An interview with Fixation Video

We recently worked with Fixation Video to create a viral for Wacom at Focus On Imaging. Fixation Video is run by Susi Weaser and Will Head, both former journalists who still freelance on the side. We caught up with them recently to find out more about Fixation Video and why video is the way forward for businesses…

What do you do at Fixation Video?

We make video for the internet. We specialise in turning things round quickly, whether it’s getting a summary of a press conference edited and online for journalists after the last announcement, or capturing the crowd’s reaction to Federer winning Wimbledon so people online and worldwide can get a feel for the atmosphere that same night. We’re fast. Or as Will would say, nimble. Like the low fat bread.

Who have you worked for?

A massive range of brands – from the tech related, such as Sony, Samsung, and The Register, to decidedly non-tech brands, such as Disney, Lucky Voice and Wimbledon.

You were both journalists in a previous life (and still do some freelance work), what made you start up Fixation Video?

SW: I was making a fair amount of online video at Shiny Media, and saw manufacturers and PR agencies always reacted really well to having their product reviewed on video, thanks to the importance of that visual element. It also seemed like a good time to try something new (at least to me) – thanks to the recession, there are very few jobs that can offer stability, so I guess I decided I may as well try and make it by myself.
WH: Compared to writing, video takes far more time and resources to do well – but the results are much more effective. I’d always produced video from events I was covering as a writer and it seemed there was a largely untapped market that could benefit from fast turnaround of videos that didn’t require the costs involved with using a full broadcast crew. That, and it seemed like fun.

What makes a good online video?

It very much depends on the audience, but if it’s your average consumer, length is an important factor. It doesn’t mean all videos have to be short, but the longer ones should be split into manageable sections to keep the viewer’s interest. The video we make is also about immediacy – we’re not in the business of making BAFTA-worthy masterpieces, we’re more interested in getting the information to the audience as quickly and as interestingly as possible. There’s no point hiring a five person crew with a three week video turnaround if you’re launching a new mobile handset – by the time the video is available, someone else will have shot a cameraphone version and uploaded it to YouTube.

Why should companies be making online videos to promote themselves or their products?

If you’ve got a consumer product to promote, you can’t beat video for getting the message out there. It gives journalists something more than a press release to refer to. It gives consumers a chance to see the product (almost) in the flesh. At Wimbledon, our brief was to give tennis fans who couldn’t be there a glimpse of what the event was like, in terms of atmosphere and excitement. And one thing we’ve learnt over the past year is the importance of video to internal communications – if you’re a multinational company, and want to give your employees all over the world a taste of an event or product launch, video is the ideal way of doing so. It’s certainly cheaper than 10,000 flights to the company HQ.

Do you think online video content is an important part of social media?

Social media networks make sharing video a lot easier – I can’t remember the last time someone emailed me a YouTube link – now I get all my recommendations from Twitter or Facebook. I guess it’s a bit like the renewed interest in photography that sites like Flickr and Facebook created – it makes things easier to share, and that in turn, makes it more popular.

What’s so good about Fixation?

We’ve both got good hair.
More objectively? We’re a small team that works quickly, and that means cheaply. The idea behind the company at the moment is that we work with a trusted network of freelancers when the job requires it, which means we can keep costs down, and also find exactly the right people for the project, whether that’s a 3D animator, or a presenter with an in-depth knowledge of ferrets.

What piece of technology couldn’t you live without in your job?

The biggest change we made to our production process, based on experience working at time critical events, was upgrading our cameras to a hybrid recording system. We use professional level cameras, rather than Flip or equivalent, which ensures quality images and decent sound. But we now shoot to both tape and solid state memory. Before this we had to capture all footage in real time – if we’d shot an hour of vox pops we’d have to wait an hour to get them on the computer before we could even start editing. Now we can copy the footage over in minutes and get it up and online much more quickly.

What is your claim to fame?

SW: I was a dancer in a scene in the BBC’s Just William, aged eight. They paid me one £50 note. At the time, I thought I’d never see that much money again in my whole life. And now I rarely do…
WH: Steve Coogan bought me a pint. I saw him in a bar in Manchester once and offered to buy him a drink. He said I was a student and couldn’t afford it, so bought me one instead.

Tell us a joke

Boris Johnson.

http://www.fixationvideo.com/

Tags: Boris Johnson, corporate video, editing, filming, Fixation Video, proffesional video, Steve Coogan, video, wacom

This entry was posted on Friday, March 19th, 2010 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Industry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.