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

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

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

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

Me again,

I’m all alone in our studio near Loughborough at the moment, and enjoying cracking on with some important bits and pieces while England run through the New Zealand top order.  The main reason I’m on my own is because the heroic trio of Tim, Dave and Jonny are out shooting for about the 83rd time this week.  It’s a nice busy period at the moment in the world of Corporate Video and with busy-ness comes time out and about.  We have a very varied job but long periods away shooting can be tiring.  When the lads gets back (which should be in about an hour M1 permitting) I’m sure they’ll be pretty knackered!

There are many things afoot at Affixxius right now - mainly due to the fact that we are hopefully soon to welcome a new face to our ranks… watch this space Corporate Video fans!  The main way we intend to continue to build the fantastic reputation we have for high quality Corporate Video production is by attracting the very best talent to come and work with us.  I’m already incredibly proud of the team we have here and humbled to be able to work with such an able bunch of guys.  We want to build that team where and when appropriate.

Oh, talking of things that are on the horizon…. *in deep voice-over guy voice*…. Now is near here….

Cryptic one for you there, but all will be revealed.  Anyway, in other news were doing a lot of work for the lovely people at Van Elle at the moment - they’re the leading piling contractor in this country and it’s a pleasure to work for them.  We’re also finishing off work for our friends at Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Luxembourg and Miller Developments - both really different but equally interesting work.  The Saint-Gobain Abrasives one in particular has been a cracking little challenge for me personally and has really pushed me to learn new stuff on the edit suite.  I really enjoy being tested like that - I get bored very easily!

Apart from one day of shooting next week, it’s a little calmer for the foreseeable, which I think Tim, Dave and Jonny will be quietly happy about!  Shooting’s great fun, we wouldn’t do it otherwise, but it’s also nice to get the footage back and start playing with it, especially for us editing types.

Hope all’s well with everyone - speak soon I’m sure.

MILES

Hi All,

Following Tim’s post about the variation of work we do on a day to day basis in the heady world of Corporate Video, I thought I’d chip in my two-penneth about the issue of change.  Now change is a funny old thing and as British people we inherently don’t like it.  ”Oh, no thank you, not near me, I’m quite happy how I am, etc” is a not unfamiliar concept to most of us Brits.  In business, therefore, we tend to get very uptight when major change crops up.  We rebel, resist, whinge, complain or whatever feels right whenever any kind of chance comes along, be it a new central computer system to control invoicing or a new coffee machine.  Now, there’s quite a lot of change going on with us at the moment - major investments in kit and people being the main theme.  All of the change we’re putting into place is to make better Corporate Video - ultimately that’s what we really care about.  We’re embracing change within our business at the moment because when, as a business, you are very much at the high-end of your market you have to ensure that you are always one step ahead in terms of innovation, service and equipment.

What I mean by this is that there are loads of things we do that we don’t necessarily shout about, that’s for sure.  For us, the various ‘ancillary’ services (as we call them) that we offer are all part and parcel of being the Midlands’ leading Corporate Video producers.  This can range from little things like writing bespoke music for everything we produce right through to backing up video projects with professional graphic design work and branding production to make a Corporate Video into a campaign.  It’s a popular thing at the moment, turning a video into a campaign, and that’s a nice thing for us.  It means that a video can be the centre-piece of a shift in culture, which is a huge part to play, and an exciting thing to be involved in.  If you’re interesting in all of these things we can do as well as making awesome Corporate Video, then give any of us a ring - we’re very friendly, you know…

So yeah, change and all that.  Corporate Video has Changed is our little mantra by which we live or die.  Take my word for it, video work for businesses doesn’t have to be terrible and cheesy any more, it can be modern, professional, slick and yet not hellishly expensive.  Don’t get my wrong, you get what you pay for, but it astounds me how much people think Corporate Video costs, when it doesn’t… the ROI is immense if you use it right.

Well, that’s enough of my little rant.  We’re doing a job for a lovely client of ours called Morrison Media Consultants with whom we work on offering Media Training - that’s training people how to be good at doing television, radio and other press interviews.  I’m currently sat looking out at Westminster Abbey.  Could do with a brew, though…

Hope all’s well with everyone.  I’ll post soon.  One last thing… Rest in Peace, Humph.

MILES

It’s the end of a mixed week in terms of filming. Besides my usual couple of days in the office, working on accounts and business strategy etc; I also had 2 days out filming. On Tuesday I was filming a competition winners film script at Groby College. As part of Affixxius’ recognition to where we came from (in other words, a short filmmaking background), we try to help local schools train children how to use filming equipment and how to put a film together. Miles and I were in charge and the day was a roaring success, all the students were superb and showed a genuine interest. We will be doing an editing masterclass with them in a couple of weeks time, to show them their final feature, which I’m sure they will enjoy.

However, from one extreme to the other, on Thursday I was filming at the Sunseeker boat yard in Poole. This was for the Finning Power Systems segment of the recruitment video we are producing. For anyone who doesn’t know Sunseeker, they produce million and multi-million pound yachts for the rich and famous and Dave, Johnny and I spent the day, filming around all these amazing boats (they also supply the boats for James Bond films, apparently). Needless to say we had a great time. Bob, who was the Finning representative we were filming, was absolutely superb and a really nice guy to boot, which made the whole filming a breeze, along with the great Sunseeker back drop. 

As you can read, our job can be from time to time quite glamorous, however, we do have our extremes as well, from a Leicestershire School to a multi-million pound boat empire………what a week!

TIM

We’ve got a new toy.  It’s a car.  A big car.  A really nice big car.

We’ve just taken delivery (thanks to Munaf and all the guys at East Mids Hire) of a brand new VW Touran as a new company vehicle.  It’s the newest weapon in the good fight to make Corporate Video into what it should be - an exciting, malleable medium with high ROI - rather than the utter tripe that has come to be associated with.  It’s a gorgeous beast that’s going to have our logo on the side soon.  If you spot our car out and about do flag us down, say hello, and offer the driver a cup of tea.  Milk with one sugar is a safe bet…

In other news, on Wednesday we did a really nice shoot for one of our most valued customers with whom we do a lot of work.  We were filming an installment of a video newsletter at a depot near Oxford.  It was a really nice shoot filled with nice people doing and saying nice things.  Above all though, I really feel that I should speak about the lunch with which we were provided.  It was, not to put to finer point on things, straight out of the top drawer.  It made the catering in Heaven look like someone had been given a tenner and told to pop to Aldi.  I don’t use the word ‘phenomenal’ very often, but now’s the time.  Any sandwich provider who has the guts and foresight to put herb bread, salami and mozzarella together deserves a VC, or at least the sandwich making equivalent.  If/when you ask us to come and make you a top-drawer Corporate Video, here’s a little hint.  Tea and good sandwiches are the way to a crew’s heart.  We’ll love you for it, honest…

We’re still on the lookout for two new members of the AP team - one technical dude or dudette and a new editor.  I’m really happy to chat to people about these positions.  We’re a pretty laid back, groovy kind of business that prides itself foremost on the quality of its work and service but also on having happy people work for us.  If you are interested, or know anyone who is interested, in our job opportunities, please don’t hesitate to give us a bell.  Number’s on the main site.

Er, other things…  Muchos congratulations to Jason Hathaway at Edward, Hands and Lewis Solictors in Loughborough as he’s going to be a dad before the end of the year.  Also congratulations to Celtic and Rangers for playing out an awesome game of football the other night.  As you can tell, I’m running out of things to say.  Above all, have a look at some videos and let us know what you think.  Corporate Video has Changed, as we keep saying, so check out the evidence.

Hope you are all well and business is booming.

MILES