Phototropic Productions was created by Ben Vallack and his father Paul in 2001. Filmmaking and video production has always been the main passion of the company, based on the combination of Paul's background in fine art and Ben's technical expertise and creative vision.
‘ Hi Ben
Just a brief note to thank you for filming and producing our latest training DVD. Once again we were impressed with both your enthusiasm for our project and professionalism in creating an attractive DVD that has been an excellent advertisement for our company and all at a very reasonable price. We continue to get very positive feedback from our customers regarding its ease of use and effectiveness in conveying our approach to restoration.
Best wishes
Mike Wye ’
‘ We are so delighted and amazed with the DVD Ben produced of our wedding day. He really went beyond what we were expecting and produced a beautifully edited DVD for us.
‘ He was so discrete that we still can't work out where he was filming from! A truly professional job done all around. Thank you very much! ’
Right from the start we aspired to cinematic filmmaking values. We knew this meant getting a big, heavy (and costly!) tripod to guarantee rock solid footage even at full zoom. Then, we got kitted out with a jib and dolly. A jib is a small crane that enables smooth vertical movement of the camera and a dolly is a tracking device for long sideways tracking shots. This basic set of camera support equipment is the foundation to our production ability.
We have moved forward through various video cameras as technology has progressed and now use a High Definition Sony camera. Then there is sound - we use an industry standard boom microphone complete with full wind shielding to eliminate wind noise if shooting outside.
Burnside Telecom commissioned us to produce a creative yet functional promotional short to advertise their product. Our main task was filming exciting footage of the product itself. To do this we knew we needed to introduce motion or rotation into the shot. After some thought we fashioned a reflective base with a hole in for a spindle. We then installed this over a mirror-ball motor which turned at exactly the speed we were after. A bit of careful balancing of the product and some interesting lighting and we had our shot.
The next big task for the project was to edit together a sequence that showed all the information the client wanted to include. This included creating a visual, animated, representation of the product's menu system overlaid over a shot of the device's screen. The result is a pleasing hint at the intuitive and comprehensive menu structure offered by the product.
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