IND Films

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is Associated Entertainment and we do event planning, band booking, band management, and corporate entertainment.

What challenge were you trying to address with IND Films?

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, producing live entertainment was almost negligible. There was none. I wanted to create some sort of a virtual presence for a few bands I manage to market them to corporations. The goal of this project was to build a demo that I could send to clients to inspire them to do an hour-long show and send it to people working from home to break up the day. I wanted to create a happy hour feel where people could click onto a live show and interact with the band.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Because of social distancing and the penalties in Montreal, it was almost impossible for me to get the full band, which is 10 people plus production, in their event space to film the demo. Therefore, I combined video I’d taken at a previous event with promotional pieces that we were able to email to them to create the demo. It was only a 5-6-minute piece, and they created a second version that left my own branding information off so I could send it to people who would re-sell it to their own clients.

The design of the concept was theirs, as was the idea to use Zoom to facilitate a Q&A with the artists. We used a couple of cameras to show a few of the band members in their event space which produced the feeling of them going backstage. They also found a host and did the graphics around the production piece. In the end, we’re going to do this live with a five-camera shoot.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with two people directly: Israel from beginning to end and his associate Lauren (Video Editor & Motion Graphic Designer), who did a lot of the editing.

How did you come to work with IND Films?

I looked at the market in Montreal, since that’s where the band is. After speaking to multiple companies, I decided I liked Israel (Creative Director) and his attitude. He presented himself in an off-beat way.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $5,000­–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on the demo from May until June 2020.

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

I sent the demo to 10 people. Nine of them loved it, and the tenth person does the same thing so obviously they didn’t like it. Several of my big clients in Silicon Valley are going to move forward with buying the live version. A couple of agents have provided good feedback as well.

How did IND Films perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve worked with a lot of video production companies and they all want your first-born child to do it. They charge for every change you make. IND Films wasn’t like that at all. It was a collaborative effort. I can’t speak highly enough of them. They were involved with and enjoyed the work, going out of their way to come up with ideas that enhanced my concept.

They always made time for us. In fact, I felt like the most important person on the planet. They understood what I was trying to do even when I didn’t. I also sent them an outline for a project that one of my clients wanted to do and Israel went through their chicken scratch and developed a proposal. I couldn’t even tell what my client wanted but they could.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The one thing that sets them apart is that they get it. In Silicon Valley, in my experience, video production companies treat you like a number, but that’s not so with IND Films.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m sure I could find something if I went through the product with a fine-tooth comb, but as for their business practices, there weren’t any issues. Their invoicing and understanding of the payments were right on, and their communication was great as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Call them and trust them and do business with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director at McLaren Montréal, an automotive dealership.  

What challenge were you trying to address with IND Films?

We hired them to create marketing promotional videos.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Throughout our engagement, we’ve worked on four projects together. We conceptualized together, but their team took the lead on storyboarding our concepts and organizing the entire production.

The first video was for one of our products. The second was for a nonprofit we work with. We wanted to promote our participation with the organization and provide them with a video that they could use to promote one of their events. For that video, the nonprofit met with IND Films to discuss their vision before production began.

We worked with them on a STEM video. We hosted an event at the dealership to educate kids about science, technology, engineering, and math programs. Their team also worked with us on a promotional video for a comedy festival. The festival supports an eco refuge for animals.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from their team.

How did you come to work with IND Films?

I had known Israel (Director) from a previous job. I knew that he had his own production company, and I also knew from experience that he would be easy to work with. He always wants to deliver the right product for his clients. His team also seemed like they would be nice to work with.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $8,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2019–January 2020.

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

All of our active projects have wrapped because of COVID-19. Overall, we’ve been extremely happy with their work. The organizations we’ve worked with want to use their services again. The nonprofit felt that they delivered their vision perfectly. For each project, I trusted Israel’s judgment. His team is skilled and polite.

How did IND Films perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at communicating and meeting deadlines. We had a natural back-and-forth with their team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team at IND Films is very humble.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. I’ve had no negative experiences with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them do what they do best. Don’t micromanage their production team.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a producer and a production coordinator on a TV show called Rockin’ Ages for a cable service provider in Quebec. I was in charge of logistics and coordinating with different senior centers to see what they have to offer and if they’d be interested in being part of our show.

What challenge were you trying to address with IND Films?

The creator of the show and I were very passionate about the project but had never done anything like it before. We brought on IND Films to walk us through the project and handle the actual filming and post-production of the show.

What was the scope of their involvement?

A significant part of their role with us involved providing guidance with regard to every step of the process. They were able to help us navigate everything from pre-production and shoots to dealing with the network smoothly and with a lot more confidence than we could have otherwise.

From the beginning, we had an idea about what we wanted to show and what kinds of messages we wanted to convey about seniors and how to encourage them to live a more social and active lifestyle. Their team showed us how we could best deliver that, especially on our filming days.

They gave a lot of direction as to what elements of each scene would be important for people to see and brought a lot of cute segment ideas to the table to help raise the overall lightheartedness of the show.

What is the team composition?

I met four members of their team, including Israel (Creative Director), Guillaume (Sound & Video Engineer), Jesus (Film Assistant), and Lauren (Video Editor). I think they have a few other individuals working with them, but I never had the chance to meet them.

How did you come to work with IND Films?

We originally had a film partner who only had a little bit more experience than we did, but they ended up having to leave the project. We reached out to several other agencies from there and ended up deciding that IND films would be the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000-$50,000 on the project. I wasn’t involved in the billing myself, but I know they were given a budget by our network and delivered well within that budget.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our filming process lasted from May-August 2019, though we had been in discussions for a little while before that.

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

We had a few hard deadlines for the project, including submitting a pilot by June and finishing the show completely by the end of August. IND Films hit those without any trouble, giving us a lot of confidence in the process that we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

On top of that, their post-production work blew us away. We might have been able to handle the planning or filming phases on our own if we were given as much time and money as we wanted, but the editing was not something that we could ever have done ourselves. They were just incredibly helpful at every stage of the process.

How did IND Films perform from a project management standpoint?

Throughout the process, their team gave us ample time to give feedback on their work — including the rough cuts in the edit — so that they could fix anything we wanted to be changed with plenty of time to send it in to the network.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a great sense of humor and really made the project team feel like one big family. It was so fun to work with them that by the time we were done filming all the episodes it was really sad to have to end the project. Their interpersonal skills are just phenomenal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind that rubbed me the wrong way or that I wasn’t happy with. I felt like I was learning from them throughout the entire process, and I appreciated everything they did for the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go meet with them in their studio, get to know them, and see some of the projects they’ve worked on before. Make sure you convey your passion to them, and they will be able to absorb it and share it with you. That will really come through in the final show.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-owner and Marketing Director of CARONE an artisanal producer of wines and spirits. We focus on grape to glass production.

For what projects/services did your company hire IND Films?

We work exclusively with IND Films for all our photography and video production needs.

What were your goals for this project?

IND Films constantly surpasses our expectations and comes up with solutions when faced with challenges.

How did you select IND Films?

Through a referral.

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

We focus on promotional videos including sales, trade show, and production promotion videos in multiple languages. We worked together with IND Films from concept to pre-production, production and post.

What was your vendors' project management or feedback process?

We were completely satisfied with the processes.

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

We maintain our branding as a leader in the artisanal beverage industry in Canada.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Highly effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Very flexible and incredibly creative.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that I can think of. We continue to work exclusively with IND Films for all our videography/photography needs.