Tag Archive for rapidfire video

Introducing RapidFire’s New Premium Style with CareerBuilder’s Latest Video

When RapidFire Video began, we surveyed the marketplace to find the general price range of marketing videos. On the top end of the price range were the fancy 3D ones (which are quite expensive) and the simplest of the simple videos which are more like…ordinary PowerPoint presentations. We couldn’t really relate to either of the extremes, and we absolutely hate the idea of selling selling selling. As a small company, we prefer spending our time doing what we love to do…which is making really awesome marketing videos.

So what did we do? We found a price point at the lower end of the spectrum so that we wouldn’t have to waste so much time negotiating sales and could get right to the work. That’s the important part anyway, right? On the one hand, we could probably earn more per project. On the other hand, in two years, we’ve yet to have to make a sales call or haggle over price. Word of mouth and the attractiveness of the figures we quote has us booked pretty solid.

Recently though…we had an interesting development.

For a while, we had a specific kind of video…keeping everything quite simple. We had called our company RFV because in a typical 2-minute video, you could easily see almost 100 images, showing up “rapidfire.” It’s easy to make changes, even at the last minute, and it really keeps the viewer actively challenged, engaged and excited. Some simple animations help as transitions between images, but that’s it.

But as we grew and expanded our portfolio, we felt it was time to expand our offerings as well for specific clients with stories that really would benefit from a slightly more “animated” presentation. And so…it brings us great joy to introduce our new Premium video offering. It’s our same signature style with the added bonus of Adobe After Effects animations to bump it up a notch. It let’s us do some wild stuff with text, and really clever transitions and animation tricks. We had been hesitant to mess with our tried-and-true formula, but we found that this kind of animation didn’t detract from the messaging and our familiar look and feel…we hope you’ll agree!

Check out the Premium video we completed for the CareerBuilder Talent Network:

We had so much fun with this project. The After Effects really gave us the opportunity to be creative with our designs and opened up the doors for a lot of really cool animations.

Another Premium style we provide is fully animated like this one we did for a billing lockbox solution:

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

And to answer the obvious question, yes – Premium videos will cost a drop more than our classic version. Roughly a third more. But frankly, unless you’re on a very, very minimalist budget, the figures we quote you are still attractive. Instead of being below the low-end of the market, we’re simply at the low end. And considering it includes script writing (i.e. free marketing advice), the voiceover (a $200-$450 value) and the actual video, we’re pleased to simply have something to offer…everyone.

Be sure to check out our other Premium videos and everything else in our online portfolio.

The vague value of viral videos

We’ve mentioned viral videos in a previous blog post, but we thought we’d revisit the subject and offer up our own “viral video” as an explanation.

So you’re convinced that you MUST HAVE a viral video, yeah? You must have it and the only way to measure the success of that video is to watch the number of viewers grow exponentially over the next two weeks. Right?

Well…if your goal is to create an off-the-wall video that is passed from person to person just for the sake of being seen…then yes, perhaps you want a viral video. Think… bed-intruder-ted-williams-susan-boyle-autotune-mashup. Right? Because THAT has EVERYTHING to do with your product. In a video like that, you’d be lucky if your brand name appeared on someone’s t-shirt!

Now consider this: Which is more valuable?

a) Having your bedintrudertedwilliamssusanboyleautotunemashup video seen by 392,048,023,483 people, 5 of whom are actually potential clients
…or b) Having a carefully crafted targeted video seen by 4590 people, 450 of whom are potential clients?

Check out this video that explains our take on those “viral videos”…

Dig it?

Check out the debate on this same issue going on over at Social Times

What do YOU think?

Save a pretty penny with Preton

Our latest project was for a company called Preton. They provide software that saves businesses on overhead by drastically reducing toner and ink usage. This video was quite fun for us because it forced us to think out of the box. Sometimes our clients have these crazy innovative little gadgets…and sometimes, like this time, we’re talking about printer ink. So how do you talk about things like printer ink while keeping the viewer engaged and wanting more?

…using creative analogies and imagery which the viewer can relate to and enjoy.

Like this…

What did you think? Did the snack food catch your eye?
Or maybe it was the bright colors?
…or maybe the $10 bills ;)

Snappy app…iSnap.it!

We’re so happy to announce our very first video for an iPhone app! We were really excited to work on it…we love iPhones and all the apps and we knew it would give us the opportunity to be even MORE creative and bold than usual. iPhone apps are designed for people with iPhones…and people with iPhones are generally labeled “fun!”

So yes…this video is fun. It’s for an app called iSnap.it.

And what is iSnap.it? iSnap.it is the only app that allows you to personalize your photos before you’ve even taken them.

Check out the video we made for them…

And if you’ve got an iPhone, go download it today!

Standing Ovation for Ovational

We recently completed a project for Ovational, a site that enables you to create an online tribute to a loved one.

They describe it like this:

An Ovation is a permanent, public, and customized online tribute to a special person who has significantly touched your life. It’s the way to surprise a grandmother, boyfriend, teacher, colleague or even a favorite blogger by telling them — and the world — how much you admire, respect or truly love them and why. When’s the last time you did that?

We expanded their description like this…

It’s like…a personalized e-card that stays online forever. Kinda cool, right? In this day and age…when everything on the interwebs is all about ME ME ME…it was a breath of fresh air to see a site revolving around someone else for a change.

The good news is that they’re running a special introductory promotion allowing you to create your very own Ovation for FREE until December 5, 2010. Give it a try…once the offer ends, they’ll charge a small fee…but nothing beats free!

Go on…applaud your algebra teacher, cheer for your cello tutor, sing praises to your parents, give kudos to your kids and pay homage to your housekeeper! We’ve all got someone to thank…so what are you waiting for?

Coaching made easy with Coachya

We had the best time working on our latest portfolio addition…Coachya. They offer an online application to help endurance coaches manage their teams and athletes. We had the opportunity to get really creative with imagery and try some different techniques with the screen shots and screen captures.

What do you think?

Pretty cool, eh? Does it make you want to train for a marathon now? ;)

Fun Times Call for FunPix

Another one of our favorite portfolio highlights is the clip we did for a company called FunPix. It’s a portable photobooth service for parties and tradeshows…really cute idea and a ton of creative imagery possibilities.

Take a look…

Get the picture?
Good ;)