Even in documentary production, story elements are essential to keep the audience engaged. How can you “plan” a story when you are documenting real life? How do character, setting, plot, conflict and theme play out in a documentary? Caine’s arcade is a video about a young boy who built a mini-arcade out of cardboard boxes and supplies […]
At Cognitive Films, even though we primarily concentrate on documentary video production, we do our best to apply storytelling principals in both the planning phase and the editing room after the shoot. By building to a resoultion (AKA Theme) and layering the information in logically, a documentary can edited to follow basic story structure. Even when […]
The Reel Change Film Frenzy is officially over. I am happy to report that our video was turned in on time, with minimal hiccups. We were paired with Badgerdog Literary Publishing, a nonprofit group committed to developing literary communities. We did our best to shoot, edit, encode and deliver a documentary-style story within 48 hours. The […]
The Austin Reel Change Film Frenzy is Upon Us Last year, I participated in the production of a short documentary capturing a behind-the scenes look at the 48 Hour Film Festival in Austin. This was a contest where filmmakers were challenged with making a short film in only 2 days. The competition was fierce, and […]
The Five Elements of an Interesting Business Story Every business, large or small, local or global, has an interesting story to tell. Unfortunately, this story is usually buried under a steaming pile of marketing cliches and robotic business language. A great story can work to help potential customers pay attention, connect with your company on […]
Documentary films have been quickly gaining popularity worldwide… And it isn’t just the film-festival crowds anymore. Documentaries have gone mainstream. In late 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences issued new requirements for feature-length documentary entries. To be eligible for an Oscar nomination, documentaries must be screened for seven days in either Los […]
How Video Can Help Your Website Rank Higher Embedding video content on your pages can actually help your website rank higher in the search engines. Why? Studies show that video increases the average time spent on your page, and Google loves it. This is because the time spent on the site indicates the quality of […]
Top 30 Highest Grossing Movies Filmed in Austin Austin’s filmmaking community is alive and well. With high-end production facilities such as Austin Studios in Round Rock, Spiderwood Studios in Ulty, East Side Stages Downtown, and dozens of smaller studios available, the hills are alive with the sound of…movies. You may be curious about what […]
7 Great Content Ideas for Ongoing Video Campaigns If you want to start creating regular video content for your Internet marketing efforts, you are going to need to step outside the television commercial mindset. You’ll want to start creating videos that your target audience will choose to watch because they relevant and interesting, not because […]
With a myriad of film festivals and abundance of like-minded professionals, Austin is a great city to make movies. The city offers plenty of educational options for budding filmmakers of all ages. If you are interested in learning more about video production, check out some of these Austin video production and film schools: Austin School […]
How Pottery Barn Uses Web Video to Engage When it comes to marketing online, nothing can touch the level of engagement a well produced video can provide. People usually prefer watching video over reading and clicking through photo galleries on websites. Media personality and blogger Leah D’Emilio recently expressed her appreciation for the videos produced by Pottery […]
10 Common Website Video Mistakes to Avoid Video is powerful when done correctly. If you are thinking about integrating a video into your website, make sure to avoid these common (mostly technical) mistakes: 1. Self-hosted video Your web server probably isn’t optimized for streaming video. Most aren’t. Most businesses are better off using a hosted […]
Austin Event: DIY Video Production for Nonprofits The City of Austin Cultural Arts Division offers quite a few free workshops for creative professionals. If you have ever been curious about the basics of video production, especially for non-profit causes, this hands-on video workshop is definitely for you: This 4-hour workshop teaches the basics of filmmaking. […]
Peter Guber on How to Tell Authentic Stories Every time you tell a joke, recommend ar a movie, or describe an experience, you are storytelling authentically. You believe it. You were there. Because they were significant you, you genuinely want to share these experiences with others. As a speaker, presenter or interviewee, you can achieve this level of authentic […]
New Vimeo Pro Video Hosting for Business Vimeo recently announced a new upgrade, Vimeo Pro. This $200/year video hosting service is geared toward businesses who want to utilize the simple video hosting features of Vimeo for commercial purposes. I have been using Vimeo Plus for a while now. It allows us to easily embed video on our sites with an […]
How to Prepare for a Video Interview If you are going to be interviewed on video, chances are you are going to want to bring your A-game. Understandably, some people get nervous before a recorded interview, but there is no need for that when you come prepared. Review and practice these tips, and you will […]
Three Big Web Video Trends in 2011 Some years you can just feel the rumbling of the train down the tracks. In the past two weeks I’ve found myself in both a Best Buy and B&H — and the level of sophistication and technical curiosity that I witnessed from average consumers is remarkable. From home […]
12 Surprising Things Holding Back Online Video Advertising (via TechCruch) After four years in the online video business, one thing is clear: if you produce high quality content and build sufficient distribution across a large enough number of consumer touch points, you can generate more than enough revenue from multiple sources and platforms to build […]
Austin Event: Storytelling Through Film In October 2010, with the support of Humanities Texas, we were able to provide educators with the opportunity to participate in a day-long training during the Austin Film Festival & Conference facilitated by film industry experts. This session was focused on providing teachers with the knowledge base to implement a […]
High Dynamic Range Video? HDR photos are everywhere these days, even on the iPhone. In photography, the HDR effect is achieved by capturing 2 or more (usually around 3-5) of the same photo at a range of exposure levels. A longer exposure of the frame is captured to properly expose the dark areas of the […]
Online Video Usage Up 45% Online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from the same time last year as time spent viewing video on PC/Mac/laptops from home and work locations increased by 45%. Although the number of unique online video viewers only increased by 3.1% from last January, level of activity was up […]
Cognitive Films is an Austin video production company specializing in story-driven films for businesses and nonprofits.
