October 2, 2014 \ Geoff Birmingham
When does it make sense to redesign your website?

Earlier this year, Rachel interviewed Julia Frenkle and Lily Robles from Opus Design on a variety of subjects. Julia talks here about when it makes sense for an organization to redesign their website. This subject is a propos because we here at Reflection Films are in the midst of doing our own redesign. Allisyn Deyo is helping us, and, if all goes well, we'll launch it this fall.

More...

September 19, 2014 \ Geoff Birmingham
International Peace Day – Young Sam says: “Don’t Fight”

Okay, so this isn't really business-related, but International Peace Day is coming up on this Sunday, the 21st, and this short video seemed very a propos. Back in 2010, our little guy, Sam, was in pre-school. Apparently, a few of his classmates were not getting along so well, and he decided to try his hand at a bit of conflict resolution. He explains here a solution he thought might work.

More...

September 9, 2014 \ Geoff Birmingham
When should you use a green screen with your video?

Green screens can be a very helpful tool in video production...when used appropriately. Pretending a person is in a location where they are not is probably going to look fake. But in other situations, using a green screen makes sense.

More...

June 20, 2014 \ Rachel Jellinek
The Art of Perception

The other day my son brought home an activity sheet from a restaurant that had a game where you had to look at six turtles and identify which one is different from the others. This exercise reminded me of a wonderful presentation I attended by Amy Herman, whose work is to help people hone their perception skills using works of art. As a kid I loved looking at optical illusions and prided myself on being...

More...

May 1, 2014 \ Geoff Birmingham
Scripting for Video

We get asked regularly if we do scriptwriting for video. We can, and we do, but scripting for a video is not always appropriate, depending on what you're trying to accomplish. Rachel discusses in a little more detail. Scripts for Video (with logo) wistiaEmbed = Wistia.embed("j4bpf90xa3");

More...

April 22, 2014 \ Rachel Jellinek
Harmonic Brands

April 22, 2014 Geoff and I recently traveled to Washington, DC on a film shoot for the Union of Concerned Scientists. On the plane down I was reading Tracy Carlson’s What Great Brands Know: Unleash Your Right-Brain Genius to Stand Out and Make Customers Care. One of the themes that Carlson talks about is the harmony that certain brands demonstrate. If a brand has harmony, she says, there is the “presence...

More...

April 3, 2014 \ Rachel Jellinek
How to Fail in Style

 April 3, 2014 At a recent event on personal branding, a member of the audience asked, “How do you fail in style?”  What a fantastic question!  The speaker’s approach to answering was to give examples of moments of personal failure and then sum things up, tongue-in-cheek, saying, “But look how I turned out?!”   The Clark School, I recently discovered, has a wonderful answer to that...

More...

January 29, 2014 \ Rachel Jellinek
Multi-Generational Teams in the Workplace

January 29, 2014 I recently attended two presentations on the differences among various generations and the implications of having multi-generational teams in the workplace.  The first event sponsored by Welsh Consulting featured Kari Heistad, Founder and CEO of Culture Coach International.  The second speaker, invited by The Friday Forum was Frances Kunreuther, Director of the Building Movement...

More...

January 21, 2014 \ Geoff Birmingham
Create Buzz for your Event with a Teaser Video

 January 21, 2014 If you are already planning to produce a video for your next event, it makes sense to shoot a little extra footage that can be used to create a teaser video in advance of your event to create a little extra buzz. Rachel explains.

More...

December 17, 2013 \ Rachel Jellinek
5 Tips for Event-Based Fundraising

December 17, 2013 I recently attended an event hosted by Women in Development of Greater Boston entitled, “Event-Based Fundraising: What's Hot and What’s Not?”  Here are a few takeaways that I wanted to share: Despite their best efforts, many nonprofits leave “money on the table” at events by: Putting too much energy into acquiring too many auction items that people don’t want.  Channeling...

More...