Fast Company: Using Your Ears to See Your Corporate Video

Are you using your ears to "see" your company's video story?

If not, check out my new Fast Company riff.

I'll show you five ways sound can help you "see" your next corporate video story.

---Tom

Fast Company: Use Your Ears to Find Your Corporate Video Story

How to Work with a Producer to Get Groovy Video

"You have a recurring nightmare: the Corporate Video Express train is
in the station with your competitors on it, and you’re running along the
platform trying to jump on, watching it pull away from you."

Don't you just love that metaphor?

It comes from this special edition of "ContentWise" on using corporate videos effectively. ContentWise newsletters are published monthly from McMurry.

I'm delighted to tell you I am featured in this beautifully designed, interactive PDF newsletter.

And beautiful, it is!

This 16-page special edition is packed with cool tips to successfully integrate video into your corporate communications.

My chapter is titled, "Dance Lessons: How to Work with a Producer to Get Groovy Video." (Gotta love that title!) The segment covers how to pick a personable producer, budgeting and ensuring a client has the resources to pull of a video.

Here's a snapshot of what's inside:

• It's story time: Case study

• Video is not about you: It's about your customers

• Dance lessons: How to work with a producer to get groovy video (featuring, yours truly!)

• Video scripts for dumm--er, writers: The surprisingly simple basics of crafting a video script

• Employees at the helm

• DIY videos: Are you really ready to produce your own?

When I saw the "Video is not about you" title, I almost fell over! Regular readers know I've frequently written about the power of the video stories for organizations so I was thrilled to see others share this point of view, as well.

Feel like the "corporate video train" is leaving the station without you?

Well, get on board!

Whether you're an expert or newbie in the world of corporate videos, this practical newsletter will give you plenty to think about and share with your team. You'll walk away with tips and ideas you can easily integrate into your next video project.

I want to express my deepest thanks to the folks at McMurry for accurately capturing my voice and philosophy in the corporate video arena. Thanks, folks!

---Tom

P.S. Like this post? See the "Share Article" button below? Go ahead and hit it. Oh, yeah, and share it!

How to Work with a Producer to Get Groovy Video

Bringing Brands to Life! Turns 2 Today

A heartfelt "thank you" goes out to everyone who shared their voice in making this site the success it is. Never in my dreams would I have imagined being where I am today. For that, I am quite thankful.

Second year round-up for "Bringing Brands to Life!"

• I recently started writing for Fast Company as one of their Expert Bloggers. I've wanted to write for Fast Company for as long as I can remember. The wait is over! Catch my column, "Let's See That Again!" to learn more ways you can breathe life into your company's video.

• Seth Godin features my Squidoo lens, "Corporate Video & Remarkable Storytelling" in his "Joy of Squidoo" ebook. (You had to peel me off the ceiling when I found out! Thanks, again, Seth.)

• I made it onto the AdAge Power150 list. (The crowd goes wild!)

• The Smithsonian Channel airs "The Men Who Brought the Dawn," after digging it out of the Smithsonian Institution's vault. I co-produced this documentary in 1995. It originally aired worldwide to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the atomic missions to Japan. The story is told through the voices of the airmen who flew the missions.

• "My 22 Best On-Camera Interviewing Tips Ever" is featured on Lifehacker. This post is still my most successful post ever, creating my biggest traffic day ever! Tons of fabulous comments were shared so be sure to check this one out.

• Guy Kawasaki's "Alltop" site features this site twice. First, in Alltop's "Small Business" area and again in the "Branding" page. Yup. We kick, for sure.

• "It's That Simple: How smart people in smart companies use real video stories to create real emotional connections" is my second contribution to "The Age of Conversation" book series.

• "Is Corporate Video Art?" Who really knows but it was a fun question I threw out just to see what folks thought. You got to check out the incredible range of responses to my question on Linkedin "Answers" forum.

Fun and interesting interviews I gave on the power of corporate videos, story, branding and lots more.

• My dear friend Phil Gerbyshak of "Make it Great" and I talked about who inspires me, blogs I read, how I got started as a corporate filmmaker and more.

• Dan Schawbel at Personal Branding blog asked me about professional production quality vs. blogger video quality, how I've branded myself, brands that need help coming to life, etc.

• The National Networker captured a unique angle on my blogging history as a corporate filmmaker.

• Scott Andrews and I had fun on his TalkShoe podcast. We covered the myths of corporate videos, successful interviewing techniques, the importance and role language plays in corporate videos and tons more!

• Geoff Livingston at BuzzBin asked me how long it took me to feel confident as a director, what do I think of the flood of amateur videos and a few more interesting questions.

• About the same time as Geoff's interview happened, Wayne Hurlbert interviewed me on his popular BlogTalkTadio program. Wayne covered a wide range of issues including employees as storytellers; why hiring a professional director for your company's video is a good idea; are messages from companies becoming more inspirational? And a whole lot more!

This blog has naturally become an extension of my work. Thanks for exploring the journey with me.

Have ideas for future posts? Drop me a note or leave a comment here.

Let's rock even more next year, OK?

---Tom

"Bringing Brands to Life!" Turns 2 Today

Can Your Company’s Video Story Change a Life?

Do you remember the exact moment you knew what you wanted to do for the rest of your life?

I do. It happened while watching a video. It took exactly seven minutes.

•    Cut to 1984

Hot off the heels of two communication degrees, my workday was a mix of entry-level activities; pulling cables, loading gear into vans, clipping on mic’s, getting lunch for the crew, and so forth. I was a kid trying to break into an incredibly competitive field.

It’s 8:00 pm. Tuesday night. 75 aspiring filmmakers are huddled in one room for three hours to network and watch a film followed by a discussion with the director.

After networking, we watched a seven-minute fund-raising film for a non-profit hospital. I was captivated. It inspired. It educated. It dispelled myths. It featured “real people.” It was emotional. It worked.

As the show faded to black, my calling in life was handed to me. In those seven minutes, I knew I was going to inspire and educate others by producing these types of stories on video for organizations. I discovered the power of personal stories.

I was changed. Forever.

•    Cut to 2008

It’s now been 24 years since I watched that video. I have been incredibly fortunate to produce and direct hundreds of amazing stories for remarkable organizations of every type and size. Most of the stories have one thing in common; people sharing how they see the world in ways that can help and inspire others.

It’s not about making a video. It’s about discovering and capturing your story in a way that naturally connects you to your audience.

It sounds simple. But do you know how your organization can communicate its story, brand or message through video in a way that is clear, authentic, compelling and entertaining? And solve a business issue?

That’s what we’ll tackle here. We’ll also learn how you can use video to:
•    raise brand awareness
•    help attract the right employees
•    share corporate culture and values
•    dispel long-standing myths
•    launch new initiatives
•    and lots more.

The upcoming posts will cover three highly effective video approaches:
1.    Documentary
2.    Green-screen
3.    EyeLiner

You can easily use these styles to capture your story so that it feels “real” to your audience and not contrived.

When designing your next video, perhaps you can start imagining how your story might change a life as it “fades to black.”

After all, it is possible. 

---Tom

P.S. Originally posted on Tom's FastCompany.com column, "Let's See That Again!"

Pitching New Business: 3 Interesting Questions I Love Asking

I'll be presenting my corporate films to a large company in a few hours.

These presentations are always fun; I get to meet new people, learn about their industry and find out if we have any common interests. In general, I get to inspire people to incorporate video stories into their communications efforts.

But as I prepare for these presentation, I have so many questions I might want to ask.

In the end, here are my three favorite questions I enjoy asking to stimulate the conversation and establish common ground for everyone.

Maybe you can use them when thinking about your own corporate film.

1. Why video?
If we can understand what the video intends to capture that other media has a hard time capturing, then this insight becomes a framework for all of us to use. It uniquely positions the video. As a producer/director, this is extremely helpful.

2. "Video" means a lot of different things to people. What does "video" mean to you?
Context is important. Talking about concepts and intangibles become a little more focused when people share what they mean. Is "video" the story? The visual techniques? The emotions? The context of what "video" means becomes significant. We can place the video in relationship to other things. What "video" means to me may be different to what it means to you.

3. Why now?
This tells us the back-story. Is it the first time incorporating video? Is there
a new initiative requiring video? Have other videos been successful? Not so successful? Is competition a factor? Is it time to up-date the old video? What's the saying? "Timing is everything!"

Thanks and have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

---Tom

Pitching New Business: 3 Interesting Questions I Love Asking