Not All Videos are Equal: 3 Basic Elements to a Successful Video
So You want to Shoot a Video?
Your company has decided that a video will answer your visibility problem. You are now tasked with coming up with a brilliant idea that will show your product/ training/ brand to millions of people. Now what? A funny thing happens when a company decides they need a video. First, they get excited and get to brainstorm their great idea. Next, they start trying to implement their great idea… And then they hit a wall, all progress halts, and the idea sadly gets pushed to the back of a long list of to-dos. What happened? Your video was doomed from the start because no one knew how to make a video that resonated with the audience. I will teach you three basic concepts to get you on track with planning your next video. The first is you want to educate your audience. Second, you need to entertain them. Third, you want to elevate your subject. I'll break down these three concepts for you, but remember this is just your jumping-off point, and there are another thousand things to consider, but I'll leave those for another time.
Teach Them Something...
Educating your audience through video may seem evident at first, and that's because it is. The whole point of releasing a video is so that your viewers can learn something about you, your company, your product, etc. The trick here is to know what you want your audience to learn. It's something we often see at Cineflair. A customer will approach with a big idea. They want to show how fast the ball rolls, how high it bounces, how beautiful the colour is, but to illustrate this, they want the video to be about a cube that does none of those things. At the end of these videos, the viewer knows they don't want a cube, but they have no reason to want the ball. Keep your message simple. Don't try to be smarter than the people viewing your video because they won't walk away with any useful information if they do not understand the message. Clear messaging should always be your objective. Everything else is secondary to educating your audience.
Here is a quick commercial to show you what educating your customer looks like:
Great commercial, right? Not really, it did an excellent job telling me things about credit card debt and maybe a few other things, but to be honest, I turned it off because there was nothing there to hold my attention. This leads me to my next point; you need to keep your audience entertained!
...But Don't Bore Them.
Having a clear message is great, but if the video is so bland that your audience can't sit through it because they are bored, you won't see much success. You may be saying; some videos are just boring by nature. And you would be right. Safety, training, and explainer videos are examples of pure information videos. These types of videos aren't entertaining. That being said, it would be a shame if one of your workers got injured on-site because your training video was so dull they fell asleep. Thankfully there are some creative solutions to spice those types of videos up. Make sure you have good audio, filming in a visually appealing way, using fun, colourful graphics and humour.
These are all great ways to improve your video, from Melba toast to…
…avocado toast…
…or PB n' J if that's more your thing.
Here's an example of making something dry, interesting:
Strange, isn't it. The video used utilized everything I just spoke about. The black and white retro vibe draws attention right away. The graphics, although cheesy, are fun and get the point across. The audio is well recorded, so you don't miss anything. And the unicorn, humour! How much more effectively do you think people will remember what they learned in this video than what we watched in the first example. I'm no scientist, but it's probably a lot more if I were to guess. This video is also an example of my next point, elevating your subject material.
You Can Go Big...
Alright, our viewer is now learning, and they are entertained-- it is excellent, but it's still not enough. We have an opportunity to do more. When you release a video, you are provided with a unique opportunity; A chance to make your viewer experience your product in the exact way you want them to. Knowing this, do you want your viewer to share your product as that melba toast we spoke about earlier, dry but you'll eat it if it's there, or do you want them to have a once in a lifetime Michelin Star Surf n' Turf dinner that they will think about for the rest of their life? Probably the latter, right? Every video you release is an opportunity to elevate your subject from something you see every day to Best-in-Show. Entertaining and elevating do go hand in hand. Often making your video more entertaining will elevate your video. Still, I think it's good practice to think of elevating your video on its terms.
Examples of elevating a product through video are pretty easy to come by. Look at this release video for the 2022 Honda Civic:
Introducing the All-New 2022 Honda Civic
We all know what a Honda Civic is. Your best friend probably drove one in high school. It's about the most basic car you can buy. This video makes the Civic look like an experience. It's futuristic, fast, and more than just a Civic, IT'S THE BEST CIVIC EVER. Honda knows they had a chance to elevate their product, and they certainly took it, and you should too next time you release a video.
...And Make Them Remember They Have a Heart
Educate, entertain, and elevate. These three things are essential to a good video. Wait… good. Is "good" enough? That depends. Do you want your audience to remember your video, show their friends, not be annoyed every time it comes on? Yes, you probably do. You want to release a great video, something you can be proud of for years to come. I want to give you one more piece of advice, and because you've read this far, I have no issue doing that. Try to form an emotional connection-- this is the hardest one to achieve, but if you are successful, your investment in the video will be truly worth it. Every great piece of art is only great because of the emotional connection people have with it, and the world's biggest brands understand this. Do you think a company like Coca-Cola needs to advertise to keep selling its product? No, it does not. They are big enough to be just fine if they never released another ad, yet they still do. When you see Coke ads, it's usually during holidays or significant events, and the commercial usually involves family. Just watch this one:
The man never even drinks a coke. That's because what's in the bottle isn't important. What is important is that you form an emotional connection between Christmas and the brand. If you can create an emotional connection for your viewer, there is no end to the amount of success you will see. I'll give you one more example of an emotion that happens to be one of my favourites, also it's directed by Spike Jonze:
Did you feel bad for the lamp? Of course, you did. You're not a monster. That emotion you feel will make sure you remember Ikea for a long, long time. Again, they were selling no specific product because Ikea is the product.
Remember when I said these elements are everything you need to create a successful video? I hope so because I was telling the truth. Educate, Entertain, Elevate, and emotion are the building blocks of a great video, but it takes a lot of work to make these elements work in cohesion. The key is to strike a balance between them. Focusing too much on educating your viewer will lead to a boring video. Your entertaining video is essential, but not at the cost of your message. Elevate your video, but don't lie about how great your product is. As with anything, balance is essential. Luckily, I'm here to help you. Feel free to drop me a line, and we can work together to get your project started.
