This is the first part of a 3-part blog series focusing on producing dynamite video footage for your website while getting the most bang for your buck.

The tips I provide below are based on a conventional corporate-video formula intended to yield about 5 minutes of final, edited video footage. They are just guidelines and as such, you can tweak them to fit your situation.

Pre-Production

Secure 5 Interviewees
3 happy customers and 2 expert employees. Getting customers is often challenging …

Flash, well known for its elegant moving images and animations, is the application of choice for creating beautiful websites. But many web developers have scrapped the idea of using Flash for business websites because text that is created in Flash is not always easy to recognize by search engines like Google. Search engine optimization has been, and continues to be, a priority for many businesses. So many web developers have gotten into the habit of settling for two alternatives: the less elegant look of a completely HTML site or a hybrid in which only some of the site elements, …

Rich media is the result of combining text, still graphics, voiceover audio, background music, and video. These elements are combined to create dynamic motion that occurs over time or in direct response to user interaction.

Rich media is powerful because it engages the user and keeps him captivated more so than any other media. It draws users in and makes them part of the experience.

At MB/I, we use Flash—the industry-leading software for creating interactive experiences. We deliver presentations to audiences across platforms and devices. With Flash, we can add interactivity by customizing what each user sees and these same …

At MB/I, we have partnered with Scott Stiefvater of Blue Sky Video Production to offer e-learning programs. We take a five-phase approach to producing e-learning programs: analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation.

Analysis
Through a process of interviews and workshops we draw out and align the objectives of the various e-learning stakeholder groups within your organization. We also explore such things as the audience demographics, the learning environment, delivery options as well as budget and time constraints. From this research, we generate the requirements for the content, design and delivery of the e-learning program.

Design
MB/I takes a “backward” approach to design. Based on our analysis, we first outline the program’s …

At MB/I, we have partnered with Scott Stiefvater of Blue Sky Video Production to offer e-learning programs. Our approach involves three key areas: instructional design, user experience, and technology.

Instructional Design
We see learning for what it is – a complex process. Our e-learning programs are developed with the understanding that they are just one part of that process. Yet, we are intentional about every element of the learning programs we develop so that the learner is motivated to apply the information, concepts, skills and attitudes they learn. To this end, instructional design calls for a vast amount of creativity, but creativity …

A multimedia project has several components that need to be planned for ahead of time. It’s best to have all the necessary assets ready to go before starting the development process. Typically, these are the items that need to be gathered.

1. Branding elements. Provide a style guide to your developer. The guide should go over how to use your logo, what fonts and colors to use, the style of the imagery to use, and even the tone of the content. You will also need to gather the files themselves.

2. Script. The script is the most crucial part of the presentation. …

At MB/I we have a questionnaire we ask our clients to fill out for Flash/multimedia projects. It helps to plan and to collect all of the information needed to put together a proposal. here are are questions we ask.

Part 1: Business Background

Part 2: Project Goals

The use of Flash is not limited to cute little animations on web pages. Flash is a very powerful software that allows for intelligent and useful interactivity. And when Flash integrated video, it increased the possibilities even more.

Here’s how we have used Flash at MB/I:

• Sales presentations
• Product demos
• Software wizards
• Interactive educational pieces
• Screensavers
• Calculators
• “Build your own” scenarios
• Training presentations
• Multi-level portfolios
• Advertising banners
• Tradeshow loops
• Animated cartoon strips
• and of course, animations for websites!

Flash can support deep layers of logic. One of calculators we built was an interactive ROI calculator. The formulas and logic involved in developing took up about 100 8.5″ X 11″ printed pages. One of the longest …

A multimedia project by definition is a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactive content forms. There is a lot to think about when planning a multimedia project.

At MB/I we work on a diverse range of these multimedia projects, from a trade show piece to an hour-long high-end sales presentation. Here’s what these projects have in common in terms of planning.

1. Purpose
A piece that needs to sell has a very different tone from a piece that needs to educate. Understanding the purpose is critical to defining the message, the tone, and the types of content that will …

Flash animations on websites have a bad rap. I attended a meeting yesterday where someone said “Flash is never done right.” I disagree completely. I think this bad rap comes from all of the animated site intros of the recent past. We all got used to quickly finding the “skip intro” button. These intros had their time; a time where cool animation was new and we were more patient. Now, we want content, and we want it quickly.

When Flash is done right, it can communicate  a strong feeling much, much better than a static image can. It can also handle …