Friday, March 19, 2010

Tips to Producing Corporate Videos

When planning for a corporate video there are a number of questions to ask yourself before you start the script writing.

1) Who is the intended audience? What do they look like, male, female, age, education etc. How will they receive a video? Perhaps a brochure or a one on one is a better training tool. If you are still convinced that a video is the best way to proceed then ask yourself the next question.
2) What does your audience need to know? People will always ask the question what’s in it for me? So if your audience senses that watching a video and learning from it are important to their job, career, or livelihood; they are vested and will listen and watch intensively. Remember, it is not what you want to say or show in the video but it is really all about the viewer.
3) What format for the video is best for my audience? The format can be constructed in many ways. Interview style, news format, a tour, an overview of reinforcing bullet points and recaps. What is popular these days on the internet is realistic, almost clandestine amateur looking video. Most advertising gurus know this and have actually produced some highly effective amateur looking video; made to look natural like some regular guy shot it, but of course the power of Madison Ave. is behind them.

Once you have answered the above questions and understand the planning phase of a corporate video, the next step involves the scripting phase

4) Now you can move to the scripting phase. I always suggest to my customers to jot down concepts on a blank sheet of paper [Here is an idea for educating bank tellers how to count money: take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of it on the right side is where the script or the ideas are written down; on the opposite side is where you would write down what you want to show when those words are being said: a video shot showing teller in front of client counting money.] It is best to quickly write down your ideas, the actual words of the script can come later. Try to get others to contribute ideas and concepts that should be covered in the video.
5) Prioritize those thoughts. simply number in order, then begin the scripting phase. You can do this yourself or you can hire a professional who does this all the time. The difference in the script will be amazing, and could be the difference if the video is effective or not. An option our company suggests is that the client writes the script and then let our wordsmiths clean it up and add the polish needed.
6) Remember every script (video) must have an objective. What do you want to accomplish? In our bank example we want to train tellers the proper way to count money. How will we be able to tell if the video is effective?

Follow these guidelines and you will have the bases of a great video.


Steve Kosch, President The Video Editor, Inc. Newport Beach

2 comments:

  1. And don't forget to add lots of spinning video cubes !

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  2. You've been asked to produce a corporate video, and it's your first time. That panicked feeling is perfectly normal. Corporate Video Production London

    ReplyDelete