Producing Videos for a Robotics Company

I’ve had the opportunity to fully produce a number of videos for a robotics automation company called NRTC Automation. They build robots for industrial assembly lines and reached out to me because they needed a series of promotional videos to showcase their technology.

I helped with pre-production, shot and directed on set, and edited the final video.

To film the project, we traveled to Alabama where NRTC’s demo factory is located. I brought my drone and flew it to capture overhead footage of the robots in action. It was a little nerve-wracking maneuvering so close to the equipment, but I got some great shots that added a high-energy feel to the video. While I was capturing those aerials, I also filmed ground-level footage using a gimbal.

After filming, I sourced a voiceover artist, selected music, and handled the entire post-production process. I think the videos turned out really well. If you’d like to see them, I’ve added them at the bottom of this post.

One challenge I ran into during this project was with the interviews. The managers the company selected to be on camera were not especially comfortable being filmed. In the first video, it worked out fine. I was able to cut the interview in a way that hides the subject’s discomfort, which is one of the advantages of using two cameras.

The second video was more difficult. The interviewee was extremely busy and only had 30 minutes to film. He was clearly nervous, and the warehouse we were filming in was hot, which caused him to sweat. Eventually, we had to write out a short script for him to read. In general, reading off paper is a last resort, and unfortunately, in the video it sounds like he’s reading. I did what I could in post to improve the delivery, but there’s only so much that can be done.

Despite those hurdles, I’m happy with how everything came together. Projects like this are a great example of how much problem-solving goes into video production and how much of the final product depends on adapting to whatever challenges come up on the day.