Frequently Asked Questions

Professional video production is an investment in the future success of your company, but the actual costs depend on many factors. These include but are not limited to the concept, scripting considerations, size of crew, filming time, locations, talent, props, editing and post production. After learning about your goals and objectives, audience demographics, formats, deadlines, and deliverables, Barking Shark can recommend a customized approach and provide a clear estimate for your project.

Corporate videos can often take several weeks from initial planning to final delivery. A straightforward, interview-based project may move faster, while productions involving multiple locations, actors, animation, or extensive approvals typically need more time.

Length depends, in part, on where the video will appear and what it needs to accomplish. Social media videos may be only 15-60 seconds, while website, sales, and educational videos often need one to three minutes to convey the necessary information. Occasionally, they may even be considerably longer, when the subject warrants. Similarly, sometimes a single video will suffice, while other times may require a series of related videos.

A corporate video is a broad term, and usually describes a video that communicates specific information about a company, a service, a process, or an initiative. A brand video focuses more on identity or personality, showing what the company believes, what makes it distinctive, and how it wants people to feel. 

Both can have a place in your marketing; the important thing to understand is when and how to use which. Casual, self-produced content works well for frequent updates and behind-the-scenes moments. Polished, professional production is most valuable when the video must make a strong first impression, communicate an important message, or represent the brand for a long time. TV commercials should almost certainly be produced professionally, while weekly video blogs posted on social media may actually benefit from a more amateur look.

The process usually includes many steps, including but not limited to discovery, creative development, pre-production, filming, editing, review, and posting online. Barking Shark guides you through each stage, explains what is needed, clearly defines responsibilities and expectations, and keeps the production focused on meeting your goals within the agreed upon deadlines.

Barking Shark will help set the tone by creating a relaxed environment on the day of shooting. Prior to shoot day, they can guide your communication with participating employees to help create realistic expectations and eliminate stress. 

Employees should be helped to understand the general purpose of the videos as well as the general topics that will be discussed, but specific interview questions are almost never provided in advance. This helps avoid awkward situations where people memorize a canned answer, and thus come across as stiff and unnatural. Candid conversations are always better, and Barking Shark is very good at getting non-actors to open up on camera and have genuine conversations. 

Additionally, wearing comfortable clothing, allowing extra time, and promoting a relaxed environment almost always produce the most natural performances. Barking Shark's goal is the same as yours: to capture an honest, extemporaneous, and comfortable conversation on camera.

Commercial production costs vary widely depending on the concept, cast, crew, locations, equipment, visual effects, and number of finished versions. Additionally, technical requirements for broadcast video are much stricter and more important than videos that will simply be used for social media or even web sites. 

Airtime, frequency, and media placement are separate from the cost of producing the commercial itself, and are not typically handled by Barking Shark. Those details may be handled internally, by a media placement agency, or perhaps by your representative from a TV station or cable provider.

Of course. With advance planning, one production can generate a variety of videos and/or variations for use on multiple outlets. Possible content might include a primary video along with shorter edits, vertical clips, testimonials, behind-the-scenes material, and other social content. As always, proper planning for these deliverables, before filming, helps make the best use of the shoot. 

Conversely, some productions may require multiple days and multiple locations, just to create one finished video. Barking Shark will help you manage expectations as you discuss your needs and expectations.

There is no universal schedule, but the short answer is very regularly. Some businesses benefit immediately from frequently updated social content, while others need a smaller number of polished videos tied to broader campaigns, product launches, recruiting, or sales. A practical content plan balances consistency with quality and budget.

But the reality is that successful business are increasingly turning to video content to do most of the heavy lifting in their marketing, with the vast majority producing, at the very least, one new video per month. However, more aggressive brands are posting new content several times a week or even daily. 

What that video content looks like, what message it promotes, how it ties in with your overall branding, where it is posted, and how frequently, can all be address by Barking Shark as you meet together to play your approach.

The short answer is, pretty much anything you need to promote or grow your business. Video projects may include brand films, corporate videos, TV commercials, customer testimonials, recruiting videos, employee onboarding, real estate videos, product demonstrations, event content, training materials and tutorials, frequently asked questions, digital ads, viral videos, short-form content, employee bios, web site videos, and social media campaigns. The right format depends on the audience and the action you want viewers to take.

Also, we don't do weddings.

Absolutely. Barking Shark specializes in turn-key solutions for your branding needs. After we meet together and determine your goals, objectives, and challenges, we'll develop concepts and ideas, which will then be drafted into scripts, and ultimately turned into polished, professional videos for your company. Every step between concept and completion will be handled by Barking Shark so that you can focus on running your business and putting your time and energy where it's most valuable.

No. In fact, most of our clients simply know that they need help, but don't really have any idea where to begin. That's why we always sit down together and talk through where you are and where you'd like to be, and then we develop a plan to get there. 

The creative process can seem daunting to many, but it's not dissimilar to the discomfort many of us feel when the transmission goes out on our car, or anxiety that comes with having to go to the dentist because of severe pain when we chew. The auto mechanic works on transitions every day, and although your make and model might be different than the car up on the lift in bay number three, the process is familiar and comfortable to the guy with the big toolbox on wheels and grease under his fingernails. Similarly, it may be your first root canal, but the dentist has performed hundreds of them successfully. 

Helping your company develop effective, branded videos is what we do all day, every day. We don't expect you to know how to do it yourself anymore than we'd expect you to replace your own transmission or give yourself a root canal. And by the way, a root canal is a terrible example because making videos can be really fun and satisfying, and doesn't have to be painful at all!

Often, the answer is yes. Filming at your location can make a video feel authentic and specific to your organization. However, we first need to assess the space and work through potential logistical challenges, including lighting, sound, access, safety, and normal business operations. It also needs to be appropriate for the overall scope of the video itself.

If your business space is inadequate for shooting, for whatever reason, we can explore other options. These might include rented locations, studios, public spaces, or even carefully selected areas within your facility that might have been overlooked. Lighting, camera angles, and production design can also transform a space more than most people expect.

At Barking Shark, we understand that most people are not professional actors or presenters, nor do they need to be. However, with a little coaching and preparation, conversational interviewing coupled with patient direction always helps participants look their best, sound natural, and feel confident.

That depends. Employees can often bring authenticity and firsthand knowledge, while professional actors are useful when a role requires precise delivery, repeated performances, or a particular character. Barking Shark can help determine which approach best suits the project, the deadline, and the budget.

That depends on the project, but good preparation keeps the demand manageable. Barking Shark will identify who needs to participate, what decisions are required, and when approvals are needed, so your team can plan accordingly. But remember, our goal is always to take as much of the responsibility off your plate so that you can focus on the things that matter most and require your attention.

Yes, of course. A project might include widescreen, square, and vertical formats, as well as different lengths, captions, and calls-to-action. Different versions might include different offers or link to different landing pages on your web site. All of these versions should be planned well before production begins to ensure that we maximize time and opportunity, and so we are able to capture all the footage needed in all the formats and orientations required.

Captions can be included and are sometimes even recommended for accessibility, clarity, and for viewers watching without sound. Depending on the project, we can also discuss transcripts, translations and alternate-language versions.

Sometimes, yes. Existing footage, photography, graphics, and archival material may be incorporated when appropriate, and when the files meet the project’s technical requirements, and you have legal clearance to use them.

Of course. Motion graphics can introduce branding, explain complex information, display data, and add visual energy. The amount and style of animation should be tailored to the message and budget, and appropriate to the story being told.

Usage and ownership terms are defined in the project agreement, but typically you own the finished product. The agreement will also identify any licensed elements (such as music, stock footage or talent performances) that carry their own usage conditions.

It is important to note, however, that Barking Shark retains the original footage and only provides finished, edited videos. Barking Shark also retains the right, unless expressly stated in the agreement, to utilize finished videos for promotional purposes, such as sharing on their web site, etc.

Barking Shark Creative is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the heart of the Piedmont Triad. Greensboro is in the middle of the state, about halfway between Charlotte and Raleigh.

Barking Shark operates out of Greensboro, North Carolina, and we have many clients within a two hour radius of our home town. However, we routinely handle projects up and down the east coast and across the country. We also have current passports and happily travel abroad when our clients need us and our cameras to be somewhere far away. Modern technology also makes collaborating over great distances much simpler than in times past.

Barking Shark Creative is a B2B (business to business) marketing and video production company that works with fortune 500 companies, mom and pop startups, non-profits, and businesses large and small in nearly any industry you can imagine.

Barking Shark creates branded videos to help your company make more money. That is our area of specialty, and more broadly, we help companies with all aspects of their branding and marketing. We help startup companies build a brand from the ground up, and we also guide companies that are ready to rebrand and expand. Barking Shark can work on a project basis if your team needs content created for a specific event or launch or campaign, but we also routinely became the marketing department for some clients who simply don't have the resources or desire to handle those things in-house.

No. Barking Shark can provide support and creative services for nearly every imaginable area of marketing, branding, and advertising for your company. We help brainstorm products and services, develop names for companies and divisions and product offerings, we design logos, we develop collateral marketing materials for print and outdoor advertising, vehicle wraps, TV and radio campaigns, corporate photography, trade shows, signage, and just about anything else that needs some creative brainpower. But we don't do weddings.

Absolutely we can. Not only will Barking Shark create videos and other content for posting on your social media channels, we can even manage the scheduling and posting of your social media campaigns and coordinate them with your other brand initiatives.

Contact Barking Shark with a brief description of your organization, audience, goals, timing, and any desired deliverables. We will meet to discuss the project, identify the best next steps, and prepare a thoughtful, recommended approach to building your brand with powerful, effective videos.