Company profile videos

We shot a series of profile videos of this company's leadership team for their website. Here's the first we completed. It was our first shoot with the T2i as primary and it went very well.

East Coast Air Charter - Bill McBane on Vimeo

[Mike Brice]

Looks like you need to upgrade to Vimeo Plus or provide a link.

Otherwise, not going to get much feedback with the Vimeo error screen.

[Bryan McCullough]

I've got Plus. What's the error? Works for me but maybe because I'm logged in.

Edit - Found it. I had the setting turned on for it to only appear on Vimeo. Changed it over.

[Mike Brice]

Vimeo does make it tricky sometimes.

Looked pretty good.

I don't like the black and white effect, and toward the end it looked like he was going to fall over off the stool or chair.

Overall I liked it but I think I would have liked it more without the black and white dream effect.

[Bryan McCullough]

The B&W was a direct request from the client. I tried to talk them into color since there's so much rich color to be had! I did get to sneak in one good color shot though. :)

I don't mind the B&W, but makes me a little sad we miss out on the goodness of the camera.

All comments welcome, I'm still very much learning the DSLR world and want to improve.

Maybe I'll put a color version up just to have to compare, even though the client wants the B&W.

[Björn Rehder]

Are you serious abot the content of this video? Or am I missing something? "Pilot" - "Procrastinator" "Eagle scout" ???.

Is this a real company profile video for 6 billion people to see on the internet?

What is he really trying to say?

[Bryan McCullough]

Actually I believe the intended audience is only 5 billion.

First off, I did not write the scripts. What these will be used for are supplements to their bio pages on their website. While the written bios will be exhaustive with industry and work details, they wanted to have something with a more personal bent for these that will reside on the same bio page.

I thought it was a pretty interesting idea and should give a personal connection to people checking out the bio page. Understandably on its own, without that page of context, it may seem a little incomplete.

Their industry is apparently a fairly impersonal one and they wanted to make more of a connection with their clients. It will be interesting to see if they work.

So, content aside since I didn't have anything to do with that, I'm just excited about the pretty pictures. :D

[Björn Rehder]

Don't get me wrong Bryan, this question was not directed at you.
I know that we as videographers sometimes have to deal with strange ideas/requests comming from the client's side.

It was just... uhmmm.. I was dumbstruck that someone would say these things in a company profile video.
And it's not that you'll always have the opportunity to explain to everyone that you are not responsible for content.
"I'm a procrastinator" - LOL maybe I should defer this posting...

Anyway... I suppose you didn't post it here to discuss the content.

I do agree that it would have looked better in colour.

[Bryan McCullough]

Here's one with the color and b&w parts swapped. I sent it off for the client to review.

I should have posted it here without any audio. ;)

Bill McBane - Color on Vimeo

I'm just excited to shoot with it as there's no way I'd have gotten anything close to this look with my Z7U. That backdrop was only about 5 feet away from the subject. So cool.

(Ignore the little dark bump at the very end, rendering issue. )

[Björn Rehder]

Looks much better in colour. The B&W shots now make more sense because they are "reflections".

[Michiel van Baasbank]

Looks way better in color, Bryan! As Björn comments, the b/w footage makes more sense now, hope your client likes that.

As for the content of the video: I agree with Björn as well, maybe it's a little over the top, but hey, that's the client's own idea, and if he likes the end result, that's all that matters.

I hope you don't mind me musing about it some more. If you mind, then ignore my statements hereunder :)

To me it's not only about the pictures (which look great btw), because as a director/filmmaker, your job is not only making beautiful footage, it's also translating the client's idea to video...

In the interest of making a video (or subject) more believable, watch this clip again. He seems like a nice guy, but he never blinks!! The only time he blinks is when playing the trumpet, and to me it's the best shot in this film, then you get to see who this guy really is.

I've heard rumors of pilots never blinking due to their line of work, but in general, people don't know what to think of people who don't blink (as are people who blink too often). In the Netherlands, a politician who had all the assets to become a great leader, just didn't gain any popularity. Psychologists concluded it was because one major flaw: he never blinked on screen. I think this could be valuable information for us when making a company film.

Also would it make a difference if your subject talked directly into the camera? I keep wondering who he's talking to.

(Just for me: a 'procrastinator', isn't that really a bad thing to say about yourself? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procras...rocrastinators )

[Bryan McCullough]

That's funny about the blinking, I will have to see if I can find a clip with one or two in it.

Yes, procrastination is generally bad. They wanted to make these feel real and not just some marketing BS. But I'll be sure to pass along the feedback.

I was hired for this project basically as a DP only. They had a guy on staff that was producing/directing. I pushed as much as a could with him about tweaking some stuff here and there, but he had a specific vision so I couldn't get too much control in.

[Brett Sherman]

Does he procrastinate inspecting their planes? That would make me a little nervous.