Welcome to Video Artisan

Videographer – Corporate Video Producer – Cinematographer… Whatever our clients want us to be.

Video Production by Video Artisan

Corporate Video and Promotional Video Production services

Based on the edge of Epping Forest in Loughton, Essex – Video Artisan is a creative corporate video production and team of freelance videographers with extensive experience in helping companies and organisations of all sizes take advantage of video.

Whether you are looking to harness the power of YouTube or website video to improve your search engine optimisation, or you want to develop a series of public information films – or create a one-off company film, Video Artisan has the skills, resources and creative talents to deliver an imaginative and cost-effective solution for your next company video.

We also offer a range of video facilities and services to businesses and members of the public.  This includes video conversions, editing and freelance video production services. Full members of the Guild of Television Camera Professionals.

We have also recently installed a new talking-head green screen studio. With in-built lighting, sound recording and autocue facilities we can quickly create stunning video content for your website.

Client & Production Credit List include
Air Products, Cimar, CAT Publications, NHS West Essex, NHS Newham, TATA Communications, Anibas, Robertson & Co., JVC Professional, NHS Balaam Street Surgery, Princess Alexandra Hospital, AKM Music, Crown Media, The MOD, Galliard Homes, Stylfile, Qualcomm, Hyper Recruitment Solutions, CAT Media, Supadance International, Beverley Stone, Spamhaus, Beaver84, GoRefCo, Eiger Safety, Sony Broadcast & Professional, N2 Visual Communications, Robert Dyas, Hanover Foundation, Picco Dolly, Hills Pet Foods, Maspalomas Princes Hotel, Marley, LaRoche, Olympus HiSpeed Tests, Distillers MG, Protean, Bradley Walsh, Wingit TV, Red Admiral, Boreham Media, Larry the London Bus, Double-Barrelled TV, Fernaux Avionics, Tolmink, Waltham Forest Social Services, SelClene, Europa Logistics, Ultimate Animates

A guide to Filming Masterclasses

Filming Masterclasses for M&IT…
Over the next couple of months we’re filming masterclasses for CAT Publications at The Mermaid on the banks of the Thames at London Blackfriars. These M&IT (Meetings & Incentive Travel) Masterclasses cover various subjects aimed at the event industry as part of their continual professional development – and our video production services are now helping to bring them to a much wider audience.

Filming Masterclass - a guide

Filming masterclasses… what’s the point?

Due to their popularity and high level of interaction, spaces on the M&IT Masterclasses are limited to ensure that each delegate comes away better informed and more capable in their role. Filming masterclasses not only provides CAT Publications with a permanent record of these events but, more importantly, also enables them to distribute the segmented films throughout the year on a pay-per-view basis for those unable to attend in person.

Of the many other benefits to filming masterclasses, the two which are most highly valued by Video Artisan’s clients are video’s consistency and ease of use. Once recorded and edited, a video will deliver exactly the same content, and impart the same knowledge, every time it is watched – regardless of the performance of the trainers. This leaves little room for misinterpretation and ensures viewers are only receiving correct and valuable information.

The wide acceptance of video as a communication medium, and the variety of platforms on which it can be delivered, also make it ideal for any business or organisation to incorporate video into their training material output. This includes CAT Publication’s pay-per-view model – but is equally suitable for delivery over private intranets, open platforms such as YouTube (paid or free) or by direct release on physical media such as DVD or USB drives.

Filming Masterclasses – DIY or Hire-in?

Creating a video recording of your training event can be very straightforward and virtually cost-free if you choose to go down the DIY route. However, producing highly-valued content which is easy for your audience to watch and hear is a lot more challenging – and if it fails in these respects then it’s effectiveness as a training tool is very much depleted.

At the very least your presenters will need to be properly mic’d up – with additional microphones used to capture audience interaction and feedback. Whilst one main camera is fine for single-presenter seminars, using additional cameras will help to show audience reaction, achieve continuity when editing and ultimately make your content a more professional and easy to watch.

Filming Masterclasses - a safe wide
Two cameras are better than on when filming masterclasses

Your audience will also expect to see any slides, charts, illustrations or PowerPoint presentations full-screen, so any DIY effort will have to include the ability to insert these into the live video content, add captions and finally output the programme to a format which can easily be delivered to your audience.

The challenges of filming masterclasses are various but by using an experienced video production company you can create compelling learning material with the minimal amount of investment and virtually no special adaptations to your training materials. In this instance, Video Artisan have been able to offer a very competitive solution using a ‘two-camera single-operator’ set-up coupled with a fast post production turnaround – enabling CAT Publications to release their films to market in the most profitable and efficient way.

Could you benefit from filming masterclasses?

Filming masterclasses can be highly profitable for their producers. If you think your masterclasses, seminars or workshops would benefit from being filmed and released on video, please contact us today on 020 3602 3356 or by emial to kevin@video-artisan.com 

A bit more about M&IT Masterclasses

CAT Publications are renowned for putting on highly-focussed seminars and workshops aimed at Corporate, Association, Agency Event Organisers and Event Suppliers and on key subjects including Data Protection, Health & Safety, Venue Contracts and Social Media. The M&IT Masterclasses are delivered by a team of specialist presenters who share their knowledge of relevant legislation and best-practices within the event industry.  See a list of their upcoming events here.

Video Artisan work with CAT Publications on a number of events throughout the year including producing the highlights films for the M&IT Awards and the M&IT Agency Challenge.

AKM Music – Video Tutorial #02

Video tutorial number 2
Guidance on producing a video tutorial series

I completed the second video tutorial for AKM Music last week – this time on how to find the right piece of royalty free music for your films from their extensive library.

Producing a video tutorial

Commissioning a video tutorial is a great way to spread the word about your products and services – as well as supporting your existing client base. They don’t have to be complex or lengthy. In fact, the shorter the better as the YouTube generation’s attention span is becoming shorter and shorter!

Whilst the temptation is to produce an in-depth and lengthy video tutorial covering advanced techniques and processes, you should always start by covering the basics. Beginners video tutorials are far more valuable in getting your customers hooked into your brand and products from an early stage. Breaking your process down to small junks not only makes it easier to produce, but it also makes it easier for your audience to follow. Advanced users will also have a need for a video tutorial, but they are more likely to already be established customers.

Serialising your video tutorials will also help build an audience – and will give you a regular excuse for reaching out to customers with some good news. Trickle feeding a video tutorial series will also help with your search engine optimisation efforts as each video released will be indexed on search engines separately. There’s nothing search engines like more than indexing regular and relevant content – and feeding that out to a video-hungry audience.

Should I produce a DIY or a Commissioned Video Tutorial?

Whether you produce a video tutorial series in-house or commission a professional video production company to produce them for you will generally depend on three things.

Firstly, does it matter if the end result looks home-spun or polished? The answer to this will greatly depend on your brand identity and the market you are serving. If you are a premium brand, offering a premium product, then a cheap looking tutorial video is not going to give the right impression.

The second thing to consider is your return on investment. If produced correctly, how much additional revenue could a video tutorial series generate for you? This isn’t the easiest of questions to answer, but if your product or service has a substantial retail value and profit margin then it might not take many additional sales in order to pay for the production of each video tutorial. Likewise if your product or service is high volume.

The final consideration is how much value you place on your own time, or those within your organisation who would be assigned the responsibility to produce your video tutorial? Whilst the process of creating a video tutorial can be fun and creatively rewarding, the main benefit of using a professional video production company is that they should be able to do it quickly and with less drain on your resources. This is not to mention negating the need to invest in the filming and editing equipment needed to turn out a professional looking video tutorial.

If you’ve not joined the many organisations sold on the value or commissioning a video tutorial series then now’s the time. Please contact us today for a no-obligation consultation on 020 3602 3356.

Video Tutorials – the benefits

video tutorials title
Why should you consider commissioning video tutorials?

This week we’ve launched the first of a series of video tutorials for AKM Music – the UK’s leading producer of royalty free music for use within video and multimedia productions. These short video tutorials give guidance to newbie video producers and videographers looking to make the most of AKM Music’s vast library of royalty free music (AKA copyright-free music). The aim is to release one of these video tutorials each month, covering the technical and creative aspects of auditioning, editing and mastering the music score for video productions.

The subject is very close to home for us being regular users of AKM Music’s excellent repertoire. We also regularly review new albums for them for this blog and other print publications, so I guess producing the video tutorials was a natural progression for us.

The benefits of video tutorials

Producing video tutorials benefits all the stakeholders. The consumer benefits because video is simply the best medium in which to absorb and understand the processes being explained. Printed instructions and websites are fine, but nothing comes close to watching someone demonstrate a process on screen. Viewers can pause and repeat video tutorials as many times as they like, leaving very little to misinterpretation. Video can also be delivered easily over the internet to any viewing device – be that mobile, tablet, PC or large screen displays – and downloaded locally for playback and reference at a later date.

The commissioning company can also benefit hugely from producing video tutorials. They help build customer loyalty by adding to the customer experience of buying their product or service. Apart from educating end users and customers, video tutorials also help those within an organisation understand the products better and, probably more importantly, the customers who are buying them.

But, above all, populating your website with relevant and valuable video tutorials will help with your search engine optimisation and engage your website visitors more effectively. The longer someone spends on your website the more likely they are to identify with your brand, trust your advice and buy from you. Video tutorials are also perfect material to share via your social media channels and, if your audience sees the value too, they’ll also happily share them with others with the same interests.

If you have a product or service that could benefit from having video tutorials produced about their construction, use or maintenance – please get in touch and we can talk you through the process, costs and then develop an implementation plan to help you start benefiting from them too. Call 020 3602 3356.

Note: Type in ‘copyright-free music’ into the search box at the head of this website to see a range of reviews we’ve published on AKM Music albums.