"Can you see that?" Jonas said. "That's what it looks like in the monitor."

Jonas wasn't talking to someone in the back row of the theater. He was talking to a marketing official for IBM who was brought into the project from San Francisco through the FaceTime app that allows real-time teleconferencing so Green Ink clients can watch a video production as it happens.

"This is looking really good," the IBM official could be heard saying after the first of the shoots had been completed.

On the Garde stage, three actors from New York City had been engaged in a lively presidential debate-style scenario in which a new IBM product was pitted against "the other guys." Two lecterns were set up on either side of a moderator's table in front of a giant projection for a would-be news channel called ENN. 

For Green Ink, using local space at the Garde and other nearby venues is an affordable option that it has turned to as clients look for more bang for their buck in corporate videos. Green Ink, co-owned by Alan "Chip" Green and Gary Schaefer, also has been tapping into a pool of local acting and technical talent to supplement professionals from New York.

The result is that Green Ink has gone to a leaner approach, reducing a staff that once numbered between 14 and 17 to only five full-timers and a nearly equal number of nearly full-timers. On any given day, however, Green estimates about 20 people are working on various company projects, some as far away as India and China.

"It was really a matter of recognizing that by creating this hard layered bureaucracy we were actually diluting our ability to serve our clients really well," Green said in explaining the need to get leaner.

Green said he recognized the key to his company's success has been its creativity rather than technical proficiency, so that is what he has been focusing on with his core employees. And he has found plenty of partners, including the Old Lyme-based animation company Killer Minnow, Sonalyst Studios in Waterford and the New London video production company Astor Place, to help with the technical details.

"It really comes down to the talent," Green said. "They're pushing the envelope with every project."

Green said the key to staying fresh in the corporate video field is looking for something different in each new shoot. For instance, earlier this year the company created a video titled "Hacked" that used a cinematic approach to selling IBM's data-security abilities — a story that has seen more than 50,000 plays on YouTube. Soon, Green Ink is planning a new take by using a Star Wars-type scenario for another IBM advertisement that is being dubbed "Space Skirmish."

"Novelty is really what's ruling the Internet and social media," Green said. "It's a much more dynamic, fluid environment."

And Green Ink's ability to tap into local actors — for the debate production at the Garde including Groton City Clerk Betsy Moukawsher and Desmond Harris — has made a difference, too. Nathan Caron, former city clerk who spent some time in New York and Los Angeles pursuing an acting career before returning to New London, is helping out with the casting.

And local venues are taking center stage in some of the productions, including New London Harbour Towers, the Crocker House and Starr Street. Working with local talent at local sites has cut costs and production time as well.

"These are not small, but they are definitely not Hollywood budgets," Green said. "We are able to do high-end agency-quality work for a fraction of what we might be paying in New York."

l.howard@theday.com

Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow

"We've moved toward a freelance model," said Alan "Chip" Green Jr., co-owner of Green Ink with partner Gary Schaefer.