Tag Archives: video production

Courtesy: billdaleyillinois.com/

Well… turnabout is fair play. Earlier this week, I blogged about a pretty uninspiring political video. It was produced by one of the many people running for governor here in Illinois. My post was non-political, but the video happened to feature a Republican. Today… the Democrats prove they can serve-up average storytelling as well.

Bill Daley is known to many around Illinois… especially Chicago. What the Kennedy’s are to Massachusetts, the Daley’s are to Chicago. The point is Daley doesn’t really have to introduce himself, but that name recognition also comes with a problem.

Storytelling and Trust

The Daley’s are the embodiment of the Chicago political machine. That’s not good downstate. Safe to say… Daley has a trust issue.

He announced his candidacy this week with a video (VIDEO BELOW) designed to turn that around. For me anyway, it fell flat and the reason is simple.

It features Daley clearly reading a scripted message from a teleprompter. He trashes the state’s current condition… not difficult to do… and positions himself as the man to change it.

Yawn. You know the thing about scripted messages? That’s how they sound. Scripted.

Speak from the heart instead from a teleprompter

I’ll take someone speaking from the heart any day over some finely crafted message. Whether it’s a politician or company marketing itself. It’s something I frequently promote to our clients. Some are a little concerned about giving-up a degree of control over their message, but I always tell them what they give-up in control… they get back in authenticity. That’s a big deal.

Don’t handcuff your people by forcing them to read or memorize copy that’s been written for them. Just sit them down, asked them some questions, and get them talking.

What you’ll get back is a genuine message that audiences will appreciate.

–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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CFD Engine 112-Tower 21 on the scene.

What do carbon monoxide detectors have to do with video production? Nothing. Consider this a personal public service announcement.

Last night, I got a call from Mrs. G that our CO detector was going off. We have a 2-year-old so it was especially concerning. They got out of the house and I went home to investigate. Our condo management team had people there power washing the garage during the day, so I figured that was the culprit and it was later confirmed I was right.

I opened all the garage windows, opened our home windows, but the detector wouldn’t shut-off. I called the fire department and minutes later Chicago’s Bravest were on the scene taking readings and not liking the results. They debated on evacuating everyone but decided to try and vent the building first.

Thankfully… it worked. They got everyone to open their windows, brought in some big fans, and the numbers started dropping.

CPD fan venting our unit.

Our CO detector saved us

The firemen were glad we called and said if we hadn’t there’s a good chance we would have all gotten seriously ill. Our unit didn’t have the highest levels, but our CO detector was the first to go off. It flat-out saved us.

CO detectors are required by law in many cases and can cost less than $20. We got a CO-smoke detector combo for less than $50. WORTH EVERY PENNY!

A special thanks to CFD Engine 112-Tower 21. Total pros who did a great job venting the building and keeping everyone well-informed along the way.

–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.

Courtesy: brucerauner.com

Probably the most popular video we and other companies produce is the classic About Us video. It’s something every business should have at its website… a basic introduction to who you are and what you do. Anyone can produce one of these, but it’s quality storytelling that can make yours standout.

Or… not. I recently saw a political video (VIDEO BELOW) about a man, Bruce Rauner, who is running for Governor here in Illinois. It’s… fine. And frankly, fine isn’t good enough if you’re trying to get noticed.

Tell your story

Here’s my problem with it. It’s nearly 3-minutes long, and the first 2-minutes basically puts forth the case for why Illinois needs new leadership. Then… less than a minute on Rauner.

Rauner might be known in some circles as a successful businessman, but he’s probably unknown by most Illinoisans. This is his official introduction to them, but all we get is him standing in front of green screen reading a scripted message.

This isn’t a critique of the message or the politics. It’s simply the execution behind the storytelling and the video. It’s just uninspiring. It’s kind of funny because Rauner tags himself as a political outsider, but his video is cookie-cutter political stuff.

What good storytelling can do

Video is all about emotion. It allows viewers an opportunity to feel like they’re getting to know a person. I actually watched the video because I was curious to learn about him, but I didn’t get that.

Green screens and scripted messages rarely allow that to happen. They aren’t authentic and audiences pick-up on that. It’s why I often council our clients to allow us to shoot in natural environments for their company videos, and to interview people who speak from the heart instead of rehearsed sound bites.

There’s good storytelling… bad storytelling… and “ho-hum” storytelling. Which do you want?

–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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No big post today… instead… I need some help. I’m actually working on a future project, and I’d appreciate input. Nobody wants video production costs that break the bank, but many view the cost as “worth” it.

My questions… how do you attach value to your videos? Also, how do you get the most value out of your videos?

Here’s where I’m going with this… I’d like to write something that will speak to business owners and help them gauge ROI when producing their own videos. I’d love some real life examples of how people are determining a value.

Thanks for your help!

–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.

What’s the goal for your marketing videos? Let people know what you’re all about? Educate them about a new product? Explain what sets you apart from the competition? No matter what the answer, many of our clients are surprised when I tell them I have a different goal for them.

My goal for each and every one of our clients is for viewers to finish the video and leave with a good feeling about that company. Let me stress that… a good feeling.

Video is about emotion

Folks… that’s what you should be looking for with your productions. Yes, we want them to know what we’re all about. Yes, we want to educate. Yes, we them to understand what sets us apart. But here’s the deal… video can be about those things, but ultimately video is about emotion. Viewers may or may not remember your message. They will certainly remember how they felt about your company.

Did you come off as professionals? Did you seem knowledgeable? Were you likeable?

You read that right. Were you likeable? If you get a “yes” to that question, your video was a huge success.

The likeability advantage

You want viewers walking away from your video feeling good about you because we buy from people we like. You can deliver all the information about the business you want, do it in a professional way, but if the feeling you leave people with is… blah… what’s the point of the video?

That’s why I tell clients not to sweat the details. Your message doesn’t have to be highly polished, but it does need to be authentic. Give me your passion, not your sales stats.

–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.

Content marketing is something I’ve blogged about a little bit. I am by no means a content marketing expert, but T60 does provide businesses with a great content marketing tool… video. And since I promote those tools, I figured I better walk the walk. That decision led to 500+ blog posts and a commitment to social media.

As part of that commitment, I’ve been educating myself on the subject… consistently reading the likes of Gini Dietrich and Andy Crestodina. Both are content marketing Jedi Masters… even better… they live and work right here in Chicago.

My profession has actually led me into contact with each. Gini and I have actually developed a nice working relationship. I also got a chance to meet Andy a couple times while producing videos for the ChicagoAMA.

Pay attention and Put it into practice

Why am I tell you this? Because when you trust smart people and follow their instruction, you tend to succeed. We recently updated the T60 website, and a big part of it was following a lot of SEO advice from both Andy and Gini. It’s all stuff I learned from their blogs and our web numbers are souring.

I have also been Googling certain keywords I’d like T60 ranking in… it’s working. Yesterday, I Googled “marketing video.” Not only did one of my blog posts pop-up, but it popped-up with the Jedi Master himself. Pretty awesome.

I guess my point is that there’s all sorts of great content out there these days that can help your business succeed. I hope we’re participating in that… passing along our video production expertise… but I hope you do more than just read about it. The key is putting it into practice.

–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 is going to seem like a ridiculous statement, but you’d be surprised how often it comes up. If you produce a marketing video for your business, don’t forget to shoot some video of what it is you do.

I told you… it sounds ridiculous. Yet, I see it time and time again. The most recent example comes from a local moving company. I was helping a friend find a mover and came across their website that included a short marketing video.

No need to embarrass them by showing you the video. They’re a small company, probably didn’t have much of a budget and they got a video that looks like it. It’s one of those videos where I wish they would have known about our Elevator Pitch Videos… would have been soooooo much better, but I digress.

What video would you expect to see?

Like I mentioned… it’s a moving company, so what’s the first video you’d think to shoot? Movers, right? People moving furniture.

Not a single shot of that in the entire video. We get people working in the office… there are some shots of moving trucks… but no movers! There’s also some terrible sound bites… clearly scripted… but that’s a separate issue.

My point is simple… think about the visual elements important to telling your story. Sometimes it’s clear like in this example. Other times it can be less obvious but just as critical.

Pay close Attention

I occasionally get asked to “fix” videos. One of those clients was California Physician Supplements. They showed me the video they had produced and asked me what I’d do differently. What jumped out at me is something they hadn’t even noticed. They’re a SoCal company, but there wasn’t a single shot in the video that screamed California. Give me a shot of a beach or something!? We re-shot the entire thing and only salvaged a couple of interviews (VIDEO BELOW).

That’s the kind of stuff I’m talking about. Paying attention to details like that will help you tell your stories.

–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’ve been encouraged lately that our clients and prospects have been coming around on video time. It used to be that everyone wanted to create a “short” 10-minute video. That number started dropping a few years ago to a “short” 5-minute video. I’m happy to report the downward trend has continued.

In case you didn’t get that, 10-minutes isn’t short and neither is 5-minutes. I’d define a short video as anything 1:30 or less, but really… 1-minute or less. How did I come to that number? Well, you can sit on Google and sift through tons of market research… or… you can use your good old fashion common sense.

Factor one

You can base that common sense on a few factors. First, where are you showing your video? Is it going to reside on your website? YouTube or Vimeo? Will it be part of an email campaign or will you pump it out via social media? Are you going to show it at a conference or trade show? A big company-wide meeting? A sales presentation?

Where you show it is very important to determine your video time. Chances are it might be a combination of some of those options. If that’s the case, pick the most important one. If it’s going to reside on your website, I’d say you’re safe with something 2-minutes or less… maybe even 3-minutes or less. The reasoning behind that is simple. Someone sought you out. They want to learn more about your business, so they’re an interested audience. That means you can get away with giving them a little longer video.

On the other hand, if the video is primarily for an email or social media campaign, you better keep it short. 60-seconds or less. Why? Because you’re pushing this video on them. Chances are they’ll look at the length of the video. If it’s longer than a minute, they probably won’t watch. This isn’t a motivated audience like someone who visits your website.

Finally, if you have a captive audience like at a meeting or trade show, have at it. The time is totally up to you, but I’d stick to something 4-minutes or less. They might not be able to go anywhere, but they can mentally tune-out or turn on their smart phone to surf away. Hopefully, if they’re a part of this type of audience, they’re interested in the subject matter. Feel free to give them a little more.

Factor two

The next factor is who’s your audience. Is it someone intimately familiar with the subject matter your video is covering? Is it someone in the C-suite? A novice?

If experts are the people you’re targeting, a little longer video is in order. Again, this is a motivated audience. 3-minutes or less is probably fine. They want/need more details, so feel free to give it to them. If it’s someone in the C-suite or a flat-out novice, your video should be on the short side. You don’t want to overwhelm this type of audience with too much. Just tease them a little to peak their interest.

Factor three

How good is the video? Be honet with yourself. Is it something Sue in marketing or Ted in accounting is doing on the side? Is it something you’re having professionally produced? Have you hired a skilled storyteller, or simply someone who has the technical expertise to shoot and edit video?

This is important because no matter what your video length, people are less likely to sit through crap. If the video doesn’t provide a well-told story, you’re going to lose your audience 10, 15, 30-seconds into the video. Just like with anything else, the better your content, the more effective it will be.

See… common sense. Think about those factors, respect your audience and the video time will reveal itself.

–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.

Tony Gnau

I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership podcast the other day and the subject turned to passion and how it helps you sell. It’s no wonder then that your marketing videos need your passion.

It’s actually what makes video such a terrific way to help market your business. It’s hard to get passion from text on a website. It’s a whole other story when you see someone on-camera and hear them speaking from the heart.

Video stirs emotions

I’ve told more than a few clients that video isn’t about facts and figures, it’s about emotion. Don’t get hung-up on the details. How many units you shipped… the size of your facility… just tell us what you do and why it matters.

A prospect may or may not “get” your elevator pitch. They will pick-up on your tone. They’ll see the passion in your expressions and the feeling behind your message. That’s what video does for you.

Give viewers people who care

It doesn’t matter whether it’s the CEO or a line worker. Let’s hear from someone who cares about their job. You should want viewers to walk away feeling good about your company. That comes from your passion.

Team-up with a talented storyteller and unleash that passion.

–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.