Cut Canvas Creative

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Director of Communications of a real estate company.
Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Since 1983, we've been an innovative leader in affordable housing along the West Coast by creating strong communities, improving residents’ lives, and delivering positive social impact.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Cut Canvas Creative to accomplish?

Produce three videos to celebrate our 40th anniversary and annual scholarship awards luncheon.

SOLUTION

How did you find Cut Canvas Creative?

Referral

Why did you select Cut Canvas Creative over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Cut Canvas Creative were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees
Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Scholarship Recipient Hero Video(s) - Picks a scholarship recipient, or a few, and profiles the profound impact that the scholarship has had on their life trajectory. 
• Scholarship Recipients Montage Video - Delivers a fun mashup of many scholarship recipients to give a high-level, cheerful sampling of the myriad positive impacts the scholarship is making in people's lives.
• 40th Anniversary Celebration Event Anthem Video - shows how our company has evolved over its 40 years and, in an industry that needs to evolve, is taking a leadership role to effect a durable change for the benefit of residents, local communities, and the environment. This video would be highly relevant as a central marketing piece even after the 40th-anniversary event.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Cut Canvas Creative worked effectively with high-level Board members, C-suite executives, affordable housing property management staff, and residents, grasping the storylines of our complex industry and operations. The shooting required multi-location travel and equipment packages and changing the schedule and flexibility. 

The resulting videos were shown at our 40th-anniversary celebration and shared widely via social media, newsletter, and email. Long-time Board members agreed these were the best videos in our history.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Cut Canvas delivered on time and communicated regularly throughout the project. Their process and tools made it easy to provide feedback every step of the way.

What was your primary form of communication with Cut Canvas Creative?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Cut Canvas brings a rare combination of intense curiosity about their subjects and clients, high professional skill, and extraordinary collaboration to their work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Cut Canvas Creative could have done differently?

No.

UPDATED REVIEW

• responsiveness and client-centric philosophy
• streamlined, easy process
• good value
• proven results

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for an internationally recognized yoga teacher. I do a little bit of everything, since we are a very small company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cut Canvas Creative?

We first worked with Cut Canvas to create a short video about Janet and her teaching approach and personal story. We later continued this work, filming virtual courses and several promo videos for albums and upcoming events.

What were your goals for this project?

For the original video, we wanted powerful visuals with movement and energy. We wanted to capture Janet's adventurousness, wisdom, and the heart she brings to what she offers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We knew others who had worked with Cut Canvas, and we loved their work. It felt like a fit and it spoke for itself.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

We tend to work intuitively and to bring a playfulness into the collaboration. Brett (lead and founder of Cut Canvas) chose to meet by the water and explored from there. We later did an interview with Janet, to get her natural storytelling to shine.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

They brought just the right mix of guidance and expertise plus willingness to see what emerged. After the filming, we further clarified the final vision and iterated toward the complete video.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

This was our first project of this kind (especially with regard to the bio video). It set the tone for future projects as we sought to tell stories through beautiful video. We want to evoke a sense of what each training or class is through video, and this set the foundation for our future work in this regard.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

excellent! professional, collegial, and fun. We've continued to work together over the years, which exemplifies how pleased we are.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were most impressed by the quality of the footage and the creative editing. But it also matters that the team at Cut Canvas is professional, kind, and in integrity. The clarity of communication and dedication to excellence has kept us collaborating with them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at SecondMuse, which is an international innovation agency. We offer entrepreneurship, social, and environmental programs addressing great needs around the world. We use storytelling to advance policy changes and bring new funding into different social and environmental areas. We work with groups of innovators around the world to help empower their social innovations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cut Canvas Creative?

We had a program that worked with 12 innovators from around the world on how to use our oceans as resources to improve nutrition around the world, create new, sustainable livelihoods, and protect water spaces. We had a particular congregation of entrepreneurs in Tanzania and wanted to tell the stories of their work in different areas.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cut Canvas Creative came with us to Tanzania and created a 6–10 minutes, 360-degree VR video that told the stories of our program's innovators, their challenges, and the opportunities in East Africa.

Brett (Founder & Principal) supported us during the preparatory phase. He helped us with creating a script that worked with a short documentary and securing the equipment that we needed. He used 360-degree VR equipment and filmed for about 10 days. Cut Canvas Creative used a VR camera attached to a drone as well as a rigged, underwater 360 VR camera.

He promoted the content through Cut Canvas Creative’s communication channels and partnerships. Also, their team put together a small event for us at World Oceans Day in New York City.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Brett directly.

How did you come to work with Cut Canvas Creative?

We wanted to work with them because of their work with different media and attention to environmental issues around oceans. They’ve done great environmental work, telling stories of different challenges for ocean-related animals and conservation measures. Their team was able to lead the underwater filming that was required for this project. Cut Canvas was a great fit for this role.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000–$30,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with Cut Canvas Creative in February 2017 and the project was completed in July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

They were incredibly good at delivering to the specific deliverable. We were incredibly satisfied with the end result.

We were overall incredibly impressed by our collaboration with Cut Canvas Creative. They were flexible teammates and adapted to trying circumstances. It was a pleasure to work on the ground with them.

After the filming was complete, they were supportive in promoting and amplifying the video through written content and other partnerships.

How did Cut Canvas Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

As far as attentiveness, they were in the top 5% of vendors. It was usually within a matter of hours that Brett responded. He was proactive, organized, and took leadership in areas that weren’t our company’s strong points. Brett was not only a great teacher but also a facilitator as we went through this process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was an overall enjoyable experience to work with Cut Canvas Creative. It didn’t feel like work to collaborate with them. Rather, it felt like an opportunity to do an amazing project together. It can feel like there’s a divide when working with contractors, but we aligned quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were a pretty small team and we were clear upfront about the deliverables. It was a bit trickier to push them to go a bit above and beyond. Be clear upfront with the deliverables because they will deliver to exactly what was agreed upon.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a Travel service and marketing consultancy based in San Francisco, CA. We work with individuals to offer unique adventure experiences and with corporations to feature their products, services and brands during these unique experiences

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cut Canvas Creative?

We had the pleasure to work with CutCanvas on a multi-faceted project: the shooting of a short adventure film and multiple marketing mini-videos for commercial brands. This was done during KiliTechTrek, a fundraising expedition of tech executives to Mt Kilimanjaro that supported a local non-profit.

What were your goals for this project?

Create a set of materials and videos that would satisfy our sponsors expectations. Create a short film that would capture the uniqueness of the experience - we won an award on top of that.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Through a positive referral

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

The CutCanvas team has been extremely professional during the whole project: from the briefing phase, through the pre-production preparation, to the filming and the post-production of the materials.

In particular, CutCanvas offered unsolicited suggestions on possible improvements and creative ideas to add to the narrative, to the individual scenes and the marketing positioning of the final products (all were eventually adopted).

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

The level or preparation, attention to detail and the continuous dialogue we had with the Cut Canvas team were absolutely instrumental to the quality of the work and the success of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

the short film we produced (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS5QakxZ3yM) won the Best Adventure Film award at the Amsterdam film festival. Multiple mini commercial video were prepared for and delivered to the supporting sponsors, who used them on social media and other channels

Are there any areas for improvement?

nothing comes to mind

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President of a non profit consulting firm, Kerr Group Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cut Canvas Creative?

Myriad marketing collateral

What were your goals for this project?

Brochure, copy, website and other marketing materials.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

through my network.

Describe the project in detail.

I retained Cut Canvas to assist several of my non profit clients with a variety of marketing deliverables.

What was the team composition?

Brett oversaw the team that rolled out the deliverables. Both Brett and his team are top notch and wonderful to wokr with!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

As a result of Cut Canvas' work, donor materials were produced that allowed fundraisers to be armed with professional overviews about the organization. Cut Canvas also helped to launch websites and assisted with copy writing/editing.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Highly effective!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their professionalism and the high quality work blew me away.

Are there any areas for improvement?

none to note.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work as the Creative Director at Le Tote, a fashion rental subscription service for women. I drive the brand's visual aesthetic And creative concepts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cut Canvas Creative?

Le Tote cast our members as models for this spring shoot and we hired Cut Canvas to direct and capture our models for web ads, homepage video, and tv.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to increase engagement and community, retain current customers, and drive new subscriptions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I learned that Cut Canvas has produced and executed video content for people in my community. Upon viewing Cut Canvas' work I knew I wanted to work with them. Their visual aesthetic and level of professionalism was clear in their work.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

Cut Canvas did a great job of educating our team on what was required For a solid video production. They brainstormed, created a shotlist, and set clear expectations for the shoot.

On the day of the shoot their team was professional, patient, and incredible at directing our talent who had never modeled before. After the shoot they even sped up the timeline of file delivery to meet our changing needs.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

Cut Canvas not only used email and phone calls to create clarity around the porject but created shared Google docs and made Zoom calls with the production crew so that we had a relationship and report before the day of the shoot.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We just launched our first sneak peek of the shoot this week on social and have seen positive response to the video. It is too early to have metrics but the initial signs are positive.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Cut Canvas was professional and clear in their communication. They were patient with our sometimes slow response times and were able to easily adjust to our changing needs.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I really enjoyed their on-set presence and ability to direct real people models. They had a way of making people feel comfortable on set and create a space where their true personalities could arise. I also value their clarity and organizational skills around production. This helped the shoot flow freely.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In an effort to please our company, I think they allowed us to initially add too many shots to the shotlist. Had they been more firm and asked us to reduce they may not have felt as much pressure on set. That being said, I'm grateful for their willingness and optimism to accomplish everything we wanted to try to accomplish.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

WE ARE A BOUTIQUE, DIGITAL CONTENT CREATIVE AGENCY! What’s that mean? Well, it means that we write, produce and deliver full commercial campaigns specifically created for digital platforms.

From Facebook to YouTube, from Snapchat to everything Instagram, our campaigns are designed to fill in every gap so your online presence is buzzing with content.

With our expertise in design, writing, film, photography, audio, animation and editing we are able to handcraft content from the ground up supplying brands like yours with all of the content you need to succeed. But more than that, we are just super fun to work with. Create with us!

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cut Canvas Creative?

We Hired Cut Canvas to help produce a 4 Episode series in different neighborhoods in San Francisco

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of this project was to capture the essence of San Francisco Neighborhoods through Video.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Through an exhaustive search of production companies in the area, we decided to interview the top candidates. It wasn't even close. Cut Canvas's professionalism took all the stress and worry off of our hands and let us focus on the content rather than the logistics.

Describe the video(s) and the process in detail.

Cut Canvas helped handle the full production of the project in conjunction with my team. Assisted on Gear preparation, transit, etc.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

Cut Canvas provided a Director of Photography and so much more. They were there to help with Creative input and help with truly knowing the surrounding area.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Results of the project are still ongoing but thus far has done well for the customers online platforms

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was flawless. It felt like Cut Canvas had already been a part of our team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was blown away with the depth of knowledge that the members of Cut Canvas had about all things video production. Their professionalism and attention to detail in the days leading up to, and during production, was unparallelled.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They care immensly about their customer experience. I have nothing of note that I think they can Improve on. 10/10 all around

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of communications for a membership organization that includes Bay Area CEOs and senior executives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cut Canvas Creative?

I hired Cut Canvas Creative for their writing and editing assistance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team assists with writing articles for our quarterly newsletter. I give them a deadline to make them aware of the next phase of the project, and then they submit their articles through a Google Doc.

What is the team composition?

We work with two members of their team.

How did you come to work with Cut Canvas Creative?

I worked with the owner back in 2014 or 2015 on a few videography projects. From there, we moved into writing work. They have great writing skills and follow our methodology and style.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a few thousand dollars a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Cut Canvas Creative on a quarterly basis in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Their writing responses are strong. Along with being responsible, they get the job done within time and budget. If I set up an interview to speak to one of their members, they’re on time as well. Their team is also very professional. I can count on Cut Canvas Creative to get the job done.

How did Cut Canvas Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

The team at Cut Canvas Creative is responsive and responsible. They acknowledge deadlines, making a note of them and ensuring that they meet them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I remain impressed with how dependable they are. Clients can always count on them to follow through. Their writing is also solid.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that I can think of. I keep using Cut Canvas Creative because I’m happy with their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Vice President of Zaytuna College

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a small liberal arts College with a BA and MA program.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Cut Canvas Creative to accomplish?

• Admissions video
• Marketing video for our capital beautification process
• Marketing videos for our projects

SOLUTION

How did you find Cut Canvas Creative?

Online Search

Why did you select Cut Canvas Creative over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Cut Canvas Creative were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

This was a campus virtual tour that showcased a live interactive tour with interviews of staff, stduents, and faculty. IT also included extensive footage of the campus.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Online viewership and increase in application interests

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were exceptionally organized and easy to work with. They catch on to our needs very quickly and delivered ahead of time!

What was your primary form of communication with Cut Canvas Creative?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Cut Canvas are excellent in their craft. They are easy to work with and exceptionally helpful in guiding you through the project. They never disappoint and have great talents in both videography and editing.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Cut Canvas Creative could have done differently?

None!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a video production company principle and chief creative.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cut Canvas Creative?

We hired Cut Canvas for a video production retainer from 2018-2020.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a reliable outside video vendor to support our staff with high end video production.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Cut Canvas Creative through multiple referrals from trusted colleagues.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

CCC assisted us in top to bottom video production for over two years. From writing to direction to editing Cut Canvas did it all for us "Video" wise.

What was the team composition?

Cut Canvas provided teams of creatives as well as one man band production.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

ROI and returns were always reached.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Cut Canvas is both creative and professional on an elite level — something that is rare to find these days.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of a think to say other than CCC is the best.