About

My name is Matthew Stokes, and I love making videos.

Ever since I was a young child, I was always fascinated by the moving image of films, TV – and then having the opportunity to use my father’s cine camera to capture many moments of my childhood. This evolved into a home video camera, not only capturing family memories, but also making my own home movies, animations of toys, some pretty cringe-inducing comedy sketches, and even magic shows. After studying Business and Marketing for 2 years, I studied corporate video and TV production at university, learning from TV producers that had made the programmes I watched as a child.  I was very happy behind the camera, and loved to learn about how to make great content, from a practical and artistic point of view.

Why corporate video production?

During my studies I helped start a software distribution company which grew very rapidly, and threw me into the deep end of the business world.  Marketing was a large part of my role, and working with the likes of Microsoft and Symantec alongside small business customers gave me a wealth of knowledge. Understanding what drives target markets and sales were critical skills which I honed over several years.

All the time, I still had the passion for being behind the camera. I started to combine these skills with my business knowledge to create my own corporate video production company. I saw an increase in the availability and use of video online, and the opportunity this provided businesses and the marketing world. I was also seeing some pretty dreadful videos, and knew I could do a much better job!

What type of videos do you make?

Captive8 Media was born, specialising in creating high quality video content, at a competitive cost. It was exciting to have the opportunity to combine the skills learnt to date to find clients, and to create video content. The element I loved the most was the diversity of clients from the very beginning from football trainers, to lease hire; aggregates supplies to hypnotherapists. They all had in common a desire to engage their audience, and in turn drive sales. One of my most exciting moments early on was seeing a video I had created for a client a year earlier being featured on a shopping TV channel – and then being repeated constantly for many months.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I have always loved meeting people, hearing their story, and finding the best way to capture it on video. The best feedback I can ask for (and often gets given) is that people find it very easy to be on camera and to be interviewed by me.  We were busy creating marketing videos, training content, animation, social media videos and more. We then began to create a specialist skill in creating videos for companies exhibiting at trade shows, initially in London, then around the UK and now we provide coverage at hundreds of exhibitions and trade shows all over the world.

What is your favourite type of video project?

Over time, customer testimonial videos grew more and more popular, and are one of my favourite videos for me to be personally involved in. I get to visit and film businesses all over the world, talking to business owners, learning about diverse industries and as a by-product becoming a bit of an expert in a lot of random topics! What I don’t know about direct to garment printers isn’t worth knowing (thanks to Kornit, one of our regular large clients). I also love seeing the viewing numbers ramping up on client videos we have produced – meaning not only is the content good, but people are engaging with it – which is ultimately what “it’s” all about!

What is next for the company?

Im a bit of a control freak – I like being involved at all stages of a corporate video production project. From speaking to new clients, discussing their aspirations, coming up with ideas and solutions, filming the content on location, and then seeing the project all come together in the edit. The final cherry on the cake is the customer feedback and reviews we often receive.  I am so proud of our 100% record of 5 star review on Google, highlighting our desire to go above and beyond our client expectations, leading many to work with us time after time. Whilst the growth of the company over the years has been wonderful, I won’t let the company grow to a stage where I don’t have the same involvement at every stage of working with clients. That is what I enjoy, and the reason I started Captive8 Media.