3 Steps to Make Your Corporate Video Jump Off the Screen!

I've seen them. You've seen them.

Boring, unemotional videos from companies.

You roll your eyes, look at the clock and check yourself out.

If branding is about creating emotional experiences and connections between you and your audience, it's no wonder boring corporate videos haven't been an integral part of the branding conversation.

But now it's your turn. You've been charged to produce a video for your company. Perhaps you need to tell your product story or service story.

But you have a small problem: you're not a filmmaker and you don't know anyone who is. You're also not sure what ingredients are needed to go into a memorable film. What do you do?

Discover a hero who overcomes a problem that changes the world.

Here are three simple and easy things you can incorporate into your video to make your brand story jump off the screen and into your customer's hearts.

1. DISCOVER A HERO.

Every corporate video needs a "face" or a "hero" to provide a point of view. Without a hero, your audience is easily confused. Your hero should be someone your viewers can identify with; someone they can quickly feel connected to.

In "Elements of Persuasion," Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman share the role of the hero as one who "grounds" the audience.

Where do you discover your heroes? Right under your nose!

Say for example, Human Resources needs a film. If the goal of your video story is to attract and retain top talent, then discover three or four employees whose personal story reflects those stories of potential candidates whom you want to attract to your company. Those three or four personal stories are actually holograms; tiny slivers of the larger talent pool you are seeking.

2. SHOW ME A DRAGON!

The single biggest issue facing your corporate video is the lack of emotions. How do you generate an emotional response from an employee, or hero, in your film?

Easy. Find a dragon. Ask, "What's at stake?" Every hero needs a dragon or an obstacle to overcome. Without it, your viewers will secretly be wishing for it. Besides, they probably won't talk about it because the story is "sugar-coated."

Following our HR example, let's say one of your heroes:

• Discovers a medical condition limiting their career opportunities.

• Discovers the future business of a large client is at stake.

• Discovers they are overwhelmed with their new job; perhaps it wasn't the right job.

• Discovers their project funding is being severely cut.

While each "dragon" takes a different shape and form, your hero creates an emotional response for your audience in each situation. That is exactly what you audience is hungry for!

3. REVEAL A TRANSFORMATION.

Whether the dragon has been successfully defeated or not, does not matter. What matters is that your audience gains a deeper appreciation of your hero. They now understand the hero's journey. The audience has a sense of empathy they did not have a few minutes earlier. Their world has been changed.

And that, in the end, is what telling your video story is all about.

There you have it. Three simple steps to make your corporate video story jump off the screen:

1. Discover a hero who is comfortable telling their story.
2. Show the hero's struggle.
3. Reveal a new world.

Jumping off the screen isn't THAT hard :-)

---Tom

3 Steps to Make Your Corporate Video Jump Off the Screen

"The Men Who Brought The Dawn" Documentary

Here's a short video clip from my worldwide documentary, "The Men Who Brought The Dawn," which I co-produced in 1995.

It's currently running this Veteran's Day weekend on the Smithsonian Channel and Direct TV.

The timing is remarkable. Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets, the pilot of Enola Gay, just passed away November 1 at the age of 92.

---Tom

Atomic Mission Documentary YouTube Excerpt

Caution! 7 Signs of Lazy Corporate Video Stories

Time for a "gut check." Ready?

If your company video story disappeared tomorrow, who would miss it?

Everybody? Just a few people? If your gut is starting to sink, you're not alone.

Corporate videos have a long tradition of being lazy. Why? Steve Pressfield in "The War of Art" shares two main reasons:

• Resistance
  

• Rationalization

Resistance sounds like:
"I know what needs to be done...but I'll start tomorrow. Maybe."

Rationalizing resistance sounds like:
"Let's justify the resistance. Not many people will see this video, so let's take the easy way."

Defeating these two forces will help you tell your video story in a way that will get people talking about you.

If your video story won't be missed by your community and audience, it might be due one or more of the "7 Signs." There are more, for sure. But these seven always raise their ugly head on every project.

Here are the seven common signs of laziness you need to watch out for when getting ready for your next project.

7 Signs of Lazy Corporate Video Stories

1. Lazy Purpose. Clear intentions create clear goals. Be absolutely clear in what you want to achieve when your video story fades to black. Most videos pack too many objectives into it with the result of confusing the viewer. Remember, one goal per video works beautifully.

2. Lazy Emotions. Even a little emotion can go a long way in helping your story connect with others. Find a hero with a problem that is overcome, and you'll instantly create a connection you'd otherwise not have.

3. Lazy Storytelling. Think about this: every product or service has a story associated with it. There was a time when a product or service did not exist, then it did. I call that "The Gap." A great place to find one of your stories is in that "gap."

4. Lazy Cinematography. There are times when you can capture remarkable footage when it's not planned. But don't count on this technique to carry your entire story. Spend time thinking, planning and designing scenes or transitions that will make your video "pop" and be memorable.

5. Lazy Music. While custom music score is ideal, you can't always afford one. Create a compelling soundtrack by digging deep into the vaults of stock music. Find unusual and different sounding tracks. You can't do this quickly. It takes time but is well worth the effort. Once you find a number of tracks, change the music every 30 seconds. Our brains are programmed to see and hear different things often, and music is no exception.

6. Lazy Narration. Avoid using a narration track all the way through the video. The ear will begin to tune it out and your mind will begin to wander. Use a narrator sparingly and purposefully. Change the sound of your audio track using different voices frequently, just like your music soundtrack technique.

7. Lazy Graphics. Design rules. Work with a dedicated motion graphic artist to weave your company's logo, colors, fonts, themes, etc. together into an organic looking story.

I hope you're not too lazy after reading this to drop me a note :-) I'm interested in hearing your stories.

What keeps you awake while watching a corporate video? (besides a cup of coffee!)

• What techniques worked for your corporate video?

• What didn't work? Why not?

• What would you do differently next time?

Feel free to post your thoughts here.

---Tom

7 Signs of Lazy Corporate Video Stories

7 Lessons Learned from Directing Corporate Videos

...or, "Everything I Know I Learned from Being a Filmmaker." Well, almost everything!

The power of corporate videos has taught me many things over 20+ years. Here's a handful of "power tips" I've learned along the way.

1. THE POWER OF INFINITE POSSIBILITIES! While planning is obviously a critical component in pulling off a project, I've learned not to over plan. Film crews have what we call "Magic Moments." They're surprises nobody was counting on while filming. The cool thing is they happen on every job. Sometimes these are moments filming an amazing personal story never shared before, capturing that "hidden" smile that few ever see, filming a team working on a project and suddenly, out of the blue, someone shouts out a solution to a long-term problem. Magic, for sure. Deepak Chopra's work on infinite possibilities and coincidences can help you be more open to the "magic" of life.




2. THE POWER OF ORGANIZATION! A typical corporate video can have hundreds of separate elements that need to be quickly accessed during production and editing. I've used the Franklin Covey system for about 17 years now and it has been a life-saver. Being ruthlessly organized serves two purposes: one, it saves clients money and two, you can get on with the business of telling the best story without struggling to find things.






3. THE POWER OF QUESTIONS! One thing I'm convinced of: most people want to help you. They really don't want to say "no!" if you are seeking help or need assistance. BUT...they can't read your mind so the burden is on you to ask. Fear of asking questions will actually dampen your progress in life. Learn the power of asking questions and how to reframe your questions from my good friend, Rajesh Setty.

4. THE POWER OF STORY! Storytelling and business narrative is a big industry now. I think personal stories are holograms for corporate stories. A hologram is simply a piece of a whole that naturally contains the entire whole. Capturing personal stories for companies is a remarkable way for organizations to strengthen their brand. Annette Simmons thinks "Whoever Tells the Best Story Wins." I couldn't agree more. And knowing the "Elements of Persuasion" will help you get your message heard through the on-going noise we face everyday. You never know whose life you will change because of your story.


5. THE POWER OF DREAMING! Directing requires an intense amount of visualizing. The easiest films to direct are the ones I've visualized clearly and early on. Recent research has show that the brain actually has a hard time differentiating between what we call "reality" and previsusalizing a scene with our eyes closed. Hmmm...if the brain "thinks" what it's "thinking" is real, imagine how your life can change by incorporating previsualizing regularly into your life. Check out Dr. Joe Dispenza's work to understand more about the power of previsualizing.




6. THE POWER OF THINKING BIG! Nelson Mandela said it best:
"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, fabulous, gorgeous, talented? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You're playing small doesn't serve the world."

Our ability to think big and to live with purpose is quite a responsibility. In my humble opinion, it is the duty of all those involved in creating corporate videos to create with purpose and meaning. Thinking big works!


7. THE POWER OF KINDNESS! Telling stories, regardless if it's video or any other medium, has the remarkable power to bring out the best in people. Everyone I've ever been involved with in a video story, from clients to celebrities to employees, has demonstrated our capability for being kind.




Powerful stuff, indeed!

---Tom

7 Lessons Learned from Directing Corporate Videos

Have You Hugged Your Corporate Video Lately?

No? Well, now you might want to.

Let me explain.

IT'S BLOG ACTION DAY!

This is it! Today is Blog Action Day. Blog Action day is about 14,000 bloggers reaching 12,000,000 people to raise awareness about one issue: the environment.

Now that the digital format is commonplace, I started thinking how much this industry has changed in the past few years and how television is "turning green." (Leaving aside for a rainy day the amount of electronics being produced.)

For years, the television industry relied on physical tapes and films to view programs. Just think about the costs associated for every single production created:

• Gather raw materials.
• Ship raw materials to manufacturer.
• Manufacture the videotapes.
• Ship the videotapes to distributors.
• Ship the videotapes to customers.

When television programs were finally duplicated onto tape, they were again shipped to their destinations. Talk about leaving a carbon footprint!

THE FOUR R's OF "GREEN" VIDEO

The video landscape is "turning green" through the help of what I call, The Four R's:
1. Reduce, 2. Reignite, 3. Recycle, 4. Regional.

Reduce
The video production industry today uses considerably less materials than years before. If weight matters, then we're heading in the right direction. Most productions still use tape to capture footage but we are seeing an increasing amount of digital cameras capturing images on hard drives, eventually eliminating tape, and discs, altogether.

Distributing finished programs digitally through the web has literally wiped out any traces of tape...a huge step for Planet Earth.

Reignite
It's time to reignite television. Remember, TELEVISION = communicating visions over distances. TELE (over distances) + VISION (the ability to plan the future with imagination and wisdom).

I believe television has an obligation and duty to educate, inform and enlighten. The proliferation of "reality television" programs is actually taking us further away from "reality." At a very subconscious level, these programs empower major studios with the ability to weaken and corrode our discriminative skills.

On the other hand, we do have much to celebrate. The enormous number of documentaries, including the sudden spike in environmental videos, and education channels is inviting audiences to see the world from a different point of view. Ultimately, this impact is about raising one's consciousness to create a better world.

One of my heroes, Journalist Edward R. Murrow, said it best:

"This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box. There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference. This weapon of television could be useful." RTNDA Convention, Chicago, October 15, 1958

Recycle
Most productions require "work tapes." These tapes are used for reference or backing up shows temporarily and can easily be recycled for future programs. Often times, we can reuse work tapes thereby avoiding using more raw resources.

Regional
Tight Budgets = Local Crews. When video productions require travel, hiring as many local crew members not only saves production dollars but drastically reduces the total output of green house gases.

The future is clear. Zeros and ones not only change how we interact with each other, they just might help save the planet.

Pretty powerful stuff for "wires and lights in a box."

---Tom

Have You Hugged Your Corporate Video Lately