We study marketing a lot over here and put a lot of work into it, especially our promo videos. Most companies don’t make a promos everything but I’ve always felt it’s important. I thought we could share and maybe learn something about how to reach our customers better.
Does it matter, do people watch the videos or do they just read the copy? Honestly we agonize over promos here. Everything from the soundtrack to the humor. For example we started including outtakes because some people thought I was a bit too intense and artsy. It’s fun, but it’s something we use for balance.
We decided we to make two promo videos for the new Nitty Gritty collection. So first, which video is better? Second, do product videos effect how you buy? After that, let’s talk. Comment and tell us more. Do you make promo videos of your work? How would you do things differently? Let’s share some ideas that we can all use.
Tun into our Facebook page next week and I’ll share results on what worked here and why we did it.
Thanks for taking part. As a bonus we extended the $50 off deal on Nitty Gritty for another day. Get them here.
We’ve filmed this video various times over the past decade. This is is the best yet. Let’s talk about installing and managing Photoshop Actions. I won’t waste a lot of text there, the video says its best. — Gav
For our Christmas Photo Craft I wanted to do something special, so I made you all a mini set of cinema-inspired Photoshop actions for free.
Just download’em and load into your PS! The Ice and Fire action is a highly adjustable combination of warm and cool tones and the bonus action adds a classy understated glow effect that can be used in any image. This tool focuses on complementary colors and you’ll find its vert versatile. Merry Christmas.
NOTE: There was a glitch that caused the action problems on Windows. This should be fixed in the current version (162) so just re-download if you have problems.
Day One: I’m going to get brutal with the reality of how the new LEAP Motion handled REAL WORK. If you want to save time here’s my initial impression.
LEAP does NOT leap out of the box and work well – Maybe that will change in time, but this feels like pre-beta and does not make my work easier.
I pre-ordered early and my LEAP finally came today after what must have been more than a year. It had been so long it was almost like magic just to hold the box. WOW, I thought. I can now control my computer just by waving my hands. Minority Report, here I come.. I’ve not actually seen that movie. Is it good?
Anyways that a little voice inside said “Gavin! Though shalt not count thy leaps before they hath jumped” But I still rushed to my studio to try it out. “The waiting will pay off” I thought.
Well, LEAP worked. Sort of. It reminds me of many an encounter with voice recognition software. It looks great in the promos. Then you use it.
I could talk like a hot shot and say how amazing it is and how high tech I am. Because the idea really is cool. But the reality seems to be that LEAP is mostly useless for me right now. The first thing I realized was how they made it look really pretty, but barely indicated what I needed to do actually use it in the real world. Perhaps that was because there was little practical use. The goofy games hold little interest for me. I want to get something done.
On my production studio desk nothing gets real estate that does not do it’s job. From my precision corded laser mouse to my Medium Wacom tablet. A device has to do something well, or it goes in a drawer.
Once I finally got calibration to work (not pretty on my Mac), I Installed Better Touch (an app that allows for custom commands). Sadly I could not even make it “practical” for the simplest of movements.
First Test: I started with a hand gesture for right and left arrow keys, thinking it might be useful for sorting images in Lightroom. Nope. Unless I held my fingers just right it did not even see the gesture. Trying to think about your hand, while also holding it in the air becomes very tiring VERY fast. It’s mentally and physically frustrating. In practice I ended up waving my hand slowly, then furiously over the device just to browse images with poor results. Not a good sign. Back to the keyboard.
Next Test: I wanted to control the mouse in hopes of using Leap’s touted precision to do things I do with my Wacom, or even basic Finder work without my mouse. Since Leap gave no indication during setup that this was even possible, it took a few minutes to realize that I needed a free app called Touchless. I installed that from Airspace (the app store for Leap) ran orientation and it started to look good. Reality soon set in.
Again I started simple, hoping to use Leap to control the mouse for simple but precise painting, burning and dodging in Photoshop. I got little functionality in Basic Mode so I switched to advanced and got a working curser where I could touch and engage the click – Sometimes. That was when it was not doing random zooming, window switching and the like. I even managed some basic painting and burning. But it was totally unreliable. Sometimes the click would engage and the tool would work, sometimes not. Sometimes it would change the window or do something else. Sound like something else? Here’s looking at you Voice Control.
I know it’s new and I will spend more time with it. But the truth is a great device usually works from the start. If they had simply given us solid reliable mouse/touch integration it would have been a GREAT start. But the reality is this is not even comparable to a mouse or a tablet in ANY practical sense. Since it lacks that, it’s little more than a gimmick with a few games and trinkets attached. So far.
After a year of waiting. Leap is essentially useless for me in any practical sense – I hope this changes, but if they could not give us BASIC functionality after all this time, I fear we’re in trouble.
I know I’m being harsh. But it’s the reality of it for today. I’m trying to be a beta tester. I paid for this. The potential seems real. But I waited, hoping they would get it right. They did not. This looks like another piece that will end up in the drawer. That said I will keep trying for awhile and see if it gets better. If I have a new revelation, I will update this article.
It’s no secret we love using video to convey our message here at Seim Effects. From a marketing perspective we’ve learned that nothing sells products like video does. From an education perspective we’ve learned that nothing is more flexible to learn from than video. So we keep doing more of it and encourage others to do the same.
This has been on the menu for some time, but we finally made the Seim Effects promo. It’s a homepage introduction that we believe every company should have. In our case it tells a bit about what we do here at Seim Effects, how we work and why our product and service is unique. It has a little fun along the way too.
Seim Studios actually just started a spinoff compact that will focus entirely on filmmaking for our own projects as well as yours. It’s called Opera Chicken Films. We also just picked up the new Canon C100 Cinema Camera and are really ramping up production for our new projects. It’s going to be an exciting journey. You can learn more about these new projects on the Opera Chicken website.
I pre-ordered early and my LEAP finally came today after what must have been more than a year. It had been so long it was almost like magic just to hold the box. WOW, I thought. I can now control my computer just by waving my hands. Minority Report, here I come.. I’ve not actually seen that movie. Is it good?