasonable following for this blog and my social media channels.

The IOV’s executive committee also agreed to help me by sharing the content through their IOV News Stream channel on their website – which in turn gave them some video content to share via their IOVTV channel too. I’d like to think therefore that everyone was a winner!

The IOV also got an additional bonus as the guys at TVBay asked me to gather a panel of videographers together on the second day of BVE for a live chat show presentation from their Broadcast Show studio on the exhibition floor. Within that session, amongst other interesting stuff, my panel members shared their views on the value of being a member of the IOV. The program is 30-minutes long, but it’s time well spent if you are interested in hearing how other people do things in videography. Please note, you’ll have to turn the volume up to hear it properly (unless they’ve corrected it now!!!)

The challenges of filming exhibition stand interviews

Filming exhibition stand interviews is never easy as you don’t have time nor space for niceties such as lighting or crowd control. The H&S guys are pretty strict on that sort of thing at exhibitions. The interviewees, whilst obviously interested in me ending up with something that works for them, are really there to deal with the many customers that have come to see their new wares. Whilst booking a timeslot helps you to manage your time, in the real-world environment of a show these times can slip as events take over and you have to grab your opportunities as they arise. I say this as not all the interviews are as technically perfect as I’d like but, given the conditions and time allowed, the content should soon outweigh any shortcomings in picture quality and composition. I might be underselling them a little here but please don’t expect to see anything near to the usual end results of our other corporate work.

If you missed the individual releases of the interviews, here’s a list along with a brief intro of the contents. They can also be seen on my Vimeo and YouTube channels and are presently featured on IOVTV.

AKM Music – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Anthony McTiffen from AKM Music about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 – and gives an insight into their range of copyright free and royalty free music aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

DVC (David Vincent Clarke) – WATCH NOW!
An interview with David Clarke from DVC about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of purpose-built nonlinear editing systems aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

Genelec – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Andy Bensley from Source Distribution about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 and the introduction of the Genelec 8010 studio audio monitor. This short film gives an insight into the main features and benefits of this compact and cost-effective studio monitor which is designed specifically for smaller and mobile edit suite environments.

Holdan – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Richard Payne from Holdan about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into the vast range of products from Holdan, including new camcorders from Panasonic and Blackmagic Design – as well as accessories and production tools aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

JVC Professional – WATCH NOW!
An interview with John Kelly from JVC Professional about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 and the launch of their new 800 series camcorders covering their many features and specifications. John also gives an outline of the range of camcorders JVC have that are aimed at the professional video producer and videographer.

Portaprompt – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Jim Keating from Portaprompt about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of tele-prompting and presenter cueing systems aimed specifically at the professional video producer and videographer.

Production Gear – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Simon Beer from Production Gear about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of new products that were shown at BVE – concentrating on the DJI Phantom UAV, its accessories and the regulations facing UAV use in the UK.

RØDE – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Alex Theakston from Source Distribution about their attendance at BVE in February 2014 and the introduction of the RØDE VideoMic Go. This short film gives an insight into the main features and benefits of this compact and cost-effective microphone designed specifically for DSLR shooters.

Sachtler – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Nino Leitner of Nino Film e.U based in Austria who is a Brand Ambassador for Sachtler. Nino talks about his relationship with Sachtler and reveals what features and qualities he looks for in a tripod.

Sony – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Álvaro Ortiz from Sony about their range of camcorders, monitors and audio products aimed specifically at the professional videographer.

Thear Technology – WATCH NOW!
An interview with Rod Thear of Thear Technology about their attendance at BVE in February 2014. This short film gives an insight into their range of servicing and repair services offered by Thear Technology and explains their ethos and values in providing for the professional video producer and videographer.

February 7, 2014July 25, 2024

Filming a Team Building Event

2014 kicked off with us filming a team building event hosted by CAT Publications – namely the ‘M&IT Agency Challenge’ held at the Landmark Hotel in Central London. As publishers of Meetings & Incentives Travel Magazine, these events bring together buyers and sellers from within the corporate travel industry for a fun-packed day of activities and presentations.

This is the second time we’ve been engaged to film one of these tremendously successful events (see here). Through better engagement buyers get a clearer understanding of the range of services and destinations available to them – whilst suppliers are provided with the opportunity to build better relationships with new and existing clients. Going by the feedback from all attendees and the general atmosphere I think CAT Publications have got the mix of learning and fun in the right proportions – and it was great to be part of it.

More than just filming a team building event

Filming a team building event presents its own challenges, but in addition at these events we also supply video camera kits for the teams of delegates to use in one of the many challenges which they have to complete during the day. The video challenge this time was to create a 30-second commercial based on any one of the supplier presentations given on the day. If that wasn’t challenging enough, they only had 30-minutes in which to plan, script and shoot it!

Thankfully for them they didn’t have to edit it too. That was left to me and meant that I had to complete the edit on all six team videos only an hour or so after the last team finished filming so they could be judged and then screened later on in the evening during a gala dinner.

Whilst I was tucked away in a separate break-out room for much of the day either editing or briefing teams on how to use the cameras, my wingman for the day, Dilip Patel, was doing the ‘filming a team building event’ bit. This was far from filming entire coverage of each and every presentation and team challenge but rather gathering enough b-roll material so that I could cut together a 3-minute short documentary of the day.

The narrative was achieved by filming an opening and closing piece with Martin Lewis, the Managing Editor of CAT Publications. Luckily Martin is a natural in front of camera and he also acted as interviewer at the end of the day to capture some of the feedback from delegates which helped us tell the whole story.

Video Challenges

The video challenges were staggered throughout the day, with either one or two teams doing this challenge at any one time. This started off with me giving them a very brief introduction to the cameras they’d be using. Once again we’d relied on Hireacamera to supply Canon XF105 cameras which were configured in full-auto mode to free up the teams from having to learn how to control focus, exposure and sound levels. Once they’d started creating their films I would then follow the teams to make sure they didn’t have any technical issues and, at the same time, capture of few shots of them creating their films to add to my b-roll. Thankfully these cameras are extremely easy to use in full-auto mode and didn’t present any problems for the teams who were working to an extremely tight deadline.

I’d installed my backup desktop Edius edit suite in my breakout room and, thankfully, none of the teams presented me with too much of an editing challenge – although not one of them managed to stick to the 30-second duration. This was one of the criteria the films were being judged on so no one managed to get an advantage in this respect.

Once the judging was completed I had to then get the files out in a format that the staging company could play out later that evening. There were one or two challenges with this but we got there in the end. The result was it created a fun opening to the gala dinner that evening where each team got to see their own film, and the other team’s, for the first time.

Kit used for the event documentary

Canon 5D DSLRs are great for filming a team building event but even they struggled under a range of challenging lighting conditions. In the main presentation area the staging company were using those wonderful blue LED lights to create a wash of light around the room – and this was coupled with natural daylight from windows and mix of tungsten and fluorescent house lights. No matter how hard you try it’s impossible to get a really accurate white balance under those conditions. During the evening events we had to work pretty much under candlelight alone. Other than that it was perfect!!!

Filming a Team Building Event lighting — Working with available light

Happy clients

Will we be filming a team building event for CAT Publications again? You bet! Plans are already underway for another one in the not too distant future. Like anything in life the more you do something the better you get at it. Whilst we managed to tick all the boxes for CAT Publications again this time we’ve got some ideas on how the video challenges can be improved further.

If you are thinking of running a team building event or corporate away day in the future and are looking for a fun and productive way in which to engage your delegates – and at the same time capture the event on film for future promotions – then please give us a call.

January 22, 2014July 25, 2024

Winning the IOV’s Video of the Month – again!

VOTM Nipper Clipper — Guess who has won Video of the Month again?

This is the first time I’ve had a chance to share the news about winning the IOV’s ‘Video of the Month’ competition for December 2013. This competition is run every month by the Institute of Videography and is open to its members who can submit any film, on any subject, from which the IOV’s Executive Committee select one as the winner.

Our winning entry for Video of the Month in December was a video diary produced for Stylfile on their amazing Nipper Clipper product which was having its first ever public exhibition at the Baby Show 2013 – Olympia. See previous blog here. The video diary is presented by 2011 BBC Apprentice winner, Tom Pellereau – inventor of the Nipper Clipper (and other amazing nail care products) and business partner of Lord Sugar.

I’m especially pleased to win Video of the Month with a film created for Stylfile as they are firm believers in the value of commissioning a video and fully understand the important role it plays in search engine optimisation. This video diary is featured on Stylfile’s YouTube channel (alongside other video films created for them by Video Artisan) which is central to their video marketing efforts.

Video of the Month x 3

This is the third time that Video Artisan has won VOTM since it was launched in 2013. The two other winning entries are ‘Eiger Safety – Musical Short‘ and ‘Same-Sex Dance Festival‘.

This reminded me that I needed to produce a new credit sequence for Video Artisan – which proved to be a really good test for Vistitle which I’m in the middle of reviewing (to be published here soon!). Nothing too overstated – but nice to be able to shout about winning an award or two (or five if you include 2nd place in the 2012 Best Doc category of the IOV Awards!)

Category: Video Artisan

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