First Corporate Video

The Year was 2009.
My first corporate project at Simply Right happened while I was still in college. At this time in life I most of my productions were music videos and a Local Music Radio show.  My Uncle, The Founder of Simply Right INC wanted to produce a promo video with a very limited budget. 
"How does a company make a low budget production?" Hire your video-grapher nephew whose hungry for work in his field. This "Backpack Vacuum Video" was my first introduction to corporate media. 

The cleaning service industry in a whole can be seen as a bland market. As to other industries, the Cleaning Service Industry is about 10 years behind. So, it’s not uncommon to have facility managers who are “out-of-touch” with what innovations in cleaning services. Early years of Simply Right INC deals contracts relied on the client providing the equipment and chemicals to a building. Which means if we needed something we’d have to request it from the facility manager.

The Founder of Simply Right, Dan Kilgore employed my skills to produce a video exclusively for Cinemark Theatres. Dan explained the video is to visually inform the customer on an essential piece of equipment – Backpack Vacuums. The project would be designed to help our clients understand why we needed a backpack vacuum. Having backpack vacuums in all the Cinemark Theatres would help us clean better, faster and help with labor costs.

At the time the Founder was buying vacuums from a small company in California called Manutech. The Manutech backpack vacuum was called “Bakuum." The gray tube vacuum was a workhorse. (The vacuum had a removable logo. Which made it easy to make the product look generic. The video wasn't selling Manutech as much as the need for Backpack vacuums). The Bakuum was cutting edge at the time for the cleaning industry, (even if the vacuum is now a dinosaur after ten years).

An attractive supervisor from California was shipped in to be the talent for the backpack promo video. The supervisor was going to be in town for three days. After getting mud on my boots I’ve learned it’s much easier to hire an actor to be the clean tech. The problem with using a real cleaner is they always want to rush the job, nor do they understand the actual process of production. Half the production time is spend teaching the person how to act, rather than filming.

The location was Cinemark Tinseltown Newgate, located in the Newgate Mall in Ogden, Ut, (about mile three miles away from home-office). Simply Right been cleaning Cinemark Tinsltown Newgate for over15 years. We’re still cleaning this the building. The movie theater has since had a facelift, all the seats in the video have now been replace by high-quality luxury pleather seats. (Personal note: The place looks great).

My crew for the production was a local cinematographer, Ben Sant. Ben had a talent for making low budget look high quality. The shoot took about 8 hours. The hardest part of the project was the lighting. The lights were either too dark or too bright, however, Ben the professional, he got the shots. (Pro Tip: As Producer always, always, always try to find people with more talent than yourself it will only improve the project).

As well as being the producer I was also the editor of the project. My preferred software then was Final Cut Pro. I had no direction on the how to brand the video for the company. So I use several techniques I would change now.   
All the motion graphics were the sample files provided on the editing software. The intro and scroll effects for wording are all sample graphics. The original music on the production was from a company that claimed to be royalty free music but was a scam. (I was sued for using the music. Which happened five years after the video was posted). No worries now, the music is now provided by YouTube. The music doesn’t really match but at least, I won’t have to be concerned about lawsuits over copyright.

As to the quality and process shown in the video it all still holds up as the basic industry standards for cleaning a movie theater. Ten years later I’m still making minor changes to the YouTube video. The name of the video was Simply Right - Backpack Video, now the name is - Backpack Vacuum. A simple title is more likely to get more traffic to the video. I suck at writing summaries, so I had to rewrite the summary. The summary is still lame.

 

Now with a bigger budget and more understanding to branding I would like to remake this promo video on the backpack vacuum. All facility services companies should make their own training videos. Being transparent on how to clean allows for good traffic. These days we can learn or study anything on the internet, so why not drive traffic to your brand. Pro-Team company an industry leaser in vacuums, they make training and promo videos for their products. However, when I make a Simply Right training video on vacuums it drives more clients to ask about Simply Right.

After-Thoughts:

Innovation in any industry is key. The basic principles of cleaning do not change. The equipment, the chemicals and people change, Finding new ways to prefect a product or job is a continuous effort.  Before writing this blog I re-visited Manutech’s website. The outlook on Manutech does not look good. Other companies are innovating new vacuums. Innovations like more comfort in the suspension system of the backpack vacuum. Losing the cord and going to lithium battery power. Companies have even designed the vacuums to look better, so you want to use. Shoot I have a Hoover backpack vacuum at home, I love to use it because it makes me feel like a Ghostbuster when I wear it. 
Ten years later Manutech is still selling the same vacuum.