The Video Genius

Timelapse Videos

Lowell Brillante — Thu, 02 May 2013 02:18:58 +0000

Charlotte Timelapse Videos The image above is a picture I took of the Charlotte NC skyline while I was recording a timelapse video clip I did for a client’s opening shot. This post is not about our services it’s just some interesting information to pique your interest into the art of timelapse videos, however with that being said I will briefly mention that we can do any type of timelapse you’d like to go in your video. We Provide Value These shots add production value and are visually appealling which means they engage your audience more and longer. If you’re interested in charlotte video production The Video Genius is 100% scalable, so we can provide you with video production services for anything you can possibly imagine. Moving on, I did edit the above image in photoshop but not like most people would think, I only adjusted the camera raw settings. Raw Format For those who aren’t familiar, shooting an image in raw quality means no compression so you have much more control when you go to edit the photo. That’s one reason why it’s better to shoot timelapse videos with a DSLR and combine the images as opposed to shooting regular video and speeding the clip up. Timelapses are nothing more than a bunch of photos put together but that’s exactly what video is too. Shutter Speed and it’s Effects You can control timelapses by adjusting the shutter speed which determines the length of exposure. The camera’s shutter opens and closes to expose an image, the slower the shutter speed, the longer the shutter is open when exposing which lets more light into the camera’s iris. A slow shutter speed would produce not only a brighter image but more importantly for this topic, a more blurred timelapse, this is due to the fact that more movement is able to occur during the…sorry that’s too obvious, I’m not talking to dummies, I’ll move on to…. a fast shutter speed would reduce the exposure intervals and would result in a sharper, choppier timelapse where people often appear to transport from one place to another. Timelapse + Dolly = Awesome One thing that I find really cool is timelapses where the camera is slowly moving which produces a dolly shot effect. The motion of the dolly we interpret as a normal speed reality camera movement, combining that with the super fast speed reality the timelapse provides and the result is mesmorizing. Probably the coolest type of timelapse shot in my opinion is when they apply this dolly timelapse effect when shooting the stars in the middle of the night somewhere like a mountain in the west where the stars are super bright. Here’s an incredible video which is a perfect example of this effect. The effect is achieved by mounting the camera on a motorized slider (a slider is basically a miniature dolly). Regular slider’s are user powered. I have a slider made by Konova, here’s a product image of my slider. Motorized Slider The motor is set to move the camera at a very slow speed, when the pictures are combined into a timelapse the increased speed turns a crawl into a regular speed dolly movement. Store bought motorized sliders or even the controller/kit for motorizing your slider are very expensive. I really wanted to be able to get these shots so I researched the web and found a diy build for a motor attachment. Since then I’ve found a few more, all seem valid and will definitely help you if you’re interested in this effect but don’t want to spend $800 on a new manufactured one. Tilt-Shift Photography Another really cool effect you can get with timelapse videos is the tilt-shift effect. When viewed the TS effect tricks your brain into thinking it’s seeing toys when in reality it’s all real world stuff, here I can show you better than I could ever explain…. This effect is achieved by shooting the timelapse with a “tilt-shift lens” this special lens allows you to pivot the lens on the x and y planes which somehow enables you to produce a really shallow depth of field that your brain is accustomed to seeing close up. So when you shoot a bulldozer far away, the shallow depth of field tells your brain “it’s not far, it’s close, it just looks far away because its really small.” This effect can now be pretty much perfectly reproduced in after effects and even photoshop has a tilt-shift blur filter. I didnt go into depth in this post on the how to of shooting timelapse videos because A all the information is already out there and B I’m not an expert. Here’s an article with all the information anyone could possibly want to know about how to shoot a timelapse video. Here’s a couple Charlotte Timelapse Videos I found on youtube… (it’s got some great shots but it’s kinda long)

by Lowell Brillante The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

American Pit Bull Foundation – Kelsey’s Story

Lowell Brillante — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:24:11 +0000

American Pit Bull Foundation – Kelsey’s Story The Video Genius

Kelsey is a 10 month old female puppy pit-bull. She was found by Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control lying half dead in an abandoned parking lot. They cleaned her up and got her to the Americam Pit Bull foundation for rescue. When Kelsey was found, it was obvious she had been severely mistreated.

by Lowell Brillante The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

Video SEO: How to Optimize your Videos for Google

Lowell Brillante — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 23:34:25 +0000

Video SEO: How to Optimize your Videos for Google The Video Genius

What is Video SEO? Video SEO or video search engine optimization is the concept of optimizing your online videos to show up on a google search results page for the targeted keyword(s). The number one way to optimize your videos for search is through writing the proper title, tags and description when uploading a video to YouTube. (You can go back at any point and edit this meta-information). 2 Main Components to Video SEO This is very simple information so once you know it you’ll be good to go. First lets take a look at how to properly complete step one. For this purpose I’ll use google and YouTube as examples although technically it applies to any major search engine and video sharing site. Optimizing your YouTube Videos Here’s a critical piece of information. When you upload your video to YouTube, you place the keyword you’re ranking for into the title of the video. The title of the video is the main meta-information that google references when indexing your video. So word for word, verbatim, your keyword needs to be in the title of the video. You would then place a link back to your site in the description section. Regardless of how many views your video gets, this backlink placed in the description won’t hold any actual “link juice” for ranking your site up, it’s solely for driving traffic. I recommend writing a full description with links to your site and a custom thumbnail because google does index this information also, just the main value comes from the meta-title. I won’t go into detail about how you determine what the actual keyword should be in this post but if google determines your video holds valuable information then it will be displayed on the homepage when someone does a search using the same keyword. This is great for driving traffic, and the amount of traffic your site gets does determine your google rank but again links placed in the description don’t pass any actual value to your site. However this is only the first part of the process, the second part holds enormous value for ranking your site up in the google search results. Embedding the Video and Creating Fresh Content Once you’ve uploaded your YouTube video and filled out the proper meta-information it’s time to write a blog post and embed the video into your site. Create a new blog post centered around the same concept or directly about your YouTube video. Optimize the post for the same keyword you used in your YouTube video title and embed the video directly into the page. I won’t go onto detail about how to optimize your post in this article but I am writing a local SEO guide that explains exactly how to do this. I’ll insert a link to it soon as its finished. I will say though that Yoast, creator of the famous WordPress SEO plugin that I personally use, has recently launched a new plugin for optimizing videos in your posts. This one isn’t free, I think it’s around $70 although if SEO is something your focusing on then I think it’s well worth the money. Anyway now that you’ve created a blog post with the video embedded and optimized the post for the same keyword as your video, your done with the process. The benefit of this is, when someone googles your keyword, the video will appear in the search results, just like it would from YouTube, however now the thumbnail will link to your blog post instead of to the video’s YouTube page. The post and video are seen as fresh content by google and with google’s new algorithm are incredibly valuable towards your search engine optimization campaign. It’s also a quick and easy method for getting link to your site on the first page result of what might otherwise be a keyword with high competition. Google Rich Snippets An important thing to take note of is, google placing thumbnails to videos in the search results page along with standard links is what they refer to as “google rich snippets” which I think are absolutely genius. Google rich snippets are “snippets” of information that when properly tagged, will show up in the actual search results page. If you’ve ever done a google search and seen a star rating for something then you know what a google rich snippet is. Thumbnails linking to posts and YouTube videos is also known as google rich snippets and can be very valuable for driving quality traffic to your site and in your overall Video SEO strategy.

by Lowell Brillante The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

Exercise Benefits in Cancer

The Video Genius — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:49:02 +0000

Exercise Benefits in Cancer The Video Genius

The Benefits of Exercise in Patients with Cancer The exercise benefits in cancer patients is supported by recent data which has shown an increase in survival and decrease in the risk of reoccurence in cancer patients who adopt a modest exercise routine during or after chemotherapy. This profound data provides the premise of this video. Gary Frenette, MD, PhD hired us to produce a 2-part video documenting a question and answer based discussion between himself and a certified fitness trainer with a degree in exercise science. Dr. Frenette is a medical oncologist here in charlotte with a phenomenal reputation. His initiative in making this video I believe goes a long way in explaining how he got such a great reputation both in the community and online. This is the full video. The first 30 minutes make up the question and answer discussion. The 2nd half of the video, the certified trainer demonstrates many useful exercises and stretches that patients can utilize in their program. The total length of the video is 50 minutes so now I’ll post the video broken down into segments for easier navigation. Very interesting information from Dr. Frenette. I have to say he was easily the best client I’ve ever had. Just a pleasure to work with on all levels.

by The Video Genius The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

Best Things to Do in Charlotte NC

Lowell Brillante — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 10:46:25 +0000

Best Things to Do in Charlotte NC The Video Genius

Best Things to Do in Charlotte NC There are a bunch of fun Things to Do in Charlotte NC no matter what type of thing it is you’re looking for. Charlotte has a little bit of everything and that’s increasing everyday. We’re one of the fastest growing cities in America and with a little advice from a local videographer you’re bound to have a good time! I was born in Charlotte, lived here my whole life, even graduated from Uncc. Point is I know this town and I’m going to list some cool places to go for all age groups. I’ll start by mentioning some main attractions but then I’ll start getting into the smaller, better stuff…. the gooey middle so to speak. Ok so off we go! Charlotte NC is growing at a quick and steady rate. It can no longer be considered a 2nd tier city in the US. The exciting thing is to remember what is was like 10 years ago, consider all the new people and businesses that have come and then imagine what it will be like in 10 more years. There’s plenty of things to do in Charlotte NC, with plenty more to come.

by Lowell Brillante The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

Videography in Charlotte NC – Testimonial Video

The Video Genius — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 06:12:28 +0000

Videography in Charlotte NC – Testimonial Video The Video Genius

Fuel Pizza Testimonial for MenuDrive MenuDrive The Video Genius provides Videography in Charlotte NC. We shot and edited this video for a company called MenuDrive who’s located in Philadelphia, PA. MenuDrive provides online ordering systems for company’s like Fuel Pizza. Online ordering systems allow customers to order food like pizza from the restaurant’s website. If you’ve ever ordered online from a big company like pizza hut or dominoes then you know what I mean. Fuel Pizza MenuDrive hired The Video Genius for our videography in charlotte nc services. Fuel Pizza has recently been implementing MenuDrive’s online ordering system and been seeing some fantastic results with it. We went to Fuel Pizza to do a sit down interview with one of the company’s 3 partners, Zach Current. Zach was a great person to interview, made my job super easy and had glowing things to say about MenuDrive. After the interview I had immediate respect for both MenuDrive and Fuel Pizza. Everything Zach said about MenuDrive was exactly how I want to model my business. They made promises and delivered everytime, they worked with him on nights and weekends, basically went the extra mile to deliver. Teamviewer My contact at MenuDrive’s name was Adrian, and he was most likely the best client I’ve ever had for videography in charlotte nc. No offense to any other clients, you’ve all been fantastic in your own ways, but he actually helped me edit. They absolutely loved their rough cut. Once they had a chance to make notes, he wanted to review them with me. Since he was located in Philadelphia PA we couldn’t meet in person. We decided to connect via teamviewer. Teamviewer is a free program that let’s people share screens, video chat etc. So I pulled up the edit and shared my screen with him. He was a filmmaker at one time so we had a great time nerding out. At some points he even took over the mouse and made some of the edits himself! Custom Work The timelapse at the beginning of the video I actually shot myself. A lot of times people buy those as stock footage online. This one was shot at 5:30am approximately on Johnson C Smith University’s football field. Where there is a really nice view of uptown Charlotte. Another part of the video I created custom is the ending MenuDrive graphic. Timelapses are just a bunch of pictures, same as video technically but we actually take a bunch a pictures for timelapses. Here’s one of the pics I took for a timelapse I shot for this video but ended up not using (looks great but had issues with flickering). The Telly Awards MenuDrive loved the video so much they’re even submitting to the Telly Awards. The Telly Awards are basically the Oscars for video production. Although not quite as big a deal. Still a great honor though and I was very happy they appreciated my work. Summary I have nothing but great things to say about Adrian and MenuDrive as well as Zach and Fuel Pizza and look forward to working with them again in the future. If you’re interested in Videography in Charlotte NC, feel free to contact us via the contact form, we’ll get back to you right away.

by The Video Genius The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

How to choose a Videographer in Charlotte NC

Lowell Brillante — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 13:56:25 +0000

How to choose a Videographer in Charlotte NC The Video Genius

How to choose a Videographer in Charlotte NC There’s many to choose from, here’s some information to help you decide which Videographer in Charlotte NC is right for you. Your Needs First things first. What are your needs? Do you need live event videography, like a graduation, wedding, or any special event? Or do you need something more planned and produced like a tv commercial for your business? Or even a whole series of videos distributed in several different mediums? When you go to choose a videographer in charlotte nc consider what type of video you need ie event, commercial, corporate etc as well as how involved you need the videographer to be. Meaning do you just need a person with equipment to point a camera and press a button? Or do you need videographer or video production company in charlotte nc who can help you make strategic decisions based on their experience? Which is Best? It wouldn’t be fair me to say one videographer is better than the other, especially with video being the largely subjective medium that it is, but what I can tell you is that definitely one videographer in charlotte nc will be better for you than any other. This is based upon your needs, situation, personality and budget. The quickest way to finding the right videographer for you is to determine exactly what your specific needs are. Production Budget More money is not synonymous with better quality, although it often can be. You will pay for quality in the video business but if you shop around you can find the best value. I consider value to be determined by the ratio of quality, price and experience. What’s the quality you’ll get compared to how much it costs with a factor of customer experience. Although we’re not the cheapest company out there, I think we by far provide the best value. Quality Is it well-made? Did they use good equipment? Is it in HD? Did they plan it properly? Is it well edited? Is there custom graphics? Everything adds up to the overall quality. Price How much does it cost? You need to be very specific letting them know what you expect so they can give you an accurate cost. Otherwise it’s even possible that the price could change. Take a look at the additional hourly rate of the videographer, if you end up needing to hire them longer than the agreed upon length of time as well. Experience Referring to your customer experience. How long will it take to deliver? What is their communication strategy? Ask them what happens if you aren’t satisfied with their product… it’s a tough question but the answer could be revealing. You shouldn’t necessarily believe what they say 100% but how a videographer in charlotte nc handles things like that make a big difference. Specialty It’s not a bad idea to go with a company who has experience doing similar videos although not a dealbreaker. Just because they haven’t yet doesn’t mean they can’t, but if they specialize in it then you know what you’re getting. Experience Be sure to pick a videographer who’s had a few years experience. There are and will be a lot of videographers coming into the market because of the lower barriers to entry but just because someone can afford the equipment doesn’t mean they have the skills necessary to do your project. All other things held constant, you’ll pay more for experience, but that doesn’t mean the oldest guy you can find is the best, it just means make sure they have been battle tested. Summary To sum everything up, you need to find out what your needs are, then take a look at the quality, price, and experience you can expect from each videographer in charlotte nc.

by Lowell Brillante The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

American Heart Association – Charlotte Heart Walk 2012

The Video Genius — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 03:20:50 +0000

American Heart Association – Charlotte Heart Walk 2012 The Video Genius

American Heart Association Video for the Charlotte Heart Walk When the American Heart Association contacts you personally to create a video documenting one of their biggest events, you get pretty excited. Well this was no exception… The American Heart Association was an absolute pleasure to work with. Couldn’t be happier with the relationship I’ve developed with them. I highly recommend their company and mission statement to all those interested in what they have to offer. The Charlotte Heart Walk is an event held by the American Heart Association to raise awareness for heart disease. Their motto/slogan is “my heart, my life.” They’re encouraging and empowering people to take control of their life with both diet and exercise. Although we had almost no time to setup shots and interview the corporate leaders, it was still a phenomenal experience to be a part of and I think the video turned out pretty good, although my contacts at the American Heart Association loved it, and really it’s all about the client. I enjoyed seeing all the people who had survived heart disease their in full force, and also the courage of the people who had lost loved ones, out there supporting the cause and raising awareness. The children in the red capes are living with heart disease, the capes represent that they’re superheroes. I shot the video using the Canon 5D Mark II as my main camera with 2 GoPro’s to capture additional b-roll in 60fps for the slow motion shots. I used a plugin called Twixtor to slow down the footage. If you liked this video and are possibly interested in hiring us to make a video for you. Go ahead and use the contact form, it only takes a second and I’ll get right back to you. Thanks so much to the American Heart Association and everyone involved.

by The Video Genius The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

Companies in Charlotte NC

Lowell Brillante — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 08:43:39 +0000

Companies in Charlotte NC The Video Genius

Companies in Charlotte NC The History and Success of Some of the Most Established Companies in Charlotte NC Ever wonder why Charlotte has so many transplants? Just like any thriving metropolis, there are a variety of different Companies in Charlotte NC. I decided to put together a list of Charlotte NC’s trademark companies, combined with some of the video production that helped them along the way. First up, probably no surprise to anyone, is….. Bank of America ccording to wikipedia, Bank of America company is headquartered in Charlotte NC and is the 2nd largest bank holding company in the United States. That doesn’t surprise me, especially because I had to look-up the definition of a “bank-holding company” for this article. What does surprise me are these figures…. Here’s a cool Bank of America Commercial I found when I searched youtube. Bank of America – Keep Moving Forward – 2009 The Bissell Companies The Bissell Companies used to own a great deal of the land ( probably still do) in ballantyne, a wealthy area of Charlotte NC. The companies were built from the ground up by the legendary “Smokey Bissell.” I don’t know him personally but he seems like he’d be a fantastic person to get a cup of coffee with. My significant other works at one of his companies and even though he’s extremely wealthy, he doesn’t drive a flashy car…. No he drives a hybrid because he cares about the planet… To me that’s inspiring, if I had that kind of capital I’m not saying I’d buy a jet powered motorcycle, but I certainly wouldn’t be driving something economical. Smokey Bissell Smokey started the Bissell Companies in 1964 by opening a small real estate firm with 5 employees. Today the Bissell Companies have approximately 600 employees. I live in ballantyne and can’t see myself living anywhere else so I owe him a thank you at least. Through Bissell Development, one of his many companies (14 total I think), he’s developed over 11 million square foot through North and South Carolina and Tennessee. He’s most well known for Southpark, which, if you’re not familiar is a super nice part of Charlotte with an upscale mall, and Ballantyne, another really nice community I’m proud to call home. Charlotte NC is much better off thanks to Smokey Bissell. Fuel Pizza Fuel Pizza was started in 1998 by a couple guys from Ney York that said they couldn’t find a decent slice of pizza in Charlotte NC… ouch but probably true at the time. The style came from the original location which was an old rustic gas station on central avenue. That style is now a trademark of Fuel Pizza. Video Production A company local to Philadelphia PA, named MenuDrive hired me to film a video using Fuel Pizza partner, Zach Current’s testimonial. MenuDrive provides Fuel Pizza with their online ordering system. Let me know what you think of the video. Here’s a link to the portfolio page that has details about the project. Let me know in the comments what companies you think belong on the list of established Companies in Charlotte NC and I’ll add them in!

by Lowell Brillante The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC

TV Show Charlotte NC

The Video Genius — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 01:52:10 +0000

TV Show Charlotte NC The Video Genius

TV Show in Charlotte NC Fast lane for fun is a TV Show in Charlotte NC I was an editor on. The show was produced by Ben Reed for Hammerhead Entertinament. Hammerhead Entertainment is Dale Earnhardt’s Jr’s production company. They were hired to produce the show for Direct TV’s 3D channel. The entire show was shot and edited in 3D, it was really cool and fun to work on. This is the promo video for the show. The tv show in charlotte nc interviews several different Nascar drivers talking about what they like to do for fun. Then follows them as they

by The Video Genius The Video Genius - Video Production in Charlotte NC