Shooting corporate videos can come with a somewhat dry reputation. The connotations that generally arise with producing a video to promote a business tend to be that the video will be one or all of the following:
Boringly informative
Painfully self serving (non self deprecating)
Stylistically sterile
Out of date
To use a comedic cultural touchstone, think of the training video David Brent screens in ‘The Office’. They seem, in our heads, to be stuck in a 1980s corporate vision of video production. One in which, at the advent of home video, the very fact that something is being filmed and screened on a TV in your place of work should be enough to inspire awe. The pervading feeling seems to be that video production was so expensive, so serious, and so time consuming that there was no time to think about making it funny, irreverent, or anything else that detracts from the route 1 message.
Today, as we know, is different. The marauding two headed monolith that is internet videos and the ability to stream almost anywhere on almost anything, has contributed to a rapidly declining attention span. This ongoing revolution has sparked vicious debate regarding the future of television programming as we know it… but that is DEFINITELY a subject for another blog. For now, when producing corporate content, you need to just bear this in mind.
One of the more popular tools used by businesses to engage is to emulate or borrow from trends and viral videos of the moment. You need to decide if this is advisable. Are you producing a quick, reactive video that is DESIGNED to go on social media? If so, then yes it probably is a good shout. Are you shooting a training video or promotional piece that the client wants to be able to use for at least the next year or two? If so, then a video containing the latest hilarious Facebook craze is probably not advisable. Remember the ice bucket challenge? Whatever side of the fence you come down on with that particular craze, imagine if you were looking for a new exciting company to provide a product or service for you. Now imagine their cover video on their website is a humorous send up of a social media craze that went the way of the dinosaurs about a year ago. Still think they are bang up to date?
The one thing that will never go ‘out of fashion’ in the YouTube generation is GET THEIR ATTENTION QUICK. Think. When you want to watch a popular video on YouTube, more often than not it will now begin with an advert. A button appears at the bottom right of the screen saying ‘Skip this ad in 5…’. FIVE SECONDS. How many times have you been engaged enough to not skip that ad? That is the benchmark.
There are plenty of tools at your disposal to make something more immediately engaging, and too many to list in one single blog, but hopefully this has given you something to think about when starting a corporate. Think about your shots. Is this the most interesting way to see what you are shooting? Think about the opening line. Is this DEFINITELY the most arresting way to open a dialogue? Do your research. Watch videos and adverts that have gone viral. See what they do and how they keep your attention.
Again, everything depends on the client and the product you are supplying, but as content producers, when relevant, you should always think of the wider audience.