Yosemite National Park, the High Sierra, and the Eastern Sierra are some of the most beautiful places on earth. Shawn Reeder shares the gem of a short that came out of 2 years of filming in these areas using time lapse photography.

Sit back, enter full screen and be mesmerised.

We’re very partial to Philip Bloom, first because he does great camera reviews and second because he makes simply stunning videos mostly for beauty’s sake (somehow he also earns a living….).

Enjoy this beautiful piece of work – local for us Sydney-siders – featuring stop motion and shift tilt.

This sort of video reminds me why I love what I do.

Very useful ideas, by one of the best informed people on the topic, of why some videos go viral. Well worth spending 7 minutes watching Kevin Alocca’s TED talk.

Kevin is the Trends Manager at YouTube and is one of the few people on this earth who professionally watches YouTube videos!

On behalf of FilmStretch, we just have to go Tah dah!

And why, I hear you ask… because we’ve just received a certificate in the post telling us we are a finalist in the Australian Small Business Champion Awards 2012. And why am I blogging about this you might ask? Because the Stretches have a tendency to stretch themselves to the next challenge without savouring the successes – so this is a blog with the goal of pattern breaking.

Additionally we at FilmStretch are very aware that this finalist status wouldn’t have been achieved without the support and trust of all the great people and businesses we’ve worked with, as well as our wide network of SME owner/operators.

THANK YOU.

And please cross your fingers for us on the Awards Night on 21st April.

The video we’re sharing with you today is simply stunning in multiple ways; it’s a beautifully shot piece, including clever effects that work, and also the human talent on display is simply awesome.

Capturing stunning human artistry on film is such a great way to share what we’re capable of when we live out our highest potential. Of course I’m not saying that we can all potentially do what this artist can do, however I do think we each have our own gifts and talents and that it’s our responsibility to find a way to let ourselves bring them forth. And then share them for all to enjoy.

Sit back, enter full screen and be mesmerised.

Some businesses SOOO lend themselves to videos for promotion; tourism and zoos being two that come to mind.

Here’s a gorgeous example of Travel Alberta Canada that runs a highly watched branded YouTube Channel.

What aspects of your business lend themselves to telling a visually rich story?

Enjoy.

Besides the beauty of what the folks are getting up to in this video, it also show the serious amount of work – detailed work – that goes into great filmmaking.

Additionally I like the direction that advertising is going (on occasion as in this one) i.e. providing beauty or laughter or value in some form. This is so important now that an audience isn’t captive.

Enjoy – and do watch to the end as the images are shown in full towards the end. Stunning.

I’m sharing this clip not so much from a film-making point of view, but because what is being filmed is so very, very visually stunning in itself.

Having said that, it’s a good bit of film-making.

Enjoy.

A collaborative short film by Andrew Telling and Owen Richards that documents photographer Robin Friend working on his series ‘Slaughterhouse’ deep beneath the hills of North Wales.

Stunning scenery, followed by underground journey. Love it.

Enjoy.

I tweeted this video clip a couple of week ago. I’ve just watched it again and have decided it’s well worth adding to the FilmStretch blog because it so beautifully illustrates the power of showing as opposed to telling.

The emphasis of this video clip is specifically on data visualisation. This need has certainly come up in some of the video productions FilmStretch has done and there’s no doubt that representing data in a visual way is hugely powerful. It simply easier to take in and digest.

What I’d add is that this is equally true of whatever you are making a video about. If you can accompany your words with visuals that tell the same story as your verbal message your video is going to land in a much more powerful and sticky way. If, for example, you are presenting a concept (a theory) think about what metaphor you might use to explain this concept, and ‘eh voila!’ you have your imagery.

Actually, it’s not always as quick as ‘eh voila’ when one starts to put story-boards together (the words with the accompanying images). However it is usually a creatively interesting journey. One that I’m growing to enjoy more and more as my eye gets more experienced and my mind more adept.

What this all boils down to is that what any video is doing, whether fact or fiction, is telling a story. And there’s a reason film and TV are so popular – visuals are engaging and yummy to most human brains.