Change is inevitable, and every time a company makes a change they might be dating their current video. Products they no longer offer, machinery they no longer use, people who no longer work at the company. All reasons many businesses scrap their video and create a new one.

Here’s the thing though… they don’t always need a whole new video. Sometimes all that’s needed is an update. Have your video producer shoot some fresh video and simply swap it with the out-of-date material. It’ll save your company time and a lot of money.

–Tony Gnau

p.s. tomorrow we’ll show you a great example of how this is done. Wait, was that a tease for tomorrow’s blog post? You bet it was!

Okay… I fell off the blog a couple days. We traveled to Champaign-Urbana this week for a shoot and my writing ended up a casualty.

The good news is I’ll soon be posting some really good stuff. One blog post will feature our recent update of the Warrenville Police recruiting video. Fun!

Anyway, just letting you know I’ll bounce back strong next week… so stay tuned!

–Tony Gnau

How long should my video be? It’s one of the questions clients often ask me.

One way to think about it is considering your audience and where they’re watching your video. Are they at home or work watching on their computers? Better keep the video short and to the point… maybe less than 2-minutes. Remember, you’re just a point-and-click away from losing them.

On the other hand, if you have a captive audience watching at a group event or meeting, you have a little leeway. Here you can let it go for several minutes, but you better hire a storytelling pro to keep that audience interested.

A boring video doesn’t get any better the longer you make it.

–Tony Gnau

I think I have the DSLR bug. The more video I watch that’s been shot with DSLR cameras, the more I like it. The depth of field is AWESOME!

Having said that, I’m still hung up on the audio factor. To record quality audio, you need a separate audio device. Inconvenient for sure, but does it outweigh the great images you can capture using the DSLR cameras?

I need some feedback here. If you have any experience shooting DSLR video, please weigh in and let me know your thoughts.

–Tony Gnau

It’s with great joy that I share with you the latest person to join T60’s team.

My wife Katie gave birth to our first child last Thursday… a baby girl named Betsy, 6-lbs. 15 oz. Both mom and baby are happy and healthy.

The question I seem to be getting the most is did we shoot the birth? The answer is yes… two-camera shoot, three-point lighting… NO WE DIDN’T SHOOT THE BIRTH!

Although, as you might imagine, we’re now hard at work documenting many of the events surrounding Betsy’s life. She will no doubt grow very comfortable in front of a video camera. :-)

–Tony Gnau

Photo: jenniferchaseweddings.com

Wedding video number two… complete. T60’s bread-and-butter might be PR and marketing videos, but wedding videos are starting to peak our interest as well.

The thing we enjoy most at T60 is telling stories. We don’t consider ourselves video producers. We’re storytellers.

Every business is unique and has great stories attached to it. Weddings are the same way. Many weddings contain similar components, but each has its own unique story.

We were honored to shoot and edit the wedding video for Tom and Greta Iannuccilli. Part of what made their wedding unique was the location… nestled along the Potomac River in Virginia during cherry blossom season.

We hope you enjoy it.

–Tony Gnau

WEDDING VIDEO: Tom and Greta Iannuccilli

Who are your office superstars? Employees who shine. The type of people who make you smile whenever you see them.

Whether it’s a V.P. or the person who runs the coffee cart, these are the types of people you should be featuring in your company’s video content.

Video is all about emotion. When people walk away from viewing your videos, you want them to leave with the feeling… that looks like a pretty good company.

Notice I wrote, “feeling.” That’s what video excels at providing. A good video gives the audience a sense of what your company culture is like, so why not feature the people who make it what it is?

If you employ someone who puts a smile on your face, share that person with customers and potential customers alike… because your office superstar will probably do the same for them.

–Tony Gnau

Sometimes going low-tech beats going high-tech.

I got a reminder of this yesterday while meeting with a potential client. He wants all sorts of computer animation to demonstrate how his product works. The only problem is he doesn’t have near the budget it would take to get it done.

After listening to him for about 30-minutes, I came up with a low-tech solution to his problem. Can’t reveal it just yet… I don’t want to give a way my idea, but it’s likely you’ll get to see it sometime soon.

The point… you don’t always need flashy graphics to sell. Sometimes it just takes a little brainstorming and creativity.

–Tony Gnau

T60 is on the move today. Our world headquarters is making the giant leap… a few blocks south. We remain on Chicago’s north side.

Okay, we’re not taking over a floor in Willis Tower or getting a posh Michigan Avenue address, but it’s still exciting.  We’re hoping the new space will provide some creative inspiration and help us be even more productive.

Now… how in the world did we accumulate so many cords and cables!? This could take a while.

–Tony Gnau

Courtesy: Reuters/Dominic Lipinski/Pool

I usually take Friday’s off from blogging, but the royal wedding this morning got me thinking. Talk about the ultimate wedding video production!

How many cameras covered that thing? Not just inside the abbey, but along the parade route and at the palace. Wow! While everyone was curious to see Kate’s dress, I was more interested to see if they would find a way to put a wireless mic on her.

I know, I’m a nerd. No dispute on that point.

T60 has only produced one wedding video, but we’d like to do more. Of course the first one was pretty special… considering it was for Katie and I. 

I hope William loves his Kate as much as I love mine.

–Tony Gnau

WEDDING VIDEO: Tony & Katie Tie the Knot