Final Reflections

As the deadline for this project comes to a close it is a great time to take stock, evaluate where I have got to and plan how to continue with my professional development. What follows is a bit of stock taking and summation of all of the different strands large and small that I have been pursuing for this unit and where I will be taking these next.

Create corporate video content to initiate and promote my video production company.
This has been the trickiest element especially with the client I chose as they were not the most co-operative and pretty flakey in times of getting together and fully instigating the project. I am still aiming to create some work from them but with any more lack of pro-activity their end I will look elsewhere which I am avidly doing at the moment and chasing up some potentials currently. I still need some content and I have outlined the sort of work need on my website and to promote myself from the research and this will be my "to-do" list and I am aiming to have 4-5 pieces of good video content by Christmas. Currently I am chasing the Greenpeace work as well as some other companies and also bands with a look to working for them to create video content some of it paid. All of the research, planning and development I have carried out here has really informed me though as to what exactly the content is that I need to create moving forward and has been a real positive. It has stretched me to consider budgets, planning and greatly improved me professionally and where I can generate income from in the future.

Develop my own video production company branding/marketing. Web, online etc.
Good in-roads here and my understanding of all of these areas which was always a weakness is now progressing really well. I have spent a lot of time researching online promotion, social marketing, website design and other promotional and marketing areas. From this I now have a strong idea of my company ethos, place in the market and am also developing a website, SMM ideas and also marketing and promotional ideas. I need to complete the website and get the aforementioned video content onto it but huge in-roads have been made. I have set myself a deadline of the end of September for the website and as mentioned above Christmas to populate the site with video content. The branding, marketing and website design have also been something I have enjoyed and may be able to market to potential clients as a one stop shop for these as well as video content.

Develop installations, promos or direct action video work for Greenpeace.

Finally I instigated initial enquiries into working with Greenpeace and using connections within them. This highlighted that collaborating with them is going to be a long drawn out process, which I guess is the same with many large organisations and my naivety is possibly the best lesson learnt here. However I am on their radar and am familiarising myself with their processes and procedures. I am developing ideas for the next module of my course working within their campaigns and ethos and aim to work with them very soon.

Teaching on UCS BA (Hons) Digital Film Production, Film Studies & Screenwriting courses. 

I contacted Alexandra Leaney who runs the BA (Hons) Film and Screenwriting courses at UCS and have negotiated some guest lecturing. This will be great for my C.V. and add to my experience of teaching within H.E. as well as establishing my skillset for any openings that may arise at UCS. These sessions need arranging and dates firmed up but hopefully by Christmas I will have at least one session under my belt.

Investigate opportunities within arts funding and residency opportunities. 

I have also researched arts funding and residencies and how and where these are advertised and operate. This area needs a lot more hard work and targeting of opportunities available and right for me and my practice. The next step is to once i have considered these factors to actually start applying. 

Curate and organise events within existing film festivals or create own mini film festival.
I have also rekindled contact with the Aldeburgh Documentary Film Festival and have spoken to them about working with them about curating a day for schools and education within the festival. This will incorporate video production workshops and education events to be integrated into this. I will stay in communication with Aldeburgh cinema and continue to work in partnership with this through to the festival in early November.

Devise, find funding for and create & run educational video production workshops.
This has been covered somewhat through the work with Aldeburgh above and the workshop sessions being planned for this. However I am also working on workshops that I could run for schools, youth groups and organisations. I have a huge amount of resources that I have developed for my teaching work that I am looking at repurposing for these. I will need to speak to my college about using some of their resources and ideally students for their work experience then start to look into marketing these.

All of the above are great opportunities I will continue to pursue into the future and all have helped me grow in an all round sense to develop me as a practitioner. They have also made me much more aware and savvy of the commercial sense of my practice as well as funding opportunities to enable me to make an income from my creativity, skillset and knowledge.

Brain Tree Films: Logo Designs 3

After some great feedback from my presentation and my own minor tinkering with the logos I was developing I decided to have a go at developing my logo once more. The design below was the one I most favoured but during my presentation I presented all of my completed logo designs and asked my peers for their opinions. As there were two graphic designers in the audience I really wanted to press them for their take and opinions.

Feedback from peers on logo designs overall.

• They loved the company name Brain Tree Films.
• An uncomplicated is best possibly using the company name or one simple logo. Many of mine were too complicated, were confusing over "film" too old fashioned, or confusing.
• The name was the strength and do I really need to show a brain, tree and film icon? 
• Possibly something but simpler with the braintree logo with the brain as the foliage would be best they liked this version.

Taking all of these comments on board I decided to try and strip the logo back to absolute basics and go for a simpler design.

This is indeed a much simpler and cleaner design. The green and all the connotations it brings is still present and the logo is much tighter and the font has stayed the same but the green rectangle and white tree text highlights this and creates a nice composition. I do have concerns over it looking a bit colloquial and perhaps not as professional as the logo at the top of this post but it is definitely simpler and still quite memorable. I need to get a few more opinions to see if I go with it as I am undecided but feel the final logo will come from this post, or a variation on these designs.

Reflections: Presentation, Peer Feedback and 1-1 Tutorial

The deadline for this unit is on the 11th August when unfortunately I am away on holiday. Due to this I have had to give the presentation of my Professional development this week rather than on the 11th. A link to the presentation is below.

http://www.slideshare.net/jsaward/ma-professional-development-final-presentation

The plus side to having to give my presentation early is that is that I have had to leave the project a little open ended as I still have a week to get the projects strands tidied up and submitted. So I can use my peers on the course and my tutor to get a few pointers as I head into the final straight. Below are the ideas, thoughts and opinions of my peers which were all very helpful.

Logo feedback
Some great feedback on the logo design especially the two graphic designers in the room. They loved the company name Brain Tree Films and said that an uncomplicated is best possibly using the company name or one simple logo. many of mine were too complicated, were confusing over "film" too old fashioned, or confusing. they said the name was the strength and do I really need to show a brain, tree and film icon? Possibly something but simpler with the braintree logo and the brain as the foliage would be best.

Dealing with evasive clients
No easy answer but it was suggested that trying to get a face to face as soon as possible is best so you then have a face and a personal relationship between you and them. They did all find it hard to believe that Bishop Nick did not rip my arm off to get free video content and that they were daft for not grasping the opportunity. they did suggest possibly cutting my losses with clients in the future if communication is too much of a struggle especially when working for free.

Money, money, money
Some great advice here and a fellow student (Sara) suggested looking for any funding and available to me and start-up companies which is something I have not really considered. Another excellent point was to look for funding that small companies can get for the type of work that I can offer and then to make them aware and to help them apply if they work with me. Their costs are greatly reduced and I get the money to carry out the work!

All of these areas are great to help me to continue to move forward!

As an aside to the presentation I bumped into Alex Leaney who runs the BA Film production, Film and Screenwriting courses at UCS and really firmed up doing some classes for them next year. I just need to get her the dates and to remind her of what I could deliver sessions in.

Reflections: Rejuvenation of Bishop Nick Project?

I finally got word back from Libby at Bishop Nick about creating some video work for them following my visiting the brewery and leaving a message. She apologised for a lack of communication and stated how busy they were. They are still interested about some video work and were keen to try and establish times for possible shoots. Whilst it would be nice to tell them the ship had sailed on the work I do still need some interesting client based video to promote myself and to use as content on my website.

I responded saying that I am still interested but stating that we really do need to get together to work out exactly what they want. I mentioned my list of questions to get a better feel for the brand and the need to meet up ASAP. I also said that developing the idea for now and one piece would be the way to go and that I may be able to work on an animation with their blessing and happiness with the idea. I am looking to move forward albeit tentatively after the last few weeks lack of communication and to still keep developing the marketing and promotion elements of my project still and see where the video work with Bishop Nick goes.

Reflection: End of Bishop Nick Project

Still no correspondence from Bishop Nick so yesterday I went to their brewery to try and meet up with them and find out once and for all if they were still interested in working with me or if the project was never going to get off the ground. Neither Nelion or Libby (Owner and wife) were around so I left a message and phone number to call me on. I have had no response and am more than a little annoyed as I was offering them work for free and feel that the relationship could have been really positive for us both!

So have decided to bite the bullet and divert all of my attentions to the branding and promotion of myself and my company as well as look for other potential work ventures to kick-start the company and to use as content in my marketing.

Lessons that have been learnt from the whole Bishop Nick relationship and will be able to take forward into new client dealings. These will also prove useful as I move on with the marketing, branding and creation of my company.

• Money is always a tricky topic. they were after something for free and even mention of a little money to cover any small expenses may have put them off.
• Greater efforts at communication and much more regular communication. It was sometimes a few too many weeks between correspondence. Work and family commitments contributed to this but also my time management should have been stronger.
• Following on from the above I need to work on stronger project management skills. A planned timescale and diary of calls and communications in a planner would have helped.
• Sell myself more! This is to show them more of my work to get them to realise the excellent offer that was on the table. this is a little chicken and the egg as the whole purpose was to create some corporate work to use for promotions. However I should have also trumpeted former glories in similar areas so they would take more of an interest.
• Sell my prices more in this case gratis! Did they realise they were getting something for nothing and potentially £3000-£4000 worth of work for a tiny bit money (£100) for expenses only.
• Try to meet the client face to face as soon as possible. I did have a couple of phone conversations and some email correspondence but from experience once you have met face to face you are then dealing with a real person.

Reflection: Seminar with fellow students

Some interesting things came out of this and all had sympathies about the lack of client engagement. Another student is doing a website to promote his work and some interesting ideas were kicked about here concerning, reinvention, use of copy, images and text as well as promoting oneself.

Reflection: Last Attempt at Contact with Bishop Nick.

Today I sent an email and what I see as being my last attempt to contact Bishop Nick to request a meet up to discuss how we could work together and firm up some plans and dates. I have still not heard from them for the last two months! They did state that they were busy so I have tried hard not to pressurise them too much or be too forceful BUT it is now eight weeks and it looks like it is unlikely to happen.


I am still ploughing on with the branding and marketing though and this is starting to really take shape and move forward.

Video Production Company Website Analysis: OFFSHOOT FILMS

Having looked at the bigger picture and interesting and ground-breaking websites from all over the web I also wanted to focus more directly on a few from companies operating in the same field. I looked at a great variety of video production web-sites and companies as well as the services they offer to see how others are promoting themselves to glean ideas for my own online presence. A second one I am going to look at is Offshoot Films.

OFFSHOOT FILMS: http://www.offshoot-films.co.uk/

Offshoot films are a small video production company based in Sudbury in Suffolk. Unlike Bruizer they do a variety of works a lot of it in the middle to low end of the market and incorporating a lot of courses, educational and film club types work alongside some corporate work with institutions. they will provide an interesting comparison with Bruizer as these are some of the areas I could potentially work in too. The logo is very simple and just the name of the company within a blue square slightly off-centre perhaps mimicking the Offshoot in the title of the company. The logo although basic has a slightly professional edge not giving much away and the blue is of a light shade suggesting refreshing and energising. The company tag line "Create, Inspire, Enthuse...." obviously demonstrates their leanings towards education work more than corporate work.

WEBSITE TYPE?

The website itself is purely a vehicle for showing off the work they have done and giving insight into the services they can provide. It is basically an interactive brochure for their services and provides lots of information about the company for prospective clients and perhaps too much information. As you can see from home-page illustrated above there is a lot of copy and the company focus is illustrated as Commercial, Educational and Film Club. There is a slight content sharing element but only one way with them sharing their content with the user and a little social media element too with posts, tweets etc from clients and them about work they are doing or have done.

Further copy on the website announces "Welcome to Offshoot Films. We are a Suffolk based film production company that delivers high quality films to both commercial and education organisations. Our modern approach has allowed us build a broad client base that includes Suffolk County Council and London Overground." This outlines again their aims and stresses high quality and commercial and organisation work and a modern approach. It also mentions a couple of big'ish clients that they have created work for. Lower down there is a slideshow of images demonstrating the type of work that has been undertaken all very much of an educational nature.

WEBSITE LAYOUT AND STYLE?

Style Appropriate to Purpose?
The style is pretty appropriate for purpose and their is lots of information about what they do but there is far too much text and not enough video. However they do communicate what they do pretty well. There are examples of the work they have done and testimonies from clients to illustrate their happiness.

Simple, Busy or Cluttered?
The website is pretty cluttered and whilst not disorganised the layout is more school notice board than professional and clean. It is all a little "bitty" with often too much information on the screen at once and the eye drawn to nothing in particular and left to wander over the pages. A little too busy and cluttered which gives it less of a slick high end feel more like a cottage industry. For the work they do they are obviously trying to attract different clients to Bruizer and this may be appropriate but the design could be stronger

Use of Colour & Text?
Lots of use of the bright blue which as mentioned earlier suggests refreshing and energising. It is a little bright and unsubtle too and has undertones of childlike quality which diminishes the professional feel of the site a little but does make it seem bright a friendly. The images are less photos and often just stills for the video before they start playing but they do inject a little more colour into the website. In some places there are B/W and colour images used to show various shots of students and young people working on projects and the kit that Offshoot has access to. The font used is a variation on courier and for some of the headlines a different font is used in capitals. Lots of blue on the headlines and headers and overall a simple and friendly font that is not click and does not scream high end but this suits the company.

Web Images and Video Optimized?
The web images all seem to be optimized and load quickly. The video is all hosted on Vimeo which is a professional streaming service and designed for more high end use and high definition video as opposed to Youtube which is not as well suited to this.

FUNCTION, NAVIGATION & INTERACTIVITY

Menu/navigation Simple and Clear?
The navigation is at the top of the page in a blue banner and is clear and present across every page making navigation simple and the naming of these makes the click throughs very clear.

It is complicated though by the numerous drop down options on a few of the buttons which at times are a little untidy and overcomplicated. A good example is the education one where there is a huge sub-menu. It is clear so no issues there but I cannot help feel there may be a better way to do this.

Overall though it is clear, the navigation does work it could perhaps be a little simpler.

HOME
This has been analysed above so I will not do so again but it seems to be a bad idea to have the social media links at the top of the site as instantly users can click off of the site and go elsewhere. Best to have them at the bottom to make this happen less and your content to be looked at first. The ticker-tape at the top with a news feed of projects underway and news is good though it is moving and gives this page an up to date and live energy.

COMMERCIAL
A really flat and uninteresting page linking to more of the same. It does say the services they can offer and has a video clip but the layout could easily be stronger. It is all a little confusing in here with in my opinion too many areas and click throughs. streamlining would improve as it all seems cluttered and a little disorganised.

EDUCATION
This is the page where there are multiple options on a drop down before you get to the main education area. There is a good eye catching piece of video as the page loads that demonstrates one aspect of the companies business but as above there is simply too much going on. Cleaner less cluttered pages would be better. Far, far too much text too documenting the work and what was done exactly. Let the work speak for itself and keep the words to a minimum or have a click through page for each project.

YOUNG FILMMAKERS
Very much the same problems as previously mentioned. Too much content, too much text not enough organisation and design. Not all that user friendly or engaging.

OTHER
This simply covers other services they can provide. Birthday parties, hen/stag parties etc.

ABOUT US
This contains the company mission statement “WE STRIVE TO EMPOWER STUDENTS, BY GIVING THEM THE NECESSARY SKILLS TO FULFILL THEIR CREATIVE MINDS AND AMBITIONS.” Which shows the definite slant to education. It also has brief biogs of the two people involved in the company. Again lots of text, images of the players would have been good. Also there are client testimonies which is a nice idea but wierdly lots of logos with what I assume are previous clients that do not link to anything.

NEWS
This details projects, workshops etc coming up "Very parish notices" and also reflects on successes and prior work.

CONTACT US
The usual and a very basic page of contact details. No email box to fill in for ease though.

All Links Working? Any Cul-de-sacs?
All links were working and I could find no cul-de-sacs so all good here.

Elements of Sharing?
Yes through the social media icons at the top of the page. Pretty much one way traffic from what I could see though and not much socila media updates and posts from Offshoot themselves.

Sticky and/or Regular Fresh Contact?
The content of the projects that they have completed looks very up to date. The news area looks really thin and could be fuller with content on current projects, shooting details and updates etc. More fun elements to do may be good also such as a quiz, process to creating, behind the scenes etc.


ACCESSIBILITY and SEO

Accessibility? 
I tested the website in Google Chrome and Safari and there were no issues in either. I did not try it on a tablet. On a mobile phone the version was Aa little clunky and the layout confusing. it id work but was not a hugely user friendly experience. This is hugely important as a huge percentage of surfing and browsing is now done on mobile phones and is an area that I must also really consider and make sure I get right.

Contacts Area?
The contacts page is basic and would benefit from a built in email box but does the job. They also use social media with links to twitter, facebook, vimeo and youtube at the top of the page.


SEO ranking?
If you search for Offshoot it comes out at number 5 on Google but is on the pop up advert to the right of the page. Offshoot Films and it is number one though. If you search for Video Production Companies Suffolk it appears at number three. However you search for Video Production Companies East Anglia it does not appear in the first 10 pages then I gave up! Could be stronger but OK and again areas I will need to consider.

OVERALL
Nowhere near the high end polish of the Bruizer website but the company is a very different beast specialising in education primarily. the layout and design is as I have mentioned throughout cluttered and confusing. Given that high end clients are not essentially what the business is all about and it having a friendly feel is OK but it is a dull website that would be better stripped right back. Less is more. However it does throw up other business models and plenty of ideas to pursue but the Bruizer way is the way to go I feel.

Video Production Company Website Analysis: BRUIZER

Having looked at the bigger picture and interesting and ground-breaking websites from all over the web I also wanted to focus more directly on a few from companies operating in the same field. I looked at a great variety of video production web-sites and companies as well as the services they offer to see how others are promoting themselves to glean ideas for my own online presence. I am going to look at a few of what I found to be the most interesting, creative and user friendly and how I feel I can use and develop various aspects of them. I will be looking at the marketing and how they promote themselves through their websites as well as the design and content and information on the sites and who I feel the audience are. The first of these I will be looking at is Bruizer.

BRUIZER: http://bruizer.co.uk/

Bruizer are a video production company based in Rendlesham in Suffolk, although on their website they say the UK. They promote themselves as a "Creative Film & Video Agency" and offer a variety of video services. The logo (above) demonstrates a lot about the company it has a real sense of fun and does not look overly corporate but does however create a familiar memorable identity. The cartoonesque face whilst portraying the knockabout, school playground and comic book bruizer does so in a non-threatening way. The black eye, mangled ear and and almost smile in a very clean logo with no fuss are certainly memorable. As is the name BRUIZER, replacing of a s with the z for more quirkiness is in bold all capitals, strong serif font and alongside the logo represents a a real strength. The colour palette is small on the logo I have included here and a simple B/W except for the black eye of the character. As the company name does not really suggest what the company does in a smaller font underneath the name it makes this it clear that they are a "Creative Film & Video Agency". The whole thing suggests power, strength, fun, fighting to do well, it also has obvious real male undertones but does make it clear what they do.

WEBSITE TYPE?

The website itself and the content is purely a vehicle for showing off the work they have done and giving insight into the services they can provide. It is basically an interactive brochure for their wares and provides lots of information about the company for prospective clients. There is a slight content sharing element but only one way with them sharing their content with the user and a little social media element too with posts, tweets etc from clients and them about work they are doing or have done. The home page above is simple but contains a moving image background of 4-5 clips that are used to illustrate the type of work they create.

The copy giving information on the front page of website home page states.

MAKING FILMS THAT GET YOU SEEN, HEARD AND FOUND!
Bruizer are an award winning creative film and video production company based in the UK, providing video solutions that transform your business. Change the way you speak to your customers through creative and powerful video production.

This states clearly what they do as well as promoting the positive aspects of using video content linking it to the all important "customers" and "transforming YOUR business." I will need to come up with my own "mission statement" and selling couple of lines intro for my website

Alongside this and all of the other clips of their work there is a news section where they will discuss and write on themes concerning moving image often topical ones. These include features analysing good opening sequences, best music videos from the BRITS and also 360 degree moving image. I like this ideas and it not only explains moving image ideas and concepts but gives insight into the company and just is good and interesting content. It is one I may seek to embrace on my site.

WEBSITE LAYOUT AND STYLE?

Style Appropriate to Purpose?
Yes to all of the above. There is plenty of content and examples of Buizers work and clients which is likely to be what clients are really wanting to see. There could be more details on the client, days shoot, concepts, making of etc profile on all of the individual pieces of work but there is a brief overview of these projects. The website is easy to use, interesting but could possibly sell the idea of why video is so important to a company more.

Simple, Busy or Cluttered?
The style of the website is pretty simple and clean. The use of text is minimal and where possible images are used as content descriptors or buttons to access content. The content is obviously video based and examples of the types of work they have created for clients. This is an area I will need to develop for my website as this content is what will appeal to prospective clients as it shows a variety of work and clients worked for as well as creativity and therefore a strong track record and a reputation built on past success.

Use of Colour & Text?
The use of colour is limited and is often of a darker or muted palette and are generally images/photographs are often abstract or ECU of examples of the work or iconography from the video/film production process. The images are used as buttons with a strong still image from the video clip they link to (see below) or often section separators (see above) for the content. this is where the colour is injected into the site usually on a white background. The only other shot of colour is orange which is used on the dates for the LATEST AND SOCIAL area of the site and also on the Newsletter sign up at the bottom of every page. This adds an interesting shot of colour and also highlights key information on these elements. See above for examples of this. Roll overs and selected content also are highlighted in orange.

I have covered the log and font above but the use of font on the site is consistent throughout and is of a Helvetica style and very clear and corporate. On a dark background it is white and on a white background it is black and headings and titles are in all capitals.

Web Images and Video Optimized?
The web images all download pretty fast in Google Chrome and there were no issues in the images not appearing quickly. The video for the site is all embedded and links to what looks like Vimeo which is basically  a more professional version of Youtube used by video professionals. It enables higher quality video to be streamed keeping the professional high end look to the work. the compressional on most of Youtube is inferior.

FUNCTION, NAVIGATION & INTERACTIVITY

Menu/navigation Simple and Clear?
The navigation is very clear throughout and the navigation bar clearly indicates what is going to be in each of the areas. HOME IS home, NEWS contains features about interesting topics (could be more), WORK is the work they have created and SERVICES is all of the services they can provide.

HOME
The home page features moving image content in the form of a short showreel that gives examples of some of the best of Bruizers work alongside some video production shots from the sets they have filmed on. the copy underneath states as mentioned earlier...

MAKING FILMS THAT GET YOU SEEN, HEARD AND FOUND! Bruizer are an award winning creative film and video production company based in the UK, providing video solutions that transform your business. Change the way you speak to your customers through creative and powerful video production. Film & Video Production If you’re reading this, you probably already know how important video is for your business. We’ve got the ideas for films which grow your business and transform your brand, collaborating as closely as possible with you, and working in small teams on big challenges. So if you’re looking for new ways to connect with your audiences, why not take a look around, and see how we can bring your project to life.

Underneath this there is some scrolling L-R video content covering all of the areas that Bruizer provide services in. These are Film, 360 degree, Post-production, Animation, Time-lapse,and Ariel. This clicks through to a page with text explaining all of these areas in more detail and the services they can offer. The news page next is also at the bottom after a click through to contact them about anything the user may be interested in. This works well as it directly links to their services etc from the very first page.

NEWS
The news page has been mentioned earlier and its full name is latest news and social and this where they will discuss and write on themes concerning moving image often topical ones. These include features analysing good opening sequences, best music videos from the BRITS and also 360 degree moving image. I like this ideas and it not only explains moving image ideas and concepts but gives insight into the company and just is good and interesting content. It is one I may seek to embrace on my site.

WORK
The work page provides links and button to all of the clients, businesses etc that they have created work for. There are a couple of ways to look for this the first being a search box to type in clients or types of work that will then select from the database examples of this. The second is a way to select the type of content you are after from a list. This areas on this list are Featured (best/newest), 360 video, Animations, Brand & Commercial, Corporate, Educational, Entertainment, Showreels and Viral. Again this selects the chosen areas and puts up graphics of the relevant areas. Clicking though from here takes you to a page with the completed video work embedded and the client and brief, a short overview of the project and the aims, objectives and concept. this is really well laid out but could possibly have more detail in the text. Putting no dates on them is a clever idea so you do not know how recently they were done.

SERVICES
The services section covers all of the services and facilities that Bruizer can provide. This is the same as the scrolling L-R from the home page but as tiled images and buttons rather than the L-R scrolling on the Homepage. These are Film, 360 degree, Post-production, Animation, Time-lapse,and Ariel. This clicks through to a page with text explaining all of these areas in more detail and the services they can offer. The content here is a little flat and again the text could be fuller but alongside the home page it dies provide a belt and braces approach to everything that Bruizer offers.

There are also links at the bottom of the page for CONTACTS US and ABOUT US. Contacts clicks through to a page with company address, email and phone numbers and about us gives a very short potted history of Bruizer thus.

A Little Company History:
Born 15 years ago, Bruizer started out as the winning combination of an editor with a love for technology, and an experienced BBC cinematographer. Since then, we have grown into a thriving film production company with a close knit team of twelve producers, editors, animators and camera crew.
How We Think At Bruizer:
We thrive on creativity, and are constantly on the look out for new opportunities to come up with original and exciting concepts. No idea is too big, too small, or too challenging for our team. We know it’s the films that are unexpected and original that provide an emotional response and maximum impact, and we have experience of creating video content in every style imaginable.
Our Experience:
Over the last 15 years Bruizer crews have travelled the globe, involved in a whole range of incredible productions from feature films in Amsterdam to documentaries in Bangladesh. We produce it all from our fantastic fire station base, where we’ve got everything and everyone you need under one roof to write it, shoot it, edit and animate it for you.

All Links Working? Any Cul-de-sacs?
Links all working and no cul-de-sacs but at times navigation could be simpler especially on the WORK pages from completed projects where if you click back you lose your search selection.

Elements of Sharing?
Not huge amounts for sharing. However users and given loads of opportunities to contact Bruizer at the bottom of every page. There is lots of access to Bruizers content though throughout the site.

Sticky and/or Regular Fresh Contact?
The content of the projects that they have completed looks very up to date. The news area looks really thin and could be fuller with content on current projects, shooting details and updates etc. also the features idea on areas of the moving image is good but has only had 3 entries up to July in 2016! More fun elements to do may be good also such as a quiz, process to creating, behind the scenes etc.

ACCESSIBILITY and SEO

Accessibility?
I tested the website in Google Chrome and Safari and there were no issues in either. I did not try it on a tablet but on a mobile phone the version was clear and easy to use. This is hugely important as a huge percentage of surfing and browsing is now done on mobile phones and is an area that I must also really consider.

Contacts Area?
Contact options are plentiful on the site and uers are regularly encouraged to do so. There is  after every feature on the work pages a simple click though to CONTACT them to discuss ideas for work. also there are links to sign up to their NEWSLETTER at the bottom of every page and also a live CHAT (not working when I tried it). they also use social media by linking in a twitter feed to their NEWS page. There are also links to twitter, facebook, instagram, google+, vimeo and at the top of the page.

SEO ranking?
If you search for Bruizer it comes out at number one on Google. If you search for Video Production Companies Suffolk it appears at number two. However you search for Video Production Companies East Anglia it does not appear until page 5! Could be stronger but OK and again areas i will need to consider.

OVERALL
A very well designed and professional looking website that perhaps conflicts a little with the fun name and logo of the company. They exude professionalism and big clients and there is lots of video content on the website to promote their skills, creativity and nature of their work and this is an area I must strengthen on my website. They look like a larger company and state they employ about 20 members of staff and this expensive but top class feel to the company comes across on the website. For my website I love the professional feel but want to aim to have a less corporate and more friendly approach and personal feel. There is no mention of staff or being looked after and the Bruizer site is a little faceless and lacking the human touch which i feel will be a strong selling point for me,

Brain Tree Films: Logo Development Part 2.

From the initial designs I did and received some feedback on from friends who have an eye for design as well as my own analysis there was no idea that really shone through so it was a case of back to the drawing board, well computer!

The idea that I felt was the strongest and closest to the feel I was after was the logo below.

As I have mentioned before I chose the green as it not only reflects the natural colour of the tree foliage but based on some colour psychology theory. Green is a colour that represents life and renewal and is a restful and soothing colour with obvious eco friendly undertones too. The colour is also associated with freshness, environment, new, money, fertility, healing and health, crisp, renewable and tranquility. the logo is closest so far to what I am after. The circular shape is less formal and more dynamic than the rectangular ideas above. Circular shapes suggest community, unity and completeness and alongside this they also mimics the shape of the brain, tree foliage and spool of film.

However the logo is all a little too complicated and I have suffered a little once more from the curse of throwing the kitchen sink at it and making it over complicated. I like the combination of all the elements but combined they all look a little confused. To this end I decided to take the elements I liked and experiment with those. These being colour, circles and a font that I did like.

The version above has really clear lines and a professional feel. the use of colour is good and really brings the logo to life especially the shot of red alongside the green and black. The circles also give a real sense of energy and the silhouetted images are simple but they do work as a collection of three, the three words and icons also give the piece a nice balance. From showing it to a few friends whose opinions I respect they did highlight that the black icon which is a film spool due to the black circle looks very like a car wheel which i had to agree with.

Sticking with the elements that were all working I changed the film spool to an old Super8 film camera which I think works really well. In a digital age it does look a little antiquated but I quite like this and in a digital world I liked the old school hands on feel it gives. I am still not 100% sold and will continue to tinker with the logo but it is much cleaner, simpler and more professional looking. There is still a little too much information perhaps and does it need all of this detail? Am I still throwing the kitchen sink at it? I feel that I am heading in the right direction though.

Website Costings

I have a domain name and website but I wanted to clarify the costings for this.

WEB SITE DOMAIN NAME
I already have a domain name for the website from an earlier project so I can use this which is braintreefilms.com. I have this registered through 1&1 internet and will need to continue to  renew this yearly though and the cost of this is £13:09 a year.

WIX ACCOUNT
Wix is a free website building tool that I have used previously to build and  create a small site for a feature documentary I produced that did a few screenings and film festival appearances. i aim to use it again for the rebuild and repurposing
However to get rid of the Wix branding and Wix suffix on the domain name (the URL was originally you do need to pay. This is to port/connect the domain name and URL braintreefilms.com to the website based on Wix. In order to do this I needed to buy the Connect Domain Package with this functionality and the charge for this is £36:72 yearly to connect my braintreefilms.com URL. This is the simplest way of connecting my site name. However if I need any other extras and additional bolt ons I will also need to pay for these. This may be mail-boxes which will be another £34:03 a year making £70:75  year for both. However I could consider buying a Wix Premium Plan at £111:74 a year which includes both of these but also gets rid of all Wix adverts and provides more storage and bandwidth. This may be something to grow into but currently it is not needed.

VIDEO STREAMING
This can obviously be done for free on Youtube and plenty of other video based online accounts. However the quality on these can be not the best and I need a very professional look to my work and the ability to have complete control over all my content and settings. These other platforms which as I mentioned not only include Youtube but also Metacafe, Hulu and Veoh. these could be used but also could other ways of getting content to users and clients such as Facebook, Vines, Twitter and Google+. However the most stable and established platform for video and film professionals online is Vimeo. This has four different packages (Basic, Plus, Pro and Business) all of them esculating in terms of control, scale and functionality. The last 2 are designed for much bigger companies and are much more costly Pro being £159:00 and Business being £479:00 and these are something that I may need in the future and can grow into but not currently. That leaves 2 options.

Vimeo Basic: 
Cost free, 500MB/week storage, 25GB year. Unlimited bandwidth & basic privacy.
Vimeo Plus: 
Cost £49:99, 5GB/week storage, 250GB year. Unlimited bandwidth & advanced privacy including private link sharing.

I really do not want to spend the £49:99 a year on the plus but some of the functionality will make protecting my work and the digital rights management of it easier. I can encrypt work on plus and then send a link and password to whoever wants to view it thus protecting my content from being downloaded for free. I can also protect all content on the domain and They both will screen the work the same but Plus also allows me greater yearly and weekly storage. The support with issues is guaranteed to be 4 hours weekdays and 24 hours at weekends and it also allows customization of the Vimeo player if needs be.

WEB SITS DESIGN AND BUILD
This will be done by myself using Wix templates as I have some graphic design experience and it will keep the costs down. I did some research into how much it would be to outsource this and the costs varied greatly but the averages being somewhere between the two prices outlined below.

The cost of a first 1-10 page website will roughly be:
Domain name and hosting - £0.99-£50
Simple design work – £400-£600
Ongoing costs - £0-£10 per month
Overall cost - £400-£770

The cost of a small business 10-20 page website will roughly be:
Domain name and hosting - £0.99-£100
Design work – £600-£1,200
Programming - £900-£2,000
Ongoing costs - £0-£30 per month
Overall cost - £1,000-£3,500

As I have the name and hosting sorted and have covered the ongoing costs already the only other costs I would incur would be the design work and programming. So by doing the work myself and using Wix I will be saving myself a conservative estimate of between £500:00 and £2500:00. Going for the middle of these it will be saving myself about £1500:00

OVERALL COSTINGS
Taking all of the above into account the cost for creating the website breaks down like this.

£13:09: Domain Name (1&1)
£36:72; Video Hosting (Wix)
£49:99: Video Hosting (Vimeo)
£1500:00: Website build and coding (Real world costs)

Therefore if I was to outsource the design and build the cost would be £1599:80 and if I do all of the design and build work myself it would be £99:80. This makes perfectly clear that I will need to build the website myself. It will take longer but I can make it incredibly bespoke to my needs and adaptable to all of my content. Also a thorough understanding of the website will make it easier for me to update and make changes.

Brain Tree Films: Social Media Marketing

SMM or social media marketing is a huge development in the media industries and encompasses using social media to promote primary but also to indirectly market yourself and your skills and talents as well as your company. However this is not marketing in the traditional sense of the word and it is often more stealth marketing through interesting content first and foremost. This then hopefully is shared online and through social media therefore promoting you as I mentioned earlier in an indirect way but promoting you none the less. There is a reason why it is called Social Media marketing and not Advertising Media Marketing the social aspect is the key. It is like spreading good fun and interesting things by word of mouth, the moment audiences are feeling that they are being sold something or persuaded about something it risks switching them off.

From all of my research online and elsewhere I extracted the following key points that were repeatedly made at all of the sources I analysed. This will become my key and checklist to creating SMM content.

Titles: Catchy, snappy & descriptive to capture the audiences attention.

Target audience: Decide who the content is for and them match the mood & tone and interests of them.

Content: Fresh, regular & interactive. Passive content is weaker than content that gets the audience to interact, create and develop. Quizzes, polls, questions, opinions of others engaged dialogue.

Viral: Give to receive. Link baiting by visiting plenty other sites and leaving content links and trails. You need to give lots of content out there and also pass others content on forming links.

Honest: Make the content fun, creative, engaging and be subtle in dropping company name.Try not to market too much!

Video Content: Upload to platforms. If you are putting video content up on facebook then upload it to facebook not through a link to youtube. Facebook and other social media sites algorithm's give preference to content on their platform and this in turn will mean they promote the content more.

Managing Social Media: This can be a huge issue so do not try to do all playforms but just the big players. facebook, youtube, vines, twitter, snapchat and instagram for starters. Rather than managing 5+ accounts apps like Hootsuite combine all of these and allow you to manage content centrally posting to all of these rather than one at a time.

Reflection: Lack of communication with Bishop Nick

I have not managed to get any contact with the proposed client "Bishop Nick" for the past 3 weeks since our telephone conversation and the passing on of the proposals for the 2 pieces of video. It is nearly 2 weeks since I gave these to them. I have sent an emails and left a phone message but to no avail. As time is pressing and I am getting more and more nervous about this, do they not want some great "free" video content? I am going to try to visit the brewery to speak to them and find out the lie of the land. However their opening hours are usually when I am at work so this is problematic. Today I have sent another email requesting for them to contact me ASAP to get together and discuss the plans.

I am still developing my branding and marketing for my company in the background and making this my focus. This will continue to be my plan B. However whilst this is great some new creative corporate video work content to populate the web-site with would still be great. I will start researching other options and potential clients to get some.

Website Analysis: Interesting Sites

Before embarking on the design of my own web site I wanted to prevent myself from simply creating a website similar to other video production companies. So I decided to spread my net further afield and look at interesting websites and to draw ideas and inspiration from them before looking at websites from companies in the same field as my own. I trawled through lots of different sites as well as ones for video production companies looking at design, style, layout, colour and functionality all of the things I researched are the fundamentals of web design. i found this gave me a good overall opinion of what I liked and what was possible before embarking on my own design.

Brain Tree Films: Website Functionality & SEO

As well as investigating and researching web site style, functionality and design I also decided that I needed to find out more about the back end of websites. Also how to make sure that my website was very easy to find in search engines and to track usage etc of it. Below are the areas that I found out that I would need to consider using and implementing into my website.

SEO: Search Engine Optimisation
SEO is basically making sure that my website it optimised for search engines such as Google and Safari etc and is easy to find. When searches are carried out on search engines I obviously want to be at the top of page one of search results. This is not always possible but there are ways that you can near the top of the list based on how Google's algorithms.  For instance this sees you have encoded and labelled your website pages users using and finding your page. Google rate your success through hits/views and content so the more of these you get the higher up the list you go.

• Link baiting is one of these where you go to other sites and message boards promoting your content with a click through link to your website. 
• Using keywords and tags for your website can also do this as it flags up key areas and words associated with your website and worded correctly is used by Google to find out what your site is about. For instance using the words video, film production, promo, corporate etc for my site.
• Alt text is similar to tags or keywords but is the labelling within the code of the website and works in a similar way.
• Headings within the computer code are how key elements of the website are labelled. For instance headers and titles (H1, H2 & H3 in code) can also be used to highlight content to Google.
• Anchor text is when using any of the above it is also important to anchor the text to make Google read it in the best way for Google to find it. For instance labelling every page brain tree films and then the area documentary, music video is back to front. Always lead with the content descriptor first for the search engine algorithm to fins so it would be documentary then brain tree films. 

Types of Script/Language
I am planning on building my website through Wix but I do still need to be aware of the different languages and scripts and how and why each of them can be used. They are each used for different jobs and I will outline these below.

• HTML stands for hyper text mark up language. This is the most common code used for building a web page. It does most of the layout and architecture of the page and basically what goes where.
• CSS is cascading style sheets. This is basically a styling language of coding is used for  all of the design elements and for making the website and user interface look stylistically and graphically interesting.
• Javascript is used for any interactive functions on the website such as passwords and alerts and this functionality. It is not to be mistaken with Java which is completely different.

Landing Page
This is the page that ideally you want the users to land on from their searches. Ideally I want this to be the home page as from here the users will be able to navigate the website. Using all of the tricks above will make sure this happens.

Google Analytics
This is provided by Google for free at a basic level although it does have a scaling cost depending upon the level of functionality you want. Google analytics provides lots of data and statistics on user usage of your website. this may be invaluable for finding out areas of the content on the website that are engaging the users and those that are not as it develops. This is added to your site by adding some code to the website to let this happen.

Responsive Styling
This is where CSS are responsive to the device that users are using to browse. It will responsively adapt the website to the platform that is being used. So it will not show the full site on a mobile phone for instance as it would be unusable. So what responsive styling does is adapt the website to the phone and make it much more usable. The ways of doing this and coding are such tools Bootstrap and Angular JS. This also links to the Mobile Fist Initiative which says that 60% of websites are viewed by mobiles before anywhere else so stresses the importance of  having a website that is usable and functional for mobile phones.

Brain Tree Films: Website Research and Planning

I am a user of web-sites but tend to use them as a tool for information more than anything else. I also have some experience of building web sites in a small way having created a quickly thrown together small site for publicity purposes for a documentary feature I completed that screened in a few film festivals. I aim to undertake some research to understand how to create and use my new website.

Due to this my initial aim is to go right back to basics and research all of the fundamentals of building a web-site from design  and purpose to SEO, functionality, architecture and content. What follows is my research notes and how these areas apply to my web-site.

TYPES OF WEBSITES

• Personal/Blog (like the one you are reading for personal content/projects)
• Content sharing (youtube, soundcloud etc.)
• Community/Social (twitter, facebook etc)
• Information (like a news website)
• Business brochure/catalogue (where it simply shows you what they do, like a restaurant)
• e-commerce (where you buy things such as Amazon)

From all of these types (genres if you like) as with all catagories one size does not fit all. First and foremost I want my website to be like an online business catalogue to demonstrate what all of the skills are I have to offer and show work the very best work I have created as a selling point. It will contain information but this will really be from a business or contextual perspective of the work, brief and creation process, the client (testimonies)or possibly a company ethos and details about myself and the company. It will not share content but be a platform to view my content and I aim to link and embed examples of my work through a service like Vimeo. As far as it being a community or social site it will not be these but it will have social media click throughs to twitter and facebook etc. This will be used as a news feed of what the company is up to as well as a marketing tool for creating an awareness of the company. It will not really be a blog but it may be good to have a news area of what I am developing, working on or have just finished though. It will not have an e-commerce aspect to it as although it will promote my services they will not be bought through the site. This may change in the future if I decide to sell through completed work on line.

WEBSITE LAYOUT, STYLE & CONTENT

• Style appropriate to website purpose? (mood and design appropriate?)
• Design and layout simple, busy or cluttered (consider web content and adverts)?
• Do colours / text clash?
• Make sure all images and video content are web optimised i.e. do any of them take ages to download?
• The content should be refreshed and include sticky content to engage the user.
• Leave clicks that take the users away from your site to the bottom of the page.

The following are all areas I will have to consider moving forward whilst developing the website. I want a clean, contemporary and professional looking web-site and the design must follow this. I want a simple layout without too much clutter and as little text as possible. This will include clean lines and a simple colour palette with 2-3 fonts maximum. I do not want it to look too corporate though and colour will be used to create a professional but approachable site and company. I want plenty of images and also plenty of video to populate the website and all of these to be optimized for the web. This content by it's nature especially the video elements will be sticky and engage the viewer. For the video a showreel of best work as well as short versions of work (to save users time) will be used as well as the full pieces. I will also make sure all click-throughs to other sites that will take users way from my page are at the bottom of pages so they are there but my content will have to be viewed first.

FUNCTIONALITY, NAVIGATION & INTERCTIVITY

• A simple and well labelled menu? 
• No broken (not working) or incorrect links?
• Site architecture good and flows well. No cul-de-sacs to frustrate users.
• Must have functionality across all platforms. This means the user experience must be good on all computer browsers as well as verions for tablet or phone.
• Use of any elements of sharing (content or blog), data capture, gaming?
• Use fresh content to keep users coming back?

I want a really clear menu that runs consistently through all pages. The users and potential clients may be 20 and digital natives but equally may be 50+ directors or even CEO's of companies who are not as literate online. The site needs to appeal to all and be stable and easy to navigate with nothing ever more than 2 clicks away. The architecture needs to be well thought out and really accessible. Initial ideas has navigation buttons to home, about the company, the different areas of work corporate, promotional, documentary, pop video and possibly art. I see each piece of work having it's own page with an overview of the brief, making it and client testimony about it. There will also be news feed to show what is happening or coming up and a contacts page to message the company.

I feel this research has helped to clarify the purpose and content of my website and will stand me in good stead when I embark on it's design and structure.

Developing a Brand Identity & Marketing

Due to a lack of response from Bishop Nick I m going to start to develop a plan B. The whole aim of embarking on a relationship with them was to start to create work to kick-start my own small production company. As I have mentioned in earlier posts this is and area I wish to grow and the idea of the work for them was to act as a calling card to try and attract other business.


Going back to the absolute beginnings of this project as well as creating this video content and to try and attract other clients I would obviously need to start marketing myself more in a professional way. The original aim of my professional development unit was to as well as create the video content also create a platform for it to be displayed upon. As the video element is struggling I am going to focus my energies on the web-site but alongside that develop my brand, marketing and identity.


I already have a company name and have traded under this for a couple of projects. This is Brain Tree Films which as well as being my home town in my opinion also represents the themes of wisdom and also growth. Alongside this I have a web site domain in this company name and a web-site for a feature documentary I made that could be relegated to a micro site with a complete overhaul of this to repurpose the web-site.


The aim is to focus on all of these promotional and marketing aspects and to start developing, researching and possibly creating all of the following.

• Develop my company branding and identity as well as mission statement.
• Develop long term strategy for creating work and content to promote the company.
• Create a logo and company identity.
• Create a motion graphic for the logo.
• Create a marketing strategy online. SMM, online presence etc.
• Create a marketing strategy offline. Letters, emails,

Bishop Nick: Completed Briefs, Visuals and Storyboards.

As discussed with the client I completed a brief/treatment or creative as well as rough mock up visuals and visual ideas and storyboards for the "Our story" and "Promo" video. I dropped these into the brewery but neither Libby or Nelion were there to talk to about it. They follow on from discussions that said i was heading along the right lines and that I should develop these and get back to them.I am hoping that they will get back to me ASAP so we can discuss this further.

Bishop Nick "Our Story" Mini Documentary: Cut Out Animation Techniques & Inspiration

I want to create an innovative historical documentary skinny of Bishop Nick from the perspective of the Ridley family and their long associated history with brewing from Bishop Nick through to Nelion Ridley today. This will go in their "About Us" section on the web-site and convey this long association with brewing in a funny, quirky, pacey and memorable way. One way I am considering doing this is using cut out animation techniques and the handmade quality, clash of source images and craft feel of it which I feel will work well with the company branding and image.

Below are some examples of the films I researched for ideas and inspiration. I will show these to my client to give them an idea of the mood, tone and feel I am going for.

This animation below simply entitled "Collage - Cut Out Animation" demonstrates one of the techniques I am considering applying. The techniques is a very old one and involves cut outs being animated moving around the frame. Today it is easy to recreate and be more innovative with it using Adobe After Effects and rather than simply playing around with the animation on a flat plane use the foreground and middle ground as well as the flat background. The interplay and variety of sources of image and juxtaposition of these can be really interesting.





Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame was also a pioneer of the cut-out animation technique combining fun visuals with a real sense of humour. The "Miracle of Flight" and "Monty Python Versus Animation" both below illustrate this excellently.

"To Thee Moon" is another excellent example of this technique. Again the juxtaposition of images and basic nature and "handmade quality" of bering crafted shine through. The film also has a darker feel that I may able to draw upon for elements of my idea.

Bishop Nick: Contact at last

Libby from Bishop Nick finally got back to me! Firstly they emailed me back the questionnaire filled and then we had a phone conversation to discuss the finer points of it. We had a catch up and discussed the ideas that I had for the two sections that I had been working on the "Our Story" section and the Promo/Advertorial about the company, produce, history, etc. The discussion was really positive and they liked all the directions that I was considering

The key points from the discussion were.

• Develop the animated "Our Story" idea to a brief and few visuals.
• Develop the "Promo" idea to also a brief and a storyboard/shot-list.
• We need to try and firm up dates so I have a deadline to work to.
• Better communication between myself and especially them.
• An issue may be they are very busy over the next month or so but if I develop the ideas we can look to possibly shoot late July or August.
• Money is obviously going to be an issue but if I inform them of exactly what expenses I may have they will look to find a little money for these.
• They are really excited about the idea of video content on their website and for promotions.

I am going to work on developing the ideas and get back to them within the week.

Reflection: Lack of communication with Bishop Nick

I have not managed to get any contact with the proposed client "Bishop Nick" for the past 4 weeks. I have sent emails and left phone messages but to no avail. Today I have sent a final email requesting for them to contact me ASAP to get together and discuss the plans.

As a result of this in the background I am starting to develop a plan B for the project which may have to be taken up if there is no communication soon. This will be to focus more on the website, promotions and marketing of my own production company Brain Tree Films. This was always linked to creating the video content to promote my own company. It is simply a case of putting the cart before the horse and developing this before I have the content. but hopefully "if i build it, they will come!".

Bishop Nick: Primary Client Research

As both myself and the brewery owners are busy during the week arranging a meet up has been put temporarily on the back burner. However not wanting to let the grass grow under my feet I want to keep what little momentum has been built up going and to start doing some primary research into their brand. In order to do this and to help me flesh out a better picture of their aims and objectives even further and insight into their brand I have emailed them a few questions to respond to. This will help direct me in devising concepts and ideas to be discussed when we finally get a date in our diaries.

• 20 words that you feel describe the Bishop Nick brand.
• What are the typical demographics Bishop Nick audience and consumers? Are you looking to extend this into other demographics.
• Have you seen any promotional moving image work or styles that you have liked you can point me to.
• Exactly what 2 pieces of video or moving image (animation etc) content do you feel would best help to promote your brand.
• How much access and time will Nelion be able to realistically give me for the project.
• How much access will I be able to get to the brewery and bottling plant? Dates and hours etc.
• As far as timescales go will the end of August for delivery work for you.
• Can I get access to and use the branding (style guide, graphics and illustrations) for the company.
• Is there a Ridleys archive I may be able to use for images for an "About Us" video.
• Realistically is there a little money for expenses for the work to not leave me out of pocket.
• Where are you looking to use the videos?
• What are you looking to use the videos for?

Meantime Brewery: Video Content Analysis

Meantime Brewery based in Grenwich, London is a growing medium sized brewery specialising in the craft beer market. They are very proud of the London heritage of being the brewery capital of the world at one stage as well as using the best ingredients, brewing real beer and the time and love to make their beers. As with the other examples of brewery video and moving image content I have looked at I am analysing it in terms of being indirect competition and to see what other breweries are doing. I am aiming for inspiration but also to see how I can create a more creative and interesting approach for Bishop Nick.

The first video is an introduction to the brewers at meantime Brewery. It is just under 2 mins and highlights the brewers and their philosophies on brewing great beer.

The promo is a visual mix of graphical typography, imagery, lower thirds introductions and stills of the brewers they are talking about. The images are frantic and kinetic themselves constantly on the move, jumping, zooming, jump cutting to reveal variations on shots and type. It is the types of techniques pioneered by for the Se7en film opening sequence making it look like bumped film in shutters and gates, hairs on film and over exposure. This is done as white on black and distorted colour layers as flash-frame edit transitions too. The music is uptempo and with a heavy guitar riff and drum beats to appeal to a younger target audience.

Before we meet each of the brewers their surname appears on the screen in capitals on a black background. Then accompanying the photos of the brewers at work we have first a lower third type introduction of them all for instance "Jenn Merrick" and where they were born, then where they live now followed by their philosophy such as "never accept pasteurised beer ever" and "remember tradition, accept technology.

It is a really interesting piece and dissimilar to their other video content being upbeat and a little in your face using very contemporary image and editing techniques. It does work fairly well but does somewhat rescind from their time, time, time philosophy and give a very modern approach to a brewery that does not feel like it wants to be over modern. the trading in tradition, London and the first large brewery for over 80 years does not sit really easily with the promo. It is well put together though and does catch the attention and highlight the passion of their brewers and there differing nationalities and skill-sets.

This second video links the brewery to it's proud heritage and tradition of brewing in London. It explores the links of the capital city with the brewery trade and how they are re-igniting this.




The last video is a really interesting piece of kinetic typography playing with the concept of time and the breweries philosophy of it taking time up to 6 weeks to brew a decent beer. This promo lasts one minute 55 seconds.




The time concept is played around and a demonstration of life is so busy and full on BUT that you need to take time. A play on the fact that the brewery is called Meantime and is based in Grenwich the home of the international dateline is hard to miss. The promo relates to the company philosophy to try, practice, fail, wait, perfect and reflect etc. The voice over is of a very London Ray Winstone type extolling the virtues of not rushing and taking time. The visuals are kinetic typography throughout but angrier and faster plays on time with the letters TIME in black on  ares background and pacify edited. The VO is urgent and angry and stressed and a drone peaking at a screeching in the background that drops out entirely when a different type of time starts being discussed. the work time moves in slowly from off screen and moves into the middle of the frame during this and then settles.

Next the background sound cuts out to leave just the voice now slower and calmer and more laid back. The visuals are all based around the word TIME in big red letters on a black background with words in white from the VO emphasised over the top each one incorporating one letter from the work time which is the constant on screen. The T of time is used by the letters HINK to the right of it smaller and in white to spell out THINK for instance. This does not change until near the end when the work MEAN comes in to meet TIME thus spelling out the name of the company. The animation ends with the Meantime Brewery logo.

The piece is very effective and whilst not being explicit gets its message across well and really plays on the company idea that it takes 6 weeks to make a good beer. It aligns itself with the craft beer movement, non-multi-national conglomerates and great ingredients that it hope drinkers will buy into. The interesting thing is that beer is never shown adding to the mystery of the brewery and its beers.

Crate Brewery Camden: Video Promos

Crate Brewery in Hackney Wick, London is a growing small brewery specialising in craft beers. their web-site contained a few bits of video content. Following on from analysing some of the Brew Dog moving image content I wanted to look at a few other breweries to see what they were doing and how I could learn from these in terms of style and content. Being indirect competition I want to use the successes on their work and try to bring my own innovation to the Bishop Nick brand.

The first video I looked at was a prmo for the brewery itself as this is something that I am proposing to do for Bishop Nick.

In this promo it puts the man who founded the brewery in 2012 front and centre of the film as his own personal mission, desire, enthusiasm and strength one of the USP's of the Crate brand. On top of his obvious love of the business and craft beer he also talks about the location, desire to be open for the 2012 Olympics nearby and the fact that the brewery has to "draw people in" as it is not in a huge thoroughfare.

The style is very traditional of talking heads in a MCU shot next to the canal where the brewery is showing the natural and urban aspects of his company graffiti on the walls emphasising the urban. The shots for this are very obvious and white flashes often join his sound bites and interview together which looks a little sloppy. There are also very conventional general views (GV's) of a lot of the aspects he is talking about to cut away to. The brewery, ingredients, staff, bottling, bars and shots of some of the processes but it is all very safe and obvious.

He also talks through the 6 beers that Crate make from IPA to stout and the company focus on these being the absolute best of each type of classic beer/drink. He talks about all of the excellent ingredients, inspirations and where his ideas come from and constantly striving for the best at times in the face of cost, time and common sense. As well as promoting his own beers he also discusses the craft beer movement and the great beers available and pride in being part of it and the competition in the marketplace driving him on. He ends by saying "I got into this business to make the best beer possible, and to see someone at the end of a bar with a beer and their face lighting up".

The second video I looked at was a "Day in the Life" of the brewery. Again my clients at Bishop Nick were interested in doing one of these from hops to bottling so I hoped to find some ideas and inspiration here.