Telling stories with video on social media; Snapchat
Another social media platform is making way for businesses - Snapchat. If you’re marketing to millennials or younger, it’s time to get on Snapchat before your competition does!
Snapchat just introduced a new feature, Discover, which lets Snapchat users connect to an exclusive group of world-class leaders in media, including CNN, Comedy Central, Cosmopolitan, Food Network and several more, in a new storytelling format, which puts creativity first. It is intended to be a new way of exploring the Snapchat Stories feature. Snapchat’s Stories feature lets users create compilations of snaps that last 24 hours for their friends to see. In 2014, Snapchat’s Our Story features was introduced, which compiles snaps that users submit during select big events around the world, like college game days and festivals.
Discover’s goal is to partner with trusted media companies to tell stories that put the narrative first. With Discover, the technology is accommodating creatives, not creatives accommodating to technology. Now that Snapchat is clearing making way for businesses, it’s time for hop on the wagon before the others do. Although it is unlikely that your business will be making its way to the Discover feature, Snapchat, in general, is a great opportunity for businesses to provide their fans with updates in real-time -- to lessen the technology gap even more. It’s a fun and interactive app, which is a unique mix of Instagram and YouTube.
It’s easy to sign up, find your fans, and promote your new Snapchat account on your social media page. It is a must if you are marketing to millennials and younger, but it will not be long until it will be a must for all.
Snaps can be either photos or videos, taken in real-time, not uploaded, and they can be decorated with text and graphics. Once you have your snap ready, you can post it to your Stories for your followers to see. As you keep posting, the longer your story will get, and the more fun it becomes! Users can reply to their friends’ snaps in both private chats and in Stories.
MJRvisuals is a full-service video production company, based in Washington, D.C. Our goal is to bring your vision to life. If you are interested in working with dynamic video production team, contact MJRvisuals today.
Thoughts of A Cinematographer and DC Videographer
People say that you have that “a ha” moment where everything makes since.
Your write a manifesto or you scribble it down on a piece a paper but the end result is you have an awakening of sorts. I had this moment and instead of writing it down I decided to record it.
I think I did this while videography and photography was still a hobby and I had yet dove into it head first as a career. I’ve never posted it but more have it on my Vimeo page so I can find it and listen to it. I listen to it because it reminds me of my thought process with videography, photography, color correction, editing, animation anything that deals with creativity. That lesson is to always learn, always grow and your never the best at anything. Watching it helps me continue to push further.
I’m a self taught videographer, animator, artist. These were thoughts off the cuff so excuse the stuttering.
I hope you watch and share.
The Thoughts of A DC Videographer - About MJR from MJRVisuals on Vimeo.
A fun short film "The Maternal Triangle"
We really enjoy filming, we had a down Sunday from filming and editing. What did we decide to do? We made a few phone calls to friends and asked if they wanted to do a short film. The friends were Playboy model Tilly Mcreese, Penthouse Model Zoe West and Detalus/house of card actor Elliott Lyles. It’s cool when people just want to do stuff for fun. We shot this short film and edited in four hours (Elliott actually drove from Atlanta that morning and was running behind..lol). It was funny because I kept blowing up his phone asking “where are you? where are you!!???” He never let me know that he was driving up from ATL until he arrived, wow I felt bad. I love working with these guys as they know there stuff and everything was complexity off the cuff. Cool Beans. Take a look at the pictures and watch the short film. It’s cool, fun, and funny. It was written by my Boy and neighbor (ironically) Caryle Chalmers.
Watch and Enjoy the film at the bottom!
Overview;
The Maternal Triangle written by Carlyle Chalmers. A man is introduced to his girlfriend's mother only to find he has unknowingly been dating the daughter of his ex-lover. Old feelings begin to resurface when he reencounters his old flame. With House of cards and Werewolf Actor : Ellitt Lyles, Playboy Model Tilly McRess and Penthouse Model Zoe West. Directed by MJR.
The Maternal Triangle Short Film from MJRVisuals on Vimeo.
ENG or Electronic News Gathering.
ENG or Electronic News Gathering. We recently won a contract to provide weekly ENG service for a international news channel. I always talk about our “workhorses”; the c100s show how truly versatile they are. We have filmed short films, features, commercials and now broadcast material. Amazing!
The first week it was stressful, as we shoot either breaking news or scheduled interviews. Just learning the flow of the production was interesting. We meet with the producers weekly, receive the schedule of interviews, go to location, film, edit and return a finished product (actually 3 products) same day.
Now when your a boutique video production company, boutique means small and understanding time is critical is extremely important. The news agency is a contract and we still shoot commercial, conferences, film, etc but this is truly an interesting experience and something that we will expand on in the future. See some of the photos below!
Malcholm - mjrvisuals.
Video Production Instagram
The key to marketing on social media platforms is knowing your audience and where they spend their time. For example, Pinterest has a mostly female demographic, and Twitter leans more toward men. For today, were going to talk all about Instagram.
Instagram launched in October of 2010 and was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. It was quickly acquired by Facebook in April of 2012 for 1 billion dollars, back when the platform only had 100 million active users. Recorded December of this year, Instagram has over 300 million active users.
Instagram set itself apart, initially, with its polaroid picture model. Pictures that users take are square like a polaroid picture, which is unique since mobile devices take pictures in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Along with this unique aspect, crowds flock to Instagram for the filters. Users can snap, edit and create their own unique photo and feel like professional photographers with just a couple touches. Now, Instagram has expanded its capabilities to video, as well.
So, who and what is on Instagram? The Instagram demographic is approximately two-thirds women and one-third men, and sources say that most of them are under 35. Popular uses of Instagram include food photography and travel photography, but of course, it is great for anyone who loves taking and creating unique photos.
If you're just getting started on Instagram, there is no need to fret.
One great thing about Instagram is that you can upload photos, along with taking them in Instagram. You can put an Instagram spin on any photo!
When you're marketing on Instagram, the key to efficiency and relevancy is in the tools that you use. Luckily, there is an extremely selection for all of your needs, either at low cost or free.
Tools like PicMonkey and Canva help you create your picture masterpieces and add text overlaying to communicate a message. To measure your photo and video success, you'll need an analytics platform, such as iconosquare.com, which also has a variety of other capabilities for Instagram. When it comes to discovering what images and hashtags are popular for your audience, you can use a tool like quickagram.com to find recently posted and popular photos, based on hashtags, and then head over to Tagboard to claim ownership of your hashtag. If you're unfamiliar with hashtags, they can be used to describe an event, interest, brand, fad or another descriptor.
One of the most underutilized capabilities of Instagram is video. Experts say videos will be utilized in 2015 to catch the short attention span and fit a long message in a short amount of time. There are also free tools that speed up videos to squeeze even more into that short period.
If you're interested in utilizing video for Instagram, contact MJR Visuals to head up your video project today!
Producing News for Broadcast
We recently secured a contract to film for a international news agency. Weekly we are on location filming breaking news and highlight news to then record, edit, produce and send. Amazing. This week we covered the MLK wreath laying. It was great to be able to interview the Homeland Security Security (one on one and no that is not me in the picture) as well as the Mayor - very cool. I like doing extra things and since I started as a photographer I decided to take pictures as well.
Blippar - Print Advertising reloaded?
One business has drastically changed advertising and customer relationships - Blippar, an augmented reality mobile app and advertising platform.
According to the app's description in the Google Play Store, Blippar is the world's leading augmented reality and image recognition app. In the Play Store, it has achieved 500,000 downloads, but it may have some kinks to work out, according to some reviews. Its average review rating in the Google Play Store is 3.2 and 3.0 in the Apple Store. Nevertheless, this app is reaching new levels.
Gone are the days when QR codes appear everywhere we go. Welcome to the future - blipping. Blippar defines the word blipp as "the action of instantaneously converting anything in the real world into an interactive wow experience."
Blippar and advertisers team up to give app users movie trailers, videos, 3D animation, exciting games, virtual photobooths, exclusive content, chances to win prizes and more.
For advertisers, Blippar offers a chance to give customers more than what meets the eye and a chance to strengthen customer relationships. For users, Blippar offers an interactive shopping experience, by transforming regular products and displays, and in turn the "normal" shopping experience, whether it be in-store or online.
More than a mobile app, it is a new age information system. It is a great way for people to connect with and get to know their favorite brands and businesses. I believe that this is just the beginning of exciting new possibilities in advertising.
I invite you to check out the company’s website - blippar.com and go to their YouTube channel to see some of the amazing blipps created by some of your very favorite companies, publications and more. Your tablet and mobile devices are now a passageway into a whole new dimension.
Video blipps are one of the many ways that you can connect with your customers on Blippar. If you are interested in learning more from a dynamic video production team, contact MJR Visuals today.
MJRvisuals is a video production and media solutions company. We provide creative and imaginative visuals solutions for your marketing and advertising projects.