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Video Production Services

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These days it’s hard to catch the attention of your audience.  Because of rapidly evolving technology the average attention span has decreased  immensely.  Take watching TV for example.  Typically People are on three or more separate devices: Watching their favorite TV shows on DVR, while checking NFL Fantasy stats on their lab tops while simultaneously texting a friend on their phones.

What does this mean for you and your business?  It means you have to to something more to catch the attention of your market.  A website is not enough, You need to create buzz and something fresh to maintain the attention of potential clients.  You need a web video that will catch and retain their attention.

It could be a short 2-3 minute video or a series of videos that will turn potential customers into loyal ones who will help create buzz and the important ‘Word of Mouth’ marketing for your business.

Advanced Media Productions handles all Video jobs, big or small.  We are here to provide Video Production services in Los Angeles for any business or actor that require a top notch and professional Video or Demo Reel for their needs.

We have done jobs for the FBI and produce videos for MTV’s Lingerie Football League.  Recently we have Shot a Web Video for Eye Health Care Provider, VSP, where we went to the LA Sports Arena to shoot a web Commercial for a Dr. OZ Sponsored event.  We have experience in Hollywood as well as we have produced a number of EPK’s and BTS for Blockbuster Films, such as:  Leaves of Green w/ Edward Norton, Trust w/ Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, Labor Pains with Lindsay Lohan.

We have also done Commercials videos for a wide range of industries:  Health Care, Real Estate, Entertainment, etc.  We also provide Demo Reel Production for actors who want a new reel or to reshoot scenes.  Want to know more?  Check out our portfolio Here

If you would like to know more Click Here
or give us a Call at (323) 469-0209.

VHS Transfer Services – Where do I transfer my home movies to?

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Today, millions of Americans have already took the step to protect, preserve and share their family history, lifelong memories and generational ancestry. In previous articles about Media Transfer we have explored some of the reasons why is it so important to take that step now. In this article, we would like to explore the various methods and ways to preserve and protect them.

Access and Usability

The first thing to consider is access and usability of your home videos. When VHS was abound, it was clearly the only way

VHS to DVD Transfer Family

VHS to DVD Transfer Family

to preserve your videos and be able to watch them occasionally with family and friends. In fact, the knowledge that your historical moments and memories are there in a tangible and accessible form was a re-assuring factor that you can always enjoy it when desired, especially at an older age.

 

Today, there are various choices to consider, including DVD, files, tape and the Cloud. While each format or platform offers advantages and disadvantages, the most important thing to remember is that you would essentially need to be able to access and use it at some point in time. Therefore, the access and usability factors are very important.

DVD

DVD (which stands for Digital Versatile Disc, since it was alongside with CD, a type of media that could have various segments be accessed consecutively without the need to fast forward or rewind) was the natural replacement for VHS and the likes (analog tape-based home video formats), and therefore is being preferred by many. DVD main benefits is that is it relatively durable, physical and easily accessible. We at Advanced Media, highly recommend transferring home movies to DVD, since it is sill the most usable and accessible form of preserving your media. We believe that if you do not preserve your home movies to DVD, you are potentially risking losing them.

 

Under the DVD umbrella you will also find its modern day sibling, Blu-ray. While the process of creating Blu-ray discs is more time consuming and pricier, there are some clear advantages to choosing that route. Blu-ray is becoming more and more accessible and should be considered as a viable option. For this to happen, more education in the market place may be needed.

File

Today, more and more individuals choose home movies to file transfer as the way to go. Some of the reasons behind it are clearly understood, with many planning on editing their videos to remove some of the non-eventful portions, while some think that having files is cheaper and/or better. Transferring home movies and VHS tapes to files is clearly important and extremely beneficial to many and should definitely be considered as art of the overall preservation and protection strategy – however, it is clearly not the answer. We at Advanced Media always recommend a two-legged approach to preservation and protection, having your home movies transferred to at least two types of media or platforms. While files offer clear advantages for editing and overall sharing, the lack the reliability and physicality that DVDs and other tangible media has to offer. Just remember that a drive can get deleted or crash, files could be lost and misplaced, get corrupt and be compromised by the ever increasing amount of computer viruses. You would not be happy to discover that your invaluable historical memories are nowhere to be found several years later.

Tape

Tape is becoming an outdated concept in today ever changing technology, however, many corporations, government agencies, film studios and any other valuable content owners choose to preserve their content on magnetic tapes, such as DLT and LTO. Magnetic tape preservation still offers the best and most robust way of preserving media.  While not always  feasible to the  private user to own an LTO drive, just having an LTO cartridge with their entire home video library backed up may be an option to consider. Formats such as LTO are industry standard and are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Cloud

The Cloud, as previously discussed, is an umbrella term for any type of media, software or service that is performed or stored at a remote location on a remote computer or a networked group of computers. While the subject of Cloud is fairly new and interesting, and could be a great secondary method of preserving content that can be shared worldwide, we want to make sure our customers understand that Cloud-based content has a monthly cost associated with it, and is also susceptible to hacking, attacks and other internet technology related issues, such as loss, outage etc. In addition, some companies such as YouTube and Facebook, actually own the content and under no obligation to keep it online and preserve it. We encourage you to learn more about the Cloud before choosing it as your main media  preservation strategy..

 

We hope that this article has been informative. We at Advanced Media always believe in ever increasing learning and exploring. We live in the information age, where content is king, and it will continue to be an important subject for years to come.

 

Thank you for reading our article.

 

Please contact us at (323) 469 0707 or at our contact page to learn more about various home videos and media preservation strategies.

 

Advanced Media

Actor Demo Reel – important or not?

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As a media company, we are occasionally engaged in some level of film production, including casting. From experience, when a producer or a casting director posts a casting notice, there are generally replies in the hundreds if not thousands actors, depends on the role, production, pay and other factors. The competition could be quite fierce, and even the selection process could be quite overwhelming. In fact, there is a good reason why there are so many casting directions. It is truly a multi-faceted and very time-consuming task, which is also critical to the success of any project.

 

While every actor who is submitted or can be found on any given database site has a headshot, a small percentage of actors have video demo reels, or actor reels. The reasons vary, from lack of previous work to work that is not deemed sufficient enough in representing the actor/actress in pursuing the next step. However, the end result is that actors with demo reel often stand out. While a headshot is telling to an extent of an actor/actress overall looks, and a resume can reflect how established and successful an actor may have been recently, there is nothing more convincing than actually seeing an actor/actress in action playing a role.

 

As an actor/actress it is very important for you to have your work be seen, especially by those who are in position to choose you for the next project.

 

We, at Advanced Media, highly recommend that you get yourself a reel made. We explored some of the reasons for seeking out a professional company to have your reels edited on some previous posts. We do provide such service to a wide range of actors and actresses at affordable rates and with a highly trained, experienced and professional staff.

 

Please find more information about us here.

 

Thank you for reading and best of luck!

 

Advanced Media

DVD Duplication Services

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We at Advanced Media offer a wide range of highly professional and personal DVD duplication services. Among our customers are private individuals, Fortune 500 corporations, small businesses, municipal and federal agencies and educational institutions. We have done work for the FBI, Time Warner,  Kaiser Permanente, Fox, Giorgio Armani, MTV, MGM, USC, Iron Mountain to name a few.

 

When you choose DVD Duplication Services, you want to make sure that you know what is your final goal – promotion, retail, gift or other.

 

Retail-bound DVD product typically goes through a process called replication, which is done at a replication factory. We at Advanced Media, work with several reputable replication companies and can provide easy access to the service.

 

Promotional type DVDs and even personal use DVDs, are typically duplicated, which is a much simpler process of digitally copying DVDs from a master DVD. In this blog, we would focus on the duplication side of DVDs.

 

Media

 

It is important to choose high-quality and durable media. We at Advanced Media only use high quality products. There are many resources on the internet to shop and compare between DVD products. The key to remember is that most expensive sometimes really is just the most expensive. When you shop for media, you shop for value, which translates to the best quality for the best price.

 

Duplication

 

There are various ways to duplicate, from software based to hardware based. They all vary in time, efficiency and price. If you have the time to sit by your computer and keep changing DVDs in order to burn 200 or more, then you are in luck. Most people don’t. When it comes to hardware-based solutions, quality does matter.  At Advanced Media we use high-end DVD duplication devices, whether robotics or manual. Our duplication equipment also performs self-check to every single DVD. In addition we spot our DVDs to ensure that they work and are 100% reliable.

 

DVD Surface Print

 

There are several methods to printing. The most common is inkjet, which is similar to most home-based printers. Inkjet can produce some pretty decent results if used with the right printers. While Inkjet is clearly a good printing solution, it is not the method professional companies use. We at Advanced Media provide both Inkjet printing and Thermal. Thermal print works in a similar fashion to dye-transfer, and without getting into technicalities in this article, the method relies on very accurate color transfer from ribbons onto the DVD surface under extreme heat.  This method ensures that there are not print artifacts and that the thousandth DVD looks just like the first. Some other benefits include scratch resistance, water resistance and fade resistance. A third method is called LightScribe, which is a “built in” method where the DVDs are being burned and printed inside the LightScribe drive. It can only produce black and white prints, the media tends to be more expensive and it requires some programming to change the labels.

 

DVD Protection

 

We get occasional inquires about DVD protection. The best way to ensure DVD protection is by replication. DVD duplication does not offer real DVD protection. There are some products out there that do provide some limited defense on duplication, yet it can be easily overcome. We generally advise that if you need copyright protection on your DVDs, you go the replication route.

 

We will continue to explore various DVD Duplication aspects in future posts. We hope it was a helpful reading.

 

Here at Advanced Media, a Los Angeles based media services company, we offer complete DVD Duplication and Replication Services. Please contact us at (323) 469 0707 or at our contact page here.

 

Advanced Media

8mm Film

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8mm Film

8mm Film

8mm film has been around since the early 1930s and was developed to provide a cheaper alternative to the costlier 16mm film format.

The 8mm film format was an instant success and has been used by individuals, families and professionals alike to document life as it happened, which today represents our entire unique and invaluable history and memories.

 

8mm film comes in several variations – Standard 8mm film, Super 8mm film, Single-8 and Straight 8, with the most common being Standard 8 film and Super 8 film. The Super 8 was introduced in the mid-60s and quickly replaced the standard 8mm by many users.

Most 8mm films we receive have no sound. However, occasionally we get films with sound embedded, which we handle as well. Transferring 8mm film with sound does require an extra process.

The 8mm format has faded with the advent of cheaper and more accessible VHS camcorders, however, recently there has been a revival of the 8mm and Super 8 formats, with many artists and hobbyists shooting on 8mm film in order to utilize its unique picture qualities and several film festivals dedicated to 8mm film had sprung up. Even higher-end wedding videographers have been using 8mm film now in order to achieve an authentic nostalgic film look.

We at Advanced Media have transferred tens of thousands of feet of film for thousands of individuals and institutions from around the country.

We currently offer a major upgrade and transfer 8mm film directly to high-definition video (HD), therefore you will be receiving the highest possible resolution for your film, which will enable you to enjoy it in ways that were not possible before. In addition, we monitor and adjust the motion so that your film will not run too fast or to slow.

The benefits of transferring to HD are that the clarity, resolution and motion are much better and vastly improved. Now, you, your friends and your family can finally enjoy your family history in full high-definition clarity.
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16mm Film

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16mm Film

16mm Film

16mm film, which was introduced in the early 1920s, was at the time interestingly enough considered to be a low-quality film by the film industry.

Today, nearly 100 years later, it is still embraced by many filmmakers and producers for small theatrical films, which only attests to its overall high quality, even in today’s terms.

16mm film comes in 3 main flavors – Standard 16mm, Super 16mm and Ultra 16mm (very uncommon). Some notable recent pictures produced on Super 16mm are Leaving Las Vegas, Sex and the City and The Hurt Locker.

We would like to note that we do not handle 16mm film for professional broadcast purposes. Our specialty is in the institutional archival and family history preservation and restoration.

We currently are able to transfer 16mm film to standard definition video (SD) and can transfer 16mm and Super 16mm film to DVD and files.

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Photos

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Photos

Photos

We offer photo scanning to digital files. We can generate medium to large photo scans as well as provide touch-up and color correction services.

Some other services we offer for photo scanning is creation of a video montage on DVD or a movie file, and adding music and/or narration over it.

We can also blend video and photos together and create interesting motion on the photos. There is very little we cannot do – it is all up to your imagination and needs.

We can create most digital files – DPX, TIFF, TARGA, JPEG, BMP, PNG and even PDFs, as well as others. Please inquire for a specific format, resolution, DPI and bit-depth.

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Government

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Governement

Governement

As an approved government contractor, we can service most government and municipal agencies.

We have performed many library conversion jobs for bodies such as the FBI and various cities in various states, including California.

We constantly upgrade and invest in new equipment and adhere to very high standards.

A division of Advanced Media, HD Creative Services, specializes in servicing the various media and post-production needs of motion pictures studios and production companies, and both our divisions constantly benefit each other.

When you choose to work with us, you choose top-level expertise, large resource pool, deep level knowledge and experience and great customer service. With vast experience and penetration in the motion picture industry, we rise above in order to service your needs.

To get a quote for your project, please contact us here or call us at 1-855-551-5857

Digitize

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Digitize

Digitize

Digitizing, or the process of converting picture and sound into a file form that can be read by computers, means that what you currently have on a tape, film or a slide can be easily edited and manipulated digitally with your preferred editing software, or with a professional.

You can use these files to share with family and friends, edit and tell your own family story, promote yourself and your ideas online, and if they have some commercial value – go ahead and find a way to make some money by selling or licensing it.

Another major benefit of digitizing, is that you take a very smart step toward preserving and securing your family history and memories on a readily accessible file format, which can be read by any computer, now and in the future.

We offer digitizing to all file type and can digitize from virtually any source – DVD, VHS, Blu-ray, Beta, Video8, 8mm & 16mm film, MiniDV, photos, slides, CDs, Audio Cassettes and many more.

Most common files are: QuickTime (DV, ProRes, Uncompressed, H.264), AVI, WMV (Windows Media), DIVX, Flash, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DPX and many more. If you need it – we can handle it.

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YouTube & Vimeo

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YouTube

YouTube

If you are a little more Internet savvy and would need to utilize the web in a way that would benefit your career, profession and overall personal purposes, we are here to help.

We specialize in high-quality encoding and generating files for YouTube and Vimeo. Some of the benefits of using these web platforms are that the hosting is free and you can easily embed the files into your own site and other affiliate sites and online locations. You can also use Vimeo to share and distribute content in a way that would only be available to registered and qualified users.

We do charge a small convenience fee for the high-quality encoding, setting up and uploading of your files to these

Vimeo

Vimeo

platforms.

We would like to note that the platforms themselves are free to use and you can encode the files yourself if you know how to do it. The benefits of working with us, is that we know exactly how to get it done, can do it efficiently and fast and can achieve a very high quality for your files.

Other platforms we can encode and upload to are various websites and FTP servers, as well as other video sharing Internet platforms.

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