Tip #1: Determine the purpose of the video
It may sound like an open door, but this is really important. And no, this is not easy. If you start a video production without knowing exactly what goal you ultimately want to achieve, how will you know if the video production is successful? And how do you know where to deploy the video? You get bogged down in discussions about ‘whether the video is beautiful. Absolutely irrelevant if you know what goal you want to achieve. Then it's not about ’what is beautiful‘ but about ’what works‘.
So, do you want to explain something to your target audience? Or do you want to convince them? Or do you just want to attract attention? All completely different goals that call for a completely different video production.
“A good video producer helps you get your goal in focus and thinks with you about the right format.”
Tip 2: Make sure you have a clear message
If your goal is to persuade, make sure you have a clear message that helps do this. Don't go trying to cram multiple messages into your video. It takes the power away from the main message and makes the video less easy to follow. Especially now that it's more important than ever to get noticed, and quickly. Better to focus on one clear message.
Tip 3: Consider in advance where you want to deploy the video(s)
Do you create videos to enrich your website? Or do you want to generate traffic to your website with video ads? Or are you looking for video content for your newsletters? The channel determines what formats you need the video in, how long the video should ideally be, and what concept appeals.
Tip 4: Shoot in 4K so you can handle different formats
Nothing more irritating than having a beautiful video made only to find out afterwards that you don't have it in the right format. Usually, videos are shot in 16:9 but if you want to use them as an Instagram Story or turn them into a Reel, you actually need 9:16.
Are you trying to convert that 16:9 video to 9:16? Then it often fails. You get ugly black edges around the video, the quality fails and the cropping doesn't work so you only see half of someone's face, for example.
How to avoid this? Exactly, shoot video in 4K. This is because by shooting in 4K, you have a bigger picture and the videographer can play with different cropping. Handy if you want to use the same material in different formats.
Notice: While this is a very nice way to reuse the same material, each platform does require its own type of video. An Instagram Story often requires different type of content than the corporate video on your website. So don't convert the video 1-to-1, but create a separate variant based on the existing material.
Tip 5: Reuse your video footage
You can do this in several ways. For example, in addition to the full video, you can create a number of short social snippets. These are short clips of 10 to 15 seconds that work well on social media. With these snippets you attract the viewer's attention to your platform where the full video can be seen. This way you get material for multiple videos out of 1 day of shooting.
You can also (have) extra atmospheric images shot during the shooting day that you can use for a subsequent video at a later time. By working with a regular video partner, you can build an image bank with that partner. The more you make with each other, the more material you have to draw from. The richer your videos become and the more efficiently you can produce. Plus, together you'll really develop a recognizable video style that helps tell your authentic brand story.
In short, the better you know what you want to use video for, the more efficient you can work.
Not sure yet what video can do for you? Read here 5 reasons to add video to your recruitment strategy.
