Tag Archives: Video Production

Quick Tips For Setting Up Your Film Set

April 2020

Your story is the most important thing. But before you press record it’s worth just checking a couple of things first to make sure that your story is going to come across in the best way.

Windows. Face your camera away from any windows. DO make sure your main source of light is behind the camera. DON’T sit in front of a window or bright lights as this will mean your face will be dark.
Lights. Make sure the room is well lit. The more even light you can get in the room, the better the image will look on camera. But keep in mind point 1 – make sure you have more light behind the camera than in front. Don’t shine a light directly in your face as it will make you squint and your face appear all shiny. Instead, point lights up and away from you. This will create a more natural looking image!
Background.Remove any distracting items from the background. It’s never a bad thing to have a quick tidy up; and try not to have moving objects in the background that might take the focus away from you.
Camera.Try and place your camera or phone on a steady surface rather than hand-held. This removes un-nessecary camera-shake which again is distracting. Use a tripod if you have one, but if you don’t just balance it on a book or shelf.

Here’s an example of what can be achieved by following the advice above – all done on a standard webcam…

Discover more tips on how to make your video stand out…

7 Easy Tips For Presenting On Camera

The first thing you should remember when presenting a video is that it’s not about you. It’s about your company and your product. So when someone watches your video, contrary to popular belief you are not being judged on what you look like. You are being judged on your story…

This usually helps focus minds a little before you shoot your video. But if you are struggling with what to say, here are some tips to help…

Start with your name and your position in the company.

Tell us a favourite moment from your project. Chances are that it will highlight a point you are trying to tell us anyway.

Tell us something you have learnt from the project.

Tell us something that you thought your company did really well.

End your story just by smiling at the camera for 5 seconds. That will give the editor a bit of breathing space to cut to the next person!

For the best results, try to link these points above back to what you are selling.

So if you are selling mouse-mats, then you might say:

“Hi, I’m Richard and I’m in charge of mouse-mat production at MouseMatts.com. My favourite moment was when we first came up with the concept as I we had so many new ideas on how we could make our mouse mats stand out. Developing our mouse mats was actually really difficult and I learnt that it actually took 12 weeks between designing the product to actually seeing the product in real life. But we really do have a product that stands out from other mouse mat competitors – the pink and yellow bubble-wrap mouse mat always makes me smile!”

See how you automatically discover about the product and the back story…

QUICK TIP:

Write out what you are going to say on a cue card.
Learn the first and last sentence off by heart.
Deliver the first line to the camera, then read out the rest of your presentation, and deliver the last line to the camera.
When you edit together the video, cut to photos/videos/screenshots of the things that you are talking about whenever you are not looking at the camera.

We actually used this method when shooting this video. Toby was bit nervous doing his first ever piece to camera, but we used this method and he came out great.

Discover more tips on how to make your video stand out…

Judging Young Enterprise 2020

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!!

Through The Eyes Of A Film Professional

April 2019

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…”

Looking to produce your own film?

Filming For Britain’s Railways

January 2019

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)