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The economy is still slow, times remain tough, but believe it or not businesses still have a hard time recruiting good workers. One of the things they’ll occasionally do to help their effort is create a recruiting video.

This week I’m blogging about some of our recent projects and highlighting valuable lessons. Today’s video features a Chicago networking group… LeTip of Lakeview. Okay, I’m a member, so I kind of had the inside track on this project. It was an easy one in the sense that the group’s leadership basically turned me loose and said, “Do your thing.” That doesn’t mean it wasn’t without challenges and that’s what I’ll focus on here.

Recruiting video vs. About Us video

First, a recruiting video is similar to an About Us video, but there are some subtle differences. Chief among them… what you’re selling. A business creating a About Us video should be focusing on what prospects and clients want to know about the company. A recruiting video highlights things important to prospective employees.

The LeTip of Lakeview video is a great example. The video is intended to help recruit new members, so it focuses on things we feel sets the group apart from other networking groups… great energy, providing warm leads and putting dollars in your pocket.

What the video doesn’t go into is the parent organization, LeTip International, or how the meetings are structured. If we would have been producing a more general video on the group, those things would have been touched on.

Takes a professional’s eye

Second, take a look at the video from a visual standpoint. Anything stand out? It’s basically a bunch of people sitting around a table. The challenge was trying to make that look interesting and convey one of our big points… great energy.

An amateur video producer would have probably never even considered this point. Good thing the group has an expert at the table (cough, cough). High energy music, lots of camera movement and quick cuts go a long way to spicing things up.

Recruiting videos can be a tricky project, but with the right focus they can help make your business or organization more appealing.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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One of these days… one of these days I’ll convince a client we don’t need any spoken words to tell their story. It has to be the right project, but video storytelling is more than words. In some cases, it can survive on its own without anything being said.

I’ve blogged about it in the past. American Airlines did one of my favorite videos in this way. Well, I have another one.

Adobe’s creative video storytelling

I LOVE a recent video produced by Adobe entitled, Photoshop Live – Street Retouch Prank. From the concept to the execution… A+.

Adobe wanted to promote one of its upcoming events, Adobe Creative Days, so they brought some creativity to a local bus stop and captured it all on video. I’m not going to say anything more than that because I really want you to watch.

They setup the scenario, show us how it’s done and share the end results… all without any sound bites or narration. Could they have used some? Sure. Did they need to? No.

I don’t necessarily know if it ever came up at a pre-video meeting, but I’d argue not using any spoken words actually works well with what they’re promoting. It’s a “creative” way of highlighting Adobe Creative Days.

Will viewers “get” the message?

Not sure this sort of thing would connect with an audience? Well, the Adobe video currently has over 16-million views. 16-million!

Look, I know it’s Adobe so they have a big audience to begin with, but that audience clearly watched and shared it with others. They’re not going to do that with something that stinks or they don’t understand. That’s why video is such a terrific tool. Good videos are highly shareable… whether there are spoken words or not.

Anyway, it takes some corporate guts to go with this style, so it might be easier for companies like Adobe that produce a lot of videos. I have to say though… it’s soooo good.

Consider this an open call to all of our clients and future prospects… we’re ready to give it a try when you are. If you don’t like it, we can always do some interviews and go back down the traditional route.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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My wife reads a bunch of interior design blogs, and one of the bloggers recently wrote about how difficult it was for her to create an About Us video. That doesn’t surprise me.

I’m not going to mention the blogger. I watched her video and while it wasn’t an awful amateur attempt, it was an amateur attempt. Unless I’m pointing out specifics to use as teaching moments, I don’t like to point a figure at sub-par videos. Without purpose, it’s just mean.

Anyway… the point I wanted to touch on is simply involves the About Us video in general. The blogger was right. It is hard to produce, especially when you’re doing it on yourself. Trust me, I’m a veteran video storyteller, and one of the most difficult About Us videos I’ve produced was on T60.

One of the reasons is simply perspective. You know everything there is to know about you or your company. Cutting that down to fit a 1-2 minute video is tough. You want to tell everyone everything, but that just doesn’t work.

How do you do it?

It takes an incredible focus on what your customer wants. Remember, this video might be ABOUT you, but it’s not FOR you. The video is for your audience. Every step of the way you need to be asking yourself, what’s the information they need? What are the issues relevant to them? Questions like those will guide you down the right path.

Don’t produce an About Us video at all

Of course, probably the best way to produce an About Us video is what our clients do. They don’t produce one at all. They have us do it for them.

Self-serving, yes, but it’s true. Bringing in an professional storyteller with a fresh and unbiased perspective usually results in a better video. Not to mention they should be a better and more efficient videographer and editor.

An About Us video is something every business/organization should have, and while it can be a tough task… it doesn’t have to be.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

If you’re a regular reader here you know I’m a HUGE Dave Ramsey fan. Not only to I appreciate his advice on personal finances, I also love his input on business. You can imagine how excited I was to get his EntreLeadership newsletter with the headline, 3 Ways to Tell a Great Story and Why You Need to Do It. A Dave newsletter promoting storytelling… I’m in!

The newsletter gives some basics on why and how business leaders can tell their stories, and it’s good advice. A good reason for telling your story that isn’t talked about much was actually hidden at the end and came from one of Dave’s EntreLeadership coaches.

John Felkins wrote a little about companies that suffer some sort of hurt… a snub, insult or betrayal.

“The power of being the author of your own story is that you don’t have to live out a plot you didn’t choose.”

That’s a terrific statement. 

How many businesses out there have suffered a bad review of some kind… deserved or otherwise? Pretty much all of them. Which is why it’s so important for you to tell the story of your business and not let someone else do it.

How video helps your storytelling

It’s also why video is such a great tool to use when telling your story. Video is the best way short of a face-to-face meeting to talk directly to customers and prospects. It allows you to show your passion for what you do.

We get a lot of clients who are surprised when I tell them we don’t script our videos in advance of shooting. The reason we don’t is simple. Scripted messages sound… well… scripted. I much prefer putting someone on-camera and letting them tell their story from the heart. We can always massage it in post-production to give it a professional polish.

Viewers almost always walk away feeling good after a well-told, authentic story compared to a canned message someone is trying to “perform.”

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

I put a lot of thought into my video storytelling. There’s typically a reason for each shot, but that doesn’t mean there’s hidden meaning behind them.

I recently received some feedback from a client that made me kind of giggle. Actually, they received the feedback and then passed it along to me. It had to do with a shot of hands. Yes, hands.

As any video pro knows, it’s important to shoot sequences. If you shoot video of someone working at a computer, nine out of ten video pros will come back with the same variety of shots…

• wide shot of the room with the person sitting at the computer
• medium shot of the person at their desk working at the computer
• tight shot of the person’s face
• tight shot of the person’s… wait for it… hands on the keyboard

Foundation for good video storytelling

Now, there might be a few more shots in there… how each individual video pro shoots them will certainly vary… but just about everyone will come back with those shots. Why? Because you can build a visually appealing sequence.

It’s important to have a variety to choose from… wide, medium and tight. Cutting between them stimulates the eye, and just makes for good video. That’s the reason we shoot that way.

The meaning behind hands

So… on to that feedback. Our client asked a friend to critique his video, and the one thing they came back with was… he didn’t like the shot of the hands typing on the keyboard. He didn’t understand the meaning behind the shot.

I get it. A friend of yours asks you to critique his new video. You look at it, like it, but you feel like you have to give him some feedback. You pick out something and try to make an educated comment.

In a way, he’s not too far off base. There are plenty of times I include shots with hidden meaning. Metaphors built in to the way something is shot. Hands on a keyboard… not one of them.

I explained to the client the idea behind shooting a solid sequence. His reaction… you’re the pro. We didn’t change a thing.

I love video storytelling. I love when a videographer stretches their creativity, but sometimes… hands on a keyboard are just hands on a keyboard.

–Tony Gnau

Whether you’re putting pen to paper, keystroke to monitor or video to TV screens… storytelling is storytelling. As a matter of fact, doing a lot of reading and writing is a great way to hone your visual storytelling.

That might sound a little weird to some, but in most cases a video actually starts with a script. Sometimes someone writes it, other times it’s piecing together sound bites to form a story. In either case, I always put the words on paper before I start editing video.

Words to visuals

There’s a magical thing that happens during that process. The visuals you shot and the words on the paper start to come together before the edit even begins.

I’m going to put that shot with this line, that sound bites flows perfectly into that video, and so it goes.

Reading inspiration

I was thinking a lot about that yesterday because one of my favorite authors passed away. Vince Flynn was a best-seller and a master of the thriller. If you’ve never read him and like a good spy novel, he was the man. Books like his inspired me to read… and read a lot. I love a good book… a good story. It’s no wonder why I chose this profession.

I’m sad I’ll never get another Vince Flynn novel. They’re the essence of a page-turner. I am however thankful for the work he gave us. Inspiring storytellers like myself, even if I tell corporate stories instead of tales of terrorism and the men and women protecting us.

Rest in peace Vince Flynn.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

It used to be storytellers would start with a blank sheet of paper. These days it’s more likely a blank computer screen. Either way… when you’re producing a video, that isn’t where the storytelling begins.

The process begins and carries through the entire production process. From concept planning to the shoot and all the way through the final video edit. Storytelling isn’t just putting words to paper.

Always storytelling

A good video producer needs to be storytelling throughout the process. They need to understand that everything they shoot and gather is a potential story element. A single shot can turn the story in a different direction. A series of sound bites could impact what raw video is shot.

All of these things need to work in concert with one another, and they need a storyteller to lead the orchestra.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

There are plenty of independent videographers out there helping businesses produce their videos. There are also lots of companies choosing to produce their own. One of the reasons each of them fail to create compelling marketing videos that will connect with audiences is they aren’t good at interviewing people.

Not all marketing videos involve interviews, but a large number of them do. It doesn’t sound like it’s anything difficult. You write down some questions and ask them, right? Wrong.

How companies go wrong

Think about the situation you’re putting your interview subject in when they sit down for an interview. They have a camera in their face, the interviewer sitting next to the camera, if you’re shooting with a pro videographer there’s probably some lights and microphones in place. Throw in the interviewer firing off these scripted questions one after the other and you have created a situation that is completely unnatural… and that’s being diplomatic. In other words… it really sucks.

That environment will make most people very uncomfortable, so what kind of sound bites do you expect them to deliver? Unless they’re a seasoned professional, they’re going to provide answers that sound just like the questions they’re being asked… canned… scripted… unnatural. Not exactly the type of sound bites that are going to captivate viewers.

How to inspire great sound bites

Interviewing people is a true skill. One that’s honed through years in the field shooting videos. It’s not about having tons of questions prepared and working your way down a list. It’s having questions prepared, but using them to help create a conversation.

Conversation is what generates great sound bites. The person in-front of the camera relaxes because they don’t feel like they’re on a firing line. They start to forget there’s a camera in their face. Those lights fade away and it simply becomes two people talking.

You know you’ve done a good job interviewing someone when it’s all finished and they’re surprised. They say something like, “Wow… that was easy.”

It’s actually pretty tough

The thing is putting people at ease like that isn’t easy. I’ve been on corporate shoots where someone from the company wants to be the person asking the questions. That’s a terrible idea, especially when it’s a boss. Talk about putting an interviewee on edge. How do you expect them to relax when you have a corporate authority figure grilling them?

I’ve also seen independent videographers struggle with interviewing people. In many cases, videographers are fabulous interviewers. They’ve been around enough great interviewers, they know how it works. But in some cases, it’s just not their thing. They might have unbelievable visual skills to shoot and edit great video, but they don’t have the people skills to put interviewees at ease.

That’s why it’s important to hire the right storyteller for your project. They’ll have the skill to help people relax and deliver great sound bites.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

This week we’re celebrating our 12th Telly Award by looking back at past winning entries to pass along some valuable insights. Today, I’m blogging about an incredibly important element when it comes to storytelling.

People

The people you choose to include in your video might be the most critical decision you make for the video’s success. The mistake a lot of business owners make is thinking they need to hire actors or models to put a pretty face behind their company. That’s not the case.

The best videos tend to feature real people who are passionate about their jobs and their company or organization. We’ve done a bunch of videos featuring some pretty great people, but one of them definitely stands out in my mind.

Vashawn was a 13-year-old Glenwood Academy student when we met him (VIDEO BELOW). He’s a good kid from a bad neighborhood who’s getting a chance at a great education by attending Glenwood Academy in Chicago’s south suburbs.

On-Camera Stars

He was one of “those” people. The camera loves him. He is at total ease in front of it, and that comes through in the video. I can’t really explain it other that to say you’ll know these people when you see them, and when you do you better have the ability to switch gears to take advantage.

Vashawn was not meant to be the “star” of this particular video, but after we did the interview I told the school’s marketing director he had to be front and center. The whole video changed. His story and the way he told it was simply captivating.

I told my wife after that shoot we were going to win another Telly Award because of Vashawn. I hadn’t even looked at the raw material, but when you capture the right people on camera you just know it’s going to turn out great.

Every business has a Vashawn working for them. It might not be someone in the C-suite, but that doesn’t matter. Feature the people who shine, and so will your videos.

–Tony Gnau

Tony Gnau is a three-time Emmy-winning journalist. He is also the founder and chief storytelling officer at T60 Productions. T60 has won 11 Telly Awards for its work over the last eight years.

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I got to watch some public speaking training yesterday. One of our regular clients hired a speech coach to teach a couple of the managers. T60 provided the video support and instant replays.

Not our normal thing, but I was really looking forward to it. The coach was good. She was pretty tough on the managers, but there was definitely an improvement from start to finish.

Getting an audience to pay attention

One of the things the coach talked about early on was the need to tell a story. She said people won’t remember details, but they will remember a narrative.

Let’s see… where have we heard that before? Duh, right here! It’s an axiom that holds true for most forms of communication… certainly with video.

DETAILS GET LOST, STORIES ARE REMEMBERED

Rattle off facts and figures… right over people’s heads. Tell them a compelling story… it sticks with them.

The trick is being able to incorporate information into the story. That’s why an experienced storyteller will almost always do a better job with this than an amateur.

When you look for a video producer, make sure they can deliver a good-looking video, but above all else, make sure they’re a good storyteller.

–Tony Gnau