For most brands and organizations, video isn’t the problem.

The problem is what happens after the video is made.

Great videos are launched with energy, shared a few times, and then quietly disappear — without clear data, without measurable impact, and without contributing meaningfully to long-term goals. This is where AI can change the equation, not by replacing creative work, but by turning video into a system.

After months of planning and preparation, we’re thrilled to share that Sticks & Holler — our Appalachian dark comedy TV pilot written and directed by Willie Simmons and co-produced by Stoop Kids and Benco Productions — has officially wrapped principal photography!

In his book Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy wrote about the selling power of testimonial commercials. To him, having a real person, or a convincing actor, speak persuasively about a product or service could shift brand perception and drive sales. Decades later, marketing has evolved in almost every way. Social media dominates attention, short-form video is king, and consumer trust is more fragmented than ever.

In film making, camera movement isn’t just a stylistic choice—it’s a language. A fluid tracking shot, a slow push-in, a swish pan —all these motions speak to the viewer, guiding their attention, shaping emotion, and enhancing meaning. For artists and filmmakers, understanding how and why to move the camera can be as important as the script or the performance.

At its best, movement feels invisible—so seamless that the audience doesn’t notice it, only what it evokes. But behind every great moving shot is intent.

So… Let’s break down the reasons behind camera movement.

In the world of Severance, nothing is accidental—not even the camera angles. The hit Apple TV+ series created by Dan Erickson and directed in part by Ben Stiller is a masterclass in psychological storytelling. With its eerie tone, minimal dialogue, and sterile corporate aesthetic, Severance doesn’t just tell a story—it constructs a world. And at the heart of that world-building is framing.

In a bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina, I stumbled upon a coffee table book that pulled me deep into the kind of world I often find myself chasing in movies and art—Futuria: Art of the Sci-fi Age. It’s a curated collection of illustrated universes imagined by digital artists using tools like Photoshop, Procreate, and Blender. The book is structured around three “portals,” or visual genres: the neon-drenched chaos of Cyberpunk, the weathered desolation of the Post-apocalyptic, and a more clinical, utopian Artificial future. For me, the first two hit hardest.

In an age where attention is fleeting and audiences are increasingly immune to traditional advertising, the most effective brand stories are the ones that don’t feel like marketing at all. They feel like cinema. And not just any cinema—but the kind that stays with you, that dares to be gritty, intentional, and emotionally resonant. The kind of storytelling A24 has mastered.

In today’s saturated digital landscape, brands are constantly looking for ways to stay top of mind without overwhelming their audiences. One of the most enduring and strategic principles for managing content comes from Ogilvy & Mather: the idea of stock and flow. While it’s often attributed to the world of digital publishing, Ogilvy & Mather applied this concept masterfully to advertising content long before it became a buzzword in content marketing.

As they say, sometimes it just makes sense… even when it doesn’t. That, in a nutshell, is the magic of 'girl math.' If you’ve spent even a few minutes on TikTok or Instagram lately, you’ve likely stumbled across this playful phenomenon—where buying something on sale is technically saving money and returning an item feels like earning it back. On the surface, 'girl math' is lighthearted fun, but dig a little deeper, and you’ll find a fascinating intersection of psychology and consumer behavior.

Until now, people have been incredibly accurate when distinguishing AI-generated faces from human faces.  However, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) is making it possible to create synthetic human faces that are closer and closer to being true to life (photorealistic), so much so that it's incredibly hard to spot the difference.