Timeline

Corporate Video Pitch

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Current Practices in Corporate Video Production

In this essay I will be talking about the legal rules and regulations in the video production industry as well as ways of abiding to them and examples of corporate videos doing so. We will talk about copyright, privacy, defamation, fair use, ethical, releases and also technologies.

Copyright:

‘the exclusive and assignable legal right, given to the originator for a fixed number of years, to print, publish, perform, film, or record literary, artistic, or musical material.’- Google.

More simply put, copyright is a right given by the creator of a product (print, film, artistic, music) to someone so they can use the product in their own production. Without this given right, the product cannot be legally used in another product that is released to the public, and the user of said copyrighted product can be persecuted.

There are number of ways around running into copyright troubles during production of a corporate video. For example, there are websites that provide royalty free music which means you can use that music without breaking any copyright laws because the producer of the music hasn’t copyrighted the music. https://incompetech.com/

https://youtu.be/8toYiGU0sMk

This is a corporate video by Apple™, as a big company they can afford to create their own music for their videos so they don’t breach any copyright laws.

Privacy:

Legal privacy in the context of video production means the court will balance someone’s right to a private and family life against the media’s right to freedom of expression. Basically, People of public interest are often in the eye of the media, and privacy law is what ensures that the person of interest has as much privacy as possible while also allowing the media to express their legal right to publish what they see and hear.

There are a number of aspects that prohibit the media from invading the person’s privacy: reporting stories about people’s personal or sexual lives, finances, information about their health, or filming them in their house without their permission. It can even sometimes include situations where the person is in a public place - for example, at a funeral. These are all breaking privacy law and the offender can be persecuted.

For example, if the corporate video was in an office and you shot someone on their computer, if the computer had personal information on screen, that footage would not be published otherwise the publisher could face persecution.

Defamation:

The law of defamation allows individuals, companies or firms (‘claimants’) to sue for damage to their reputation caused by material that is published and which makes slanderous comments about them. It is considered defamation if something: exposes them to hatred, ridicule and contempt, disparages them in their profession, trade or office, causes them to be shunned or avoided, lowers them in the estimation of right-thinking members of the public, etc.

For example, if a company was to claim that their product was superior to another companies, that could be considered as slanderous and defamation.

there are a number of mediums in which defamation can occur: Newspapers; other printed media, broadcasting on radio or TV, On the web, including social media websites, online forums and microblogging sites, etc.

Fair Use:

A fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner.

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/cases/

On this website, there are a number of cases in which content was used in and out of fair use.

Ethical Issues:

In context of corporate video, ethical issues are cases of a company, product or individual being represented in a way that may portray them as prejudice or offensive.

For example, if, in a video, an office was shown and all the employees were Caucasian males, this may raise complaints that the company is prejudice towards women or men of other ethnicity.

Releases:

A release is a form of written legal permission that, in the production of a video a person, their work or their property may be used and published. Without a release, you are not legally allowed to publish footage containing an individual, their work or their property, otherwise you may face legal action.

For example, if you had footage in which an individual is seen and identifiable, you need a talent release from them, otherwise they could persecute you.

Technology:

There is a variety of different technology involved in corporate video production, this includes, computer software, cameras and other hardware. Production companies tend to not have as big of a budget as film production companies may do, meaning the technology they use has to be affordable as well as good quality.

Camera: Cameras used in corporate video production tend to be DSLR cameras, as they produce good image quality and are affordable. An example of an affordable camera good for video production is the Canon EOS 700D. This is a cheap DSLR camera commonly used by students, in colleges/universities and by low budget video production companies. You can find this camera for around £300-400 on the internet, this is a low cost considering the quality of the camera.

Software: There is a variety of different video editing software that can be used in video production, there are a number of programs by big companies such as Adobe, Sony and Apple, which are all very good programs however they can be quite expensive. There is other software which is created by lesser known companies and is cheaper, while being effectively the same quality. An example of this is HitFilm. HitFilm is a video editing software by a small company, HitFilm has a free ‘express’ version which includes less of the features of the full ‘pro’ version, however it does its job adequately. The ‘Pro’ version costs £280, which is a low price considering most other programs have a monthly subscription cost which soon exceeds that cost.

Hardware: There are a number of other bits of hardware involved in video production, specifically involved in the filming part. During filming you may need use of artificial lighting, different lenses for the camera, tripods, microphones etc. and as a small corporate video production company you may be on a budget, in which case you may not want to buy the higher tier products. An example of good quality, affordable hardware is the Joby GorillaPod, this is a versatile tripod which can be reshaped to suit any surface and hold the camera stable at a straight angle. Toy can get this for around £15-20 on the internet, this piece of apparatus is often used by YouTube vloggers but I imagine it was originally intended for nature filmers needing to set up a shots on natural, uneven surfaces like rocks.

Corporate Video Analysis

My video analysis was the first one of the promotional video from IKEA about the bookbook.

Nature and Purposes of Research

Research

Types:

Primary Research:

Primary research is research that you as an individual/group gather yourself. For example, interviews, surveys and questionnaires are forms of primary research.

In my 3-minute wonder project I created and distributed an online survey, this gave me data to analyse to put into the documentary.

Secondary Research:

Secondary research is research that you find from other sources, e.g. books, journals, the internet etc.

For the 3-minute wonder project we surfed the internet and found statistics on the topic along with blog posts of people’s opinions on the matter.

Quantitative Research:

Quantitative research is when a large quantity of numerical data is used to represent the average views of the public on the subject.Closed ended questions are usually used in order to get quantitative research as they supply short simple answers such as yes or no or statistics. For example Programme ratings, readership circulation figures, hits on a website, box office figures, sales of CDs and DVDs are all forms of quantitative research.

In my 3-minute wonder project I shared an online survey between a large number of friends and acquaintances of mine, this gave me data to analyse and put into my documentary.

Qualitative Research: Qualitative research is when a smaller number of people give more detailed, long-winded answers to questions. Open ended questions are ways in which qualitative research is gained as they supply more comprehensive answers. For example Film reviews, game reviews, fanzine websites, attitudes to media products, responses to news coverage, responses to advertising campaigns, discussion and interviews are all forms of qualitative research.

In my 3-minute wonder project I interviewed a few of my friends and classmates on the topic of the documentary, this gave me in-detail viewpoints on the questions this documentary explored.

Data Gathering Agencies:

There are a number of data gathering agencies which supply both qualitative and quantitative research for the public to access and possibly use as secondary research. For example BARB, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, IGN and Metacritic are all ‘data gathering agencies’.

IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes are movie/TV show review websites in which you can see average ratings of TV shows and movies (quantitative research) and also individual critics’ reviews (qualitative research).

IGN and Metacritic are both video game review websites which serve the same purpose as the movie review sites however they provide research of video games rather than TV and movies.

The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) is the organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom. This is a commonly used source of data which can be used as quantitative research.

Purposes of Research:

Audience and Market Research: this research is what shows the producers of a product what the consumers want and need from their product and how they should cater in different ways to certain groups of people. For example, the demographic is the target audience in which their product is aimed at. Using a demographic, they can create the product in a way that makes it more appropriate and appealing towards the target audience. This research also helps establish the best advertisement placement and timing in order to be seen by the target audience.

For my 3-minute wonder project I created an online survey in which I established an average age group, gender and how much time the average viewer of this documentary spends playing video games and how much money they spend on video games.

Production Research: This involves researching things such as filming locations, budget costs ,etc. This research makes the filming stage of the production easier if the research is done beforehand.

For my 3-minute wonder project I researched a few locations to film however some of them reject our request to film in their property. In terms of budget, we ended up not spending anything as all of the props seen in the documentary and all the locations we filmed in were owned by members of the production crew.

Production Companies

Local Production companies

Ember Films is an Emmy Award winning production company based in Norwich and London. They cover a large range of different productions, from interviews to IMAX films.

On their website they display a number of their productions, such as an advert for BMW, Herschel, Nike and a trailer for 'The Hunt'.

3MW Feedback

Cameron, some good work throughout this unit and a concise and well made documentary. Your work has certainly progressed throughout the year - build on this for next year with an aim to improve. Be committed to producing the best work that you can.

You have described and explained issues relating to factual television programmes with reference to detailed illustrative examples and with generally correct use of subject terminology.

You have explained codes and conventions of factual television programmes with reference to detailed illustrative examples and with generally correct use of subject terminology.

You were able to plan and research a factual programme for television effectively showing some imagination and with only occasional assistance.

You have produced a factual programme for television competently showing some imagination and with only occasional assistance.