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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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"
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!
Our latest nonprofit video production for the H-Foundation was played Saturday night at Navy Pier to an audience of 1,300. The event know as the Goombay Bash helps to raise funds to find a cure for cancer and this event raised over a half of million dollars!
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.
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.
One of the most important things that you absolutely cannot afford to overlook when considering having a video produced is location. Again, that's LOCATION!
There are quite a few things that the popular imagination has been promising us for some time now. Visions of the future have included everything from flying cars, to full meal vending machines, to robotic maids (those little vacuum cleaners don’t count). However, there is a burgeoning technology that makes good on some of our flights of futuristic fancy: the QR code.
Video Production