The picture above is a behind the scenes shot we took at our most recent video shoot. Can you guess what the product we’re shooting the video for is? A sexy new automobile? A high-tech sportswear lineup? We’re not revealing what it is right now, but rest assured it isn’t something most people would associate with feline aggression!

Our client gave us complete creative latitude on this project, allowing us to develop a concept that would help tell their product’s story without settling on the conventional ways of getting feature/function messaging across to customers. We researched their customer’s pain points and immersed ourselves in the lingo to ensure that we got the overarching messaging right, then wrapped the product’s value proposition within a really cool story and exciting visuals.

The star in the photograph, Foose, is a 34 lb. serval cat, a wild cat of African origin that was rescued by his trainer and trained to hiss on demand (or as close to on demand as you can expect of a wild animal!). This shot captures Foose at his best, putting on a display of superiority that mirrors the awesome power of the product this project revolved around.

We’re finalizing the visual effects, edits and music now, and can’t wait to share the final product with all of you.

One of the worst travesties you can commit with video is having bad lighting. Take a look at the example below from the University of Michigan’s video guide site. The subject is poorly lit, and hence, almost indistinguishable. This often happens if you’re using a video camera that automatically sets exposure for you, or if you’re using a camera that allows manual control of exposure, but is set in automatic mode. The camera will expose for the average of the scene, meaning it will look at the entire scene and try to figure out what the correct exposure is for that particular scene.

In the example below, since there are very bright spots (the window in the background) and very dark spots (the subject and the curtains and wall on the right), the camera will set the exposure to somewhere in between. The camera has no idea which part of the scene you want to expose correctly, so it does its best, which often, results in exposure that does not make the subject look very good.

Fortunately, there are some things you can do to ensure better lighting for your corporate video, even if you’re shooting on a low budget and using a simple camera like the Flipcam, Kodak Zi8.

• • Shoot outdoors where everything is evenly lit. This negates the camera’s deficiencies in setting exposure.
• • Keep the brightest light source in front of the subject. If you’re shooting in a room that only has one window and the room is dim, make the subject face the window when you’re shooting.
• • Light the subject! If your budget doesn’t allow you to engage a professional production company, or to buy or rent expensive lights like Arris or Kino Flos to produce your videos, light the subject with something like this instead. The color temperature and quality of light is far from perfect on these, but it’s better than having a dark subject against a bright background!

Lighting is a delicate blend of science and art that takes years and years to learn how to do well, but these simple tips should immediately help you to improve the quality of your videos.

The first questions we always ask clients when they come to us for a video are “Who’s your audience?” and “What’s the message you want to get across to them?”. I’ll use the words ‘story’ and ‘message’ interchangeably throughout this post, but they both refer to the same crucial first question that has to be answered – “What’s your point?”. Having a strong story is vital to the impact of a video, and a lot of thought and attention needs to go into what that story is.

One of the mistakes many people make when deciding to develop a video is trying to cram as many messages as possible into the script for the video. They often do so because they want to get the most return on their investment, whether they’re paying a production company to create it for them, or they’re investing their own time and effort into its creation. The analogy I like to use when describing why the focus should remain narrowly on one or two messages is this: Imagine a ninja trying to break a stack of bricks with his hand. Using the edge of his hand, all the force is concentrated in that area and he manages to break the bricks. Now put a boxing glove on that hand, which spreads the force over a much larger area and all he gets is a big fat “REJECTED!!!”. In the same way, spreading the force of your video across many messages is akin to a ninja breaking bricks with a boxing glove on.

Inserting secondary storylines and interweaving messages into a 2 hour Hollywood film is one thing, but people watching your video aren’t willing to spend more than 2 minutes watching it, regardless of how great a masterpiece you think it is. Within those 2 minutes or less, you need to say something that’s relevant, memorable and impactful to them. Put your marketing hat on and place yourself in the audience’s shoes. Is she really going to care about the cute cat playing a keyboard in the background for your video about your robust new security software? Are explosions around the presenter going to add value to your recruiting video? If the answer is ‘No’, nix the idea.

Here’s a tip sheet for the first step in the thought process for creating a good corporate video – the story.

• • Know your audience and know your product or service. Then align the two by creating a message for your offering that is relevant to your audience.
• • Keep your story simple and narrowly focused. Too many messages muddy up the video and you’ll lose your audience’s attention.
• • Resist the urge to add unnecessary flourishes; the reality is that your video isn’t likely to go viral. If it did, it would likely be for the wrong reasons!
• • Shorter is better! People don’t have huge attention spans or time. The exception is training videos, but even then, keep to the main points and make it tight.

I watched a video today that had terrible sound, and it reminded me of a very basic tenet of good video-making – it doesn’t matter how good the visuals in your video are, bad sound will absolutely ruin it.

There are lots of reasons why you could end up with bad sound. Environmental reasons are often the culprit. Air-conditioning vents, construction, rooms with little acoustic damping and noisy neighbors are all potential sources of noise that conspire to ruin your video. Faulty or low quality equipment is another possible cause of poor audio.
Not everyone has access to an acoustically neutral studio or high quality audio gear, but there are some simple ways of improving audio without additional cost.

• • Put the microphone closer to the subject to pick up their voice more easily. Having an external microphone will help with this significantly.
• • Shoot your video at a different time to avoid or minimize outside noise.
• • Switch off the air-conditioning.
• • Put the camera or external microphone on a stand to prevent handling noise.
• • Tell people in the vicinity what you’re doing and politely ask them if they could chat somewhere else or tone down their conversations.

These are just a few tips that could greatly improve your audio, and correspondingly, your video. In the Youtube video below, you’ll have an opportunity to hear the massive difference between good and bad audio and how it affects your perception of the quality of the video, even though the visuals aren’t any different.

To hear the bad audio, check out 0:18 to 0:30, then go to 2:40 to hear the difference.