Often those things that tell a story best are visuals that are totally unrelated
to the actual project. For example, after shooting a big construction project in
Malawi earlier this year, we took the time to go hunting for all those little extras.
These included images of the local villagers, that beautiful baobab sunset, the
fish eagle making a catch of the day, interviews with tribal authorities, and
‘beauty’ shots of crocodiles and hippos. If we had stuck only to the construction
project it would still have been impressive but it would have become monotonous
and boring after a while. Contrast is the key. Brand associations create lasting
impressions and often an extra day’s shooting can add so much more production
value with a relatively small price tag.
If your story and angle are spot on you can almost guarantee that there will be
something of interest for magazine articles and actuality programmes. It’s not a
sure bet but, if you have a well-shot, well-thought-out professional video, you
have a much better chance of securing free publicity and thereby getting people
to talk about your product.
Then there’s SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). I’m so tired of these words but
they are a necessary evil. If you want to go on to YouTube you must have a video.
If you realise what a large audience share is available on YouTube, it might be
something worth considering. The same goes for social media platforms: less is
more and short and pacey is the best. The perfect duration is three to five minutes
for presentation purposes and after that most people lose their concentration and
their eyes start glazing over. For the web you must cut it right down to between
30 seconds and a minute-and-a-half. You can create as many different web
movies as you like but you must make them fast and punchy. As people tend
to watch internet videos at the office with the sound off you must therefore,
make your visuals count by showing increased production value such as big
aerial shots, great sunsets, tears, laughter, anything that will get your
audience’s attention.
A noteworthy moving picture that passed by my Facebook and Twitter accounts
last week was undoubtedly the Nando’s blue light brigade advert. This is not a
quantifiable marketing research exercise but just having a scroll down Nando’s
Facebook page will show you that movies get more hits. I’ve noticed the same
trends on video campaigns I’ve created for clients over the past couple of years.
This might not always be the case but, if you set your standards high and reward
the viewers with humour or great production value, the chances are your videos
will create a bit of hype and people will keep on watching them.
In short, tell a good story, strategise it for specific platforms, produce it well,
reward the viewer, and your video will grow proverbial wings.
About Genie Gerber
Genie Gerber is co-owner and head of production together with her director of
photography husband Ignus at IGP, a boutique video, photographic and design
agency based in Sandton, South Africa. Established in 1998, IGP can boast many
prestigious local and international clients as well as, winning SAFTA, SAMA,
Loerie and Pixel awards for program and campaign production. With more than
10 years’ television and commercial
production experience behind her,
Genie is more than capable of
producing an award-winning video
for you. Ignus has worked on
photographic and video campaigns
both in South Africa and internationally,
most notably for large corporations
in several countries around the world.
011 783 0474
083 645 8881
Nex Media • SPIELBERG OR KUBRICK WHICH WILL YOU BE?
Genie Gerber
www.
nexmedia
.co.za
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