If you haven’t heard of gTLDs, you’re not alone. gTLD stands for Generic Top Level Domains – they are the .com, .net, biz that you see at the end ofa url. Up to now there have only been 22 of them, but that’s about to change.
ICANN developed a fantasic, easy to understand web site on the topic.
Better yet, here’s a snappy video on the subject. Seattle video production company, GoodSide Studio (that’s us) produced this video for ICANN in 2011
http://vimeo.com/27218110
Stephen Covey writes “Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.” That means all of us (er. . . women too) have the ability to make choices, rather than just respond to stimulus.
Let’s apply this very simple concept to video production. Most videos GoodSide Studio produces are started with a need. I’ve never had a client say “I think it’d be fun to make a video. What do you think it should be about or do for me?” They always start with “We need to train our workers.” or “We need to sell more widgets.” or something like that.
Clients don’t want a video, they want an outcome. We can think of the need as the stimulus. The first task of A successful video producer is to make sure they really understand the stimulus, rather than jumping to the first, most obvious conclusion. For example, if the client says they want to educate our customers about our product. An unthinking response might be to make a marketing heavy response intended to educate the public about the features and benefits of the product. However, maybe the client wants to educate their customers about the product because people are using it incorrectly and could hurt themselves. In the real world, of course the client and producer are going to align their beliefs eventually, but the sooner the producer gets it right, the smoother sailing everyone will have.
Next, even if you understand the stimulus, should you always act on it? This isn’t a very good trick question; the answer is “No!” By dissecting the word “responsibility” we can think of it as “response ability.” Rather than being reactive and doing things the way “they’ve always been done,” you can use your self awareness, imagination, conscience and independent will to ask if the stock solution is the best one in this case.
OK – this is blog, not a dissertation, so I only touched on the depth of wisdom to be found in the 7 habits. To sum this habit up: Both the client and the producer should take initiative in detailing the scope and mission of the video. Their decisions are the primary determining factor for the effectiveness of the video. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow.
Posted by mattkrzycki | 0 commentsIf you’re not familiar with Steven Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Succesful People, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy and give it a read. It’s based on developing character building principles that will work for you in every realm of the business world and life in general. As a video producer, I apply the seven habits to every project I work on.
In coming posts I’ll discuss how each of the seven habits can be applied to a professional video production. In this post I want to touch on each of the first three habits with an overview and few brief words relating them to training video production and marketing video production.
Synopsis: Take initiative in life by realizing that your decisions (and how they align with life’s principles) are the primary determining factor for effectiveness in your life. Take responsibility for your choices and the subsequent consequences that follow. Preproduction is often the most important part of any production – good planning leads to a successful video shoot.
Synopsis: Self-discover and clarify your deeply important character values and life goals. Envision the ideal characteristics for each of your various roles and relationships in life. Where will the video be shown? On the web? One a television monitor? On a movie screen? It’s often not easy to retrofit a video for a bigger screen – best to know where you’ll be showing it before you even start
Synopsis: Plan, prioritize, and execute your week’s tasks based on importance rather than urgency. Evaluate whether your efforts exemplify your desired character values, propel you toward goals, and enrich the roles and relationships that were elaborated in Habit 2. What really matters? Are expensive locations and special effects really important? If so, focus on them, but if not; let them go.
In the next post, we’ll dig into habit #1 and all they ways it is important to producing your video.
If you have questions about starting your video, give us a call or send us an email – 206-322-1576 • Studio@GoodSideStudio.com
Posted by mattkrzycki | 1 comments
Everybody has heard about the Cobbler’s Son and how he has no shoes. Well, later this week GoodSide is getting some shiny new shoes.
The primary reason is, we need a better place to show off our work. When our last site was designed, 300 x 400 was pretty big for web video. That’s no longer the standard and if anyone needs a professional video presentation, it’s a video production company.
We’re showing off new videos we produced for Clients like ICANN, Precor and Isilon – some well known brands and fantastic clients.
As I write this, the final touches are being made and testing is commencing. I’m excited to invite you back to see it soon.
Posted by mattkrzycki | 1 comments
