Tag Archives: communications

I get it. I really do. If you’re working at a small business and you don’t have the money to commit to a professionally produced video, I understand.

What I don’t get is when a major corporation puts a video out on the cheap. I just watched one by Subaru. I looks like an amateur production, but it’s a good teaching tool.

I love Subaru vehicles. My wife and I were recently talking about what we’d consider for our next car and I mentioned the Subaru Outback. So… I went to YouTube to check out some video and came across this one on the company’s channel… Subaru and United by Blue’s Cooper River Cleanup.

I love that Subaru is giving back. I love that they decided to put out a video about it. The problem is the video just isn’t compelling.

Pay attention to the way it’s shot. I counted one… that’s one… tight shot. Videos need a mix of wide, medium, and tight shots. That mix stimulates the eye. Virtually every shot here is a medium shot.

The same could be said for the interview shots. Everyone is framed up on a medium shot right in the center of the picture. There’s no visual interest in that sort of framing.

These are basic shooting mistakes. I would have loved to have seen this story in the hands of a video pro.

–Tony Gnau

Company culture is something more and more people are looking at these days. Whether it’s customers looking for businesses that align with their beliefs, or potential employees looking for a good work environment. Company culture has become very important.

The best way to show people your culture… video. Nothing does a better job. You can write about it all you want. You can take tons of photos. Neither does the job better than video.

It gives people a behind-the-scenes look at your company. Are you power suits and polished shoes or t-shirts and jeans?  Cubicles and board rooms or open floor plans and scooters? The audience gets to see the physical environment, hear from team members, and get a sense of what it’s like being there.

If you want to give people a peek behind the curtain… video is the way to do it.

–Tony Gnau

When you’re fiercely loyal to your audience, you have to kill shots you love. Actually, the tougher thing is to kill shots your client loves and trying to explain it to them.

I’ll give you an example. I’ve had to shoot video for a bunch of ribbon cuttings. Clients love them. To them, a ribbon cutting is a big deal. The event signifies something major for the company. The audience on the other hand… could probably care less.

I usually find a way to incorporate the actual ribbon cutting… 3, 2, 1, cut!… but that’s about it. Questions typically follow… why didn’t you include the speech from event chair, the executive or the mayor?

Why? Because those speeches rarely impact the audience.

That’s why I start most video consultations with the question… who is this video for? If the answer is our clients/prospects/general public, then we need to make sure everything in the video speaks to their interests.

Remember, video is for the audience… not a company’s ego.

–Tony Gnau

We all know video is turning up just about everywhere these days. It’s kind of hard to escape it, but I spotted a video somewhere I never would have imagined finding one. In a catalog… a print version of a catalog.

Check out the photo I posted. If you page through Williams-Sonoma’s catalog you’ll find they include “play” buttons next to some of their products. I love it… a “play” button in a print catalog!?

I went to their website, typed in the product number, and low and behold there was indeed a video to watch. This one’s for a snow cone maker.

There are still business people out there who are questioning whether or not they should produce web videos. When print catalogs are touting their videos and you have none of your own… you know you’re behind the curve.

–Tony Gnau

Okay… a little peek behind the blog’s curtain today. I write here four days a week. A lot of people are surprised I can find enough material to generate that much content on corporate video production. The truth is I’ve never found it very difficult… until last night.

Whenever I think of a blog topic, I make myself a note. If I’m out and about and I spot something that strikes me, I take a photo of it. When I see a good/bad video pop-up in my social accounts, I make sure to note it.

When none of the above has happened… I go Facebook fishing. I follow a lot of businesses producing videos and love to write about them via this blog. I can usually scroll back two, three, maybe six hours in my feed and typically find a video to blog about.

Not yesterday. Actually, the only corporate video in my feed is the one T60 posted about our latest client, Yellow House Children’s Services.

I planned on sharing some stories from that shoot sometime this week and could have done it today, but I thought my Facebook fishing failure deserved some notice.

Why? Because this is how much the world has changed over the last few years. Videos are everywhere. Five years ago, searching for video to write about would have taken forever. Today, I’m put out because I couldn’t find one during a 60-second Facebook search.

The world has changed. Video needs to be part of your PR/marketing strategy. I shouldn’t have to go Facebook fishing for you.

–Tony Gnau