Creative Humans

SEE MORE OF OUR BLOG POSTS

Tania Sarra & The Secret Sauce

Tania Sarra has been making waves as a top executive in the film industry for over a decade. She is the Founder of Hot Sauce -  a boutique consulting firm specializing in Producing, Executive Production and Creative Direction for major film and television projects. Creative Humans sat down with Tania to learn more about her perspective on today's ever changing film industry and the secret sauce to success.

As a former Director at MGM Studios, Tania  Sarra spearheaded and over saw all the buying and distribution for MGM’s acquisitions across Europe, Middle East and Africa. She has also held leading roles on sales teams for UK based Indies, running the operations of global sales divisions and overseeing the development of original projects for production. Recognizing the complexities of the film industry and lack of shared knowledge, Tania saw an opportunity to help educate people and founded Hot Sauce.
 
From where where to start with a project, what to say, and where to go with it Tania's main goal is to use her years of experience to give everyone access to the inner workings of the film business. With Hot Sauce, Tania hopes to equip Creatives with the knowledge and power to feel confident to express their ideas. Ultimately, Tania is making access to information easier, allowing more voices to be heard and stronger ideas to rise.
 
Becoming The Master Of HotSauce

Tania's services offer the film industry trusted advice from the film executive’s perspective, from the perspective of the business behind the film business, and allows others to leverage creative ideas to build out a successful career in film. Tania describes her business as a place where "creative pragmatics can nerd out on box office figures, industry stats and good looking spreadsheets just as much as a strong story hook in a badass script."

Tania is leveraging Hot Sauce to help guide film projects in the right direction - sharing her secret sauce to bringing great ideas to fruition on the big screen. Hot Sauce offers consulting services on all aspects from marketing and distribution, structuring finance and handling negotiations. By helping to mange all of these moving parts and creating a strategy, Tania helps to ensure creative goals are aligned with the pragmatics of the industry.

Navigating The Post Pandemic Theatrical Window

Tania explained that companies like FOX recently reopened a sales arm in order to exploit different rights outside of the streaming platform. "The theatrical window is still very important to the industry," Tania says, "It brings exposure to the title, because once a filmmaker sells their content to a streamer - not only is there a high chance that content will get lost in a sea of content, but that is also the end of the road for the revenue stream as opposed to seeing returns over a films lifetime." Overall, the bar is a lot higher, especially for independent films, because people have gown accustomed to watching films from the comfort of their own home. From Tania's perspective, it seems like the dust hasn't settled yet on how to capture an audience, and entice them to want to see a film now rather than wait and see it on their monthly subscription.

There's a good chance these things will remain uncertain in the film industry for a while, so there is no better time to learn the recipe for that "secret sauce". Check out everything Tania and Hot Sauce have to offer, from online workshops to consulting services, so you can nail that next pitch, land that finance deal, secure the best distribution and never compromise your ideas or creative merit.

Click here to check out everything that Hot Sauce have to offer!

 

9 Company History Video Examples from Creative Humans

To build brand awareness, encourage customer loyalty, and establish brand culture, it’s important for companies to establish familiarity and trust with their core audience. One of the ways brands are able to do this is by detailing their stories and company histories through effective video marketing campaigns.

Company history videos allow you to tell viewers the story behind your brand. They tell audiences how your business began, where it started, what it has accomplished, and how it provides value to customers. To help you get inspiration for your project, here are nine great company history video examples from the professionals at Creative Humans.

Creative Humans makes it easy to find and hire top video production studios and freelancers. Create a Free Account to get started.

1. Tyson “Nugget”

Day Rate: $800 - $15,000

Director, Creator ID: DIR7707CS

What comes to mind when you think of Tyson? Most people tend to think of frozen grocery store chicken nuggets and similar products. To dispel this notion, Tyson created this company history video that focuses on highlighting the many different uses of its products, from fine dining to a wide variety of grocery store products that many consumers wouldn’t recognize as Tyson.

2. Ralph Lauren

Production Budget: $10,000 - $20,000

Production Company, Creator ID: PRO5352NF

Rather than creating a video aimed at consumers, Ralph Lauren wanted to create a video to instill in its employees an appreciation for the way that Ralph Lauren sees New York City. This 60-second video focuses on capturing small, hidden moments throughout the city that highlight NYC’s unique cultural qualities.

3. CVS Pharmacy “Take High Higher”

Day Rate: $1,500 - $3,500

Cinematographer, Creator ID: CIN7693LH

This corporate history video by CVS aims to explain the company’s new focus on its health food and beauty strategy and how the company is counting on employees to successfully carry out this strategy.

The video concisely explains core components of this strategy, like creating sections in stores that are dedicated solely to health foods. The video hammers the message home that CVS is relying on employees to play an important role in this new business initiative.

4. HP Inc. “Work, Work, Work”

Production Budget: $30,000 - $45,000

Creative Agency, Creator ID: CRE7760TL

HP commissioned this trade show ad web video for its annual customer conference. This short, one-minute video focuses on the major role work plays in our lives with an emphasis on modern workflows and collaboration. With this in mind, HP goes on to explain how its products improve collaboration and how the company’s focus on innovation allows them to remain at the forefront of modern workplace technologies.

5. Patagonia “#NBBC”

Production Budget: $30,000 - $40,000

Animation Studio, Creator ID: ANI7842AH

One of Patagonia’s key corporate values is #NBBC, or ‘Not Bound By Convention.’ Patagonia employees and brand reps are encouraged to ensure customers have a great experience, even if it means breaking or bending the rules.

To demonstrate this, Patagonia commissioned this video, which tells stories from employees in the form of an animated documentary. The audio comes from recorded employee interviews, and the visuals include hand-drawn animations over backgrounds made of Patagonia fabrics.

6. Wells Fargo/Clutter

Production Budget: $30,000 - $50,000

Production Company, Creator ID: PRO280RM

To highlight Wells Fargo’s partnerships with young mission-driven brands and companies, the company produced a six-part video campaign with each video focusing on a different partnership.

This video focuses on Wells Fargo’s partnership with Clutter to demonstrate to viewers how the banking company is able to help young companies grow through innovative services and banking technologies.

7. Nokia “Converge”

Production Budget: $8,000 - $10,000

Production Company, Creator ID: PRO7714EB

5G technology presents a number of exciting new opportunities for tech companies like Nokia. This company history video highlights these opportunities as they were discussed at the “Converge 2018” conference held by Nokia Bell Labs.

Through a collection of on-stage presentations and one-on-one interviews, this video effectively paints a picture of what the future might hold for companies like Nokia as they are able to take advantage of 5G and Industry 4.0.

8. Zurich Insurance “New City”

Day Rate: $800 - $15,000

Director, Creator ID: DIR7707CS

Zurich Insurance commissioned this corporate video, which involved recording interviews and shooting footage in several locations around the world, to highlight how the development of green spaces can positively impact the world.

This video demonstrates the importance of green spaces by appealing to the human compulsion to help others and bring value to the communities around them. Finally, it closes with an effective tagline that appeals to the viewers’ emotions: “Zurich Insurance. For those who truly love.”

9. SolarisBank

Day Rate: $650 - $800

Motion Graphic Designer, Creator ID: MOT7657ES

SolarisBank is a fin-tech company based in Berlin. Unlike similar companies, it has a German banking license built into its platform. To highlight the qualities that set SolarisBank apart from its competition, this two-minute company history video goes over all the unique ways the company is able to provide value to both consumers and companies through modern banking and financial services.

Hire Video Production Professionals

Company history videos serve as an incredibly effective tool to build brand awareness, encourage customer loyalty, shape company culture, and establish trust between brands and their audiences. By partnering with a professional production company, you can create an impactful corporate video that effectively tells your brand’s story and history.

Creative Humans makes it easy to find and hire top video production studios and freelancers. Create a Free Account or Post a Job to get started.

How to Shoot Cinematic Video with iPhone

With renowned directors like Steven Soderbergh now using iPhones to shoot feature length films, it should be no surprise that the modern smartphone is an incredible tool for shooting video. Even if you don’t need or want to use your phone to shoot your next short or feature, having it on hand for use as a B or C camera can transform a final edit. Here’s how to shoot cinematic video with iPhone in 10 easy tips!

Creative Humans makes it easy to find and hire top video production studios and freelancers. Create a Free Account or Post a Job to get started.

1. Max Out Your Settings

Hidden away in your iPhone’s camera settings are various options for video, namely resolution and frame rate. If you want to shoot cinematic video with your iPhone, you will want to make sure you have 4K selected, since this will capture the greatest detail and hold up on the latest displays.

Next you should pick a frame rate. If you are one the lucky owners of a flagship iPhone X, you will see an option for 24, 30, and 60 fps. If you are shooting a movie, we recommend 24 fps for that classic look. For YouTube or television, feel free to use 30 fps. Avoid 60 fps unless you need to capture some sweet slow-mo.

2. Stabilize!

Depending on your phone model, you may or may not have life-saving optical image stabilization. However, even with IS built-in you will see a bit of shake if you attempt to shoot longer takes handheld. This is where stabilizers like DJI’s Osmo Mobile 2 (B&H) work wonders. They will smooth out tracking shots with ease and are seriously impressive, transforming unusable takes into cinematic masterpieces.

3. Go Manual to Go Pro

Creating the shot you visualized in your head last night isn’t just luck, it requires taking control of all the tools at your disposal. To do this on an iPhone, you will have to download a dedicated app that gives you manual controls to the all-important ISO, shutter speed, and focus settings of your iPhone’s camera. My personal preference is for the simple Manual app since it works very well and has a clean design. For high-end filmmaking, I would definitely go with FiLMiC Pro, one of the best apps for recording videos ever made. It opens up a ton of settings, including higher bit rates and a log gamma option.

4. Record Clean Audio

The hallmark of amateur video is poor audio and bad sound can quickly make a video unwatchable. If you want to make a cinematic video on iPhone, this is easily fixed by simply attaching a microphone to your setup. I would recommend a Rode smartLav+ (B&H | Amazon) for interviews and vlogging-style videos or a Rode VideoMic Me (B&H | Amazon) for run-and-gun shooting, though if you are looking to capture ambient sound or want something with some more versatility you should look at Rode’s iXY Module (B&H | Amazon) for stereo sound on par with standalone recorders.

5. When in Doubt, Use a Tripod

Handheld shooting has come into vogue in the past decade, partially because it is so easy to capture steady handheld video these days. But we can’t forget about using the staple tripod in your video-shooting kit. Having a nice steady shot can change the look and tone of a film, and the precise movements of a fluid head will certainly up your game when it comes to pro-looking footage. Also, tripods tend to slow you down in a good way, requiring deliberate movements that will help you figure out the best way to frame the scene. To use a full-size tripod, you will need to pick up an adapter like this one from Joby (B&H | Amazon), or just go for the GorillaPod (B&H | Amazon) for something that will let you mount your iPhone almost anywhere (perfect for setting up a B camera).