#StarkTips: Challenges our clients face

We at Stark Crew are proud to have some of the world’s biggest corporations come to us for their video needs. While it’s true that they come from a wide range of industries, we’ve come to find that our clients face three particular challenges for video shoots around the world. What are they, exactly? Let’s recap:

1. Who do I hire? I need trustworthy teams!
2. Will the quality be consistent across all the countries I’m going to have in one video? I want the final product to be consistent, not looking like it was a hodgepodge of different formats and artistic styles.
3. How do I pull all the global footage together into one video? Who edits it? And, how do I give my input and feedback throughout the editing process?

These three quandaries lead us to the following scenario:

I want to shoot and edit videos in multiple locations, but I don’t know who to hire. I can’t afford to send my own in-house crew all around the world, but by that same token, I don’t want to shoot in the dark and hire a bunch of freelancers I don’t know. I need a single point of contact for all the locations I want to shoot, and for filling all of the pre- and post-production needs. I need a global full-service production company!

Wait, why would you want a global full-service production company any way? The truth is that we’ve heard horror stories from people who have come to us looking for solutions to their previous video problems.  Some of our most popularly cited nightmares include: When they tried sending their in-house crews across the globe, they suffered greatly from canceled and delayed projects. Why? Because when you fly your in-house video crew in from outside of the country,  delays and cancellations incur a tremendous expense due to changed flights, extra lodging, paying the crews their video production salaries for extra days (even if they aren’t shooting due to bad weather or a change of schedule,  you have to pay them for all of the days you’ve sent them to another country).  Also, clients have told us of things breaking or needing extra batteries – because they fly in a crew from abroad, that crew didn’t know how to get broken down gear fixed or to fulfill special requests locally, resulting in delays and expenses. Then of course, since the crews were not local, there were cases of miscommunication that cause major headaches and misunderstandings. And, finally, once the shoot is over, who’s there to pick up the pieces? Once your crew leaves town, who is going to help if you need anything extra locally?
That’s where we come in at Stark Crew:

• Let’s say you want to shoot a video in 12 countries, but you have so many things to do yet so little time. Don’t have the time to look for crews? We’ve got a network of over 1,000 video producers in 60 countries to make your life easier.
• You want to have all 12 countries in the project, but the travel expenses alone is five times the overall budget. Don’t want or can’t afford to pay to send your crews on location? All our crews are local.
• To top the lack of money, you just don’t have enough hours in a day to take care of all your tasks. Don’t have time to manage crews on shoots? We serve as a single point of contact for all the crews in each location on a given shoot.
• Your project needs lots of corporate interviews, but you’re worried about finding a crew that will be able to deal with your clients and executives. Is having an extremely professional crew necessary to you? Our client list and body of work will reassure you; in fact, shooting corporate interviews is one of our specialties.
• You also want to make sure the final product is exactly the way you want it but since science has not it made it possible to clone yourself yet, it’s not one of your top priorities. Don’t have time to go all in during the editing process? We make it easy for you to be able to go over edits and leave your comments in the way you see fit.
• And (mis)communication. Every project has them, and something of this scope can magnify these issues. Worried about miscommunication? Not anymore – our local crews know the local language and culture.
• Worried about something breaking? That’s a huge problem when you fly a crew in, but not so much if you use a local crew with significant experience in solving problems like this fast using local resources.

What makes our services different is the fact we specialize in very specific things. As you can tell throughout our schpeel, we highlight our expertise in multi-location video shoots. All our crews are local, so they have the know-how to help you get the permits you need and the local knowledge to prevent any possible headaches in the process. Not only do you have the benefit of local crews with a consistent artistic quality, but we also specialize in three different types of video content within our global video operations:

• Interviews and Testimonials: If you were concerned about whether our crews could properly deal with executives and other high-profile professionals in video projects, there’s nothing to worry about with Stark Crew. We shoot corporate interviews and testimonials all the time. There’s a reason why companies like Facebook call us.
•  B-roll: B-roll is the stock footage (or resource images) that is put in a video alternating with the main shots. That means when they feature the landscape of an office park or when a wind turbine is being unloaded off a cargo ship, we can make the most epic b-roll you need to create a more 360 video project.
•  Micro-documentaries: These are short-format documentaries that are usually between 1 and 10 minutes in length. These videos have a strong narrative that takes the best of storytelling for the concept that’s at the heart of the micro-documentary.

With our star products, we offer high-quality customer service through our central points of contact in our offices in Madrid, who successfully manage stakeholders all over the world and in as many as 15 different time zones.
You give us your idea, we go over your needs and make sure anything that needs to be clarified gets specified in feedback sessions. Then, once all our feedback sessions are done, we go ahead and send you a quote. You then give us the green light on your project, and we’re off to making your next video!
While we already give you the flexibility to send us your feedback in the editing process either via email or right where you want the changes to be made using the LookAt online tool, we’re also about to launch our very own online platform. StarkFlow is our platform that lets you hire, manage, and prepare all your video productions. You’ll be able to reserve your crew based on the needs of your project, get your quote, and more. You’ll have complete visibility in all steps, from pre-production, production, and post-production. It’s so simple all you need is a WiFi connection. If you’re dying to be one of the first to use StarkFlow, be sure to sign up for our mailing list!
At the end of the day, people come to us because what they want is the same: multi-location video shoots specializing in one of our three primary production styles with a customer service that is as personal as you are. And we have our platform coming out too. Ready for your challenges to become ours too? Let’s get you started on your video journey with Stark Crew.