Tuesday, July 15, 2014

everyday football fouls.

Last week ahead of the World Cup finals, we released a short sketch video titled "Everyday Football Fouls."  The goal was to comment on how ridiculous the "diving" in pro soccer has become, and show what life would be like if everyday people reacted like soccer players. It's OK on the field, but in real life it's pretty crazy. 

Featured on countless media outlets including The Globe and Mail, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal, and a segment on CTV's Canada AM, the video currently has over 3.7 million views (as of July 15th when this post was published), and could not have been possible without the help of local theatre company Suitcase in Point, who provided actors for the sketch, and local businesses Rise Above Restaurant, Lococo's Market, Gord's Place, and Beatties Basics where filming took place. 

Watch the video HERE.

Enjoy! And be sure to subscribe to our channel to so you never miss a video.

-The FG Team.




Saturday, February 22, 2014

social media in a marketing plan: avoid hype, focus on content

 So here we are: it's 2014, the digital waves continue to crash in and pull out. Features are added, content is pushed, and constant connectivity is all of a sudden assumed. Smart phones externalize our brain, and search terms replace human memory. For some business folks, implementing a social media strategy and "going digital" can generally lead to a struggle to merely remain afloat and avoid being dragged away in the undertow.

From a "personal portfolio" standpoint, services like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest have all managed to seamlessly suture themselves into real life as official representations of an individual, but the business world is still a few steps behind. Let's face it, as business leaders and entrepreneurs, we rush to jump on these social media platforms for one reason: to make more money. But while many companies have a "strategy" in place at the start, many don't have content, and without content how will you connect with your customers, and make more money? I feel it imperative to outline a simple suggestion of what not to do; don't pay for a social media strategy, pay for content creation. 

Fourgrounds is a content creation company, and while it may seem "convenient" we are pushing content as the answer because we create it, the exact opposite is true: we create content because it is the answer. Media producers did not create the void, they are trying to fill it. We have been doing so long before the advent of social media. With that being said, let's explain social media marketing a bit more. SMM works to establish a brand identity or subtext to a brand. It also helps to notify your established followers or audience of business activities. Every single byte of data that is pushed out is intended to make a statement about the identity pushing it. A tweet doesn't just say what we ate for lunch, it says who we are, what we like, where we go, what we believe in… The same consciousness should be applied to a business' online profile. Businesses tend to see these outlets as secondary channels, and a "business opportunity", which can be true, but only if used correctly. Too often we see companies who pay a marketing firm, agency, or consultant to establish their "social media strategy", which generally entails setting up a few profiles and a mandate to "use said profiles to gain followers and maximize exposure." This is the easy part; every company seems to "need" a social media profile, but unfortunately many are not being used properly to create a ROI. That's the hard part. So how do you really maximize your online channels? There is no clear answer, but if social media is a must for your company and you are serious about using it, I suggest you take the time to educate yourself on how it works and why. First, make a personal profile and interact with friends and colleagues. Once you and your staff learn the value is not the portal or the audience, but rather the content you put out and what it says about you and your company, then and only then, are you ready to spend money on social media. Pay an agency, staff member, or media producer to buy ads, produce videos, take photos, create campaigns, run contests and do all the things we love about social media marketing. Creating this engaging content, combined with all other activity on your channel will truly tell the world who you are, what your business values, and lead to a positive return in brand awareness and ultimately profitability. And that is what you wanted to do in the first place isn't it?


Thursday, December 19, 2013

the auteurs of christmas

From everyone here at Fourgrounds, we would like to wish you a safe and happy holiday season, 
and all the best in 2014!

 Please enjoy and share our Christmas short film by clicking the picture below or HERE...

Best,
The Fourgrounds Team




Monday, July 8, 2013

"the hotel dieu" (working title)... a fourgrounds original.


Some exciting things are happening here at Fourgrounds... this August we will find ourselves one step closer to our dreams, as we shoot and direct our own indie feature film! A press release with all the details will be released in the coming weeks, but this will be the first feature production we've worked on that we can call our own. We've had the pleasure of working with some talented directors in the past couple of years on various productions in both Canada and the US, but feel the time is now right to take the plunge and produce our own. Funding has come from a variety of private investors, but the last remaining bit we need to truly make it a great flick will hopefully come from our friends, fans, and supporters! We have launched a crowd-sourced funding campaign on Indie GoGo that enables anyone to donate (as little as $10!) 

Please take a moment to view the campaign and donate HERE

Thank you to everyone who has already donated, or supported us in any way, we greatly appreciate it!

-The FG Team

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

fourgrounds co-produces first hollywood feature film



ST. CATHARINES, ON, May 21, 2013 / -- Fourgrounds Media Inc., a Niagara video production studio, is excited to announce their involvement as co-producer on their first feature film. The film "Without Ward", written and directed by Cory Cataldo, was filmed in the Hollywood Hills last summer.


The sci-fi thriller takes place with the world under one form of government, in which armed lawyers police the world and enforce people's personal contracts. The pic follows a dysfunctional family being forced into a never-ending life of house arrest. Leading the film's star stacked cast is U.S. prime-time star Michael Gladis. Other big names include Academy Award Winner Martin Landau, Harold Perrineau, Alexis Dziena, James Duval, and Marguerite Moreau.

Fourgrounds' co-owners Adrian Thiessen and Kristen Nater flew to Los Angeles mid-July for on-set VFX supervision and to meet the cast. "Heading to the film set in L.A. was a big step for us as a company, and a sign of things to come for Fourgrounds"  says Thiessen. "The Hollywood Hills are where it's all happening, and to be a part of that was not only a huge motivator to bring more feature film work to Niagara, but also a great learning experience for everyone at our company. You don't get any closer to it all than Los Angeles; the only thing that gets bigger from here is the budget."

In addition to co-producing, Fourgrounds has a major hand in the post-production of the film, including assistance with pre-edit footage preparation, and assistant editing duties performed by Fourgrounds' senior editor Rick Fast at the Generator at One facility in downtown St. Catharines. Fourgrounds, in conjunction with the Generator at One supplied a second camera for the production. "It's simply fantastic to be able to bring a Hollywood stature project to Niagara, and to also service a project like this, with talent and equipment housed here in the region" comments Nater, Vice President of Fourgrounds. "We have spent five years maturing as a company, and are ecstatic to culminate our experiences into a project like this, working with an Academy Award winning caliber production team and director like Cory Cataldo."


Fourgrounds is also extremely proud to be working with co-producer morro images inc. on this project, who are jointly responsible for all visual effects and animations for the film. Tobias Wiegand, President of morro images Canada, commented on their cooperation with Fourgrounds on the project, "It makes us proud to continue our success story from Germany to Canada, as this project is morro images' first larger scale production on Canadian soil. After having worked with Fourgrounds Media on quite a few projects in the past three years, we are very excited to collaborate with them on a larger scale project."

The film is currently scheduled for release in 2014, and more details will be released by Fourgrounds and morro as they come. For more information visit the film's IMDB page at www.imdb.com/title/tt2338088/.



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Thursday, January 24, 2013

the angel inn movie premiere

fourgrounds is proud to be an official production partner for "The Angel Inn", a feature-length indie drama written and directed by Kirk Schriefer.  The movie, shot entirely here in the Niagara region, is about three life long friends, torn apart by tragedy, and brought together again through an emotional journey of forgiveness and romance when they co-inherit a pub. One of our senior editors, Rick Fast, worked on the film, as a colour artist, and visual effects & title animator. The movie is premiering at the Shaw Festival Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake, next Thursday January 31st, at 7 pm. 
Tickets can be purchased HERE.

View the trailer HERE.









Friday, December 21, 2012

happy holidays from hipster santa and fourgrounds...


We would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season! 

Thanks for a great year, and we look forward to an even better 2013. Please enjoy and share our Christmas short film by clicking the picture below or HERE...

Best,
The Fourgrounds Team