Creating a Brand Anthem with Holy Rosary Credit Union

This summer Windwood was selected to help our friends at HRCU (Holy Rosary Credit Union) create a brand anthem and series of videos to coincide with a brand relaunch. We worked with the HRCU team to help script, cast, and select locations - as well as complete an overall brand anthem as well as develop additional photo and video assets which can be deployed as a part of the brand relaunch campaign.

Team Windwood setting up a shot in an HRCU Branch

“Brett and the team were incredibly collaborative, taking the time to understand our vision and turning it into a beautiful final product. Their creativity and professionalism made the process seamless. ”

— Sydney Albee | Director of Marketing

With this project we were not only able to create support videos to prop up a main anchor Brand Anthem video, we were also able to deliver over a dozen brand photos and create a supporting graphic video that helped launch their new brand identity.

Windwood is a New Hampshire video production company, we couldn’t be prouder to support local businesses like HRCU which help our community stand out.

Producing a Brand Spot with New Hampshire's Minus33 Above the Clouds

We recently partnered with Ashland, New Hampshire’s Minus33 clothing to create a series of 3 brand videos and photo assets all featuring different activities which has brought us to a number of incredible local New Hampshire Destinations.

We love partnering with New Hampshire businesses because we get an opportunity to show off our own beautiful state. For Minus33 we are able to deliver high quality photo and video content in a variety of formats to fuel their online/web funnel and social media channels and ads channels.

With on-set times well before sunrise the whole of TEAM WINDWOOD has been putting in awesome shoot days and we couldn’t be happier with the results.

Windwood's Ian Scura Wins 2024 NH Film Festival "New Hampshire Filmmaker of the Year" Award

We are so proud to announce that our Assistant Creative Director Ian Scura took home one of New Hampshire’s biggest filmmaking awards during the 2024 New Hampshire Film Festival; “New Hampshire Filmmaker of the Year” For his work directing our feature documentary “A Handmade Life” and his work on a personal documentary project that was also entered into the festival titled “Liquid, Fragile, Perishable.”

This win is a huge celebration for the whole Windwood team, as we’ve seen Ian pour so much effort into these projects over the past few years.

Team Windwood taking a photo after their World Premiere of “A Handmade Life” at the 2024 New Hampshire Film Festival

In an excerpt from a CONCORD MONITOR article, Ian explains: “What’s so fun to me about that process, and what’s so special to me about being able to highlight both of the films I worked on with the groups of people I worked with, is that it’s a collaborative medium. This isn’t just my story. None of these are my stories. They’re collectively the stories of the people they’re about. And they’re also collectively, partially, the stories of the people that are trying to tell them.”

From his interview with In Depth NH; “NH Filmmaker of the Year award recipient Ian Scura grew up in Concord, New Hampshire and works at Windwood Productions based in Concord. Says Scura, “Winning NH Filmmaker of the year is so special because while it might seem like an award for an individual, I think it truly celebrates all of the amazing people and filmmakers I work with regularly. The two films I presented this year were both very different in style. I view this award as an honor I share with all of the incredible teams with whom I worked including my brother Ryan, my dear friend Dylan, and the Windwood team.”

A photo of our premiere showing of “A Handmade Life” at the New Hampshire Film Festival.

We could not have been happier with our premiere experience at the New Hampshire Film Festival for “A Handmade Life”, with two screenings on Thursday and Friday we’re close to announcing the release date and distribution strategy for the film, none of this would be possible without Ian’s direction. We’re so excited to see what Ian continues to do to impact the creative landscape in New Hampshire.

Heritage Home Service "The things we leave at home" Video Production Commercial Project

When we discussed how to best position Heritage Home Service to a TV Audience in New Hampshire, one of the things that they suggested was that it’s not just when you’re at home; it’s making sure your home is protected when you’re away.

We have worked with Heritage Home Services over the past few years, notably on a website backdrop video and a fleet video. They approached us in 2024 for something a bit different, a bit bigger. Two commercial projects shot back to back with “the works” Actors, scripting, locations, etc. to be shown on regional Television. We were more than happy to dive in and help them tell these in depth stories.

Our first commercial project, shot right in our home state of New Hampshire was called “The things we leave at home” and it focuses on a family about to leave for the big game, and their dog (Our four legged friend Bergeron) Who was left behind.

We were also able to call on our sister company Eastman Screen Printing to be able to fabricate a logo, and jersey for a made up sports team (That features Heritage’s logo, of course).

Knowing that a lot of families have pets at home, this video brings in a bit of sentimentality, and a great resolution as the family’s Generac home generator kicks in to make sure Bergeron’s time at home was spent in comfort. Check out the finished Project below!

Driving the Message Home with Banks Autos

Two Concord, New Hampshire businesses found each other to be the perfect fit. Banks autos, a 60 year old car dealership and granite state standout business - and Windwood Productions; Concord New Hampshire’s home town Video Production company.

Jonathan Moultroup, Bank’s Auto's Director of Marketing found Windwood through a video series Windwood produced that featured presidential hopefuls in 2020 (MSNBC profile on our series) and was surprised to find a full service video production company right here in Banks’ home town of Concord.

“What drew me to [Windwood] was the creative and artistic ability - the storytelling” - Jonathan Moultroup.

Initially contracted to create a video on their collision center, Moultroup and Brett Marshall, Windwood’s Owner/Creative Director realized there was so much more potential in showing the human side of Banks Auto’s employees. Since 2020, Windwood has helped create dozens of pieces of effective content, showcasing the people behind the scenes at Banks, and creating service overviews for a majority of the components of Banks’ business structure.

With a partnership lasting over five years, we have plenty more projects earmarked on the horizon, but for now you can view all of Windwood and Banks’ partnership videos on their website and social media channels.

Windwood Feature Documentary Selected for 2024 New Hampshire Film Festival

We’re excited to announce that Windwood’s feature length documentary, A Handmade Life, has been accepted as an official entry to the New Hampshire Film Festival.

We started filming this project back in the Fall of 2021 and could not be prouder to celebrate its premiere at the NHFF.

This documentary celebrates ten different artists in the greater New Hampshire area who all work in different mediums, and serves as a look into the passion and integrity that local artists bring to support themselves through their craft.

It feels only right to premiere this film at a festival that celebrates the state of New Hampshire and the people that make this state what it is.

View our official NHFF Page HERE

We can’t thank everyone enough who was a part of this process and helped bring this film together, along with the selection committee at the New Hampshire Film Festival that were kind enough to invite our film. Also this project would not be possible without support from our friends at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen who helped initiate and guide this journey.

We will share more details about the screening date as information is released, but we can’t wait to finally share this story with you all!

⁃ Team Windwood

Social Media for Your Brand: Some Do’s and Don’ts

Social media has changed the way we interact with each other as well as the way we market. People are being exposed to more products than ever before thanks to posts their friends liked appearing on their pages, targeted ads, and a variety of other means. When done correctly, someone casually scrolling through Facebook in the morning could become a loyal customer of your company. You just have to catch their eye first!

But how do you construct a post that will draw in new clients? You likely already know that a good picture is important, and that it isn’t hard to accomplish that with your smartphone camera. Once you’ve gotten this, however, you want to connect with them deeper. Your goal is to make them want to come back to your page, interact with you, and go one step further with a visit to your website or store.

To help you out, we’ve compiled a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” for posting to your brand’s page. While the list is brief, following these recommendations will result in a much better social media experience for both you and your followers!

DO

Do keep it accessible! Use language and build sentences that make the caption easy to read. Write like you’re having a conversation with your reader, and consider how you’d talk during a casual chat. When it comes to word choice, nobody will want to take the time to look up a word they don’t know in your caption. Even if you think it’s a word everyone knows, if you have to second guess it all, just find another one to use. 

Do know your brand voice! This is the tone you’ll use when writing your captions and interacting with your followers online. Do you want to come across as highly professional? Would you prefer to be more casual? Do you want to incorporate some humor into your writing? Knowing the voice you want to create content with will help you to feel more confident when you’re working on your social media page. If you’re having trouble figuring out your voice, think about how you talk with your clients when having a face to face conversation- the way you talk online should be the same as the way you talk in-person. 

Do interact with your followers! Always respond to direct messages and like peoples’ comments, and don’t keep them waiting too long for those replies! This will let them know you see them, appreciate them, and take them seriously. In addition, reply to their comments as frequently as you can; this especially goes for commenters who have questions, or those users you see repeatedly interacting with your page. Show them the same hospitality you would show any client. Make them feel welcome to your page and your brand!

DON’T

Don’t post without carefully checking spelling and grammar. Spelling mistakes can easily slip by, especially if you are trying to come up with a post in a rush. Take your time writing captions, comments, and replies to make sure that you are reflecting the brand voice you chose. Triple check before you post, or send your caption to someone else and have them look over it. It may help to dedicate a few hours out of your day solely to drafting posts and answering messages so that your attention is strictly given to your page and you can make sure you’re posting the highest quality content you can!

Don’t ignore the peak traffic times for different websites. There are best and worst times to post for every platform, and a little research into this goes a long way. If you consistently post at times when not many people are online, you won’t see a lot of interaction on your page. Take some time to look up the best times to post on Instagram, Facebook, or whatever your platform is, and follow those suggested times- you’ll be surprised to see the difference it will make for the amount of interaction you get!

Don’t forgo hashtags. Hashtags are the most important avenue for getting new visitors to your page. They index your post in the social media platform’s algorithm, while a post without hashtags doesn’t get indexed at all. If you don’t know where to start with hashtags, try checking out pages similar to yours for inspiration, then start a list of ideas and write down everything you can think of. Get both as broad and as narrow in your hashtags as possible, while staying within the hashtag limits for the respective sites. This will put your post in more categories, which will then show up on more peoples’ pages if they’re following the hashtag!

We hope that this list helps you sharpen your social media skills and gives you tools you can use to post in the future. There’s always research to do in the ever-changing world of social media, but keeping up with trends and your followers will mean you’re running a lively profile for your brand! Our team is always willing to lend a hand if you need it. If you have questions about or need feedback for your social media page, reach out to us here!

What is B-Roll, and How Do You Get It?

If you’ve ever spent any time around a filmmaker, or even if you know anything about filmmaking, you have likely heard the term B-Roll before. Though the phrasing of the word as we know it wasn’t coined until a few decades ago, the concept has been around since the beginning of film. From this basic information, you probably know it’s something pretty important in the industry; but what exactly is it? 

B-Roll is supplemental footage, considered secondary to the primary footage (or A-Roll) of the video. It’s meant to provide context, add imagery, establish location, in addition to playing other roles. B-Roll is collected separately from the A-Roll- which focuses on characters and plot- and becomes cutaway shots from what is happening in the A-Roll. So if a subject is talking about how she spent her childhood summers at a specific lake, perhaps the film would cut to a video taken of that lake while her voiceover continues. In addition to filling a scene, it can help with transitions between scenes.

So how do you get it? B-Roll can be shot by the film crew, or a secondary crew if they have one. At Windwood, our team prefers to collect it all ourselves. It’s essentially any of the extra stuff we get in addition to the footage that doesn’t directly follow the plot or characters of the project. So as long as you aren’t being super strict about what you’re filming, or dedicating allotted time to getting specifically B-Roll, you’ll be getting it no problem.

While B-Roll can be shot by the film crew, or their secondary crew, it can also be pulled from archival videos that are available for public use. You may see this frequently in documentaries, black and white videos from decades’ past used to help the viewer become situated in the time period. Obviously, the film crew behind this theoretical documentary wasn’t able to shoot this video themselves, so they got this B-Roll by going through license-free footage and cutting that into their film. This adds to the imagery of the subject, as well as immerses and engages the viewer. After all, you don’t want to have just a bunch of interviews back to back; too many talking heads gets boring!

B-Roll is a creative and interesting way to engage an audience further in your video. Getting some visual examples of the different uses of B-Roll can be done easily by paying close attention to any video, movie, or television show you are watching and observing the different uses of B-Roll.

Our Latest Project - Behind the Scenes of a Television Commercial

After almost a month dedicated to planning, scheduling, hiring actors, sourcing props and locations - we finally jumped into production for our television commercial for Concord Coach Lines, Dartmouth Coach, and Boston Express, starting Monday the 7th.

Day 1 - everyone’s feeling good!

Three days may not seem like a long time, but in reality everything is planned out hour by hour, and with shoot days lasting up to 15 hours, we need to make sure we can maximize the most out of our shoot days. 

The Ask - With Tourism beginning to take strides towards returning as vaccination rates increase and infection rates decreasing Concord Coach Lines approached us with the idea of creating a series of vignettes which highlighted what travel meant for their travelers. We came up with the concept of 3 different traveler archetypes, the family re-connecting, the adventure traveler, and the business traveler finally getting back into the routine. 

The Shoot - 

Day 0.5 - Sunday night our Director of Photography Erik, Director Brett, and Operations Director Steve all took a drive down to our first location to load in equipment and discuss the plan for the next day. 

Day 1 - Crew call was 7 a.m. to start setup for our first day, in our first location in North Andover, Massachusetts. Our group was small day 1, with just a few actors in addition to the crew. 

Of course, in-between downtime doesn’t come too often when you’re in the midst of production we spent time eating, taking pictures for our social media pages, and coloring (would you believe us if we said it was for work?). Those of you who are familiar with the process will know the patience and time it takes to reach that finish line, and even then, this was only the finish line for the first day. We left North Andover after wrapping up at 9pm, so that we could get ready for the following day in Londonderry and Boston.

Erik behind the lens

Day 2 - The next morning started early for some, splitting into two teams to accommodate a morning drone shot, at 4:30 a.m., Brian and Ian traveled down to the Zakim Bridge, coordinating  the capture of aerial footage of Concord Coach, Boston Express, and Dartmouth Coach buses. 

The rest of the team met at the office at 5am to make crew call at 6 a.m. a sunny (near 100 degree) Tuesday, to jump back into production at the North Londonderry bus terminal. We stayed in the shade or inside the terminal, and there was plenty of water to go around. 

Ian and Brian getting set up on day 2

To navigate the tight filming schedule, and tighter on-bus shots we relied heavily on an easyrig system to take some of the pressure off of tripod setups (and Erik’s back). It came in handy as we took laps around the parking lot on a Boston Express bus, getting the shots we needed of folks sitting together for a ride to wherever their characters were headed. 

We had a variety of characters, each with their own stories: we had some going to visit grandma, hurrying to make an important meeting, or visiting their beloved. The terminal saw them all coming together, their journeys briefly intersecting on this bus. Bet you didn’t think a bus terminal could be so magical, huh?

Shooting with the easyrig

When we were finished at Londonderry, the crew split up again to tackle the rest of the day. 

While half of us packed up in the bus terminal then drove to Laconia to prepare for the next day, the other half jumped on a bus with our actors to head to our next location: Logan International Airport. 

We have had more than a few one-of-a-kind experiences while working in this business... blocking out a terminal at Logan Airport for filming was one of them. 

Parked outside terminal A, which we shut down for filming

Day 2 ran longer than day 1, as not only did we have to film inside of the airport - but Brett, Erik, and Katherine had to continue shooting in the city wrapping up at around 10 pm. 

Day 3 - But we weren’t parted for long! We started at 6 a.m. on Wednesday for our 3rd and final day of shooting. We spent a day in Laconia at a beautiful Airbnb, hustling so that we could finish up by the time we had to return the keys at 1:30. (Sidenote: An exciting feature of the Airbnb was that there was a cat, who sadly will not be making an appearance in the commercial.)

Steve preparing the boom mic, day 3

It was another great day of shooting, and allowed us to get a little creative with some shots such as this one that you might have seen already on our Instagram. We wrapped up by checkout without a hitch, and were out of Laconia by 1:30.

The End - And with that, we’re done with our commercial for Concord Coach Lines, Dartmouth Coach, and Boston Express! All the hard work and some undeniably stressful moments paid off, and we are so proud of the work we have all put in together. We’re super grateful to everyone who was involved with this production, and want to thank you all for your hard work, cooperation, and accommodation! The people we get to meet and work with during shoots are the highlights of everything we do. We’re so glad to have had a productive three days, and we can’t wait to update you all on future projects. If you’re interested in seeing some more behind the scenes posts from past projects or are looking forward to seeing what we do next, check out ourInstagram and Facebook, and continue to keep an eye on the WindBlog!

Who’s the AD here?

Creating a Video for Your Product: The Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How

When you have a business, product, or any other service that you want to promote, video is a medium that can effectively capture an audience when done well.

According to studies conducted by Wyzowl.com, 94% of video marketers have said that video helps their audiences to understand their product, and 86% have said video has increased traffic to their websites. 

But how do you create an effective video? Where do you start, and how do you ensure you land where you want to? Here’s our process for video creation captured in six simple questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how.

When you formulate answers to these questions (which also appear on our FAQ page!), no matter how simple at first, it helps to breathe life into your video before we even start shooting it. 

Who are you trying to reach with this video?

When asking yourself this, you are asking yourself who your target audience is. Are you trying to reach a certain age group? Homeowners? People who need a particular job done that your service offers? When you narrow down your target audience, you can begin to dissect how to best appeal to their desires and formulate answers to the questions they may have. For example, a video targeted towards older people would look and communicate much differently than a video targeted towards younger people. 

What is the message you want the video to get across?

The message of the video helps to shape the format of the video itself. Are you trying to create a quick promotional video that is easy to share for awareness, or do you want a slightly longer testimonial video that highlights positive experiences that others have had with your product? Knowing what message you are trying to promote helps to give your video further shape and direction, which will more effectively capture your target audience. 

When do you want to deploy this video?

This is determining the time when you need your video ready. Do you have a specific, upcoming event that you need a video for a few weeks in advance, or do you know you will need a video for training future employees? It’s always good to have a deadline, and knowing how much time we have to work on your video will help determine the timeframe we have to accomplish what you want and how to best do it in said amount of time.

Where do you want this video to be seen?

The platform you are sharing this video on will affect the way the video itself turns out. For example, a video for your Instagram profile will look different than a video for your YouTube channel, since Instagram is better for shorter, quick-info type videos. Knowing where this video will ultimately end up helps determine what information is crucial to communicate on that platform, as well as how it should be presented and the way the video as a whole should look like.

Why are you creating this video?

There’s many different mediums other than video that are great for communicating information. So what can this video do for your product that those other mediums can’t? What are you hoping for this video to accomplish? It’s easy to know you want a video out of necessity of promoting a product, but try going one step further and really figure out what this video can do for your product, or how it can uniquely engage your audience.

How is the viewer supposed to interact with this video?

Imagine a member of your target audience seeing this video. Once they have watched, what do you want them to do 10 seconds after they watch? What are the graphics, logos, or information you want to stick with them when they close their computer or continue scrolling through their social media feed, and how can we help to incorporate those elements into this video?

Your answers to all these questions don’t need to be entirely developed- it’s okay to have a few key words in mind for a question, or a half-baked idea! We are looking forward to helping you further build upon your idea in a pre-production meeting. You can reach out to us here to get our conversation started.