News & Insights
What You Should Know About the New Pennsylvania Drone Law
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf recently signed a new law aimed at combating "Peeping Tom" drone use across the state. The act increases criminal penalties for using unmanned aircraft, typically called drones, to spy on or conduct surveillance of someone in a private...
What is a Background Plate, and Why Might I Want One?
Sometimes it's hard to shoot a scene where you really want to shoot it. For example, it might be difficult to shoot a closeup of a person water skiing behind a boat. That's when background plates come in handy. Background plates are a type of compositing, which is the...
Personalized Video: The State of the Art
Just a year ago, I commented that Allied Pixel had produced over one hundred videos in the previous 12 months. That's the equivalent of creating about two short films a week. Pretty darn prodigious, right? I thought so. Well, guess how many videos we're on track to...
Bring a Strategic Plan to Life with Video
It probably goes without saying that a strategic plan is one of the most important documents an organization produces. It's the culmination of months or even years of intense work. And it will dictate the organization's future. Problem is, people don't always read...
Tips for Filming Out of Town
Allied Pixel has been out of the office quite a bit lately. Last quarter we filmed in Dublin, Ireland; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Boston, Las Vegas, New York and Washington, D.C. If you're planning to shoot out of town, here are some travel tips. Crew Sometimes I take the...
Black Mirror: Interactive Film, Personalized Video and the Future of Storytelling
Have you seen the latest episode of Black Mirror on Netflix? It's called Bandersnatch, and unlike other episodes, this one is interactive. The viewer gets to choose what happens throughout the story. Set in the 1980s, it's about a video game programmer named Stefan...
How to Inspire
If your goal is to inspire, video can be a tremendously powerful tool. It's a great way to tell human stories that motivate us to reach higher, go further or care more. There's a genuine curiosity about people who have done admirable things. So where do you find...
5 Tips for a Flawless Town Hall Webcast
There's been a 200 percent increase in the use of live webcasting for company town hall meetings in the last two years. Why? Live webcasts are a cost-effective and convenient way to extend the meeting to a national or global audience. Here are five tips to help ensure...
What to Do With $500K Worth of Camera Gear You Don’t Need Anymore
One thing about the video production business: There's always a cool new toy to buy. And I admit it, we like getting new toys. Which means every once in a while, we have to do some housecleaning. Turns out we have more legacy gear in our storage facility than we...
Personalized Video: The Numbers Are In!
One of the great things about Personalized Video is its accountability. Behind the scenes, we're able to track the actions of every person who receives a video. And that opens up some tremendously valuable information. (If you’re new to the subject, Personalized Video...
First-Person Narrative
How do you describe the experiences of many? Big organizations like colleges, corporations and hospitals are complicated. If you ask 10 different people about their experience, you'll get 10 different stories. Maybe more. An effective solution is to create a composite...
When to Use An Explainer Video
An explainer video is a short animated video that focuses on explaining a business idea in a simple, engaging and compelling way by using clear and concise language and appealing and attractive visuals that quickly grab the viewer's attention. Sometimes an explainer...