We've filmed hundreds of interviews over the years, and there's something that happens surprisingly often when we sit someone down in front of a camera and ask them to explain what their company does.

They suddenly start speaking an entirely different language - one that only people within the walls of their company have heard before.

A person who was perfectly conversational five minutes earlier starts telling us about their company's innovative solutions, unwavering commitment to excellence, and ability to leverage industry-leading expertise to deliver exceptional value.

Okay. But what do you actually do?

If you're looking for a video production company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, you have plenty of options. Boston and Cambridge have a huge creative community, and there are a lot of talented people making video here.

So rather than just telling you we're the best video production company in Cambridge and calling it a day, we think it's probably more useful to explain what we're actually good at, how we work, and the kinds of projects where Bunker Hill Media tends to be a particularly good fit.

We're a Boston-based video production company specializing in interview-driven, documentary-style brand content. We work with companies, nonprofits, healthcare organizations, agencies, and brands to create videos that feel polished without feeling overly produced. A lot of our work starts with real people sitting down in front of our cameras and telling us about something they genuinely know and care about.

That's also one of the reasons we love working in Cambridge.

If you've ever been on a video production set, you might wonder how we can spend an entire day - or sometimes several days - filming for a brand video that's ultimately only going to be three or four minutes long.

Where does all that footage go?

The answer is that we're not showing up to film three minutes of content. We're showing up to capture everything we might need to create the best three minutes of content. And those are two very different things.

A recent production we did with Hatch is a great example. The project included a three-to-four-minute brand video, a one-to-two-minute recruitment and culture video, and ten social cutdowns. To create those pieces, we spent three shoot days dedicated to B-roll alone and came home with roughly six hours of B-roll footage.

One of the questions that comes up constantly when we're preparing for an interview-driven production is whether the people appearing on camera should see their interview questions ahead of time.

Our answer is almost always yes.

In fact, at Bunker Hill Media, Boston’s leading video production company, we like to get interview questions to people as far in advance as we reasonably can. If we have them ready a week before the shoot, great. If we can get them out earlier, even better. We don't see much benefit in deliberately keeping someone in the dark about what we're going to ask when the entire purpose of the interview is to help them tell their story as clearly and confidently as possible.

When we start pre-production on a brand video, one of the first conversations we usually have with a client is about who should actually be on camera.

And pretty often, the instinct is to start at the top.

The CEO. The president. The founder. The executive director. Whoever has the biggest title must be the person who tells the company's story, right?

Not necessarily.

We've filmed a lot of interviews over the years, and one of the biggest things we've learned is that the best person on camera isn't always the most important person on the org chart. Sometimes it's the employee who's been there for 20 years. Sometimes it's the customer who absolutely loves what you do. Sometimes it's the technician who can talk about their job for an hour without running out of things to say.

When we're helping a client decide who should appear in a video, we're much less interested in someone's title than we are in a much simpler question:

Who is actually going to be great on camera?

One of our favorite things about working with a client for a second time around is that they understand the value of what video will bring to their team.

We've now had the chance to work with .babe on two different productions, and while both projects were built around the same brand, the stories we were trying to tell - and the way we approached telling them - were completely different.

Our first production was about showing what .babe actually looks like in people's lives. Our second was about sitting down with the people behind the company and understanding why it exists in the first place.

If you’re here, you’re probably, like me, super stoked for the lunar eclipse we’ll be able to see right here in Boston tonight. Or maybe my post is how you found out it was happening in the first place - in which case, welcome!

Fingers crossed the clouds hold off, because if they do, we should be in for a pretty incredible night. And since I know most of us will immediately pull out our phones and try to capture it, I wanted to put together a few simple tips that should help you actually nail your photos tonight.

You definitely don’t need a professional camera or a giant telephoto lens to come away with something cool. Your phone is more capable than you probably think-you just need to know how to help it out a little.

One of the hardest parts of making a brand video is deciding what not to put in it.

By the time we get through pre-production with a client, we usually have way more material than we could ever fit into a two- or three-minute video. There's the story of how the company started, the services they offer today, the people who work there, their customers, their values, the things that make them different, where they're headed next, and about a hundred other things that all feel important.

And they probably are important.

They just don't all belong in the same video.

At Bunker Hill Media, Boston’s best video production company for brand videos, we produce a lot of interview-driven brand films, and one of the biggest parts of our job is figuring out what the actual story is. A great brand video doesn't need to explain everything someone could possibly know about your company. In fact, trying to do that is usually what makes a brand video less interesting.

The goal isn't to finish a three-minute video knowing absolutely everything about a business. The goal is to finish it understanding who they are, why they matter, and why you might want to know more.

There are thousands of marketing videos online that are technically well made. They have beautiful lighting, expensive cameras, polished graphics, and professional editing. Yet somehow, they're completely forgettable.

Why?

Because the moment people realize they're being marketed to, they instinctively put their guard up.

That's one of the biggest reasons we approach brand videos differently at Bunker Hill Media, Boston’s best video production company. Our goal isn't to create something that feels like a commercial. It's to create something that feels like a story worth watching.

One of the first tasks filmmakers weigh out whenever Sony releases a new Cinema Line camera is simple:

How much does it cost?

The Sony FX5 starts at $4,899.99 for the body only or $5,499.99 when purchased with Sony's XLR audio handle. That places it squarely between the FX3A and the FX6, making it one of the more interesting cameras in Sony's lineup from a pricing perspective if you’re looking for what it has to offer.

Here's how the current Sony Cinema Line compares.

We've built our business around interview-driven brand videos, customer testimonials, documentaries, and corporate storytelling. After hundreds of productions with our FX3 and FX6, I honestly don't look at the FX5 and think, "We need that camera."

Could we make great work with it? Absolutely.

Do I think it's a better value than the FX3 for the way we shoot? Not really.

And once you're getting into FX5 pricing, I personally start looking at the FX6 instead. Sony's electronic variable ND filter has become such an important part of our workflow that it's hard for me to justify giving it up for features like Open Gate or internal RAW.

That's what makes cameras fun—there isn't one right answer.

With the official announcement of the Sony FX5, a lot of filmmakers are asking the same question: is it worth the upgrade?

This blog is going to be short and sweet and get right to the point… which of course if my opinion!

The answer depends almost entirely on what camera you're upgrading from and the kind of work you do.

If you're deciding between the Sony FX5 and the FX6, we actually think they're built for different filmmakers. The FX5 introduces incredible features like Open Gate recording, internal X-OCN RAW, and Triple Base ISO, but the FX6 still has one feature we wouldn't want to give up: Sony's electronic variable ND filter. We dive much deeper into that comparison in our Sony FX5 vs. Sony FX6 guide.

TLDR: When Sony announced the FX5, I immediately started comparing it to the cameras we actually use every week - the FX6 and the FX3.

After reading through everything Sony announced, my reaction wasn't "I need one." It was more like..."Huh...that's neat."

Don't get me wrong, the FX5 is packed with some impressive features. I completely understand why some filmmakers are excited about it. I just don't think it's a camera that's solving problems we actually have. The FX5 solves a lot of problems that we simply don't have, so while I think it'll be a fantastic camera for some people, it doesn't really fit into our workflow.

The FX5 has officially been announced - let’s talk about one of it’s best features - open gate recording!

When Sony officially announced the FX5, there were plenty of headline features that immediately caught filmmakers' attention. Internal X-OCN RAW recording. A brand-new fully stacked full-frame sensor. Three Base ISO settings. AI-powered autofocus. A Venice-inspired interface.

They're all exciting additions.

But if you asked us which feature will have the biggest impact on the way we actually work every day, our answer would probably be much simpler.