“Where have you been?” I here you say [use this blog merely for my own amusement]. Well, I have been rather busy.
In September last year, I joined the amazing theatre group called ‘The Zodiac’ based in my hometown of Runcorn. I joined because I needed some excitement in my life and I needed to get back into acting, which I’d had a three year hiatus from.
With The Zodiac, I got so much more than I bargained for. In a good way, I might add. From the initial audition to get into the company, to the subsequent audition to be cast, to actually being cast, rehearsals that gradually got more intensive, to finally performing last month at The Brindley theatre in Runcorn, I realised that the thing that I needed in my life was not just the acting but the ‘theatre family’ that you make.
Everyone in that company is amazing and all have their part to play, excuse the pun. Needless to say, the general welcoming atmosphere of the society meant that I really wanted to help out in any way that I could.
My current employed job role is Marketing Assistant, so I approached The Zodiac to see if I could help with the marketing of the upcoming play, Boogie Nights. This is where things got even more fun, and I am not being sarcastic! I got the opportunity to be creative and use my skillset.
I suggested creating a promotional video and got the ok. After liaising with Cruise nightclub in Chester, I was able to secure us a spot in their Manhattan Suite, which housed a rather fantastic 70’s-esque light up dancefloor – we had our promo video space. So one Saturday back in January myself and a large number of the cast donned our 70’s kit and [here’s the important bit] danced the same dance a good few times in a row.
Now, I am the first to admit that I am not a video producer, but I thought that I could take my photography, and general use of the camera, to the next level. I figured, to make the video interesting, it would need to be shot at different angles, focusing on different people so that when editing, I could create a seamless multi-angled video for promotion.
Hence the dancing the same dance a good few times. Despite it being a Saturday and people giving up their time and prancing around in 70s gear [I make it sound like a chore for us drama folk], everybody had a great time and the outcome was pretty good too.
I loved the video editing process and switching from different programmes so that I could get the desired effect. I was doing this for free and had free programmes so the effects and techniques I could use were limited, but I was still happy with the outcome.
Here is a link to The Zodiac video – Zodiac Presents Boogie Nights (Short Promo Video)
This is the shortened video which was shared on social media. The full version can also be found on their youtube channel.
I volunteered to help out with headshots and other promotional material for the show, as well as marketing the play through various routes; successfully securing them a spot on BBC Radio Merseyside. I enjoy being creative and I was given a great opportunity by the Zodiac to use my hobby for their benefit (one pic for promo attached to this post).
The hard work by everyone in the society ensured that they show had a great audience every night, and it sold out for the last two nights!!!!
Now, when I was making the Zodiac promo video, I realised that I had the ability to make a promotional video for the current company I work for. I put the idea out to my boss and got the go ahead.
My current role is marketing for a teacher training company, and I wanted to get the message of The Consortium [my employers] across and sell the programme using past trainees as the spokespeople.
I liaised with the previous trainees and two came forward and it was arranged for me to go in and visit them whilst they were teaching to film, and then ask them questions about their training year afterwards.
With it all in place, I excitedly bought a clip on microphone so that the audio would be a higher quality than what my camera could produce.
I feel that my photography skills and eye for composition have enabled me to produce a good promotional video for my company, considering the fact that they too, like The Zodiac, are a registered charity, so the tools and programmes that I used were all free, or something that I owned. The computer programme I used was what was already installed on the computer in work, but I feel that I produced something of high quality despite the tools I had.
I know it may seem that I am blowing my own trumpet here, but I am a complete beginner at video editing, apart from what I produced at university, and I feel that I adapted the skills I have from Photography to produce a visually entertaining promotional video for my employers.
Here is the link to the promotional video produced for my workplace – Teacher Training Promotional Video
I had such fun learning and editing and producing and filming. I enjoyed trying something new and realising, actually I am not that bad at it.
I a definitely going to continue with this newfound love I have for video editing, as well as continuing with my photography of course.
But this all explains why I have not been posting anything as of late. I have been busy with all the promotional material and marketing for The Zodiac and for my job.
I look forward to posting more in the future.
Chris Doyle Photography 