The Oxford House Video Agency Film School

The Oxford House Video Agency is now offering a new and rather exciting service. Coming under the name "The Oxford House Film School" we're now offering content creation consultancy to clients. It's not the traditional type of school you may find in Oxford.

We're always shooting video, cutting commercials and films. We know what we're doing - to be frank! The snap below shows the behind the scenes of a typical video production. Featuring Adrian, our head of audio. Snapped on a vintage 35mm film camera - the true film stock aesthetic.

Having worked with a plethora of small to large businesses and their respective marketing teams, many feel the pressure to put out social media content, practically everyday. Needless to say, commissioning a crew for all your daily content, content which will be swiped away and forgotten about after a few hours, is not a good idea.

We shoot flagship commercials that sit at the forefront of your brand. The video content we produce is meant to be seen more than once, it's more akin to a logo in many ways.

Social media stories last for 24 hours. Feed posts are there for as long as you wish, but once it's been scrolled past, people can and will only see it on your feed when they’re having a stalking session. Everyday and every post practically wipes out your last post. Individual posts tend to lack impact, it's the constant amalgamation of posts which builds a social channel and ultimately its followers and engagement. It’s at this point where I say, not all businesses need strong social channels - this blog is directed at the businesses that do! For example, we, Oxford House Video Agency, barely post. Why? Most of our work comes through other channels, combined with the fact that we are B2B, we don't need to post as much or as often. It’s more like an easily accessible and shareable portfolio for us. That being said, we do share stories as that's informal and rather fun for those we know.

Location shot I snapped on my phone. Lighting and depth are key here.

I'll talk more about this next point in a future post, however, because social media content is consumed and used in the way that it is, it means the aesthetic of said content is very different to a television commercial or a high-end video production. A lot of social content is consumed and produced on phones. This is critical to note as it means that you can post phone-shot content on a luxury page without loosing your audience or damaging your brand image (as long as it’s shot well). But, if you post the same phone photo or video on your website's homepage people will certainly judge it negatively and likely go elsewhere due to the evident lack of quality and perceived care. It’s all very psychological.

Another phone snap on location. The colour palette and composition help this shot stand out.

On social media we expect to see more phone-shot content as it's relatable and suitable for the platform. During lockdown, Zoom based TV adverts were being released, as well as phone-shot adverts too. But how did they get away with it? Simply put, it was extremely relatable, we were all at home on video calls, so we all, whether we liked it or not, became accustom to it. This meant that when we saw a TV advert embracing the nation wide experience it was seen as, you guessed it, relatable! However, these are now nowhere to be seen, we're back to full quality adverts on those platforms...

With the above in mind, we, Oxford House Video Agency, are now offering social teams and content creators our knowledge to help them produce daily content with more confidence and ease. Ultimately freeing up budget to invest in larger flagship commercials if needed. Many marketeers are not seasoned photographers or videographers and are therefore daunted by the idea of producing social content on a daily basis - which they are inevitably pressured into doing as social media is seen as all the rage.

We're here to help with that.

Natural light brings out a strong and desirable contrast here.

Our aim is to teach the fundamental basics and how to put them into practice so content creators can have confidence filming on their phones or camera set ups. You don't need all the gear, just the implementation of knowledge. Manufactures love to brag about how their phone cameras are capable of shooting movies, but remember, they hire entire cinema crews with proper lighting and years of experience to get the results…

You don’t need all that for social media content though, again, just the fundamentals and how to put them into practice.

It’s all about the  knowledge that goes into the frame.

Please pop us an email if you're interested in hearing more: Hello@oxfordhouse.io