Below is a few of my favourite photographs I have taken over the years. There is no specific subject and the photos are taken for amusement only. My cats feel like celebrities because there is always a lens in their face.
Pictures by Guy Crosbie
Month: June 2016
A Day in the Life of a McDonald’s Training Video Shoot by GCV Productions.
McDonald’s Training Video experience
GCV Productions and McDonald’s SA have been working together creating training videos since 2010.
Day 1
The RSG (Restaurant Solutions Group) Team at McDonald’s SA is made up of Michele Oosthuizen, Willem Potgeiter, Winnie Nyapisi and Deirdre van der Merwe.
A training video at McDonald’s will take roughly 3 days to film. Quite often a new restaurant will be selected so that equipment is up to date. The pre production phase can be applied to the McDonald’s team – the team will make sure the restaurant is well briefed on the video shoot, all equipment is clean and in good working order and all utensils are available in the restaurant. Crew will need to be informed that a video team will be at the restaurant so they will most probably have to share their kitchen with a cameraman and the RSG team.
Filming often commences roughly around 9 am after a good hearty breakfast. The team will follow a basic time schedule of what department is presenting what. Time is also given to viewing footage at intervals to make sure correct procedures are followed. Either interviews are done first or build procedures in the kitchen. The training video begins with an introduction from a Marketing member, new products are introduced to the crew as well as new procedures for the quarter ahead. Menu boards at front counter and drive thru are discussed in detail. After Marketing has done their part the RSG team takeover. The camera moves into the kitchen and a new build procedure is filmed. A ‘build’ is the makeup of a burger-the exact ingredients used and procedures followed to make the burger.
Measurements and procedures are exact so quite often this procedure will be filmed more than once! A dedicated crew member will work with the RSG Team performing the demonstrations for the camera. Filming will often continue until a lunch break is taken at 1 pm, the team order off the menu and lunch is served in the restaurant. Lunch is also the time allocated to viewing footage from the morning session.
The afternoon session will quite often start with Build procedures or the introduction of new equipment or procedures. The dedicated crew member is rehearsed with the new procedure or equipment before the camera rolls. Sometimes IT Department is brought in if till procedures are filmed. Footage will be viewed again in the afternoon in case anything needs to be reshot. Filming day ends roughly 4 pm.
End of part 1
GCV Productions is a video production company based in Durban KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. For more information please contact Guy Crosbie @ GCV Video Productions cell: 0721281823 email: guy@gcv.co.za
Video Production – Do’s and Dont’s Part 2
Production
Everything comes together at the Production phase. This is when filming takes place on location for a few hours, days, weeks or months. All gear would have been checked at a “Gear Check” Crew would work together to get the actual job done and cast would be doing their part in front of camera. Call Sheets will inform everyone who needs to be where when at the video production. Security, Medical and catering will be available depending on the size of the shoot. Quite often video production will make the most of daylight, this means an early start depending time of year.
Each crew member has a job to do. Lighting crew will look after lighting, rigging will look after rigging. Skills will come together to get a job done in the allocated time and allocated budget. The Producer will watch the purse strings and make sure the production stays within the allocated budget. It is very important everyone on set / location works together, jobs will overlap and egos can clash. The director is the boss although quite often he is not the person calling the shots, this is done by the AD – Assistant Director. He will take orders from the director and make sure the message gets to the crew and cast.
Post Production
Post Production is basically the editing of the footage to make the video, TV show or film. Editing can be a very daunting process and very time consuming. Editing itself is broken down into segments called offline and online although this seems to apply to editing a few years ago. Today all footage is digitised…in other words all the footage is captured onto a video edit computer ready for the director and editor to scroll through and start the edit process. Editing brings the video footage, titles, SFX, music and graphics together to make a final programme.
GCV Video Productions is a video production company based in Durban KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
For more information regarding a video production please call Guy Crosbie @ GCV Productions. cell: 0721281823, email: guy@gcv.co.za
Video Production – Do’s and Dont’s – Part 1
Video Production – Do’s and Dont’s – Part 1
Video production starts way before the camera records a shot. Schedules are put in place weeks or even months before a production actually starts. This stage is called Pre Production.
Pre Production.
Pre Production will include the creation of treatments, storyboards and call sheets as well as sourcing locations, putting a video production crew together and auditioning for cast. Pre Production is definitely the most important part of the production as this is the foundation for your production. Shaky foundations means problems are bound to occur and this can be very costly to your budget and time. Time is definitely money so your pocket will definitely suffer if mistakes are made during Pre Production.
Video Treatment
A video treatment occurs when selling your project to a potential client or sponsor. It is quite often the only opportunity you have to get backing for your project. The treatment must portray to the client exactly what they will expect, delivering a clear synopsis of your project. No client or sponsor means no production.
Storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic representation of how your video will unfold from start to finish. Storyboards help with visualising what to expect from scene to scene. Storyboards need not be long but must definitely have enough content that the client better understands your project visually. Some video productions may not require a storyboard such as a training video. A talking head video with slides may not require a storyboard for the client to get a visual understanding.
Cast and Crew
Sourcing cast and crew is important. The right crew is required for the job at hand. Crew can include DOP – Director of Photography, Cameraman, Sound, Gaffer, Technician and Runners. Crews can range from 2 to 100 people. Bigger productions may split the crew so that double the amount of filming can get done in the same amount of time. Budget is also important when hiring crew, not every cameraman charges the same per day. Some crew include their own equipment, some don’t.
For an effective video production it is vital Pre Production runs smoothly and issues are ironed out so that the actual production runs smoothly
Production is the filming on location. All crew and cast come together for the actual video or film to be shot. This could last from a few hours to a couple of months. Not everyone is required on the same day, time schedules and call sheets need to be formulated during pre production so that cast and crew know where and when to be available.
A call sheet has all crew and their contact details made available. Call sheets inform cast and crew what is happening when and where. Start times are listed so everyone involved on the video production is on the same page so to speak.
end of part 1
GCV Video Productions is a video based business situated in Durban KwaZulu Natal. GCV specialises in the production of corporate, training and promotional videos. For more information regarding a video production durban please contact guy on 0721281823 / guy@gcv.co.za. www.gcv.co.za
Video as a Marketing Tool
Video as a Marketing Tool by Andrew Mills
“Video is a very powerful marketing tool that exists for marketeers both locally and internationally to consider. Online video is quickly becoming the key means for people to satisfy their entertainment needs as well as information needs. Businesses that do not acknowledge video production will definitely lose out on what video can offer and does offer businesses that are grabbing this opportunity with both hands.
Most importantly video is all about content and if we look at the mass gains and likes of You Tube we know there are more than 1 billion users that log on and watch an accumulation of videos every single month and it’s growing rapidly everyday.
We know there can be bad videos with bad content and likewise one can also see great, well filmed professional videos and the relevant content that surrounds that area too so its very important to be relevant and utilize this portal to convey the message you want ultimately to your staff or key target audience
They say a picture paints a thousands words but with video it really can be a lot more for any potential business out there that really wants to get a grip of this effective medium
What we always need to remember is there is a lot of channels available to us and when it comes to content it is so critical so as a marketeer you have to think about your audience, who they are and how do you make your video content relevant”
GCV Productions and Boxer have worked together for over 15 years developing marketing, training and promotional videos.
For more information regarding developing a video for your company please contact Guy Crosbie @ GCV Productions. guy@gcv.co.za 0317025227
Video Production as a Marketing Tool
Andrew Mills, Boxer Marketing Director, had the following to say about Video Production as a marketing tool:
“Video production has been very effective for us as a retailer over the years. I remember back 20 years ago when we didn’t have the power of video production to be able to send our message back to the staff, we were definitely not in the place of communicating with our staff as effectively as we can today. If I can take you back a number of years when we had fewer number of stores in the greater province of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, we had roughly 25 stores as we expanded into the Eastern Cape Province. We found as time went by the ability to get all the store staff and store management to the Head Office to communicate with them became costly from a time and cost perspective, and it just was not making financial sense to do this. However, the importance of being able to roll out more stores in the country created the need for us to bridge the potential communication gap we could see arising hence we relied on video to act as a bridge, to be able to connect ourselves as management at the Head Office with our stores.
We have noted over the years, we are now in our 39th year of trading, in particular when we had these accelerations of store roll outs around the country that using the power of visual to communicate the message we want means that I can be consistent in the way I tackle the information.
Added to that when we send out videos not only are we educating staff we are informing them of whats currently happening or will happen in the business and its also a form of entertainment where they get to experience a slice of life which potentially might not happen in their area of trade but is happening elsewhere. Video keeps them up to date for the greater good of the team and it empowers them.
At the end of the day I have noticed that when we visit stores around the country we have staff come talk to us about what they saw and they remember that particular edition they received and the content being depicted by the power of video
What it comes down to is this….If i want to generate the desired result I rely heavily on the effectiveness of video as a national fast paced FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) business ”
