Becky Holzman Garzone, Author at Crews Control

Do Your Crews Need to Sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement?

June 19, 2015 by Becky Holzman Garzone Leave a Comment

During the hustle of production paperwork can easily fall through the cracks. This includes release forms, filming location agreements for smaller one-off shots, and most importantly, non-disclosure agreements.

Not having cast or background talent sign a non-disclosure agreement can create various problems for your production down the road, and can be a considerably damaging issue if crew members do not sign them.

With the exception of dailies, a crew will be on your shoot every day of production and can be privy to more details than talent. Here are a few specific reasons why you shouldn’t forget to have crew sign NDAs.

Spoilers
Crew members are privy to details about the production more consistently than cast. When on a fiction project this can be a liability when protecting plot points of your story – especially in higher tiers of studio filmmaking and franchises. It can drastically affect independent filmmakers as well.

Keeping your story from being spoiled should be a priority of any producer, director or investor, and signing NDAs should be a priority at the top of your first shoot day.

Confidentiality
In the business world, revealing secrets of the trade is something that could damage you for years to come. If your competitors find out any confidential information it is likely that they will take advantage of it. Consider NDAs as a precautionary way of curbing your competition and protecting your future sales.

This can come down to new product lines being imitated by competition, price points being lowered in order to garner more profits away from your company, and overall a loss in revenue on your company’s behalf. While shooting your video crew members may be working closely with products, marketing assets and other variables directly associated with your company. You never know who will whip out a cell phone and take a photo. An NDA provides the security of reminding crew members not to expose any content they encounter on set and protects you legally if secrets are leaked and you need to seek compensation.

Control
NDAs are all about maintaining control: control of your brand image, trade secrets, production launches, and the ability to decide when to roll out new information to the public. While this seems much larger than a simple one page contract, having a crew member leak all of this important information can vastly effect the way your business is managed.

For more on why Non-disclosure Agreements are so critical to the production of your video and overall state of your business, view this video below:

From Valerie Nolan, VP of Production:

When working with Crews Control approved DPs, you can be assured that all of your information will be held as strictly confidential. On each and every shoot we book, our crews are sent an agreement to sign which contains the following confidentiality clause:

“The parties expressly acknowledge that in the course of their performance hereunder, they may learn or have access to certain confidential, patent, copyright, business, trade secret, proprietary or other like information or products of the other party or of third parties, including but not limited to the other party’s vendors, consultants, suppliers or customers (the “Information”). Anything in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, the parties expressly agree that they will keep strictly confidential any such Information that they learn.”

Find out more about the benefits of booking a Crews Control crew by calling 1.800.545.CREW or click here to get a free quote.

How Directors Can Help Inexperienced Talent Move Naturally on Film

April 21, 2015 by Becky Holzman Garzone Leave a Comment

Learning how to work with talent is a skill that takes years to hone. In the corporate world, casting talent can range from setting up auditions to hiring actual employees to play roles.

Employees can give the video a realistic charm, but when they aren’t trained actors they may have problems moving naturally on camera. Even an inexperienced actor who nailed the audition could have a rough time on set.

So how do you break them out of unnatural movements?

1) Start with the Basics

Regardless of whether your talent is having a difficult time acting out a scene or giving an interview, one fantastic technique to try is to distract them from the fact that they are on camera. It takes a lot of patience to grab your talent’s attention and keep them focused.

Calmly distract them with a basic task if they are acting in a scene or via conversation if you have them giving an interview. The more comfortable and calm your talent, the better the performance.

2) Association Games

Association games are a common exercise in many acting classes. The director or scene partner gives the actor a basic statement that the actor immediately makes an association with, ultimately giving off a specific reaction.

Take your actor aside before you shoot and try it. For example, if you want to inspire energy or happiness in your actor, tell them to visualize their favorite dessert. If the end goal is frustration, tell them to visualize being late for an important meeting. You’ll see the emotions starting to build up inside of them, providing physical reactions reflected on camera.

3) Playable Actions

Try giving them specific and direct objectives to focus on. With actors, you never want to give them an ‘end goal reaction’; in other words, don’t tell someone to “be upset” or “be happy” – give them a playable direction. Think of verbs, such as “you want to comfort them,” or “ignore them,” etc. If the action is coming from an organic place, they’re more likely to move and act naturally in front of the camera.

4) Hire Professionals

If you aren’t going to be on-site for your shoot and the success of your project counts on easing inexperienced talent into natural movements, you can always hire the right crew to manage the job for you. They will provide a proven Field Producer to give useful redirection and can coax the most impressive performances from employees who have never been on the other side of the camera before.

How do you know you’ve chosen the right experts to rely on? Give Crews Control a call. With years of experience under our belt, we can ensure all of your ‘crewing’ needs will be taken care of, no matter what location you have to film in. Your videos will be sharp, realistic and compelling to your target audience. Call us at 1 800 545 CREW for more information, or request a free quote. Don’t forget to connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.

How To Identify Communication Needs Within Your Organization

February 26, 2015 by Becky Holzman Garzone Leave a Comment

How do organizational communication professionals identify communication needs within their organizations, especially when it pertains to filming video in different locales? Perhaps, the right question should be, do internal communications departments get the resources needed to communicate effectively and if not, why? And one step further, in this pivotal post-recession period how can internal communications departments reimagine and innovate their role within the organization.

Internal Communications Challenges

Bruce K. Berger, Ph.D., Professor at the College of Communications at University of Alabama in his article READ MY LIPS: Leaders, Supervisors, and Culture Are the Foundations of Strategic Employee Communications states “Globalization and the arrival of the digital age, for example, have added critical new dimensions—think volume, velocity, and variety of information—to communication in and out of the workplace. In addition, organizational demographics have changed, organizations are flatter, teams are the primary work structure, and communication is fast, multidirectional, and continuous.”

According to the Deloitte Human Capital Trends 2014 report our post-recession workforce looks more diverse than we have ever seen it. The disparity of age ranges from younger workers (Millennials) to Baby Boomers who are working longer. More flexible schedules are required from working mothers to a workforce who is also caring for elderly parents. The growing gaps in workforce ages, different ideologies, and ever growing demands on the family are breaking up old HR and communications models. The report says by 2025 Millennials will make up 75% of the workforce. This is both good and daunting news for internal communications because it means the shift from highly crafted top down communications to multi-directional, transparent, easily digestible, mobile/ wearable information.

Prerecession Communications: Under-resourced, Undervalued, No Seat at the Table

Under-resourced: A recent study shows that for every one internal communications professional there are 500 to 1000 employees. To put this in perspective, a survey reported by HR Daily Advisor that was conducted in August of 2013 states that 42% of HR departments have a ratio of 1 to 101 or 1 to 200 employees.
Undervalued: In Engaging Employees: Why Do You Think We Don’t? David Therkelsen, School of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of Minnesota, hypothesizes organizational, individual, and systematic reasons why corporations don’t communicate well with their workforce.
No Seat at the Table: Therkelsen said “Employee communication is not recognized in MBA and other management training programs.” This could be a reason why IC Managers aren’t invited to join conversations at the executive level like their HR Directors counterparts.

Pivotal Time

Jeff Schwartz, Principal Deloitte Consulting, says in the Deloitte Human Capital Trends 2014 report video that this is a transitional time from a “…recession mindset to a growth mindset. There is also a shift from the twentieth century employee to the twenty-first century employee.” Bill Pelster, Principal Deloitte Consulting takes it a step further to say “…this is not about incremental change anymore, this is about takes big steps that are bold and innovative.”

The 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer shows that 80% of people globally distrust business. The Barometer also states that CEO’s are only trusted by 4 out of 10 people. These statistics may sound negative but for internal communications this is an unparalleled time for potential growth. Time and time again we see studies that demonstrate that communications equals trust, if we don’t have trust we aren’t productive workers, and money talks.

Effective Internal Communications are the Solution

Berger said “Effective employee communications are the result of many interrelated factors—research, executive support, employees’ communication needs, communicator capabilities, communication climate, channel availability and use, measurement, organizational culture and history, messaging and listening, and employee empowerment, among others. However, research over the years has consistently highlighted the crucial importance of three factors or foundations in effective communications—leaders, front-line supervisors, and organizational culture.”

HR Daily Advisor states HR Directors reported that recruiting and employee motivation and retention are two of the top three HR challenges in 2013. Professor Berger cites Izzo, J. B., & Withers, P. Values Shift: The New Work Ethic and What It Means for Business “Organizations with engaged and committed employees were 50% more productive than those organizations where employees weren’t engaged, and employee retention rates were 44% higher in organizations with engaged employees.” It is easy to draw the line between HR challenges and IC solutions here.

What drives internal communications, strategically filling needs or answering requests?

Reineke Reitsma cited in the article ESOMAR Shopper Insights Conference: Innovative Methodologies Can Improve Internal Communication, a presentation given by Stephanie Grootenhuis, Shopper Insights Kraft International, at the ESOMAR Shopper Insights Conference 2011 in Brussels. Grootenhuis opened by saying “All the presentations until now have talked about understanding shoppers better and the difficulties you encounter when doing (global) research. But to be honest, that’s not my biggest challenge. What my team struggles with is HOW to share our knowledge and communicate our findings effectively into the organization.”

What international communication professional hasn’t felt the same way? Reitsma summarized Grootenhuis’ presentation, Kraft “…together with their partner 4Dshopper, use virtual shopper simulations not only for gaining better understanding on shopper behaviors, category management, placement, and packaging, but also as a way to get mindshare in their organization. In these videos, one minute max in length, a speaker takes the viewer on a guided in-store tour to highlight the best areas for intervention. The videos show the situation, possible improvements, and the expected effect on sales (in Kraft language: Insight, Actions, and Sales Uplift). These videos can be viewed using a phone, PC, or iPad, which makes it easy for sales and category managers to bring them to the store to support their case.”

What types of internal communications videos is your department responsible to produce? Do you see an increase in organizational communications efforts within your company?

1) Employee Engagement
2) Change Management
3) Sales
4) Employee Benefits
5) Safety
6) Philanthropy
7) Training
8) Compliance
9) “C” Level Communication
10) Quarterly Meetings

Communications Audit

Do you need to jumpstart your internal communications efforts? A good place to start is with a communications audit and social media audit. Berger has outlined 48 checkpoints in his article as well. We would love to hear your take on #internalcomms trends. Share your thoughts on our blog, Facebook page, Twitter feed, ort LinkedIn page.