29/01/2020

How we make sure your video wont be forgotten

Posted in: General Blog,

 

Video content can be one of the most valuable assets in your marketing content mix. By the end of 2019, video content represented 80% of all consumer internet traffic. However, getting your audience to actually watch through all of your video can be a challenge, considering that the longer the video is, the more casual viewer tend to drop off and stop watching.

Your video is being judged on the content, production quality, style and the information it provides. So, your content must be truly remarkable to maintain your audience’s attention. This is how we make sure our video projects are first class and won’t be forgotten.

1) The pre-production stage

The most important part of the video production process definitely happens before the camera even starts rolling. The pre-production or ‘planning’ phase of our video projects are where most of the magic happens. Once ourselves and our client have thought of a great idea for a video, the next step is to define the audience. Defining the audience involves building a buyer persona, that will represent the target consumer. Narrowing down the audience to a specific persona rather than a generic audience allows us to create a much more targeted and effective video in the long run.

The next steps are writing the script, drawing out a storyboard and creating a shot list before we start filming. It is important that we get input from multiple team members before signing off the final script. The script has often gone through several drafts by the time filming begins but having a solid base to work from is greatly beneficial to the overall video production. Similar to the video script, the storyboard is also an indispensable pre-production tool. Story-boarding allows us to visualize the shot before it happens. A shot list is also an important part of pre-production because it includes specific details – like camera placement and lighting direction – making it the ultimate pre-production planner.

 

2) Originality

You want the concept for your videos to be creative and unique. We never take the easy route and copy other’s ideas, as this leads to an unoriginal video that viewers have already seen time and time before. Conducting persona and keyword research and exploring which types of video content are popular and successful in the industry allows us to determine quality content that hasn’t been covered by another brand already.

3) Sound Quality

Poor sound quality makes a video appear as amateur. We utilise both lapel (or lavaliere) and boom microphones  to capture the desired audio be it interviews or background ‘atmosphere’ – think birds tweeting or waves breaking on the beach. We consider audio as equally as important as the professional video quality. Everything should be shot in as high a quality as possible. This not only ensures the viewers experience but also future proofs the piece as technological advances will mean that more higher can and will be able to be delivered and watched across a more varied platform base.

4) Lighting

Lighting makes a huge difference to the quality of a finished professional video, so we make it a top priority during filming. Not using light that is properly placed and bright enough, means the video will look amateur, even if everything else about it is great. Working with natural light can present its own problems as the sun tracks across the sky so  the look of  a shoot will change. This we address by using reflectors, in fill lights, HMI’s etc. to create the look and achieve well balanced outdoor shots that otherwise can look flat and lifeless.

5) Post – production Stage

Once we have shot the video, we move on to the postproduction stage. As with filming, this step requires a good mix of both creativity and technical knowledge. An important aspect of the postproduction stage is the software that we use. At KTV our favored editing platform is the Avid Media Composer. Avid is a sophisticated program that is considered the industry standard in video editing.

The tone, structure and pacing of a video has significant influence on its effectiveness and the emotional impact on the audience. While editing, we always keep in mind that we are trying to tell a story that is compelling. We always go beyond the basics and make our videos as aesthetically pleasing and dramatically compelling as possible, so that we can evoke the right emotions and effectively deliver the message behind the video. The arrangements of the shots, the pacing of the cuts will all effect the emotive response and so help tell the story.

As the edit process progresses, rough cuts are delivered and then refined in consultation with the client before we finally deliver the master cut complete with eye catching graphics and a soundtrack as defined in the storyboard.

 

There is of course much more to video production than these points we have discussed, but as a starting point we find these to be some of the most important aspects of the production of a successful video that won’t be forgotten. If you’d like to know more about how KTV can help make your brand stand out from the crowd with video, give us a call on 01423 873009.