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Tag: dewey thompson

Corporate Film School #6: Voice Over: Who Does Your Company Sound Like?

https://vimeo.com/486119015 As corporate communications diversifies, what should the “Voice of God” sound like?   And do we really believe that someone (anyone) can tell us the way the world works?   In this episode of Corporate Film School, we address some of the issues confronting the use of voice-over - the (typically) unseen narration heard over images - that sets the tone and, to an unacknowledged degree, the authorial personality and background of a video.  Who do we hear when your company speaks? Filmed By: Christian Carmody Edited By: Amos Damroth

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Corporate Film School #3: Setting or How to Escape the Realm of the Un-dead

It turns out that where we can shoot video is the aspect of production perhaps most disrupted by the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic quarantine. And, with most communication - both business and personal - happening through video - almost exclusively shot at home - the focus on setting has been, well, kind of hilarious. The fact is that, while there may not be a Twitter account dedicated to it (but you should check) we consciously or unconsciously scrutinize every setting in every video we watch. Setting is a major element of film language and it delivers - like it or not - significant…

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Corporate Film School #2: The Seductive Trap of Production Values

IMHO we spend too much time and resources on making images look good and not enough on what we’re trying to communicate. In other words, on style versus content. That’s not to say that style and image quality aren’t important. In fact, image quality or, more broadly - to include lighting, sound and setting - production values, make the first impression on the audience and set expectations for the content they frame. And, often, the content of the communication demands the highest possible level of production values. But not always. And it’s important to understand how an automatic application of highly polished production values can…

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Corporate Film School #1: Film Language

When the pandemic suddenly stopped business as usual, we took a new look at our almost twenty years of making films and videos under the Pickerel Pie banner.  One thing we became aware of, over that time, working with dozens of clients on hundreds of projects, is that our clients would benefit from a better understanding of the language and grammar of film.  First, because the language of visual communication is fascinating and constantly evolving but also because, we think it would help the process of making great video if we all spoke the same language.   This series, somewhat cheekily titled, Corporate Film School (where else…

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The Art of Asking Questions

The Interview is one of the fundamental modes of storytelling (what can you tell me about…?) and, yet, one of the most under-rated and, thus, under-examined skills to be mastered by creative producers and directors. Charming/cajoling/extracting information or stories from someone on camera is an art - with as many possible approaches as practitioners - but there a few basic guidelines to keep in mind – particularly, if you decide (perhaps, for effect) to ignore them or do the opposite – to enhance your chances of getting good material from your interview: 1. Prepare.  You should have both a good grasp of what your subject…

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How To Make Your Videos Evergreen Or, How Did Neil Young Survive Punk Rock?

Our best clients spend substantially on video production and, with all but the most ephemeral projects, there is always the hope, if not the goal, of producing something that will deliver value for a long time. That kind of staying power is rare and worth examining. I was doing the dishes and, as is my wont, listening to the kind of mix that only Shuffle can DJ (Curated Randomness will be addressed in another post) and I was struck, both by Shuffle’s genius juxtaposition with the Buzzcock’s “Boredom” and by the repetitive eloquence of Neil Young’s guitar solos. They’re epic and irreducible and, thus, kind…

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Urgency vs. Whimsy

One of many favorite moments from Cucaracha Theater Company shows a long time ago in a Tribeca that no longer exists was a monologue by Todd Alcott in which he tells a story about falling asleep while driving cross-country. He talks about the struggle to keep awake and how, when his eyes close, going 70 miles an hour down a two-lane highway, he begins to have “the most marvelous dream”. The whimsical details of the dream, languidly drawn out in Todd’s retelling, become increasingly excruciating to hear, of course, because of the urgency (to put it mildly) of the context of the dream. I’ve never…

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