Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube daily. Many of these promote a product or service – often without the audience consciously realizing the pitch. Production of corporate videos has become a fine art in their own right. How to create the most sophisticated videos is the question every budding filmmaker has.
Have you noted how in the past decade, the video has slowly replaced text as the principal way in which we absorb information? This has been possible due to the huge price drop of video production as films faded and were replaced by electronic sensors and storage.
Corporate film makers have played a significant role in creating promotional and advertising films as well as documentaries that elevate the profile of a brand. The nicest one has to be the “Find Your Greatness” campaign by Nike a few years back.
The question is how to optimize corporate film production services to reach that stratospheric level. What comprises of value addition to the core message of your company. We discuss some suggestions.
Top Suggestions For Corporate Video Production
Embed the brand –
Your principal task is not a superb screenplay or to show off your cinematographic skills. These help, but the purpose is to place the brand front and center. This can be a challenging task for those who have graduated from film school and think in terms of narrative filmmaking.
What you have to do is tell the story in terms of the brand. Imagine whatever you create – from a short 30 second YouTube advertisement to a 60-minute full-length documentary for Nat Geo’s Ultimate Factories as the biography of a brand.
Transmit the message –
Every brand stands for something – Nike for fitness, Mercedes for quality, Ford for affordable ruggedness. The message of the brand has to be the narrative. This is not very easy to put across subtly, and that is why high-class copywriting and screenplay have a considerable role.
Again the message would vary depending not only with the brand but with purpose. Is the video about disseminating information, indirect promotion, education, customer awareness, motivation, acquiring new customers? Depending on each of these clusters, the message would have to be fine-tuned.
Make it all about emotions –
The audience does not remember individual frames but the overall drama. What do you intend the audience to feel – happy, sad, contemplative, empowered, motivated, or a combination of these? Capable corporate film makers can tap into a whole host of emotions but never allow a feeling that is not associated with the brand to arise. Grab eyeballs, but talk to the heart is the mantra of successful corporate film production services.
Control the pace –
Don’t make the audience fall asleep. But don’t make their heartbeat too fast either. Since videos are a powerful medium, control the pace of the story with a firm hand. This actually rests on a tripod with the story, filming, editing all playing an equally important role. Thankfully in corporate videos, the products are the actors and do not contribute much to the pace.
Concluding Thoughts
A good corporate video is not easier to create than a great film or documentary. In fact, due to the lack of actors, it is harder. A well-executed video could lead to lots of leads and increase sales. They are an essential tool in the arsenal that a marketer and product manager have to increase interest in the product.