Production

• Where appropriate, video is shot in 1080p, known in marketing terms as "full hd". 1080 is the number of lines (or vertical resolution) that make up the picture, p stands for progressive scan. With progressive scan, each "frame" or picture is displayed in full, as opposed to interlaced scan where the frame is made up of two fields. Shooting in 1080p offers improved picture clarity, even when downsampling for DVD delivery.
• We take lighting very seriously. Lighting is often the downfall of video productions simply because it's not considered carefully, especially with indoor footage. We have a number of lighting accessories (including softbox kits, portable LED lights, reflectors and gels) and will endeavour to use them wherever possible to improve the quality of the footage.
• We're huge camera geeks and know the ins and outs of your typical camera system. That means no fluffed white balance, no missed focus and no automatic controls! We're familiar with broadcast-quality cameras as well as the new wave of "Video DSLRs" that have shot to prominence over the last 3-4 years.

Post Production

• Footage is edited to a high quality standard using an appropriate NLE (non linear editor). All of the settings will be correct, so there will be no errors in the final product (such as incorrect field orders or the wrong aspect ratio) that could easily have been solved at the beginning of the process.
• We can also produce motion graphics, which are best described as 2D/3D graphics that complement the video in some way. If you have a logo, we can create an appealing animation with it for the finished product.
• Regarding the original music service discussed on the Services page: we have years of experience with guitar, bass and drums, as well as the means to produce recordings featuring other instruments.

• All photographs are shot digitally and in RAW format. RAW basically records the data straight off the camera's sensor without any processing, and allows it to be manipulated fully during the editing stage, using appropriate software. We don't shoot using JPEG format, which compresses the images in-camera and limits the flexibility of the post production stage.
• For the majority of photography work, we will use "vintage" lenses - models from the old manual SLR era that have desirable characteristics. The combination of a digital camera and these older lenses is quite potent, often rendering light in a softer and gentler fashion.
• Applies to video production as well: We edit and colour grade on monitors with IPS panels, typically S-IPS. IPS (as opposed to TN, which is commonly used in cheaper monitors) offers better colour reproduction and provides a more accurate representation of the final product.

• All websites are coded completely from scratch in HTML, unless specified otherwise (for example, using Wordpress so the customer can manage the site's content). No template or pre-designed elements are used, ensuring originality.
• We use CSS heavily in the designs. CSS (or Cascading Style Sheets) is a very efficient way of designing and maintaining the look and layout of the website. It cuts down on repeat code and keeps behind the scenes workings nice and organised.

This is where it gets really good!

We've spent a lot of time working on the most technical and complicated area, which is "pre processing" video content for delivery. This step is often missed out of post-production stages, either because it's not necessary for the video (and may take up too much time), or because people don't realise it exists! Some pre-processing steps might be:

• De-graining and de-noising the video: basically removing obtrusive video noise without compromising picture quality. This greatly benefits videos destined for web delivery because fewer "bits" are wasted on video noise, and can instead be used to improve the clarity of the overall picture.
• De-banding, which involves "dithering" the picture to remove banding. Banding refers to visible lines between fine gradients of colour, which can sometimes prove quite distracting.
• Proper resampling: as in resizing the video. For example, a 1080p video (1920x1080) might want to be resized to 720p (1280x720) for web delivery. Although this can be done within video editing programs, they tend to universally do a bad job of resizing, often using "bilinear" or "bicubic" resampling. A better pre-processing chain would use "lanczos" or "spline" resampling for a sharper picture whilst keeping artefacts such as aliasing to a minimum.

Furthermore, we use a variety of media encoders to achieve the best result depending on the target format. Encoders are responsible for taking one video format and converting it to another so it can be watched by the viewer/consumer. Very rarely will we use what the editing program provides, instead transferring it to a separate program that will offer better quality.

Finally, we can offer a VHS digitising service, which involves taking old VHS footage, capturing it to an appropriate digital format, then cleaning it up for delivery, either on DVD or as digital delivery on a hard drive or USB stick.