penguin random house operations
Watch This 360 Video: How Our Books Travel Through Crawfordsville
February 7, 2018
Our Penguin Random House Digital Video Team has produced a 360 video that shows, in a dynamic way, how books travel through our Crawfordsville, Indiana distribution center. “There is so much that happens to get a book into the marketplace and everyone here is part of that,” says Annette Danek, Senior Vice President of Fulfillment, who narrates the video. “Our 1,700 employees take so much pride in delivering our books with speed, accuracy and in pristine condition to our customers.”
The producer of the video, Lydia Cornett, Associate Video Producer, Digital Publishing Development, says, “360 video is great for immersing a viewer in a place, and Penguin Random House’s Crawfordsville Fulfillment Center seemed like a particularly exciting location to do this.”
Annette offers this insight: “Lydia and I met, and I explained what we do here in the Distribution Center and I learned about what she wanted to film. We have two different facilities so when I realized that it was a 360 degree camera I knew that we had to film in Crawfordsville as the elevations and the video path would be so much better in there due to the slight differences in conveyor design. I then had to convince Lydia to make the trip to Crawfordsville! Once Lydia got the approvals I put her in touch with Lori Dereza (Vice President, Crawfordsville Operations) to schedule the filming. Mark Wollenberg (Assistant Director, Crawfordsville Fulfillment) did a test for us by taping a camera to a carton riding the conveyor, sorter, and fork trucks. Then we planned out the sequence for the filming.”
“To make a 360 video,” says Lydia, “it’s important to create a shot list and think about where to position the camera so that it’s in the middle of the most action. Since the camera records in 360 degrees, you also have to get into the habit of pressing record and leaving the space so you’re not in the shot. I also incorporated voiceover as a way to understand what was happening in each scene. Annette did an awesome job with explaining the process!”
Annette says, “The end product is awesome and I’m excited to explore how we can use this technology again! We can use this video to help explain the warehouse operations to new employees.” Her favorite part? “I have always wanted to ride the conveyor systems, and through this video I was able to do that.”
Watch the Crawfordsville 360 video (For optimal viewing resolution click the gear icon in the lower right hand corner of the YouTube viewing screen, and change ‘Quality’ to the highest number. To get the full experience use Chrome or Firefox)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYRzcSkY0TE
Annette offers this insight: “Lydia and I met, and I explained what we do here in the Distribution Center and I learned about what she wanted to film. We have two different facilities so when I realized that it was a 360 degree camera I knew that we had to film in Crawfordsville as the elevations and the video path would be so much better in there due to the slight differences in conveyor design. I then had to convince Lydia to make the trip to Crawfordsville! Once Lydia got the approvals I put her in touch with Lori Dereza (Vice President, Crawfordsville Operations) to schedule the filming. Mark Wollenberg (Assistant Director, Crawfordsville Fulfillment) did a test for us by taping a camera to a carton riding the conveyor, sorter, and fork trucks. Then we planned out the sequence for the filming.”
“To make a 360 video,” says Lydia, “it’s important to create a shot list and think about where to position the camera so that it’s in the middle of the most action. Since the camera records in 360 degrees, you also have to get into the habit of pressing record and leaving the space so you’re not in the shot. I also incorporated voiceover as a way to understand what was happening in each scene. Annette did an awesome job with explaining the process!”
Annette says, “The end product is awesome and I’m excited to explore how we can use this technology again! We can use this video to help explain the warehouse operations to new employees.” Her favorite part? “I have always wanted to ride the conveyor systems, and through this video I was able to do that.”
Watch the Crawfordsville 360 video (For optimal viewing resolution click the gear icon in the lower right hand corner of the YouTube viewing screen, and change ‘Quality’ to the highest number. To get the full experience use Chrome or Firefox)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYRzcSkY0TE