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Welcome to the Duchin Productions Blog
Can’t you “just” fix that? A guide to video production glitches.
No one is perfect and mistakes happen. Things like low audio, over exposure or blurry footage have happened to all of us. Sadly, there still is no magic button that fixes things. Frequently, you can improve certain problems and make glitches less obvious. We hope the following helps explain some of the challenges and maybe even give life to content that was once thought unusable. Evaluation: It you’re hoping to have something fixed, take it to a professional and get their opinion. There have been times we’ve resurrected footage and others...
read moreWhich is better, doing a live webinar or uploading a prerecorded presentation?
We’ve put fingers to keyboard and complied a list of the plusses and minuses of the two approaches. Live Webinar Plus: – Real time interaction and engagement with your audience Minus: – Phone connections can sound like tin cans – Mistakes are live – Poor attendance may reflect negatively on your team – If you forget to say something, it may be lost to your live audience – Technical difficulties are broadcast live and annoying to attendees – If you have internet connection issues, the recorded...
read moreMake your URLs SIMPLE!
I was looking through the local business paper today and noticed a url to an event. The organizers used some convoluted combination of numbers and letters that had zero to do with the event name. A Bilty might work as a short link within social/electronic media but for print, you should always create an easy to remember link for manually typing into a web browser. If your web person can’t create an easy to remember url/link in under an hour, then it’s time for a new web person. Of course having great content on the...
read moreIs it funny?
Who doesn’t like a funny video. It’s a great way to break up a slow day and maybe even put you in a better mood. Companies frequently want to make humorous videos but it can be a slippery slope. As a business, you still have to ask yourself “How does this add value to my current and/or future customers?” Often times, what employees may think is hilarious can be a pain point or simply insulting to your external audience. Making light of a software update or your product missing some kind of functionality can quickly backfire. Another big...
read moreFixing Horrible Audio
You know what I’m talking about. Webinars where the speaker sounds like she’s in a tin can, man-on-the-street interviews that are ruined by loud trade show traffic and eclipse the person talking. I’m sure you can think of more. I’m often asked how to fix these problems and the short answer is, you can’t, well, sort of. There is no magic button to press that corrects bad audio. With lots of time, energy and effort, you might be able to improve the sound a bit, but it’s not easy and the results are often still poor. ...
read moreAsk Me Anything
Creating videos isn’t always easy. My clients and friends know I’m always ready to help answer questions or give advice, even if they’re not using Duchin Productions. Not every project requires the big camera and lights, sometimes I encourage people to give it a go themselves (when appropriate). But even the simplest cameras can be really confusing, never be shy about picking up the phone or sending a question over email. If for some reason I can’t answer the question, I’ll find someone who can. Struggling to get great audio or...
read moreSaving money on trade show booth power
Most people know ordering power for a trade show booth can cost a FORTUNE! It’s easy to be intimidated when the show electricians start talking gibberish about your power needs but fear not, we’re here to help and hopefully save you a boatload of money. Follow these three simple steps and become an electricity superhero. Step one: Do a quick inventory of things you’ll need to plug in. This includes laptops, mobile phone chargers, display screens, booth lighting, etc. Step two: Educate yourself about how much power each item uses. You can...
read moreA retainer for video?
You have retainers with your PR and Ad agencies because these services are vital to your business. You already know video is a great way to engage your audience, so why not consider a video retainer with Duchin Productions to stay top of mind with your market. Creating regular video content can be a struggle but with our new retainer service it’s easier and cheaper because we offer it at a reduced cost compared to our traditional services. Below are some suggestions of how your business could benefit from our video retainer program....
read moreShowing just words in videos?
You just spent weeks with a designer animating impactful words to communicate a message using video. You even spent hours looking for just the right piece of music to complement it. For certain audiences this might be fine, but if you’re posting your video on the web, you need to consider a few more steps. Google Chances are, you want Google to find your content, but Google can read graphics. The good news is it can read words when properly presented. One of the best ways is with a captioning file. Creating a caption file of the identical...
read moreCorporate Journalism, your lifeline to business growth
Imagine for a second you owned a newspaper. You have reporters hitting the streets finding and telling great stories. Publishing great stories leads to credibility which in turn increases subscribers and grows advertising revenue. If your reporters simply started writing articles about how wonderful your newspaper was, you’d quickly lose readership. Strangely though, many companies embrace a “look at us” approach and share self-serving information about how wonderful they are. If you’re a news organization with this mantra, you won’t be...
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