As an independent video production company we know how hard it is to get good promotional material together to fight off that competition. So we are more than happy to help you by doing what we love best! We are lucky to have a white vinyl backdrop with a pre-set up tracking system, dolly and 5-piece lighting set-up, meaning we can achieve your video production needs in our very own studio space.

For Spirit Agenda we did a promotional photo shoot of their band members using our Cannon EOS 5D; which will go on their website and other promotional material. This was great fun with the band bringing in their instruments and having a little jam in-between takes. We can’t wait to continue to help Spirit Agenda with more of their promotional work over the next up-coming weeks. This, however, wasn’t the first time we have helped Spirit Agenda with promotional work with us producing them a video production promo-vid during late January this year. Examples of these promotional tools can be seen below.

If you are interested in knowing more about what we can offer you as a video production company then send us an email, we are always willing to discuss new ventures or to just show you around the complex for a good natter and a fantastic coffee.

Nostairway has just about settled into its new studio space which lends itself perfectly to web video production and corporate video production – the 2 key growth areas of video production in general.

Take the video below as an example. Chipex are a great new start-up company with a fantastic product. As with all star-ups, budgets are tight for the first couple of years. And that’s where Nostairway Media were able to help.

Firstly we scripted the advert, then we provided the client with a choice of artists to present the video. They chose well – Caroline Pearce is an experienced presenter and an accomplished athlete too (she was the Gladiator, Ice). She looked great and fitted into the demography of the target audience perfectly. Our second presenter was Kristine, a German national with plenty of web video production under her belt.

Once the script had been approved we set about creating a story board. In most corporate videos some form of storyboard is necessary. In this case it was in text form with the odd graphic for clarity.

It took some time to source the location for the shoot but eventually we found a delightful house in Hampton, Middlesex.

The video shoot itself went very well, although we were beholden to the weather at times, and we finished both the English and German versions in one day.

The client was very pleased with the results and is planning to commission another web video production soon.

Like all video production companies we like to get feedback from our viewers, so let us know your thoughts on our work.

As always, drop us a line for info Nostairway

RM

My job entails assisting the Managing Director with our social media campaigns, attending board meetings and note taking, contacting clients and keeping up to date with our diary schedule, helping to set up video production projects, i.e. brainstorming storyboard ideas, locations, actors and so forth. It also involves testing the equipment in the recording studio before any form of music creation or voice over production takes places.

Working for NoStairway Media is a fantastic job as not only are the staff friendly and welcoming to not only myself, but our clients, we are based in the famous Teddington Studios and work closely with the ‘On The Lot’ studio networking committee at Pinewood Studios. This is a definite perk to the job, allowing us to attend such media networking events as the grand opening of the 30,000 sq ft Richard Attenborough Stage during April , the BAFTA house to socialise with such movie directors as Richard Deaken, attending Pinewood Studio staff drink nights out and so on. One of my favourite perks from working with NoStairway was going onto the Keith Lemon’s Lemonaid set during early April and actually getting to touch the Delauren car shown on his show. I have also met some amazing neighbours within the three Pinewood studios who specialise in a range of video production, audio production and creative design production work. Such as John Emmett from BPR a developer for video production equipment, Nik Callan from Eye Catching Design and Richard Broom from Tiger Pink who specialise in Television and Web design, Sue Ballinghall from Bands r Us a music production company and the list goes on and on.

Although this all sounds like great fun and not really work at all, there are a lot of different disciplines to learn and long hours of work to have. There are hundreds of things to remember whenever a production is going on, as if you can think something that may go wrong, it most likely will. For example, to set up a recording studio correctly you must know every cable and how it works to understand how to achieve the highest quality of noise. Baring in mind that we house over a hundred different cables – this often becomes a bit of a challenge! With music creation there are several different softwares to use to achieve that perfect demo. It is easy for anyone to pick up the basic structure of these programmes, however, to really create something worth while you need to know all the different effects you can add. This involves a lot of background research into similar tracks, the market your aiming to reach, the software itself and what your client desires to achieve. Furthermore, with video production you need to learn to have a steady hand with the camera, a knowledge on how lighting and movement can impact on your work, how to transfer what you have just recorded into a useable file format and how to edit it and maybe even upload onto social media/player sites. This all takes time to learn to a professional standard and is a highly key skill to have, which not all production companies can offer.

Everyday is different and nothing is ever the same, creating a continuous element of excitement to what the day may bring. With our new office space it means more music creation can be done with live bands, also with a pre-set up recording space with a dolly, tracking system, 5 piece lighting system and white vinyl backdrop we are always ready for any video production action. NoStairway Media are a fantastic multi-purpose recording studio and video production/audio production company and I cannot wait to see what else is left to come during my time here.

NoStairway Media fits perfectly into this definition working as a music creation house, recording studio and video production company. A prior example of our recent work involving music creation was a little jingle we created for a potential client. Furthermore, we have our sister site Sonic Logo which involves creating audio branding to suit consumer’s needs. Working often as a voice-over recording studio most of our recordings ensue local actors coming in to record vocals for online, corporate or entertainment TV across the globe. We also see regular artists/performers coming into the recording studio to record their demo tapes. Now that our studio is quadruple the size of our old one we also have our ‘jam’ section for local bands to perform and record their music with their own or our own instruments, which includes an electric drum kit, a three keyboard set up, several microphones, one electric and two classical guitars. Currently we are doing a lot of work for the newly found writer Andrea Black and her 6 piece audio book ‘Skippity Hop’. This involves recording a backing track to the pre-recorded character voices we did for her during the prior few weeks and creating diegetic sound effects to emphasis the reality of the story being told.

Additionally as a video production company we have a perminate white vinyl backdrop with a pre-set up tracking system, dolly, ProHD JVC 3CCD camera, EOS 5D Canon camera and ten-piece lighting system. We are currently pitching a music video idea to a potential client, have a photo shoot lined up for a local band and have also just finished filming an advert, which can be viewed below.

As you can see NoStairway Media fits to the letter the definition of the word Recording Studio, aiming to be everything a Recording Studio (plus video production company) aspires to.

That’s why our moto is ‘Let’s get Creative!’

JS

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It was a dream to make because the subject matter was so close to our hearts – yes, we’re a bunch of geeks.

As always, drop us a line for info Nostairway

Well, let me tell you.

In short, you don’t, or should I say, you can’t. Voice over studios often jealously guard any good voice over artist they have because they know how rare they can be. Professional voice over artists don’t just “get into” the job.
Nobody has ever approached me and asked “how can I get into architecture?” It’s just a given that you do your time at college then again as an apprentice and then, if you’re good, you get to design some buildings and work your way up.

Voice over recording operates much in the same way – you learn your trade, spend a very long time honing your skills in exchange for next to no money and then if you’re very good you build your client base – agents, voice over studios, production companies – and a working relationship with those clients until you’re a valued professional.

Or at least that’s how it used to be. With the meteoric rise of video production technology, voice over recording is often elbowed into a corner marked “to deal with at the last minute” and only those with an old school budgets seem to be going down the pro route.

I have great admiration for some of the artists we have worked with recently and we’re very lucky at NSM to have worked with the best.

Unfortunately, as a leading voice over studio , we are quite concerned by the upsurge in video productions that are seemingly broadcast with a narration by Louise from the accounts dept.

Louise may sound nice on the phone when you call to see where your expense cheque is, but we advise that you think carefully about that advert and your choice of voice over. It’s an all too often neglected aspect of video production that results in disappointment.

Apologies to those who have heard this before, but you won’t get an award with an amateur voice over production or library music.
Your clients won’t write to you outlining the shortfalls in your video, they’ll just change channel or possibly not come back to your site.

When the budget allows it, a voice over carries quite a responsibility; one which is best left to the professionals. When the budgets are lower, a good voice over can mean the difference between success and failure.

So, yes, get into voice over if you think it’s for you. But be prepared to put some graft in, like our artists did.

And drop us a line – Nostairway Media – if you have any questions.

RM

Everyone’s a director now. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It pushes up the bar for professional video production companies to come up to.

But if you want a video produced, how do you go about sourcing a decent video production company without paying over the odds?

Nostairway Media was recently invited to a talk at London Studios. the talk was hosted by the Royal Television Society and centred around budgets. The underlying theme was, as if you couldn’t guess, that budgets are on a constant slope downwards. As a London video production company, we feel this trend more than others. But it’s down to us to rise to the challenge and use the technology available to continue to make top quality videos.

If your budget contains more than 5 integers, you have a wealth of video production companies at your finger tips. Your best approach to sourcing one would be to hone down the genres associated with each one you find and pick from those who have experience in the subject of your brief.

Lower down the scale, things get a little more complicated. Once you’ve viewed some videos you like the look of, we suggest you look again, or more to the point, listen again. Many “budget” video production companies don’t have a glowing track record when it comes to audio. Many regular readers will know that we at Nostairway Media pay great heed to this often neglected area of video production.

Viewers don’t tell you that your audio production is sub standard – often they’re not conscious of it – but they have preferences and are less likely to share their audio/visual experience or go back and view again if the audio isn’t great.

Secondly, and for those who’ve read this before, I apologise, you wont win an award with either sub standard audio or library music.

So, I hope this is helpful. Remember to contact us here- Nostairway Media – if you need any advice.

Happy hunting.

RM

Turns out Russell Brand will host the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California. As a video production company, NSM will be watching this closely, even if we won’t actually be there. (invitation must have got lost in the post – again!)

It’ll take place June 3 at the Gibson Amphitheatre.

“This MTV Movie Awards will be more impressive than ‘The Avengers‘ and you won’t have to wait an hour for someone to hulk out,” Brand said in a statement.

“With his amazing ability to span the full spectrum of comedy from the most high- to low-brow, Russell’s smart, unpredictable wit uniquely connects him to our audience,” president of MTV, Stephen Friedman, said, . “His rock ‘n’ roll sensibility and fearlessness give us the perfect partner with whom to take a leap of faith with as we meld the worlds of movies and music together on one very special night.”

Brand has starred in such films as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Get Him to the Greek,” “Despicable Me,” “Arthur” and the upcoming “Rock of Ages.”

He will also soon headline a series of six half-hour late-night TV comedy specials to be recorded in front of a live audience on the FX network.

Here at No Stairway we love events like this because it gives video production companies a gauge on what’s happening out there and what we should be gearing our video production to.

We will be particularly interested in the web video production side of th eawards. Online is seriously making an impact on the cable market and these awards are a litmus test to this.

Keep an eye on you favourite video production company blog for updates.

Their Help a Capital Child event this year was a great success and our studio donated a recording session in our Teddington recording studios.

Every year Capital holds a function event, a celebrity radio appeal and several auctions to help raise money to vulnerable children in the UK. This year’s function event was held at London’s Roundhouse music venue. It was a night of exclusive live performances from Capital DJ’s and music artists, with a three course meal and complimentary drinks. The video below is from last year’s Capital radio appeal, which gave the chance for well-known/loved celebrities to become radio DJs for the day and help auction off money-can’t-buy prizes and show their support.

Anyone can help support this cause by simply throwing or participating in a fundraising event, donating money or, like us at NoStairway Media, donating a prize to be auctioned.

As a recording studio we at NoStairway Media put up for auction a free two hour vocal recording session with a fully mixed and mastered CD and MP3 demo to take away. This fantastic offer was won by a gentleman at the Deutsche Bank Charity Auction after a generous donation to the Help a Capital Child fund.

We cannot wait to meet him to get started on his recording studio session and are over joyed with the sum of money we helped raise for this tremendous cause!

Later in the year we will be auctioning another recording studio session as a prize for the Help a Capital Child fund. But this time we’re going to push the boat out. The session will include a recording session and a music video shoot, so keep watching Nostairway Media for the latest.

If you would like to know more about the Help a Capital Child organisation or on how to help fundraise or donate to the cause then please check out their website at the link below.

http://www.capitalfm.com/charity/

It’s now almost taken for granted that if you have a web site you’ll be having one of them there new fangled web videos to go with it.

The key reason is, you’ve guessed it, Google. Google is paying more and more attention to video rich web offerings. And this is important if need people to find you.

Forrester Research shows videos were over 50 times more likely to show up on the first-page than traditional web pages. That’s some advantage. As a result, web video producers are getting busy.

But that’s just half the story. It’s true that the surge towards web video is very much due to Google’s behest. But Gppgle isn’t just resting on that. Your web video content needs to be engaging and of a decent quality, Google quite rightly feels, and so the pressure is on to make web video that looks and sounds good enough for TV.

There are lots of short cuts to getting front page rankings and video could seem to offer yet more. Mostly, short cuts are short lived too, and this is where Google are playing smart. They really want you to make quality content and that includes web video production.

An ethos that served many well in days long before Google even existed.

We say good on yer, Google. It’s always good to have a bit of quality control.

And for any web site owners out there (aren’t we all?), remember the web video you produce tomorrow will forge your reputation for much longer than the web video itself will last.

Here’s an example of one our latest videos http://youtu.be/ZhJNa5OWYuE

Happy broadcasting. Any questions? Drop us a line. http://www.nostairway.com

Let’s get creative.

RM