For each of the past several years, we’ve made a conscious effort to increase the amount of videos we produce. And 2018 was the year of the video at northforker.com.
We not only launched our Northforker TV concept, but we published more than a half-dozen series’ of videos and also worked with a handful of local businesses to create promotional videos that seemed to be big hits with our audience.
So this year, as I went back and reviewed our content from 2018, which also included 10 magazines and a dozen podcast episodes, I found myself rewatching a lot of our videos from the year.
Here’s my 10 favorite of the year, for those of you who might have missed some of them.
10. Fast Chat: Jess Morris
When our fast chat series is filmed, I purposely make sure I’m not in the room, because I feel so nervous for the participants. They’re definitely put in the hot seat, asked a series of questions they might not be entirely prepared to answer. Somehow they always come out looking charismatic, personable and fun. That was certainly the case with Jess, who had just the right level of sassiness to her interview. The series is sponsored by Sheri Winter Clarry.
9. Historic Places: Hallockville Museum Farm
When we set out to make this series of videos, which is sponsored by Heidtmann & Sons, Inc. Builders, we didn’t initially intend to have people mic’d up for any of them. But Hallockville Museum Farm executive director Herb Strobel is so knowledgable and entertaining about the property, we had to let him lead the tour a bit.
8. Inside Island’s End Golf and Country Club
This is the first video from our Times Review Partners team — which creates video content for our advertisers, in this case Island’s End — to crack the list. It did so mainly because of how proud I am of the opening sequence. With some of our video projects we conceptualize relatively elaborate shot sequences, but few are executed as well as this one.
7. One Minute at Hulse Landing Beach
After more than two years, we decided to end our “One Minute” series this year and I instantly missed it. My favorite of 2018 came from Hulse Landing beach in Wading River, one of the very best places to catch a sunset in Riverhead Town.
6. Planning a perfect North Fork winter getaway
This video, which our Partners team created for Tanger Outlet Center, was a lot of fun to produce. The best part might have been the meetings where our staff sat around conceptualizing and trying to do so in a way that made sense for someone looking to actually replicate it. This video is also once again relevant as winter has arrived.
5. Some of the finest boats are built and restored on the North Fork
The first of two videos from our Working Waterfront series to crack this list, I really enjoyed witnessing the craftsmanship that goes into “some of the finest boats” out there. To see this work done here on the North Fork was particularly powerful. This video was made possible by a sponsorship from Greenport BID.
4. Braun Seafood Co. is selling your next must-have party item
This is the closest thing to a commercial our Partners team produced this year and I just loved making it. It was a perfect pairing of a local business, Braun Seafood Co., looking to introduce a new product to the community and an audience that wanted to consume it. We were told the phone rang off the hook at Braun the day we published this video. My only regret was not buying one of these myself this year.
3. Capt. Mark Phillips and the Illusion, the last of its kind
Doing a documentary-style video on an offshore fisherman is not without its challenges. In a perfect world, we would have the resources to send a crew out for weeks at a time with Phillips to capture life at sea. But his story still played well close to home, where he is truly among the last of a dying breed on the North Fork. We’re greatly appreciative of the advertising support from Century 21 Albertson Realty to make this and many of our other videos come to life this year.
2. Northforker TV: Episode 1
It occurred to us late last year that it would be fun for us to take a sample of the video work we had been creating across all the areas we cover — from food to drinks to real estate and the outdoors — and package it as one long-form episode. We still pushed the videos out as individual pieces of content, but not until after the full episode was published each time. I particularly enjoyed this first episode, a real labor of love for all of us, which was made possible by support from Century 21 Albertson Realty, Green Hill Kitchen, Raphael, Cheese & Spice Market, Fisher Signs & Shirts and Tanger Outlet Center.
1. Northforker TV: The future is female at Bedell
A standalone video from our Northforker TV team, I just absolutely loved this piece on the female cellar crew at Bedell Cellars in Cutchogue. Great sequence at the start, followed by some thoughtful interviews and a powerful message overall. Makes me want to raise a glass to the folks at Bedell and the year 2018!
