Shooting for the Web

Greenscreen Video Productions creates custom, affordable online videos

By Tatiana Richards Photo by Caleb Chancey

Thinking of making a web video?

Here are a few tips Jaffe and Thompson suggest to all of their clients.

Rehearse your script before you come in. “We really suggest people practice these things and time it because the attention span on the web is about three minutes,” Thompson says.
Take your time when speaking. Jaffe and Thompson go thorough several takes in order to get the best performance from each client. “A lot of it is just slowing down.”
Dress appropriately. Make sure the outfit conveys a professional image and if you’re shooting a green screen video, says Jaffe, avoid wearing green clothing.
Make sure people see your video. Thompson recommends posting it to your LinkedIn profile and your other web presences. “One advantage is that search engines are now searching videos in front of photos,” says Jaffe.
For more tips and to learn more about web videos, visit mygreenwebvideo.com.

Walk down a nondescript hall in an office park and you’ll come across the studio. There’s a camera, along with lights, a green screen backdrop and a teleprompter. Run through a rough take, and then you’re ready to go.

It may be lights, camera, action, but this isn’t a back lot in Hollywood. It’s the offices of Birmingham’s Greenscreen Video Productions.

Headed by Mark Jaffe, the company creates video resumés and green screen videos for the web. Shooting against a green backdrop allows a video editor to remove a single color—in this case, green—and digitally insert a background of the client’s choosing.

A photographer by trade, Jaffe ran into his former business partner Tim Meehan at a photo shoot, where Meehan shared his idea of creating video resumés. “Tim wanted to start the company three years earlier, but he didn’t have the right folks,” says Jaffe. So they rented a space in Office Circle Park and brought on Katie Thompson, a video technician/editor who also does graphic design work, and decided to expand their focuses to include producing green screen videos. (Meehan has since left the company to pursue other interests.)

“It’s real easy for our clients to make videos,” Jaffe says. In addition to resumés for job seekers, Greenscreen Video Productions has created videos for training, product demonstration, corporate updates for company intranets, presentations for corporate functions, CEO welcomes and virtual tours.

First, clients visit the website to determine exactly which service they need. Job seekers tend to film their videos on a neutral backdrop while people who want to create other types of videos tend to select green screen filming, which allows Thompson to drop in whatever kind of background the client desires. Next they come up with the script they’d like to use and email it to Thompson and Jaffe. The duo helps them hone it to a time that works and load it onto the teleprompter.

“We’ll sit down and go over your script with you,” Thompson explains. “We make sure you’re looking good.”

Once the video is filmed, the client’s work is done. Next is video editing, which is all done in-house. Finished videos can be delivered in a variety of formats, including as CD or DVD, a video file sent via email or as a hyperlink to a website where the video is hosted.

While advances in technology have led to the availability of these types of videos, it’s the current economic client that has led to their popularity.

“We knew that people were going to want a way to make their resumés stand out, and we knew that companies were looking for cheaper ways to connect with their employees,” says Thompson. “Green screen is the cheapest way to make videos.”

Jaffe says a professional video resumé can help job seekers project a professional image, and since they are available for less than $100, they are a viable option. Plus, Thompson adds, a video resumé may convey things that your paper resumé might not, such as how your personality would fit with a company’s culture.

“You’re competing with 10 percent of the population for jobs,” she says. “With a video resumé, immediately you jump past that first hurdle, which is getting your face seen.”

One client who agrees with them is the University of Alabama. Greenscreen Video Productions recently shot 125 video resumés for students at Alabama’s College of Commerce and Business Administration. The videos, which were accompanied by text copies of the students’ resumés, were then uploaded to a site that potential employers could browse.

Shrinking budgets have also made these videos attractive to corporations. “Instead of having a luncheon to meet with the CEO, a company can make a video for one-fourth of the budget,” says Thompson. “More people have lower budgets so they can’t afford a huge production company to come and shoot on location.”

Jaffe says the company can produce a two-minute video for less than $500; green screen videos up to three minutes long can be produced for about $1,000, which includes editing and graphics.

And, because Greenscreen Video Productions is based in Birmingham, it’s also more convenient for the client. “All they have to do is drive over and sit in front of a screen for a half hour to fortyfive minutes and they get a high quality, low cost video.” For more tips and to learn more about web videos, visit bhammag.com and mygreenwebvideo.com.