By martin

Sound Advice

Sound Advice

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http://vimeo.com/93474372

The other day a friend shared a link to a video that had me in stitches and reminded me of the importance of using the right music in your videos.

Music is very important, it has the power to conjure images in our minds that aren’t actually there.  A trick I learnt as a teenager was not to run behind the sofa or cover my eyes when watching a scary film, but to put my fingers in my ears instead.  Without the suspenseful, threatening music (think Psycho, Jaws or Paranormal Activity which reportedly used infrasound) the visuals took on a different meaning and their power to frighten was reduce.  Why not try it for yourself when you next watch a thriller!

Music gives the visual element context – silence can be golden and heighten anticipation or it can be just plain boring.  Is there a golden formula for the amount of background music you should use? Well that will depend on the type of video you are making and your budget.   With commercial music (eg chart music) usually charged for in 30 sec blocks your decision might not be down to esthetics alone.  There are however other options that allow you to use an entire piece of music for a one off payment.

For a news or speech lead video perhaps 30{8da416ef67a5ef3f644495e7d6da55b478a914217a1a5c499584e6cc07c1ecfe} is a good average figure.  There are also the videos where music plays a more dominant role, blending with the footage to create an harmonious piece and where it can happily be used in its entirety.

 

Decisions! Decisions!

How do you choose between A or B? 

Well, if you’re anything like me you hit the Web and do a lot of research.  The Customer Decision Journey (the path your customer will take before they choose who to buy from) has changed.  It’s now the norm for your potential customer to do anything between 50-90{8da416ef67a5ef3f644495e7d6da55b478a914217a1a5c499584e6cc07c1ecfe} of their research before contacting you directly.  It can’t be any coincidence that digital advertising sales are still on the increase, up 13.3{8da416ef67a5ef3f644495e7d6da55b478a914217a1a5c499584e6cc07c1ecfe} on 2011. 

man having difficulty making a choice

Your silent sales force, your website needs to work harder than ever before.  And it’s here that video helps in so many ways : to engage your customer for longer, inform them about a product or services unique properties, show them how to use it and importantly help build customer loyalty.  More about that in our next blog.

Autumnal update

It was busy summer for Play It By Ear, filming assignments included rushing over to Shropshire to tell the story of a flooring company who were literally rising from the Ashes after a devastating fire had completely destroyed their factory and offices.   We grabbed some shots of the burnt out premises just before it’s complete demolition then filmed their brand new complex which they had taken over in record time.   You can see the result on the PIBE website.

PIBE’s eco credentials were also put to good use when we went on the hunt for bats in the heart of London! Filming from an old warehouse rooftop we zoomed in on the green areas amongst the tower blocks that inhabit London’s wildlife.  Result on the PIBE website soon.  Recent assignments  also included filming sessions at golf clubs and award ceremonies.   Martin

June 2013 Update

Hope your enjoying summer, things have been busy for the team at Play It By Ear.  The series of doodle videos produced by PIBE for telephone company Voipfone have been a great success for the company. It really is a fun way of putting across information and statistics prove that more people stay to the end of this style of video as the story unfurls.  If your looking for a great way to describe your products or services this could really work well for you so do get in touch.

As well as other conventional filming projects we’re also busy with some time lapse photography for a client over the summer. We’ll show you the results  in the near future.   We’ve been tweaking the video player on the PIBE website so this now links with our Vimeo site, enjoy some samples of our work above.  That’s all for now, be in touch again soon.         Martin.

Welcome

Play It By Ear is an audio and video production company with a wealth of broadcast and corporate experience. Based in East Grinstead in West Sussex we offer a wide range of services.   For great results you can see and hear give us a call at Play It By Ear.

February 2013 update

Well here we are firmly into the new year and Play it By Ear cracks on with some exciting new productions.  We’ve been out in the snow battling the elements as we capture the beautiful gardens of Gravetye Manor in the depths of winter.  Once we’re thawed out we’ll show you the result on the PIBE website.

A form of video which seems to be increasing in popularity is ‘video scribing’ Basically it’s a different way to tell clients about your services through hand drawn pictures. The cartoon type drawings describing what you do are created using just a whiteboard and a pen by a suitably talented artist.  The filmed footage is then sped up to look like they were drawn in record time.  PIBE are currently involved in such a project and you can see the result on the website in the near future.

Look forward to catching up again soon. Do get in touch if you’re thinking about using video in your next marketing campaign, we’re always happy to chat over ideas with you.  Speak soon.  Martin.