Dischromatics and Breaking Barriers Team up to produce Personalised DVD for Children.

Breaking Barriers Community Arts specialise in producing Digital Storytelling across all spectrum's of society and is a not for profit social enterprise based in Llanilleth, Blaina Gwent. With grants and other funding becoming more difficult to obtain, they decided to create their saleable original children’s Personalised digital stories on DVD.

Chairman of Dischromatics Ltd, Stewart Spencer sits on the board of BBCA as a business adviser through an arrangement with Arts and Business Cymru, Stewart explains “The board of Breaking Barriers have a duty of care towards the social enterprise and decided to approve the production of the personalised DVD project in order to make up for any shortfall in funding and to allow the staff to continue producing high quality digital storytelling to the benefit of the local community and beyond”.

With all things Breaking Barriers produce, the essential characteristic of the final product was that of quality in every aspect, from the original story and graphics to the unique packaging. The project has been professionally managed and controlled by Natasha James who has had to work to extremely tight time-scales in parallel with many other projects in production at the company. Nevertheless there has been no compromising the quality of the final product and anyone purchasing these DVD’s will be extremely satisfied with the result.

Customers will be able to add the name and upload photographs of their child, choosing from different animal outfits within the story. The story itself is based on the well-known nursery rhyme “Hickory Dickory Dock and is about the clocks losing their “Dock”.

It is envisaged that the latest personalised DVD will not be the last and the theme of producing in both English and Welsh languages will continue and fill a void in the market for such unique products. Anyone interested in reading more about the story can visit the Breaking Barriers or for more information about BBCA email natasha@breakingbarriers.org.uk

Dischromedia Announces Launch of Samantha Link’s Xmas Album “Every Breath”

This week has seen the release of the promotional video produced by Dischro Creative of the new Xmas Album by the highly acclaimed classical crossover singer; Samantha Link called ‘Every Breath’. The video received almost two thousand views on YouTube within twenty four hours and shows the interest generated by the social media activity of many of her fans and others interested in purchasing in time for Xmas.

The video itself was filmed in and around Caerphilly and is only a glimpse of what this fantastically talented artist displays on the CD. The Album, which will be available from the Dischromedia website from Monday and various other outlets, is anticipated to sell well and is the perfect gift for the festive season.

Included on the album are classics like Ave Maria and World in Union with the powerful Titanium and the title track Every Breath You Take, all performed to perfection by Miss Link whose range and quality is fully displayed throughout with more well-known numbers from West End Musicals. 

The Dischro group has been fully involved in this amazing project with Dischromatics designing the CD and packaging as well as providing the CD manufacturing. Dischro Creative produced the promotional video and was able to use a number of techniques including green screen technology used in the Shabbey Road studio in Caerphilly and it was a pleasure to be able to use the beautiful St Martins Church as one of the settings.

The CD has been released under the increasingly popular Dischromedia label who are making a name for themselves in the Classical Crossover genre of music with stars like Mark Llewelyn Evans and Peter Karrie as well as Samantha Link having their music distributed by this forward thinking and artist friendly label.

For further information on the Samantha Link album or any other artist releasing under the Dischromedia label please contact Stewart Spencer on 02920 538944 or write to Dischromedia@gmail.com

Is the Creative Industry in the UK getting the Support it deserves from the UK GOVERNMENT?

This is a question very close to my heart, as Dischromatics established Dischro Creative last year in order to exploit the undoubted opportunities available to any forward thinking enterprise with the experience, knowledge and wherewithal available. Dischro Creative offers filming forevents, showreels, testimonials etc., graphic design, web design, and app creation. 

I read an article recently in the Director magazine that absolutely hit a chord with me as it mirrored my own thoughts and experiences. The article was based on the views of ex Dragon Doug Richard who certainly has the credentials and credibility to make anyone sit up and listen. His views are that the UK actually leads the world in this area but the UK government only pay lip service to it without giving credible and tangible support.

He goes on to say that the creative industry generates over £70,000 per minute in this country and accounts for 10% of exports and this is still a relatively young sector with huge potential for growth in this hi-tec area of our economy. Imagine what a significant financial boost from our politicians would do for the future economy, creating huge profits with a significant increase in exports and in high paid employment which would in itself have a positive knock-on effect for the whole economy.

Our own experience of the lack of support from our politicians is commonplace. Here in Wales. the Welsh Government continually pay lip service to how important the creative industry is to Wales and they have run a series of ‘seminars’ in the country to give the impression that they are being proactive but the truth is that they are offering very little tangible support to the creative sector itself. As far as the WG is concerned size I everything, they very rarely recognise small creative enterprises but this is where the most significant opportunities arise. 

The past is a painful reminder of how our politicians in Wales fail to recognise the future lies with indigenous small to medium enterprises. It’s always about headlines with politician. The failed bid to establish LG in Newport is a poignant reminder of their incompetence, paying huge subsidies to LG and others for that matter only for us to see them fail and withdraw. I remember at the time, all the Ministers turned out for the photo call when the company moved in but they were not to be seen or heard when they moved out again.

What is needed is a body that includes leaders from a cross section of the Creative Industry, from large and particularly small enterprises together with politicians appointed by the WG who fully understand or who are prepared to learn, to get together to see how, collectively, we can progress in order to expand this valuable area of our economy. Instead of looking for publicity to boost their own egos, we need people who are genuinely interested in making this a success, to have the patience and understanding to learn what is needed, to offer support in whatever area is required ensuring there is cooperation with our universities so that courses can be adapted to suit what is required by our young and vibrant creative sector to the benefit of us all!

Dischro Creative Explains the Different Types of Films and Videos Available for Advertising and Marketing.

With the advent of short films being used for company marketing and advertising purposes, there is confusion about what some of the standard terms actually means. In this article you will find a short explanation to help you decide on what is best for your business. 

Teaser:

A Video Teaser is for an advertising campaign, which typically consists of a series of short, cryptic snippets, which anticipate a larger campaign for a product or event launch etc. Teasers are usually used in the build-up to a product or event launch.

Teasers usually last between 20 and 60 seconds, largely depending on what the product or event is and what the client is hoping to achieve from their campaign. These can also be placed on the specific company page of Facebook or YouTube. 

Trailer or Promotional Video:

A trailer or promotional video is used in a more traditional advertising campaign for a product or event. This usually anticipates some feature or reflects on the quality and success of an occasion. It is ordinarily a more straightforward and to-the-point account of what a product or event is hoping to achieve or what it has achieved. 

Trailers typically last between 90 – 210 seconds; again depending on what the product or event is and what the client is hoping to achieve from the campaign.  Once again, these are ideal for social network site business pages.

 Showreel:

A Business or Company Showreel is designed to cast a spotlight on the best items in your portfolio of services and products, through telling the story of how the results are achieved in a polished and engaging video-format.  A Showreel typically lasts anywhere between 3 and 6 minutes depending upon the amount of footage available which could include archive shots or newly filmed imagery and interviews.  This type of video can also be useful in gaining potential customers trust in allowing them to put names to faces and to understand your company ethos and work ethic.  It could also be used as a customer testimonial video for the website or again on Facebook and YouTube giving companies an ideal marketing tool.

Feature:

A feature is a video lasting anything from five minutes to an hour or more. It could document a recent success story surrounding a product or event.  A Video production is often published to websites or supplied on DVD duplication production as a promotional product. It provides an opportunity to include in-depth demonstrations as well as interviews and additional content that would not usually be included in shorter videos like Teasers, Trailers and Showreels. They are additionally useful to be added to tenders.

How to:

A how to video is an instructional aid used to demonstrate the functionality of a product; and/or to provide information to customers. Popular uses of this type of video are to deliver health and safety information or to create a presentation about the features of a product. This ensures that staff can continue to assist customers in the most effective manner without the pressure of performing a live demonstration. Additional benefits of this type of video include; no over-reliance on a single staff member, especially when that person is unavailable, the ability to show the same scenario from multiple angles simultaneously and the facility to play the instructions more than once - ensuring customers are able to move at their own pace.

The duration of a’ how to’ video is entirely dependent on the complexity of the topic in question.

Design Tips from Dischro Creative to Achieve the Best Results and Save Money in the Process.

In these difficult financial times, small companies and individuals in particular are trying to save money by doing their own graphic design without knowing enough to be able to present an acceptable image to their printers. Sometimes this proves to be a false economy due to changes that are necessary in order to have their job printed.

Here you will find a number of helpful tips to enable you to present your artwork which is print ready and eliminate expensive mistakes which many printers will charge for:

1.       Check the specifications before starting the artwork creation. Set up the canvas, which is simply the area you are using for the design, ensuring you are using the correct dimensions to the specification supplied. This will show the length of each edge or a ‘to scale’ template which will enable you to lay out your graphics. It is most important that you follow the exact requirements of the printer you are going to use as many use different parameters. Although some products such as CD Jewel Case Booklets vary little it is still advisable to stick to the script. Even with an A4 Poster which is unlikely to cause any confusion.

2.       Bleeding Out is one of the most likely problems that people get wrong. All artwork for print must include an extra 3mm of the background on all outer edges. Therefore, if the total finished size is 210mm x 148mm which is the size of an A5 Booklet for instance. You need to add 3mm extra background on each edge resulting in the full dimensions of the artwork being 216mm x 154mm. Also include crop marks indicating where the actual cut line is. This always true whether using Digital Printing or any other form of printing.

3.       Keep relevant data away from the edge by ensuring it is at least 3mm away from the actual cutting line within a safety margin. So a total of at least 6mm away from the very edge of the graphic design. This is because there is always the possibility of small shifts when printing which is why the bleed area is necessary. Furthermore, this could affect both edges so you could find that some of the area inside the cut on one side will be lost as more bleed zone comes onto the finished unit. It doesn’t matter if it is design of brochures, booklets, leaflets, CD packaging or whatever always stick to these principles.

4.       If in doubt create a PDF rather than saving to JPEG to save your work as most programmes are capable of outputting files of this type. This, along with the quality aspect makes it much easier to get your crop marks added prior to production. If the whole process can be designed inside Adobe Acrobat for instance, this is most likely to save you money too. There are many software packages around that are used for graphic design but not all are truly suitable. Some will not let you add crop marks or registration marks showing the cut line but you can overcome this by ensuring you have compensated for the bleed and keeping all elements far enough away from the edge as stated earlier.

One thing to remember is that it is impossible for any printer to help you improve your images if it is presented in poor quality and using an unreliable or inadequate software package like freeware. Sometimes it is worth getting the design professionally completed, especially if there are branding issues and particularly for a logo design. In the long run, if you do not have sufficient creative design skills and are conversant with the software you are using you will finish up with more problems which will result in additional costs and time wasted.

Dischro Creative Welcomes Jobe Bruzas as Senior Creative Executive.

As the Creative arm of Dischromatics, Dischro Creative has been formed to enable the innovative elements of the business to be brought together with their forward thinking personnel to work together in one section to the benefit of our existing and potential customers.

Jobe Bruzas, who has joined Dischro Creative and is a graduate of Carmarthen University in Digital Media and the Arts, has also worked as a Journalist, Producer and Editor. Whilst still at university, he worked with an ITV current affairs programme. Since graduation he has continued working with ITV but also produced programmes for both TV and Radio for the BBC, adding S4C/Avanti to his impressive portfolio, he is a fluent Welsh speaker.

Whilst working for these major broadcasters Jobe has worked in some capacity or other on many well-known TV and Radio programmes. He has a passion for the media, enjoying trips to the theatre in between his busy schedule when he also produced news programmes, he just loves being at the sharp end expressing his artistry to the full. However, to be completely fulfilled he needed a new challenge where he could be more involved in the decision making process and  in a challenging commercial environment. As a true expert in his field, he joins a young management team of like-minded forward thinking individuals whose total commitment is to achieve absolute customer satisfaction. 

With many opportunities presenting themselves, Jobe decided to accept an offer from Dischro Creative to develop their creative business and with his already invaluable experience and skill base it was a natural step explaining “I needed more opportunities to be able to express my talents and ideas, somewhere I could build something I could be proud of which was unique and would offer companies and organisations a marketing opportunity they couldn’t get anywhere else. Dischro Creative gives me what nobody else could, a free hand to push the barriers and mould the creative business around me. ”

Dischro Creative already offers a range of creative services like Graphic Design with branding opportunities and logo design, DVD and Blu-ray Authoring and now Filming and Editing producing Company Showreels, Music Videos for groups and bands as well as promotional and event videos, even wedding videos and YouTube videos. With App Development, 3D Animations, Motion Graphics and Mobile Websites.  Their Web site design service includes SEO. They believe they are the only company around with the ability in-house to offer a complete marketing package along with printing services including direct mail variable data printing and digital and optical media duplication. 

Dischromatics the well-known CD and DVD Duplication company which was formed in 1989 and holds ISO accreditations in both quality and the environment has a vast customer base who are already starting to tap into the talents and services offered by Dischro Creative and reaping the rewards. With new state of the art camera equipment just delivered thanks to a grant from the very pro-active Caerphilly Borough Council, it is expected that more personnel of the standard of Jobe Bruzas will be needed to keep up with demand.