Jeff HiltyVideo content is the most engaging content the internet has to offer. Not only do people spend 2.6x longer on pages with videos than those without them, but video content is getting more popular by the year. In fact, it’s projected to make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022!
Of the different commercial video types, corporate video content is arguably the most important type out there with respect to its impact on the bottom line. It’s a common video type since you need to get your brand message and information out to a significant number of people, including both employees and consumers.
Here, we’re going to discuss how to work through a process of producing the ultimate video or short message to convey to your target audience. We’re detailing this out in form, in hopes that it helps all of you creatives out there, working hard to keep things moving in these crazy times 🙂 We hope this helps!
Step 1. Define the Purpose
The first step toward creating a corporate video is to define its purpose – and to do so, you’ll want to answer the 5 W’s (Who, What, Where, When, Why) + How. You’ll need a clear goal or objective in order to know what you need to do to proceed.
Goal-oriented videos have the ability to be planned specifically to match the interests, needs, and goals of your target audience. Let’s walk through defining this framework below:
Who Is Your Video Intended to Resonate With?
There are generally two audiences for corporate videos: employees and consumers. If you’re showing your video to employees, you’re alright with using more technical terms in the industry that your company operates within. If for consumers, gearing the narrative more towards solutions based narratives will generally resonate best.
What Is Your Video Going to Be About?
Showcasing a new product to clients and training employees to work with new technology are very different angles for your content and will be produced differently. Deciding on the subject of your video allows you to move forward with producing content that actually matters to your current corporate situation.
Where and When Are You Going to Show Your Video?
The location and timing of your distribution will impact the way you frame your video. For example, if you work for Bank of America and want to showcase the loans you provide on your official website, you’ll want a more laid-back video. This is because you are primarily talking to consumers looking for loans rather than financial professionals. It also can be more colloquial because people will be watching it from their homes online and therefore don’t need to be in a professional mindset.
However, if you are with a company like United Healthcare and want to showcase medical operations at a health conference, you will want to be much more precise and technical in the language that you use. You may also want to use props such as professional equipment and attire to convey an air of authority.
This is because your main audience- healthcare professionals- will be in a professional environment and mindset at the time they’re viewing your video. It also is because they will be viewing it together at a specific time rather than on their own whenever they want (as they would be with the BOA’s online video). The professional, authoritative video would serve to bring them all together at the conference that they’re attending.
Why Are You Planning and Producing This Specific Content?
Not only do you want to consider the reason that you plan to produce the content that you are, but you also want to think about why you’re producing this content right now. Is there a certain event coming up that you want to show it at? Is there a new product or service that you’re offering and want to showcase to employees or consumers?
Answering this question will help you figure out whether you need to worry more about the location of your shooting or about the perspective that you take. Basically, answering the question of ‘why’ will help you determine the focal point of your video.
How Do You Want to Get the Message to Your Target Audience?
There are multiple types of videos that you can choose from when conveying a message to your audience. The most popular are:
- Explainer videos directed at consumers, where an actor playing a satisfied client explains the merits of the services that you offer and why you are the best provider of these services
- Explainer videos directed at employees, where an actor playing another employee or a real-life corporate higher-up trains employees or discusses an aspect of their job to them
- Animation and motion graphics, which are great to convey statistics and data or when you might not be able to shoot a live-action video.
- Live-action scripted videos where actors show how to use a product or perform a scenario that might happen in your company
Talk to a professional about which of these options best suits your needs.
2. Establish the Vision of the Video
The next step is to establish the vision for your video. What aspects do you want to include? What do you want each scene to look like? You can create a mood board, storyboard, and creative deck to showcase the props you want to use, the actors that should be included, and the general backdrop.
Create a Storyboard
A storyboard is a graphic organizer that plans a narrative. It’s basically a linear outline for your video that uses images and limited text to plan out your message before production. Consider your vision and come up with a rough draft of its execution.
There are multiple ways that a storyboard can be drafted. Sometimes, we will create this outline from scratch with a digital platform. Other times, however, a template will be used. If you want to use one of these pre-made templates, here are a few of the good options that you can check out.
Our Favorite Creative Deck Software
Our favorite software to use when creating a storyboard is Keynote. This software functions like PowerPoint, but (we feel) it has more refined features and options to make the final product visually appealing. Basically, it can be described as PowerPoint with more design heft. Specifically, it works really well with images, making it perfect for visual productions.
Keynote storyboards can be converted to PDF files for easy viewing. Ultimately, this is a great way to develop a pdf deliverable that looks great.
3. Begin Pre-Production
Once you have a vision for your video and an idea of how you’re going to execute it, you’re ready to begin pre-production. Congratulations! This is an exciting step toward actually making your vision into a reality.
However, you still may be wondering what ‘pre-production’ actually means. This stage of video production is what begins immediately when your project planning is complete and your storyboard has been greenlit by our production professionals. The script and overall storyboard will be broken down into individual scenes and multiple short scene-oriented storyboards.
From there, the production team can understand all the assets that will be necessary to complete the vision. This can include props and locations, wardrobe, any visual effects, necessary production equipment, and the talent needed to bring the vision to life – that will be necessary within the video. This allows for more meticulous and specific planning that will allow the production process to go off without a hitch.
Logistics and Planning
Here is the basic framework of needs you’ll want to account for, to
All of the logistics / planning required to execute the creative vision before shooting (production)
- Budgeting
- Production and Post-Production Schedule building
- Crew Hiring
- Location, Talent, and Resource Acquisition
- Travel Logistics
- Creative Alignment
The very first step in the pre-production process is budgeting. It’s important to set a budget that is both realistic for the video being produced and feasible for your corporation to pay..
When looking at the short storyboards for each scene in your corporate video, either your internal team or external hired guns can discuss and decide on what will be necessary for their execution (while working within your budget). They can / should use this information to build a plan and a schedule for executing that plan. This will let everyone understand the time needed to execute, what sort of talent you need to hire to make your vision a reality. In short, it will help us plan the logistics of production.
Taking Care of Business
Once we know the logistical tasks that must be taken care of during the pre-production stage, it’s time to execute these tasks. This means:
- Hiring crew members to work on your corporate video (actors, editors, sound crew, etc)
- Acquiring talent fit for your video (rather than inexperienced actors or those who have never shot for corporations before)
- Gaining access to the location and resources necessary for filming
- Planning travel logistics to get to the filming locations
- Creative alignment (making sure that everything within the video has consistency and cohesive flow)
It’s only after you take care of all these logistics that you can take your talent and props to the filming site and begin filming in your chosen location.
5. Produce Your Corporate Video
Once you’ve made it this far, congratulations! It’s time to actually begin producing your video.
Surprisingly, this can be the shortest process in the entire corporate video production timeline. Production is simply the on-site execution of the creative strategies that you’ve previously outlined. It’s awesome in that it’s easy as long as you have done steps 1, 2, and 3 properly. If your planning is done well, your production process will be on point.
A good production is the result of controlling as many variables as possible during pre-production.
6. Post-Production Stages
The goal of post-production is to take everything you capture in production and assemble the creative pieces in a way that is representative of the initial vision. This is where the true deliverable showcases itself.
During post-production, video editors will:
- Edit together visuals to create a rough cut
- Achieve a picture lock, which is the stage where all of the shots are locked into the appropriate final order
- Edit the sound of the video (make volume even and ensure that everything can be heard)
- Add background music, if applicable
- Include visual effects (for example, a company like Westinghouse Electric may want CGI lightning bolts)
- Perform color corrections
- Animate any lower thirds, text, icons, or corporate logo, if applicable
- Prepare the video’s title card and end card
Our experts will help you through the entire post-production process, so you have nothing to worry about!
Get Started
While producing a corporate video is an involved operation, it’s extremely rewarding.
Now that you know all about how to plan and produce a corporate video, it’s time to start this incredibly fun process. Learn more about how you can engage and inspire clients and coworkers alike with video engagement and read about the logistics of beginning your projects. From there, you can contact and contract with our expert producers to make your vision into reality.
We look forward to hearing more about your individual project soon!