Seven Tips on Making
a Successful Video Production
Producing a video for your company
can be an exciting and potentially stressful experience. There’s
more to it than simply assigning a video production company
to the task and crossing your fingers.To get the most from your
video production dollars, we’ll take a look at seven top
tips for making your corporate video a success.
1. Start with Results. The first step is to work out exactly
what you want your video to achieve. Is it to train staff on
a new procedure or is to increase interest at trade shows? Design
your video concept around the desired result. Often clients
get caught up with showing off their company that the main message
gets lost.
2. Write a brief. Once you know what you want to achieve, work
out what you want to show and explain in your video. Formulate
a brief that specifies your objectives, target audience, the
countries your video will be viewed in and any required languages.
A list of all the shots that you need is also helpful. Will
the bulk of the shots be at your premises and do you need your
CEO to talk to camera? Video production companies will try to
calculate how many days filming are required to work out the
cost, so it’s important to know how much needs to be filmed
at the outset.
3. Know your image. What sort of image do you want to present
to your customers? While watching your corporate video, your
customers will be left with an impression of what type of business
you are and what to expect when doing business with you. If
your television program happens to be radically down-market
than your up-market product suggests, then you create cognitive
dissonance in your prospects. This will mean that your viewers
will be left with an uneasy feeling that something isn't quite
right with your company and will automatically distrust your
message. To avoid this, make sure the quality of production
reflects the quality of your product/service. This can involve
using a professional camera operator with broadcast quality
gear to having a graphic artist design maps and titles.
4. Messages. One of the key areas to work out is what communication
messages you need to get across. Work out the 4-6 key messages
and develop the video around these. If you have too many messages
people will tune out. Essentially, make sure you give information
that your audience wants to know (not what you think they ought
to know).
5. Script. The script provides the backbone to any video project.
It’s always worthwhile spending extra time refining the
script. As a rule of thumb, it needs to be completed before
any filming begins. The best kind of script is short and sharp
and revolves around your main messages. The quicker you can
get your message across, the better the result. Avoid putting
everything into the script, as wall to wall voiceover is quite
tiring (and boring) to watch.
6. Assign a contact person. A designated person from your firm
will need to be available to work with the video production
company. The production house will need script information and
approval, help in organising shoots, copies of your logo and
other relevant materials and someone to view a draft of the
video and then finalise. This person will also need to make
sure that the look and feel of the video best represents your
company.
7. Get expert advice. A good production company will be able
to advise you on the best format for your needs such as the
music, the filming, editing style and how the schedule will
run. They will also be able to take your brief and come back
with a range of suitable suggestions. Don’t stress about
the technical issues. That’s the job of your producer.
(c) Marie-Claire Ross 2005. All rights reserved.Marie-Claire
Ross is one of the partners of Digicast. Digicast works with
organisations who are not satisfied that their marketing and
training materials are helping their business grow. She can
be contacted at mc@digicast.com.au. The website is at http://www.digicast.com.au
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