Video Production Services

Bring Your Vision to Life Through the Power of Video

We help corporate businesses and nonprofit organizations achieve better communication by producing compelling video content with an emphasis on creative storytelling and crystal-clear messaging. Pennylane Productions is a New York video production company specializing in interview style video content. We help businesses and nonprofits communicate using video production with marketing videos, awareness videos, training videos & recruitment videos.

Lighting

It goes without saying that lighting your production correctly is an absolute must. Having the right lighting setup can completely change the mood and tone of your video. A professional can light the scene to bring a light and funny tone, heighten the drama, create a night or daytime scene or give a sense of warm comfort.

Filming

The most obvious step in the process and the one we all associate with production is filming. A professional cinematographer will shape your footage with the right framing, exposure, color, angle, camera movement and composition. These are elements that are not obvious to the naked eye but they have a tremendous effect on how every shot is perceived by an audience.

Audio

Capturing great audio is the most overlooked aspect of production, but it is in many ways the most important. You can have the best visuals and the most charismatic speakers, but without quality audio, your message will be completely lost. Professional filmmakers are obsessed with making sure the audio they record during a shoot is the highest possible quality.

Producing

An active production day can be a little hectic. The person who holds everything together is the producer. Producers are recommended on complex shoots that involve shot lists, storyboards and multiple scenes. Our producers sometimes also play the role of the interviewer on set.

Whether you need a video production expert to help your in-house video team or a full crew to film, we can help. Here is a list of video production crew members and their roles.

Director

A video director controls the vision of the entire video production shoot. He or she has an understanding of every crew member’s role. A good director knows how to get the best performance out of everyone involved in the video production shoot. The director especially works closely with the DP (director of photography).

Director of Photography / DP

A director of photography or DP is the highest ranking camera operator on set. He or she has a full understanding of how all shots are filmed and framed. They consider many aspects in their compositions including background, foreground, characters, props, angles, lighting, action and camera movements if any. A good DP can work in difficult situations to make the image look better than it does in real life, enhancing the quality of the overall end product.

Producer

A producer is a vague term. Many studios have different definitions of what a producer’s role is. For us, the producer is the person who keeps the production together, on time and makes sure everyone is in communication. They may take notes during the entire process so that the editor understands the vision of what was shot on set. They should also have a good grasp on the director’s vision of the final product and what they expect from every crew member involved. Producers can also play the role of the interviewer. Sometimes the producer is the highest ranking crew member on set and on occasion may act as the director.

Interviewer

An interviewer is the person who asks the interviewee questions on camera to gather narration for a story. There is an entire art that goes into interviewing. A good interviewer can get clear and compelling dialogue out of almost any person being interviewed. Many times, interviewees (the person being interviewed) are nervous on camera. They may have a hard time being themselves on camera. For an experienced interviewer, this is usually not an issue. The interviewer will make the interviewee feel comfortable, open up and begin to manipulate the conversation and steer the interviewee towards conveying the key messages needed for the video. A good interviewer will also be editing in their head while interviewing, knowing whether or not they got all of the components needed to create a clear statement out of someone’s answer and if not, will go back to pick up any lines, words or full takes on an answer that they feel they need to ensure the editor has all the messaging needed to create clear, concise dialogue bits within the final edit.

Sound Person

A sound person records the audio during production. Sometimes the sound person only has the role of capturing audio. Other times a DP or camera operator may double as a sound person depending on the client’s budget. Audio is sometimes an overlooked aspect of video production but very important. Audiences may lose interest in your video if the recording is not stellar. Be sure to make sure you have an accomplished sound person available during the filming of your video.