How to produce a corporate video.
…Fog lifting from the hollow ...
Close-up of the barns a few inches away from facade moving along the trim of the building edge so as not to reveal the whole shot yet…
Bird landing/taking off atop fence post
“WELCOME! To The Barns of Madison County – an authentic American experience” (text fades in and then out of scene)
Story telling through professional media (videography/film), is all the rave today, as we see the flood of corporate introduction, testimonial and promotion videos online. Many are a waste of time and expense and they don’t get watched because they either have the wrong message or look generic, uninteresting and just poorly done. They fail to show what is special about the topic and apply professional film practices to it, often leaving the viewer witnessing the interviewee’s painful experience of having to read queue cards up close, ouch!
And, we know it sounds like a cliché because it is one but it’s true – you generally get what you pay for, however, that being said, if you follow some key tips for your next “big shoot!” and you do it from an iPhone, we guarantee you it’ll look better than some corporate videos that cost thousands of dollars.
We like to approach video projects as if we’re going to produce an award-winning movie! You need a great script, actors, film-videographers, choreography, props, onsite crew, editing…well, you get the picture.
There are some different tactics you’ll want to think about depending on whether it’s a live event, corporate promotion or testimonial and whether it’ll be used in social media, paid ads, branded content or case studies. However, these simple tips will apply to all and will greatly help make your video a success:
- Set an overall objective
- Identify the problem
- Explain your solution in the most relevant and unique way
- Have a third party give testimony to the value proposition
- Establish a call-to-action
Lastly, and most importantly because we are a branding house first!, make sure you utilize a branding methodology to, strategically, help you connect your audience to your brand as an “experience.” This builds long-term advocacy and extends the shelf life of your video (marketing asset) and investment.
The following are two different types of professional video productions. One is titled ‘The Barns of Madison County’, a small business wedding venue promotion and the other is titled ‘BroadSoft (now CIsco Systems) – JW Marriott success story’, featuring the Marriott-owned hotelier, JW Marriott. Enjoy!
The Barns of Madison County – small business short film production
This wedding venue is just at the foot hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Madison County Virginia. At the time of the production, the venue operators wanted to capture their main attraction in a memorable way. Our challenge was that there were no other amenities to bring into the story, except the renovated beautiful old barns and so we really built a mystique story and creative around them.
- Shot in 4k and overhead drone
- Script w/Visual sequencing
- Voice over and some Adobe stock footage used
- Horses on the adjacent property were great actors!
- Sales enablement marketing asset
BroadSoft – JW Marriott Success Story – long corporate film production
BroadSoft and hospitality experts at Fourteen IP and the Voice Factory partnered to deliver a unique solution to the JW Marriott Venice – a European- ready hosted PBX solution especially tailored for the hospitality industry. The cloud-based solution is delivering five-star benefits to JW Marriott Venice and its guests.
- Director DP/Cinematographer, videographer, production assistant
- Strategy/planning, story boarding, shot list, script prep, interview prep, permits
- 4K cameras, lighting, drone
- Motion graphics, titles, intro & outro animations and graphic elements
- Hospitality sales enablement marketing asset
