The Motion Source Video Production Blog

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

- Benjamin Franklin

September 29, 2014

Your Organization Should be Using Training Videos

By john scaletta • Marketing Manager

Why?

Bottom line, a well-produced training video will save your organization money, help protect your firm against legal complications, and create a more effective way of training employees.

How?

By having a series of training videos created you can cut down the high costs....

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September 11, 2014

4 Myths about Video Production

By john scaletta • President

Myth #1: I need to write a script for my video.

Fact: In some cases a script is actually the opposite of what we recommend to our clients. An “off the cuff” interview allows for a more genuine response and in the end a more genuine video. We recommend that our client brings an outline of what topics they want the video to be about and our team will capture stories that can cover their messages.

Myth #2: I need...

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August 29, 2014

Guest Post: The Secret Formula for The Perfect Viral Share

By Megan Marie Ritter • Business Journalist

How to Apply Video to Your Viral Content Marketing Strategy

Being “viral” has never felt so good. The hottest trends in social video are changing – are you up for the challenge? With all the tips surrounding video marketing, take your online message one step further by going for viral video sharing...

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August 19, 2014

Medical Video Productions in Chicago

By john scaletta • President

At Motion Source we have a wide variety of clients, including several in the medical industry. In the past we have worked with dentists, medical software companies, medical device manufactures and medical research organizations.  

We created a series of videos for local Chicago dental office Always There Dental Care; including a company profile video and customer testimonial videos. The company profile video featured both dentists at the office and...

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August 11, 2014

Life Expectancy and Cost of a Marketing Video

By john scaletta • President

What's the life expectancy and cost of a marketing video?   Well, it depends on a few factors.

First let's assume the video was created professionally because otherwise, like anything else, the lifespan will be much less. A professionally made video is made using full HD cameras, recording media, stabilization gear, professional lighting equipment, and camera enhancement equipment... 

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July 30, 2014

Convincing Subscribers to not Opt Out: Try Video

By Chris Pagoria • Marketing Manager

I'm on a lot of email lists! Lists for newsletters, product announcements, newsfeeds and more. As you might expect, sometimes I decide I don't want blast emails from certain organizations anymore and unsubscribe from their lists. Now I'm just one person unsubscribing from a particular list but for larger organizations even a small dropout rate can equate to thousands of contacts being lost. 

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July 24, 2014

Video Thumbnails

By craig bass • Creative Director

We all know better than to judge a book by it’s cover, but we all do it anyhow. It's not surprising with hundreds of cable channels, millions of books, and billions of websites—not to mention everything else there is in the world!—we have so many things to choose from that we have to make some choices quickly. Sometimes, that means making choices based on the first impression of a cover.

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July 17, 2014

Affiliate Marketing Videos

By Chris Pagoria • Marketing Manager

Many companies count on outside help in selling their products. "Affiliate marketing" is a big buzz-word for the practice of offering commissions to bloggers and other website owners—the "affiliates" in affiliate marketing—when a customer follows a link on their site to make a purchase. Affiliate marketing offers the opportunity for significantly increased sales and exposure. For example say you invented a new way of making guitar picks that would allow you to sell them for a fraction of what your competitors sell them for. Sounds like a homerun, right?

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July 08, 2014

Video Retention Rates

By Chris Pagoria • Marketing Manager

If you don’t know about video retention rates, they’re quite fascinating!

First let’s make it clear that video retention rates measure the percentage of people that drop off from viewing a video as the video continues to play. In other words at what exact second in the video do some viewers click away to another screen and stop watching the video.

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June 04, 2014

Rotary International and Motion Source are honored for their work!

By john scaletta • President

We couldn't have been prouder to be  honored with the "Collaboration of the Year Award" for our work with Rotary International on a Non-profit video. Thanks to Ken Grunke and Cynthia Frymark for initiating the project which was aimed at gaining awareness, assisting people in need and building a better community. It told the stories of over 10 different community nonprofits within the main video and then broke out a focused video for each organization. It was truly an amazing experience to meet the people involved behind the scenes of each nonprofit and the people they serve. This will rank up there with the best of the best work of Motion Source on many levels.

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April 21, 2014

Video Project for Runner’s World

By craig bass • Creative Director

Capturing the story of Ballet Dancer Fabrice Calmels

When Runner’s World first contacted Motion Source Video Production we expected to be shooting a running event or, at a minimum, footage of athletes running. Then we learned about their video series “I’m a Runner.” The series features actors, celebrities, stage performers, and even some athletes that are running hobbyists away from their professional work. The interviews feature stories about how the subjects have incorporated running into their usual routines and their history with running as a hobby.

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February 16, 2014

iDig the film NOW SHOWING at La Grange Theatre

By john scaletta • President

We're excited to announce that our film production company "i dig the film productions, LLC" is premiering our short film iDig for a private screening at the La Grange Theater before it hits the film festivals. It's a one night event and if you're interested in getting on the guest list please send us an email, we'd love to include you. iDig was a wonderful side project as most of the time Motion Source is working on Video Productions in Chicago for clients, however, this film was all about one thing: FUN! And fun we had, working with local businesses, friends, Chicago actors and indie filmmakers to make this project happen. 

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December 09, 2013

Our Kickstarter was a Success and Now We Want to Give Back!

By john scaletta • President

First off we want to thank all 61 backers who backed our project on Kickstarter! We also want to send a big thank you to everyone who helped promote the campaign via social media, print media, blogs, and other avenues. The final total put us at 376% of our funding goal and we are very excited for such a great response. We have received orders from all over the world; from Brazil to Austria to Italy and beyond. Not to mention the large number of orders for rigs to be shipped all throughout the US. The numbers prove that there are a group of filmmakers who are looking for this type of equipment, with the intent of affordability in mind. And the written feedback we have received proves that they want more!  

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November 05, 2013

Motion Source is proud to announce our first film gear product!

By john scaletta • President

At Motion Source, our staff is passionate about the work we do. Aside from doing video production at work, many of our team members are independent filmmakers as well. Quite often members of our staff will borrow expensive pieces of equipment from our inventory to use on their personal projects. We love providing our team members with the tools they need for their own projects but we have been looking for a way to expand this “Sharing of Love.” That idea was the beginning of a long project that has culminated into our first film gear product: The Motion Source Shoulder Rig.

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August 27, 2013

Apple 1 spotted in Starbucks!

By john scaletta • President

As common as it is to see people working on Apple devices as they sip their coffee it's not everyday you see an Apple 1. So when we stopped in the Starbucks below our studio with our Apple1 from the Motion Source's short film "iDig" we got some strange looks. As you may know the original Apple 1 did not come with a monitor, heck it didn't even come with a case...customers had to build their own or pay the boys in the California garage to supply one. We used one of Apple's latest devices the iPad to serve as a monitor of their oldest and rarest the Apple 1 and "presto" ...it didn't work, but it looked pretty cool.

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August 23, 2013

High Energy: A video shoot with Hessler

By john scaletta • President

Out today is the new music video for “Waste Away” by Hessler, a Chicago based rock band. The video, produced by Motion Source, is dark, gritty and in black and white to match the overall tone. Revolver, a rock magazine, picked up the video as well. This is not the first time that Hessler and Motion Source have worked together. Earlier this year we helped to create the video for “Who Will Your Run To.” You can watch the new video here: "Waste Away"

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August 19, 2013

Does Motion Source Shoot Weddings?

By john scaletta • President

Not really....our work is mostly with corporate and nonprofits and we've always left weddings to others, however, when a local business asked us to profile what they do...well we started shooting some weddings!

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July 29, 2013

7 Tips For Producing Videos You'll Be Proud To Watch

By john scaletta • President

Who should produce your video, you or a pro? My answer is, of course, going to be a pro. But, I know that not everyone is going to listen to me ( or have the budget to secure professional services), so in the interest of not having to come across another video that has been painfully produced, I am more than happy to share some tips with you.

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June 24, 2013

Resurrection Mary meets The Last Vegas!

By john scaletta • President

Motion Source was commissioned to head up another music video project for the Chicago based band The Last Vegas for one of their new songs; "She's My Confusion" prior to their European Tour this summer. After the last music video Motion Source created for the band was named 6th best video of the year in the United Kingdom, drummer Nate Arling called the studio and asked if our team was up for another go at it. 

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