Tag Archives: video production

Okay… what do you think of Vine?

Not up on the new social video platform? Well, you can read more about it at Twitter’s blog. Basically, it’s a new Twitter app that allows people to capture and share 6-second videos.

What can you share in 6-seconds? I think that’s the idea. Like the 140 character limit, they’re looking for some creativity from users.

business applications

I have no idea how businesses will start to use the service, but if it catches on I’m sure business leaders will be working overtime to capitalize. I take that back, they’ll have their creative teams working overtime.

6-second storytelling… I’m choosing not to be irked and to simply look at this as a challenge.

–Tony Gnau

Something interesting happened to me yesterday. I got more information watching a video than I did from detailed text.

It sounds ridiculous. Everyone knows text offers an opportunity to deliver more information than a video. I often tell clients their video is the hook to get people to further explore their website for more information.

So what happened?

I went to the my health care provider’s website to get some information regarding my plan and chronic back pain. I’ve been having some serious back issues, so I wanted to find out what sort of treatments are available.

I scanned through some text, but it wasn’t very helpful. Then, I discovered a video. It was all graphics and text, but the video walked me through potential issues surrounding back pain and the various methods to treat it. After watching, I felt pretty good about what I had learned.

The takeaway

Sometimes the video will have all the information someone needs and will provide it in a more straight forward way.

None of the text I scanned through was helpful. If that’s all that was there, I probably would have given-up. In other words, I wouldn’t have gotten any information if the video hadn’t been at the site.

Thanks to the video, I got what I needed to know and left the site happy.

I blog a lot about storytelling and how important it is to producing a good video. I mean, I blog about it A LOT! That doesn’t mean your video will be a fluff piece without any meat.

Video is a terrific way to deliver information.

–Tony Gnau

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

I try to read spinsucks.com everyday. There are tons of PR/marketing blogs, but Gini Dietrich and her team of guest writers consistently churn out some great content.

Guess what… she’s even better in person.

After having read hundreds of her blog posts, yesterday was the first time I’ve watched her speak to a group. It was the blog come to life… really good stuff.

Gini and I met… what… a couple of years ago? She has become a client, and I’m proud that she’s recommended T60 to her clients. One of them was hosting an internal town hall meeting yesterday and Gini was presenting. I was shooting the town hall for a webcast, so I got to see her in action.

She basically gave a social media lesson to the company’s employees. Some of it was business-related, but she talked a lot about the dangers facing all of them as parents. I’ll tell you, I was pretty impressed with the company for bringing her in to do this.

Anyway, if you want to know more about the direction PR and marketing are going, you need to start listening to her. She has a book, and apparently another one coming soon. At the very least, you should read spinsucks.com.

And if you ever have a chance to see her do her thing in person, buy that ticket. You won’t be disappointed.

–Tony Gnau

You can’t be wish-washy and be a video producer. You have to take charge. If something isn’t working, you have to speak up.

Take this video from @Properties. Can you spot the lack of control?

First off… I like the company. I have a friend who is a very successful agent for them. I subscribe to their newsletter and look forward to seeing the videos that accompany each edition. The videos aren’t anything special, but they typically have a professional feel.

This one… not so much. Some of the videography is sloppy, and my biggest irritation is watching one of the partners answer to someone off-camera while the other speaks into the camera.

I don’t blame them. They’re just answering the questions they’re being asked by the video’s producer. That’s who I blame. They’re making their clients look bad.

If you’re on a shoot and see something like this happening, you have to stop the whole thing, and explain what’s not working. Start from scratch if you have to.

It can be uncomfortable coaching a client. I get it, but you know what’s more uncomfortable? Handing over a video that makes the client look bad.

–Tony Gnau

I got a great lesson last week in managing expectations. In this case, the client thought we would deliver one thing, we thought we were delivering something else.

I know… not an unusual circumstance. It’s the type of thing that can happen in any industry, but it was a good business experience for me.

The problem came up because we didn’t layout for the client in advance how we’d achieve what they needed us to do. They asked us, can you deliver this type of service? We said yes, but we didn’t give them a detailed account of what we would do.

If we had, we would have learned they were actually asking for expertise in an area of video where we’re not experts. Sorry I can’t get into details, but I want to protect this client’s anonymity.

Anyway, the point is communication is a wonderful thing. If we had used a little more of it in this situation, we could have saved  the client and ourselves a headache. The good news is everything is okay and the project will go off without a hitch.

Any good ways you help manage expectations?

–Tony Gnau

I was filling in my wife last night about this whole Manti Te’o hoax. Notre Dame star football player… a girlfriend’s tragic death… and now the revelation it’s all a sham.

I said, “This is an incredible story.” Her response, “Maybe you should write a blog post about how this isn’t the type of storytelling we do.”

Truthful storytelling

She was being funny, but it actually touches on a delicate issue. How truthful are you when producing your videos?

Everyone has an ethical line in the sand. I mean, I hope they do. My background is in journalism, so mine is pretty strict.

Stop snickering… it’s true! We’ve never had a client who tried to get us to put something into a video that’s false, but some blurry areas have popped-up from time-to-time. And in those situations, I’ll standup. I’m not shy about telling clients when something ethical arises.

I feel like all of us, you and I, are obligated to do that for our clients.

–Tony Gnau

Have you ever experienced technical difficulties?

Ridiculous question, right? We all have. We live in a world of technical difficulties. Video production is riddled with them. The equipment we work with everyday could fail at anytime. The trick is how you deal with it.

Hello, this is tech support

I’m trying to work some through issues right now. I’m serious. As I write this, I’m on hold with technical support for a product to broadcast a meeting live to satellite locations.

We did a dry run this morning. Checked out the meeting space… got a feel for the needed equipment. Tested the video stream… worked fine. Audio… not so much.

Freak-out time

Time to freak-out? Nope. That’s why we did a dry run. If this were the day of the meeting, it would be freak-out time. Today, it’s merely an inconvenience. Now I have a full week to solve the problem.

You can’t always do a practice or dry run before a shoot, but when you can it often helps make technical difficulties easier to deal with.

–Tony Gnau

Have you ever had food poisoning? If not, I don’t recommend it. If you have, you know what I’ve been going through the last couple of days.

No gory details, instead, something that caught my attention over the weekend, and something I stewed over the during two days on the couch. Interview locations really don’t matter.

This is something I’ve blogged about in the past, but it was driven home to me while watching the ESPN documentary, The Marinovich Project.

The good, the bad, and the storytelling

The movie was a contrast in interview shots. Some “good”… Marinovich out on the beach. Some “bad”… NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long in a nondescript hotel room.

And you know what? It didn’t matter.

Why? Because the storytelling was so good. See, a good story is far more important than simple visuals like an interview location. It’s not to say you shouldn’t look for the best location possible, but it’s not something to freak out about either.

A good videographer/storyteller will make it work one way or another.

–Tony Gnau

EntreLeadership podcast host Chris LoCurto got me thinking yesterday. He blogged about how he shifted his leadership mentality from customer-first to team-first and the benefits that followed.

It got me thinking about how T60 does things. See… I’m a solo-preneur. I pretty much do it all. I occasionally get help from freelancers, my wife certainly, but something really stands out for all of us.

Our standards

Everyone who works for T60 has high standards. Our videographers and editors… take their craft seriously. My wife… wants perfection. And I comb through every frame of the videos we produce.

I’m sure a lot of this is lost on our customers. In many cases, we’re looking at details they don’t see or even think about, but that’s okay.

Influenced by college football legend

My college football coach John Robinson used to tell us, “Just do your stuff.” What he meant was if everyone focuses on their job, the team will succeed.

That’s what we do. Each of us takes pride in our performance, and the customer gets a great video.

Does pride play a role in your job performance?

–Tony Gnau