I know what all you avid readers of our blog are thinking….’where the hell are they’? Well good news is, we are still alive and still making corporate videos, and lots of them in fact. The reason why none of us have written a blog of late is because we had all our servers switched over from America and in that process our log in details went missing, so therefore we couldn’t upload a blog.

Since my last blog I have filmed for Finning, NDT Services, Gateway College, Balfour Beatty and Hewden. The finning videos were being used at the Communications conference last week and I have to admit, they looked great on the big screen. We were filming extra footage at Gateway College to go in to their Arts video, which is currently on our website and we finally got the NDT Services video underway, with some great location filming at their various sites. However, I along with Jonny and Pete did spend a week in Tilbury filming some testing for Balfour Beatty Electricity Alliance. I have put a couple of pictures below that some up the week nicely….onion fields and pylons, who says our job isn’t glamorous? 

TIM

I would say we are pretty unique company, compared to most in our industry. One of the key services we offer is the Review & Revise session, which happens at the completion of the first edit on every video. This is the moment in which our client sees their video for the first time, in its rawest form and they are always usually successful. This, for the client is a vital part of the video making process because they can outline the bits they would alter or change and get the video to its final master much quicker. This is why we stress in meetings, that its imperitive that all decision makers should attend this part of the video making process. There is nothing worse for the client, them taking back a video to their place of work and people pulling it apart because of certain elements, its much easier getting those things ironed out much earlier on.

For us, its always the most nerve wracking part of the video, because in that moment, we find out how well we have nailed the brief that was set. We all still get butterflies about an hour before a Review and Revise session, because ultimately, we want the client to fall in love with their video and we’re nervous about what they may say. I can say hand on heart to this day, we have never had one go wrong, of course we have had changes to videos, but we pretty much get it right first time, invariably the changes are just cosmetic, which always pleases the editor.

Also, the other benefit to our review and revise session is getting to watch the video back in the comfort of our viewing lounge, on a big High Definition screen. Yet again, its all part of the service you get here at Affixxius Productions.

TIM

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As the sun beams through the big windows here at the ranch, I can’t help looking at the projects board again and smiling. There are so many videos in post production at the moment, and the things Dave and Pete turn the raw footage into gets more astounding every day!

All this talk of ‘Downturn’ and ‘Crunch’ has got me thinking- Economies fluctuate! they will always do and all they succeed in doing is weaning out the bad businesses! The good ones streamline, adapt and market themselves aggressively. So really, there has never been a better time to promote yourself! and video is most certainly the best way to do that! (see what I did there?)

Here at Affixxius land, the diary is filling up late into the year and the creative juices are flowing. It appears the serious players are on the same wavelength and those who want Corporate Video know the place to come! (it could all be down to our new coffee machine of course) 

In all, things at Affixxius are looking very good. Now I just need to convince Miles to let us get a pinball machine and we’re really on track!

Take Care all, 

HARRY

 

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And my response to the above question is usually, “We do Corporate Video”, and at that point, most people look back a little blanked faced and say “Oh, so what does that mean?”. At this point in the conversation, we have numerous avenues in which we can go down to describe exactly what we do, but the underlying problem, I find, is the phrase Corporate Video. Lets face it, that phrase alone has not really stood the test of time, as we fly further and faster down the digital age, the word video is being lost, even though its the correct word for a visual moving image, but unfortunately, it was over used when VHS came onto the market (which by the way, we refuse to put videos onto VHS now….urgghh). 

So what is that we do? We bespoke create visual moving media for corporate entities for any application. However, that is so full of jargon, that its still confusing. The point I’m trying to make in this blog is that it doesn’t really matter how you say what we do, its ultimately the end product that matters. At that point, when somebody see’s our work, they understand instantly. 

When Miles and I started Affixxius nearly 5 years ago, we always said, we could make a video about anything, and that still applies today. We make videos for all sorts of different clients for all sorts of different applications, if I tried to list them in this blog, I could be here till the cows came home. The best thing to do is, if your having issues working out how your going to get information out there about a product or service, just give us a call, and I’m sure we can create something that will impress and more importantly achieve its goal.

TIM

 

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Yet again its been ages since I actually wrote a blog, its one of those jobs you put on your list of things to do that gradually makes its way down the list and eventually off it. As with every summer we have ever had in the corporate video industry, we are very busy. The company is coming up to its 5th anniversary this October, and out of all the seasons on record, the summer is without fail, a bit crazy, for obvious reasons I might add.

Lets face facts, we don’t get much sunshine and warm weather in England at the best times, so when the summer does finally role round, everybody and anybody wants things filming in the best conditions possible; and to be honest, we prefer filming in the summer, sure as hell beats filming in the cold and rain. This month we have filmed at Mid-Kent College, Gateway College, Hewden Dartford depot and at the National Grid training site in Eakring and its only the middle of the month! For the remainder of the month we have filming for Revive, Sport Scout UK and more Hewden work, and this doesn’t include any of the filming work in August. Corporate video has not been this busy since the Jitterbug dance was in fashion. 

Hopefully, our website will be updated soon enough with some of these videos we have been filming and you can see the fruits of our labour.

TIM

 

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Today, Pete Black and I have been left to our own devices as the entire crew are away filming some more quality corporate video in Kent. The office looks a bit like an early nineties Beirut as we are fitting out a new room next door to store the vast array of cutting edge kit we use.

I’m up to my neck in sawdust and my broken big toe isn’t helping much either!! Besides being the sales and marketing manager, it seems I am also the in house handyman!

If your ever near Leicester and fancy sitting in our cool cinema lounge, eating popcorn and watching genuinely good corporate video, your more than welcome!

There is so much going on right now I don’t know where to begin! We are launching so many new video initiatives, different distribution styles, new sectors and new approaches to the way we can edit. Combine all these things with a full calendar of current video projects and repeat work for our biggest clients, and you get busy times! 

No Alan Partridge here!

Corporate video has changed!

HARRY

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Hello all! 

Two weeks into my time here at Affixxius Productions I thought I’d be writing about what new gadgets ive been given, about the office and all the snazzy kit inside or what the rest of the crew get up to on a day to day basis. Whilst all those things are in fact a very real element to the business (and my new gadgets are rather fun) The ethos here at Affixxius astounds me, not just the day to day feel of the place but the projects and ideas that we all get genuinely excited about every day. The creative process that goes into producing a video is something that still makes me stop and stare at Dave and Pete’s workstations. The all round ability in house is humbling, Jonny is a miracle worker with graphic design and I have to constantly remind myself to get back to work and stop gawping at his latest masterpiece. Well, enough excuses as to why I never appear to do any work!

Miles and I have been hitting the road pretty hard since I started, being a leafy rural leicester based business, its great to hear from clients looking for quality corporate video that don’t want to pay big city prices. Also its such a great thing to hear from genuinely happy customers, to be recommended by them and to shake hands at meetings with people who are very keen to do business with us.

In all, it is such a pleasure to work with these guys and it still makes me smile when I see the look on peoples faces when they ask me about ‘my new job’- nobody expects to hear “its the best job in the world!” Being the best corporate video company in the midlands is something we are all very proud of, and from the moment I stepped foot in the production suit here I knew that Affixxius’ vision is no small fish- corporate video has indeed changed!

More from me soon, 

 HARRY

Well would you look at that, I now have written 3 blogs in a row. Looks like there is only on person with the news to report from Affixxius (or one person with the time). You can tell by the title of this blog, what this is going to be all about. Basically, in a further effort to not only improve our end product, but also our service, we have brought not one new person but two. Peter Black as a senior editor, to work along side our other chaps in the post-production team and Harry Murphy as marketing and sales manager to work with Miles and I on growing the business. We welcome these two guys to what are exciting times for Affixxius and now doubt, anyone who works with us, will meet them soon.

However, I can’t sit here and talk about new faces, when there is one person within the business I haven’t mentioned much in my blogs. I have heaped praise on both Miles and Jonny, for their abilities, and not mentioned Dave. I will let you in on a secret as to why I haven’t talked about Dave previously, and thats because he is one of the most talented video makers I have ever had the privilege of working with……and I’m jealous of him for that! I know that may sound a little over the top, but not only is Dave a superb cameraman and brilliant editor, he can also play just about every musical instrument under the sun and he’s nice bloke too. He’s a great asset to Affixxius, and if we are going to keep on producing great corporate video, we need to recruit multi-talented individuals, like Dave.

Well, thats me all praised out for now, no doubt as i spend more time with Harry and Peter, they will get an entry in my blog and be praised. But for now, I’m just going to wait for someone else to write a blog.

TIM

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Everyone knows that here at Affixxius Productions we produce corporate videos and that is our main stay of work, however, we also do a lot of work that supplements our videos. For example, we not only came up with the Heads Up campaign for the Electricity Alliance, but we did all their Safety Awareness Posters, Stickers and Safety Whiteboards. We therefore had to design a brand from scratch based around our video concept and then implement it. Obviously, our designs are very much in keeping with the key values of our video work, so therefore very modern and professional.

I should at this point mention that its not me that produces these amazing bits of art (although I like to pretend I do from time to time to wind up the man that does). Jonny, who has been working here for nearly a year, does all of our design work. He was initially brought on as an assistant editor, but of late, he has been putting his degree to the test and working on all our design work and our clients.

Obviously, being a very innovative company, we have been working on a number of improvements to our brand, which Jonny has been spearheading.  Not only does he design our film genre new quarter promotional DVD covers, but also our client packs, our Master boxes (released this July) and many more bits and pieces around here. 

So there we have it, Affixxius Productions, not just great videomakers.

TIM

You will notice I haven’t written a blog in a while, not only because Miles stole my last idea (see below blog), but also because I have been quite a busy chap on the road filming all over the UK, from East Midlands, to the Peak District to the Scottish border, and the list goes on. 

However, my reason for blogging today is to purely talk about all the many things going on at Affixxius (not just corporate videos). For example, we are recruiting for 2 new positions within the business, to help with workload, but also increase sales, so thats a very exciting time. I like to think that we have created a nice working environment and great culture around our business that hopefully, 2 new employees will thrive in and ultimately enjoy creating corporate videos. Needless to say, this is one of the big things going on within the business, although we have a new initiative coming into place in a months time, once the R&D is completed, that I think, will be a great asset to the business.

Also, we have a number of proposals outstanding at the moment, for new jobs with completely new clients, which is obviously accounting for the larger amount of Irons in the metaphorical fire. Putting all the ‘businessy’ stuff aside, ultimately these Irons are the most important ones. We love making corporate videos here and those proposals usually lead us to new challenges and new clients that have a new tool to bring into their business.

So there we go, these are merely a few of the things going on within the business at the moment, that are no doubt going to change by tomorrow, as is this case with our business, however, its exciting times.

TIM