With the Young Enterprise winners due to be announced on 6th May 2020, we are very proud to announce that our Creative Director Richard McLester has been asked to be one of this years judges. However, this year there will be a difference.
With the ongoing Coronavirus crisis, Young Enterprise 2020 has been adapted to an online format, with students being asked to submit a short video presentation about their company.
“…this will be a good challenge for the students involved. At Conical Sphere Media, we’re used to having access to everything we need to shoot a beautiful video. But a lot of students won’t have access to these tools…” says Richard. Which leaves students with one question.
How do I create a professional looking video with only a webcam or a phone?
Don’t worry! Fortunately the fundamentals of video production still apply. Here are some basic tips, recommended by Richard on how to make your video stand out…
The winning Young Enterprise company will be announced on 6th May 2020. Best of luck to everyone involved!!
With Audi recently launching the new RS6 Avant and RSQ8, Poole Audi were looking for a unique way to celebrate this event.
Conical Sphere were brought in as partners and transformed the entire showroom into an immersive Audi Sport experience.
To facilitate an exciting and bespoke 15 minute display of light, projections and music, we used our own custom Wireless Projection System called MOSAIC. This allowed us to use 8 projectors placed across the showroom. The projectors were all syncronised live with music and additional lighting to create the full immersive experience.
“…As a working car showroom, we knew that we didn’t have a huge amount of time to deploy lots of kit to make the event happen. In fact the cars were only re-arranged a couple of hours before the event. This was where our projection system MOSAIC came into play as we could simply place the projectors with the wireless interface connected and power up. Immediately the space became transformed…”
Toby Gardner | Technical Lead, Conical Sphere Media
To put the event together, we came up with a storyline that would hold everything together.
“…We based the story around what we called the different “elements” of Audi. Starting off with a short history and how the cars have developed to the modern day. Then we explored the details and designs of the cars before taking the audience through the current range. Finally we ended with the last element, emotion which centered on people and their relationships. ”
Richard McLester | Director, Conical Sphere Media
With the storyline in place, it was then down to the team to create the graphics for all of the projections.
“…We started with by creating the focal film that we would project onto the Audi Sport corner. This was done by taking footage from the official Audi videos and re-editing them together to give us the storyline we wanted. Once that was done, we then created a series of supporting textures using the Trapcode Suite with Adobe After Effects that was projected over the rest of the ceiling to give the impression that the audience were immersed within the piece.”
Sam Tucker | Communications Lead, Conical Sphere Media
The resulting film clips were all put back together and then triggered live with the music performance using Ableton Live.
“…MOSAIC gives us the ability to trigger small clips on the projectors as well as full films. It becomes a lot easier to perform the music live and have the projections sync back with the music as this meant we could really stay very Agile as we developed the project. The original plan for the event started as an Audi Christmas event but changed to focus on Audi Sport as the new release came out. Working this way meant we were easily able to shift to focus on the Audi sport experience instead.”
Richard McLester | Director, Conical Sphere Media
Watch highlights from the event here:
Poole Audi is the UK’s largest Audi Terminal and one of the largest in Europe. It boasts a showroom that displays 24 new cars.
Fitness coach Tom Merrick aka BodyWeight Warrior has over 300K social media subscribers. Conical Sphere helped turn these subscribers into paying customers by creating a members-only portal and forum for Tom’s Website and App. Through this Tom has been able to successfully monetise his passion.
The city of Salisbury recently suffered a damaging blow to their public image, following the Novichok poisonings. Conical Sphere was asked to help restore this public image – providing a focal light installation to help bring the city back together.
For 3 months our 4m illuminated globe was suspended in the heart of the city – Salisbury Cathedral. The project was dubbed “a beacon of hope” by Sky News.
The light installation became part of Salisbury Cathedrals programme of events including Songs Of Praise Live TV Broadcast, 3x ‘Darkness To Light’ Services, Christingle, a G4 concert and Christmas Eve Family Service.
With the installation Conical Sphere created a multimedia concert that gave Salisbury residents a platform to share their stories and express how they had been affected.
Dorset based educational recruitment agency Supply And Demand have launched their new website & brand. The school staffing provider have a new website designed by Conical Sphere Media, plus we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to help them grow their business into 2020.
We recently created a new members-only portal for online fitness guru Tom Merrick aka the Bodyweight Warrior.
Here are 3 top tips we used to build his site…
Our 3 Top Tips:
1. Bespoke is better. A custom built website can be tailored exactly to the clients needs, will stand out from competitors and is much easier to update.
2. Keep your client close. Working closely with the client in an Agile framework gives them the flexibility to make changes without incurring extra costs.
3. Efficient MUI design. People want to find information quickly and simply. An efficient MUI design ensures that your website users get what they need
in a timeframe that suits them.
We had a fantastic time working with personalised laser engravers Totally About You to produce a new range of product imagery for their online shop.
Utilising our portable studio we were able to produce high quality images efficiently – meaning that alongside the final result we could give the client extras, including a free product video!
The project involved photographing a wide range of products including typically more challenging items such as mirrors, wine bottles and stainless steel bottles. It was a great opportunity to get creative and deliver a result the client was happy with.
With the recent advent of Article 13 – the EU’s new controversial copyright law, creating unique content has become more important than ever.
Article 13, recently voted in by the European Council aims at holding content sharing services such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook responsible for any copyrighted material posted on their sites. Content sharing services must now either license copyright protected material from the right holders or make sincere attempts to remove the copyrighted material from their site.
How does this affect you and your marketing?
As you know, connecting with your audience in the digital age demands a high level of engaging imagery. And sometimes it’s just too easy to use a photograph or video that you haven’t created yourself. With the new restrictions imposed from Article 13 there will be more pressure than ever for sites to remove content that isn’t your own. As well as the legal ramifications, your marketing endeavours can become a waste of time.
Bespoke is better.
There are sites from which you can get copyright free imagery, however we sincerely don’t recommend it – these images often appear generic and you loose the chance to create an authentic connection with your audience.
Bespoke imagery not only leaves you free from the implications of Article 13, but it also connects your audience with the real value at the heart of your business.
Bespoke imagery – photographs and videos that are completely unique to your company, not only have a better shelf life on social media but also increase the chance of connecting with your audience on a real personal level. It helps them to build trust and familiarity with your brand which is essential part of making a sale.
How do I go bespoke?
Knowing where to start – what camera to use, what to take pictures of or not, whether or not you need to take photography classes – can be a daunting task. You can do a lot with your smartphone but to really stand out you want to be using a higher quality camera – a decent lens can make miles of difference. Knowing what your audience will connect with and what type of content will thrive across the different social media platforms is important too.
If you are struggling to find the time to create bespoke content then don’t worry. There’s a lot of people in the same boat. However, you always have the option of outsourcing to experts. If you can find the right people who will really spend time to get to know you and have the creative capacity to showcase your true value, then it can be a massive weight off your shoulders. A much better alternative than falling prey to Article 13.
Last year Sam joined the team with an avid passion for communication. 14 months down the line, he talks about filming former BBC presenter Robert Nisbet as part of a commission for Rail Delivery Group.
“…Producing a film for Rail Delivery Group was a fantastic experience. One of the challanges we faced was filming inside their busy London headquarters. We employed an efficient, lightweight method which allowed us to do the job with minimal disruption to their working environment.
Working with Robert Nisbet was brilliant as he was very comfortable being in front of the camera and it was a great insight to see how a former BBC presenter worked.
We were even able to involve the whole office as extras on their break which was the icing on the cake for a really enjoyable day of filming…”
It’s been a pleasure creating a new video for Rail Delivery Group – about their Ticket Issuing Systems Accreditation process.
Producing everything in-house meant we could make it as affordable as possible for RDG – it also meant we had a lot of fun filming steam trains, animating and writing the music to go with the film!
Watch the official film here:
Part of the process involved filming former BBC Journalist and now Regional Director Robert Nisbet at The RDG headquarters. We also got the rest of the team involved in the filming – making them feel part of the process too.
“…It really feels like it’s our video, I love it…” Tracey (Rail Delivery Group)
See behind the scenes of our film shoot at Rail Delivery Group HQ… (Thanks to Stephen Hartley for taking some of these images)
Need a new video?
All work copyright Conical Sphere Media 2017. All rights reserved.
We are very proud to have helped Richard McLester and his team gain national news coverage for their recent art project The Light.
We crafted Press Releases and original content for them, helping their project reach National News. It was featured on The Times, The Daily Mail Online and Sky News.
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