When to Outsource?

FULL SERVICE PRODUCTION CENTER - When to Outsource?
By Bruce Dixon, Lindsey O’Neill and Victor Van Rees

You’ve set up a basic camera package and you’ve installed edit software on a laptop to handle interviews and training scenarios for your intranet. Now you’re tasked with creating a polished, complex corporate marketing, tradeshow or advocacy video. You can certainly handle taping the talking heads and cutting them with scenes around the office. Now’s the time to think about going outside for that polish, extra touch, sophisticated look and the rapid-response that a full service post-production center can offer.

Here are just a few services you might want to outsource...

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND ANIMATION: When your presentation has to stand out from the crowd and leave an impression, you want that extra sizzle that only motion graphic effects or animation can bring. A blend of multi-layered scenes with special transitions can create a pace and emotion to carry your message.

McAfee Promo for AOL
http://efxtv.com/media.cfm?m=1028

OPM Cloud Computing Animation

http://efxtv.com/media.cfm?m=2691

If you need to convey an intangible concept or bring a computer program to life, an animation might be the best, or only, way to illustrate it. Full service post-production facilities generally have motion graphic designers or animators on-staff that specialize in creating impressive or realistic effects, and have the knowhow to blend them seamlessly into an edited piece.

COMPLEX AUDIO TRACKS: A full service post-production facility has access to the latest in library music tracks pre-screened by pros, as well an impressive collection of professional voice-over narrators available at the drop of a hat. 

Access to those resources is coupled with an impressive talent for blending all the soundbites, background narration, music and sound effects by mixing the tracks for transparency and impact with just the right timing.

EXPERIENCED WORLD-CLASS EDITORS AND/OR PRODUCERS: You know your company and its message, but are you having trouble crafting a bunch of interview sound bites into a real story appropriate for your audience? A professional who has spent a career in developing insight and presentation skills for every occasion will add that extra something. Storytelling is an art requiring talent enhanced by experience. Balancing all the elements from effortless pacing to eliciting a specific emotion, are some of the advantages of working with an industry pro.

DISTANT LOCATION PRODUCTION: You need scenes shot in Juno, Wichita, Duluth or Hong Kong. How do you find a local crew you can trust to shoot with the right equipment, in the best quality, with the right attitude, who will show up on time? A full service production center like EFX Media can book a production package selected from their long list of trusted crews in nearly every state and twelve other countries.

FINISHING, DUPLICATION AND INTERACTIVE: Your production is complete… now what? A full service post-production facility has all the equipment needed to distribute a product for broadcast, web distribution, DVD or CD physical distribution, or for event playback. Most in-house production setups are unable to handle the complex routing, cabling and expensive equipment needed to go seamlessly from the edit suite to distribution.

The full-service production facility can master to just about any tape format in standard or high definition, create digital files for web distribution or embedding within a PowerPoint presentation, develop interactive menu driven DVDs or provide … you name it. Also included is an expertise when it comes to more complex needs like translation, captioning, package fulfillment or interactive programming to organize and host your digital assets.


MEDIA ARCHIVE SYSTEM: Say you’ve completed a complicated marketing presentation and a year later you have a new management team. Now you have to replace all the scenes with the old CEO, and many are multi-layered with special effects. Imagine having to re-digitize your master, find the old source tapes or files, and re-create complex edits. A media archiving system allows you to reinstate a project’s media files so you can pick right up where you left off. Everything is back in place, like nothing happened, and you’re back in business! When your project is archived, changes are easy, even months or years after the fact.

INTERCONNECTION TECHNOLOGY: At a full service post-production center you might likely take advantage of robust technology to boost efficiency, particularly during the busy season when ambitious projects require a rapid response. At EFX, for example, we have our Avid Unity - a SAN (Storage Area Network) connecting all our production computers via Fibre Channel (fiber optic cables). This high-speed data connection allows all the edit suites and other workstations at EFX to access the same drives and project files. Using Unity means our editors can all work on the same project at the same time when necessary. 


For example, on a quick turnaround job, we could be logging and ingesting footage on one system, while editing on a second system. On projects with lots of complex effects, we can break-up the rendering and spread it out among several machines for a faster turn time. While producing a large, multi-faceted project with little time to spare, you could have two or more edit suites working on various elements of the project simultaneously to finish within a very tight timeframe.

Online Video Asset Management, A Whitepaper

"Don't Let Video Assets Become a Liability"

Your web audience prefers video as an information resource. Your public affairs and training departments want to post more and more videos, while making sure that viewers can easily navigate to their subject matter preference. You need to manage a seemingly unmanageable library of video assets that is expanding exponentially, while delivering content in a timely manner. As more than one communications officer has stated, “My agency has become Youtube-crazy.” The proliferation of videos often means that important communications get lost in an online video maze. How many sites have seemingly dumped videos into the multimedia section of their website in chronological order? Consider how effective a public library would be without a Dewey Decimal System.

A successful online video communication strategy should consider the ease and efficiency of managing an expanding library of assets. Most importantly, the successful video asset management system will foster an enhanced viewer experience. Video engages viewers more than online text, and you want them engaged and channeled to targeted communications. The following aspects are key criteria for establishing an effective Video Asset Management System.

The Platform - You want your staff to have a simple and speedy method for uploading and cataloging video assets, without requiring programming skills. A turn-key approach utilizing a content management system should allow for ease in uploading videos and updating the site, with the same level of technical knowledge requirement as for a word processing program.

Navigation – More about navigation in the Viewer Experience section below, but the initial flowcharting of a navigation system for logical organization of subject matter is a significant first step. Considerations should include: how many levels, how many categories, how are the categories linked to other website sections, what are the hierarchies? A search function on the site should be considered, and a system for entering meta data should be established.

A menu page from EFX Media’s video demo site www.efxmedia.com

Omnibus/Ad Hoc Video Support Contract, A Whitepaper

We suggest that several Federal agencies could greatly benefit from an omnibus video services contract, similar to contracts awarded to EFX Media by the US Census Bureau, FEMA, OCC and others. We have developed the following White Paper that outlines the advantages of such a contract for augmenting internal facilities at Federal agencies, corporations and associations. Consider an approach for augmenting your in-house video capabilities with video services (primarily location shooting) and technical support (editing, interactive programming, duplication, etc.), on an as-needed basis, under an omnibus type of IDIQ contract. When any department requires services over and above your existing capabilities, a vendor, such as EFX, could supply them on an "as needed" basis. This would minimize the need to add full-time staff or equipment for what might only be a temporary spike in need. The funding minimum for such a contract can be extremely low, with each task order requiring specific budget approval. A specially discounted rate card for services and labor categories would be established that would allow for instant calculation of cost.

The cost savings would likely be considerable. The efficiency of instant support without lengthy contracting effort would be enormous. The US Census Bureau foresaw this advantage and awarded a contract to our company that is similar to what I propose (see blurb below). The US Army has also consolidated many of their video service needs to an IDIQ contract recently, as has the Office of Comptroller of the Currency. The advantage of having a vendor with so wide-reaching capabilities such as EFX under contract would be to minimize contracting efforts when sudden needs require rapid response. Further, we have created a national network of video production specialists with the latest in camera equipment, all available to us at below-market rates on a 24-hour notice basis.

Noorvik, Alaska, January 25, 2010 -- EFX provided US Census Bureau with a live satellite uplink from remote Alaskan village of Noorvik. Here, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves traveled by dog sled to visit residents.

Scene from animated "It's Easy" a how-to video on filling out the
Census form, created in 60 languages. Video can be viewed at http://www.efxmediatv.com/media.cfm?c=582&m=3160




U.S. CENSUS BUREAU AV CONTRACT:
The EFX Company (dba EFX Media), a twenty six year old video production company in Arlington, has been awarded a contract from the US Census Bureau to provide video production and other audio/video services. The Census PIO (Public Information Office) sought to find a general supplier of outside AV services to augment its own extensive in house capabilities. EFX Media will provide, among other services, location video production crews, editors, editing services, interactive design, and technical staffing services. Should all options be exercised, the contract will be worth $3.5 million dollars over the base year and four option years. In addition to providing location shooting all over the country, EFX was tasked with producing a 10-minute animated educational video to show citizens how to fill out and mail back their census form. The video was produced in 60 different languages, including a version for the English & Spanish LGBT community and a version in American Sign Language.

2D vs. 3D Animation: A Few Considerations

Choices for techniques in motion graphics and animation for video are many. The primary decision is not which software, but whether 2D or 3D. If you are featuring a talking lizard for an insurance company, then best you find a genius 3D animator (although you will likely use After Effects to marry it to live action video). But for affordable animation, compositing, motion control and graphic effects, our money is on After Effects.
With the latest plug-ins and a knowledgeable designer, After Effects allows for creation of 3D-like animation in an edit suite, without the extensive modeling and wire framing required in 3D animation programs. This allows for efficiency in altering individual elements in the presentation. With most presentations for commercial and government clients, modification through various levels of approval is a way of life. Making changes in a 3D animation program can be much more cumbersome and time-consuming.

In a whimsical video promotion for AOL/McAfee, EFX editors and designers composited a wide range of animated elements and special effects. You can view the video at
http://www.efxmediatv.com/media.cfm?c=576&m=1028



After Effects is a compositing/motion graphics program from Adobe with some limited 3D abilities. Although not technically 3 dimension, it doesn’t mean you cannot achieve the look of depth, thus the illusion of 3D. After Effects works with 2 dimensional objects and offers the ability to manipulate these objects within "Z" space (depth).

Frame from an Orbital meeting presentation that can be viewed at
http://www.efxmediatv.com/media.cfm?c=574&m=2432&

The Long and Short of Web Videos

Our advice to clients is to keep their web videos short if they want viewers to watch the entire presentation. Two to three minutes seems to be the upper limit of web viewer attention spans. But, what about those viewers who want more detail and information?  
Our friend Joshua Dinman, Director of Marketing Communications at Orbital Sciences Corporation,a satellite and space launch vehicle manufacturer, offered a solution that should have been obvious – present more than one video.

  On the Orbital Sciences Corporation career site, you can view a short overview video about careers http://www.orbital.com/Careers/(see bottom of left hand navigation panel). 

 But, Josh wanted to share real-life experiences of employees in different job categories. A ten or fifteen-minute video was out of the question. So, longer in-depth video testimonials from a cross-section of employees were presented. 

Prospective employees could hear from as many potential co-workers as they wished.

That’s the long and short of it. Thanks Josh!

You can view other sample videos at: www.efxmedia.com as well as the Orbital Corporate video at http://www.efxtv.com/media.cfm?c=574&m=1025

The Dreaded “Talking Head” Doesn't Have To Be Dreadful

by Julie Otto and Victor Van Rees

Videos with “talking heads” - on-camera interviews/testimonials - often get a bad rap.  Many think talking heads are used because a producer lacks imagination and has nothing else to film.  The term “talking head” conjures up the image of a stereotypical professor-type - monologue-ing ad nauseam devoid of emotion or purpose. We disagree. In fact, talking heads can be your best asset for a video, if produced in a compelling and thoughtful manner. 

For example, the producer/director must be prepared before the shoot and know what the client requires from the interview/testimonial. We often write a script or treatment with all the key points we need the subject to present. If the subject elaborates a bit too much, no problem, we can fix it with an edit. Better to have too much rather than too little. Sometimes, when our on-camera subject will ramble on due to nerves, we have found that helping them parse out the soundbite, and giving them a second chance to say what they want to say, makes them more comfortable and able hit the nail on head the second time. Our producers emphasize that their job is to make the subject look and sound their best, creating a level of trust between the subject and the crew.

It is important to learn as much about the subject as possible before the shoot. Having a point of reference can offer subtle tips about how to couch questions for the best response. Plus, knowing some personal things about the subject will allow for a bit of friendly chit-chat warm-up before the shooting starts and create a relaxed atmosphere. A good example was taping an interview with a recent Commerce Secretary. His delivery was flat, and the presentation lacked force. We had him stand up from his comfortable chair and asked him to speak as if he were speaking to a group of fundraisers. His smile became infectious, and his delivery had the tone of sincerity.