MSD EVENT VIDEO

Oncein a while, corporate functions or seminars punctuate our relentlesstelevision work. Producing event coverage videos can be just aschallenging, if perhaps less labour-intensive. MSDis a client that called us up directly, enquiring about our videoproduction services. It seems we were referred to them by some of oursatisfied corporate clients. Thejob seemed simple enough. MSD was organizing a short seminar anddinner event to raise awareness about the drug Arcoxia, a pain-killereffective in the treatment of arthritic pain. All we needed to do wasto record the entire duration of the speaker's hour-long talk, aswell as his Powerpoint presentation, which was projected onto ascreen through an LCD projector. The video that would be producedwould have the relevant presentation slides appear on the screen toemphasise each of the speaker's points. Butas any videographer would tell you, it is impossible to record an LCDprojection with satisfactory quality. We promptly suggested to MSDthat they obtain a soft copy of the speaker's Powerpointpresentation, which we would be able to export to high-quality imagefiles that can be inserted into the video in post-production. Thisidea went down well with MSD, but they were unsure if the speakerwould allow his presentation to be passed on to a third party. In theend, we provided MSD with two cameras - one recording the speakerduring his presentation, and the other recording the presentationscreen – just in case the speaker was uncomfortable with handingout his intellectual property in editable format to unknown videoproducers. Thiswas not the only challenge. As we arrived, we found the hotelballroom less than optimally lit. The tungsten lighting was dimenough, but we learned that it would be dimmed further during thepresentation. Poor lighting would definitely result in poor picturequality. We needed to improvise, so we notified the client of theproblem, and spoke to the hotel staff to try to get them to use thespotlights. The staff was reluctant, and only a few firm requestscould cajole them to switch on the overhead stage lights, and directthem towards the speaker. This, in addition to another one of ourvideo lights, was enough to make the speaker stand out from thebackground. Inthe end, we obtained great picture quality, as well as a soft copy ofthe speaker's presentation slides. The footage of the speaker wasanimated together with the slides, to create a final product that theclient was so happy with they promptly asked us to produce the videofor their next event!

 

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