Transvideo: using video to aid product launch

More and more companies are using short videos (typically under 90 seconds) that they can post on their web sites to introduce their products or services. Transvideo Studios, along with its in house creative team called Picturelab, has been making videos for 30 years and is behind the videos for many of the most well known tech companies in Silicon Valley.

"We've been doing videos for tech companies in Silicon Valley for a really long time, and we've had a studio and sound stage since 1981," explains Rico Andrade, Executive Producer for Transvideo Studios. "One of the things that's been a part of the business has been doing videos that talk about what the company does, and especially with the increase in the number of videos that you see online and the cost of making the videos and hosting them, more and more tech companies started seeing the return in creating a simple video that explains what they do."

When Transvideo takes on a new client, it tries to learn everything possible about the company and its product, from value proposition to competitors to target customers. This information helps set the tone for the video and guide the story being told.

"We're a full production house," explains David Sabin, Producer and Post Production Supervisor for Transvideo, "so we take it from concept (we do all the writing) to design all the way through to distribution. A project generally starts with a client coming to us, and we learn as much as we can about that particular product—we do our homework and find out what the client needs and come at it from a perspective of what a customer might want out of this as well."

From there, Transvideo will submit concepts and style frames, which, after approval from the client, will be used to create story boards for the clients to review in conjunction with the script Transvideo is drafting. Finally, they complete the animation work and start submitting first cuts of the video.

Going through the process of settling on a story and creating the video can have benefits for the client apart from the video itself. "Frequently the questions that we ask of our clients help them focus their own marketing," says Sabin, "and I have to say that art directors at these different companies love us, because we bring to them ideas and perspectives that they perhaps haven't thought of before."