Who is Clevertronics?
Clevertronics is a Australian manufacturer of emergency exit signs. Chances are you’ve seen plenty of their products without ever knowing. The MCG and the Sydney Opera house are two of their most recognisable clients, but their exit signs are in thousands of buildings all across Australia.
Planning a Corporate Video
Part of our role when we’re creating a corporate video is to highlight what sets a company apart from the competition (why you should buy their exit signs). What became obvious very quickly with Clevertronics was their focus on research and development, they’re genuine industry innovators. Clevertronics pioneered the use of Lithium-Ion batteries in their exit signs and, as a result, they have been able to manufacture signs that last over twice as long as the traditional exit sign batteries.
Innovation therefore became the centrepiece of our video. To demonstrate this visually, it was going to be important to get footage of the manufacturing process and the research and development side of the business.
The other important part of the video was going to be a customer testimonial. Testimonials are great for video because they’re a proof of concept and also tell a story. This is beneficial because it helps sell the product but also keeps the viewer interested. So speaking to a Clevertronics customer would be our second task. If you want to learn more about video testimonials then click here.
The Clevertronics Shoot
Day 1
Day 1 of our shoot would be spent shooting footage of the manufacturing and research facility. Getting footage of a factory can sometimes be challenging. You need to coordinate with particular areas of the factory to film certain machines or processes. You need to be fast because the staff have a job to get on with. You need to respect the safety of the factory and do your best to stay out of the way. At the same time you need to get great looking footage.
We have a lot of experience shooting in factories so we knew the best way to operate. Part of this is choosing the right equipment and techniques:
Using a stabiliser/gimbal. This is a handheld piece of equipment that allows you to walk around while recording footage. Small sensors and motors will stabilise the camera and give you smooth motion. The outcome is footage that has great cinematic motion. Because it’s so mobile and small it means the operator can move fast and doesn’t get in peoples way.
Using a slider. Like the gimbal, a slider is used to create cinematic motion by moving the camera through the scene. It allows for a little more precision than the gimbal but it’s a little slower to set up and move about.
Timelapse. A timelapse is a technique where you set up a camera on a tripod, you take a photo every couple of seconds and then you stitch them all together into a video with computer software. The result is a video that looks like it’s in fast forward. Its a great way to show something that is moving very slowly in a short period of time. It can also make something seemingly dull (like a factory assembly line) look visually interesting.
Click here to find out more about creating cinematic video in your corporate video.
Day 2
The second day of our shoot involved going to the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne to interview a Clevertronics client. As with any corporate video, planning our approach was an important part of the process. Planning meant we’d be time efficient and wouldn’t miss any of the footage we need. We prepared questions for the interviewee that would complement the topics covered in the video. Doing this meant that we could use the testimonial to support the claims made by the Clevertronics staff.
The second part of our visit to the Dental Hospital was to shoot footage of our interviewee doing his job. This would be used to visually demonstrate his role and allow us to cut away from just his interview shot. This kind of footage works best when it’s relevant to what the interviewee is saying on camera, so we shot footage of him monitoring the exit sign systems and speaking to a Clevertronics employee.
Bringing it All Together
The final product for Clevertronics is a video that demonstrates what they do and importantly, why they do it better than everyone else. It is being used as a marketing tool on their website.
If you want to produce a corporate video for you business then get in contact with Dream Engine today.
Ryan Spanger is one of Melbourne’s most respected and sought-after video production professionals. Ryan founded Dream Engine in 2002, and specialises in helping medium to large corporates, government departments, and the non-profit sector to connect with their audience more effectively by using video.
