Dream Machine Creative

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of The Gathery, a creative agency that does brand development for marketing campaigns, event design and production, and video content creation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our work with them is very collaborative. Typically, my co-founder and I will define an editing schedule and provide Dylan Steinberg [Director and Founder, Dream Machine Creative] with objectives for the project. We’ll lead the creative direction of a video project, while working closely with Dylan to develop storyboards and production approach. His team will provide the appropriate staffing and equipment for the project, and after everything is filmed, they’ll handle the editing in its entirety, from sourcing and licensing music to graphic design to fine tuning. They’ll give us two or three edits that we’ll review and give feedback on until we agree on a final product.

We’ve done over 20 projects with Dream Machine, ranging from dynamic event sizzle reels for post-event coverage to promotional material for our clients. We’ve also shot more in-depth editorial work with them for marketing programs. 

Most recently, they assisted us in a creating promotional content for HBO’s second season premier of their comedy series “High Maintenance.” We transformed steam vents into giant joints. Dream Machine captured the activation in three different locations in New York and edited it into three different cuts — one minute-long feature, a 30 second clip, and a 10 second clip for social distribution. 

What is the team composition? 

We worked primarily with Dylan.

How did you come to work with Dream Machine Creative?

We were working on an editorial project for one of our clients, and Dylan was a member of the director of photography’s team. We decided to partner with Dylan when he created his own company because he innately understood our vision and shared it. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $100,000,000 on them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in Spring 2015. We just finished our most recent project with them in January 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although we don’t have numerical metrics on engagement, the 30 second promotional content we created most recently was featured on AdWeek.

I can also say that I’ve been a repeat customer of Dream Machine for a number of years, and that’s a testament to the quality of their work.

How did Dream Machine Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve never had any issues. They’re very communicative, and they meet their deadlines. It’s very easy to work with them because they really understand our creative process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understand our aesthetic, and they’re highly collaborative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

With all the work we do with them, it would be nice if we’d get better pricing.

BACKGROUND

What challenge were you trying to address with Dream Machine Creative?

Our business objective, since we're a company that largely focuses on music, is the idea that content sometimes comes secondarily. We were looking for a partner of an A-class caliber to help kick off our branded content offerings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dream Machine Creative?

Our business objective, since we're a company that largely focuses on music, is the idea that content sometimes comes secondarily. We were looking for a partner of an A-class caliber to help kick off our branded content offerings.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dream Machine Creative queued up their own team to shoot our series. Our videos started in the interview realm, as a preliminary undertaking. Since that’s my area of expertise, I wanted a partner that was not just capable, but exceedingly skilled. We’ve since pivoted to projects that involve features like stop motion animation. I appreciated that they allowed the client to be onsite. Since some production companies don't do so, that was a huge plus.

Offering full service consultancy, they really guided us through every step of the process. These stages include preproduction, created strategy, ideation, and storyboarding. Post-production involves a number of rounds of cuts, along with some graphic design, GFX effects, and animations. Ultimately, they deliver final video products for us. So far, we’ve created at least 10-15 videos together, and work with them all the time

What is the team composition?

For pre- and post-project, we usually have four or five main points of contact. The actual video production can involve having up to 10 people on set. It varies on a project by project basis, but I can always depend on at least five people from their team. I'm comfortable contacting any of their staff.

How did you come to work with Dream Machine Creative?

While looking for a partner, we considered several other companies. When I was a producer at a different organization, I’d worked with Dream Machine Creative on an inconsistent basis. Since starting my new role here, we've hired them for a specific, ongoing project, and have worked together for over a year now.

The production industry is fairly small, so it's easy to tell good agencies from bad ones. A lot of people can make great content, but many of them are hard to work with. Their positive personalities make our work actually fun. We chose them because their creative is top notch and their staff is friendly and down to earth.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June of 2017, and have multiple ongoing videos in the works.

SOLUTION

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

We’ve gotten excellent feedback internally, as well as a monetary benefit from Dream Machine Creative’s work. Two clients on the other side of the house who bought into our series are re-upping their investments. They're very pleased with the work that’s been produced thus far.

Furthermore, we’ve discovered our platform to be very conducive to new formats, aside from just music. It’s an exciting prospect to see how films can fit in, in a different way than traditional music videos. Our users are looking forward to a new genre of stylistic offerings. The door is wide open for us to create new content via several exciting avenues.

How did Dream Machine Creative perform from a project management standpoint?

They're great to work with, and are very amenable to any requests. The team is hyper communicative, which I appreciate cause I'm the same way. Unlike many similar companies, they never drop the ball. They really understand our goals, and work is always completed on time. Offering flexibility and effort, they’re willing to be lenient with timelines, and will work faster or even overnight if needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Dream Machine Creative is an extremely amiable and friendly team. I appreciate them as people and creatives, beyond their production jobs. A unique strength is their dual-purpose skill set. Not only are they talented at shooting traditional interview style videos, but they can also create graphics and shoot stop motion and animation in-house. They have a lot of capabilities that some shops don't, frankly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I've always wished they were a bigger company, so we could produce more work together.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keeping in mind their large swath of abilities, present a pointed idea of what you want out of the relationship. Make your goals clear in your initial conversations; that will help you get the right creative approach off the bat. They can pretty much run with anything.