Also, this week I headed down to Lang’s Community Centre to check out the new building and grab a quick interview with Executive Director, Bill Davidson. Lang’s Community Centre offers a wide variety of services from prenatal care right up to seniors programs. Lang’s houses over 21 different agencies that provide services in addition to what Lang’s provides. I think Lang’s is a wonderful place, they provide services that people in the region need and everyone there was very warm, welcoming and friendly. Lang’s also has an excellent Health Care Centre. A little birdy told me that if you’re from the Preston area and don’t have a family doctor, you can check out their health care clinic and apply for a doctor there!

On Saturday, the 4th I headed down to 350 Hespeler Road to visit the “Books in Hands” Project, funded through the Preston Church of the Nazarene. The “Books in Hands” project is dedicated to collecting and distributing children’s book to Africa, specifically the town of Swaziland, in southern Africa. They also distribute educational books regarding Aids and the HIV virus. These educational books are essential when attempting to teach young children about Aids and HIV.

I decided to videotape this project because I feel literacy and education are extraordinarily important, especially in children. These kids grow up with nothing, and reading is their chance to escape and delve into their imaginations. This video production really inspired me to look more closely at what’s happening in other countries around the world. I was unaware of many of the literacy statistics for Africa, and that bothered me.
I hope that through this community video I can enlighten more people the way I was enlightened. I wish the “Books in Hands” project the best of luck as they try and reach their goal of collecting 20,000 books.

Visit www.booksinhands.com to donate or volunteer!

Stay tuned for the completed video early next week!

For the 3 people that don’t know, hockey is life in Canada. I don’t even play and it still holds a special place in my heart. You don’t even have to like the sport to love this. When I saw this video today, it connected on a level that most brands try but never ever reach.

You want people to share your brand? Do something awesome like this:

- Scott Stratten

To learn more about Scott Stratten you can check out his blog here: www.unmarketing.com

What did you think of this video? Did it engage you emotionally? Did they tie in their brand effectively? Comment below!

I decided to videotaped the Dunfield Cambridge event because livelihood in old age is something that hits me pretty close to home. My Grandmother suffers from dementia, a degenerative brain disease that effects the memory, and the Dunfield is a huge supporter of keeping those minds fresh. Nella, Marketing Manager for Dunfield Retirement Residence, and I had a rather lengthy discussion regarding The Dunfield’s efforts to keep their retirees in excellent health. I was unaware that a person with dementia can still be taught new things, even though their mind is degenerating. I really like the Dunfield’s take on retirement, or “un-retirement” as they call it. They really try to keep their retirees busy out in the world.

I find it so important that todays youth take an interest in their elders, as that’ll be us one day!

There are several reasons as to why I’m excited. First and foremost, I have just been handed my first business card EVER. Scott & Angela were thoughtful enough to purchase me my own business cards, 500 of them! I haven’t been this excited since childhood. In all seriousness though, having a business card makes me feel accomplished; like I’ve partially “made it” in the corporate video production world. After working so hard in school for 3 straight years, it feels great to finally have something concrete in my hands to show for it. I know its only a piece of fancy paper, but its the meaning behind it thats so important.

I will be PROUDLY handing these out to all of the new contacts I make through Blue Lizard Productions, and through my community videos. Speaking of! I have been a busy bee with planning all of my community non-profit videos. I will be shooting the Dunfield Residences’ Jazz Quartet event this Sunday at the Cambridge Centre. Dunfield holds events in the community to keep local seniors involved. I think that keeping seniors active is incredibly important, it keeps their minds fresh and helps to prevent dementia.

I’m also shooting the Hockey for Heart Tournament in Kitchener, hosted by the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Hockey for Heart was created by Rob Weir after he saw his father suffer a massive heart attack and die while playing in a hockey game. That, to me, is an extraordinarily good reason to donate my time to their cause.

Keep an eye on our youtube, twitter and Facebook pages! I’ll be updating them regularly with all of our newest videos!

Join me on Blue Lizard Productions page on Facebook.

Here at Blue Lizard Productions I am responsible for our online presence. This includes the posts on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkdIn and Youtube accounts. I assist with editing and when we’re shooting on location. I’m learning so much everyday! As for why I chose to take the career route of Corporate Video Production, I have such a passion for finding beauty in the simplest of things. I enjoy a challenge, and with Corporate Video you’re creating something out of nothing. My creativity, and being creative, is what keeps me happy!

Follow my Tweets on Twitter @BlueLizardProds.

Blue Lizard Productions wants to give back to the community by shooting not-for-profit events, for FREE! That’s where I come in. As their intern it’s my responsibility to go out and shoot these wonderful community get-togethers. I feel really inspired when I shoot these videos because we’re providing FREE promotion to those who really need and deserve it. Giving much needed exposure to deserving organizations is important to me, and it’s something I can be TRULY proud of.

Check out some of our videos on our YouTube channel.

If you know of a not-for-profit organization or an event that’s coming up feel free to fill out our application for a free video.

I would love to come out and shoot it for you!

Flyers, leaflets and brochures are fine, but people usually want to see a product or service in action and be able to visualise a specific item and how it fundamentally works.

There are a few ways to get your online business recognised visually either through video sharing websites like YouTube, Daily Motion, Vimeo, Facebook or Twitter, where you can produce basic videos about your business  with limited functionality or you can make an investment in your business and get a professional video production team to do it for you and give your corporate or small business and website a first class brand or image.

What should you look for in a professional video production?

To be competitive and succeed in business you have to be innovative and creative and a video about your corporate or small business should certainly look professional and related to your brand or product. It should say a lot about you and the message you’re aiming to get across. Do you think corporate and other various sized businesses would spend a small fortune on video production and advertising, if they could upload a few basic videos themselves on YouTube and Facebook usually with poor audio quality, no structure or direction and no real message?

A professional video production company should have a successful team in place, which should comprise of a project manger who will oversee your whole work from the initial concept through to the final distribution of your video, organise professional actors to advertise your product or brand, choice of a suitable studio, background colours, choosing the appropriate music and any computer animation if required. The final and most important part should be the successful launch of your video product through various channels including DVD distribution, online streaming and television exposure.

If you want a professional video production team to give you the video that you require then, look no further than Blue Lizard Productions.

For more information about producing your corporate video production sign up for our free corporate video production guide here: www.FreeCorporateVideoGuide.com

What do you think?  Would a professional video production better demonstrate your product or service more so than a brochure or other print material?  Comment below.

Quick Response Codes are essentially bar codes which do need a laser to be read. This makes them readable on smart phones. The QR Code can store a phone numbers, URL, email address and virtually any other alphanumeric data, up to 4296 characters, all in one funny looking block.

Imagine these blocks as code for print-based hypertext links that will require no typing.

How does this work? You just download the free app for your brand of smart phone, and magically your phone is now a scanner… with a big difference. (Smart phone QR scanning applications are listed at the bottom of this blog post.) The main difference is that the information can be a URL… even the URL of your online video! The information gets input into your smart phone without typing, so the URL, phone number or text message appears instantly on the smart phone. How wild is that?

Create Your QR Code In Seconds

There are a lot of free QR Code generator websites online and this one is pretty easy to use: http://quikqr.com/

All you do is put your text; URL, phone number, address, marketing message, into a form, hit “RETURN” and presto! Your Quick Response Code appears. Download this image, print it and place it everywhere! Posters, brochures, business cards…

For use on a website or blog, the Google Chart API code is even easier. Just insert this code:

<img src=”http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=150×150&chl=http://youtu.be/OfghIvApEFA”/>

When it’s in a blog or web page, that code will look like this:

(You’ll probably want to substitute your URL for the Blue Lizard Production 2011 Demo Reel URL in the above image.)

For some people, tracking your QR Codes will be important so you know what marketing campaigns are working, and which are not.  There are many paid services out there that can do this for you or you can use Google Analytics to do it for free.  If you are using Google Analytics already, here is a great article on that: http://goo.gl/rvYiD

Why You Need To Know This Stuff

Smart phones are becoming the number one media device. More people are using smart phones today than personal computers! We see it all around us; people are relying more and more on their smart phones to get information immediately, rather than waiting until they get back to a computer.

Want a potential client to see a marketing video of your product or service online immediately on their phone? Show them your QR Code! Put your QR code on your business card and you can send prospects to your fancy marketing video right on their smart phone – without typing!

Put your QR Code on a decal in your car or company vehicle window, business cards or in brochures, business sign or a real estate for sale signs so drive by house hunters can see a virtual tour of the property on their cell phone, on company T-shirts, side of a building or bill boards, use it at trade shows… the possibilities or endless!

QR Code Scanning Apps

To use QR Codes on your smart phone, you’ll need the application to scan them.  Here are some recommendations:

• iPhone: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/qr-reader-for-iphone/id368494609?mt=8
• Blackberry: http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/13962
• Android: http://market.android.com/details?id=la.droid.qr&hl=en

When developing a video production script with Blue Lizard Productions we make sure to not only share your vision of your video production, we’ll work with you to tap into you target audiences emotions which is key to getting the required result.

For more information on having Blue Lizard Productions produce your next video productions, with emotion, please contact us today to setup a free consultation.  You can watch our demo on YouTube.

In order to be competitive, especially on the internet, a corporate and business video is most definitely a professional necessity. However, in case you truly want the video recording to have the desired effect, it is imperative that you have it done right.

Productions of corporate videos, as well as expert videos intended for Facebook, YouTube and even Twitter,  have become more economical today than in the past. Technologies have reduced the prices of hi-def digital cameras, specialized gear, as well as editing applications for online video companies. These recent reductions result in lower overall cost for the client. A production that would normally cost $8, 000 in the past can now be created for less than 50% of that price tag today.

A poorly produced marketing video or film devoid of real narrative, having bad direction, horrible audio quality, confusing information as well as amateur-like production values is going to  reflect poorly upon a business. When the video clip is inferior, prospects or clients are going to logically be expecting a similar performance with your other services or products.  Hence it will pay off ultimately to leave it to the qualified professional.

For more information on having Blue Lizard Productions produce your next video please contact us today to setup a free consultation.  You can watch our demo on YouTube.