If Video Killed the Radio Star, Who Will Kill Video?
I love video. I think it is a powerful communications tool that humanizes complex ideas and infuses products and services with personality essential for connecting to core audiences. But it ain’t easy to make it work.
This past week I’ve watched Johannes work on a video that is fairly typical in the world of corporate communications. It serves to introduce a new product for a company that owns a rather niche space that happens to span the globe. The message needs to be precise, without losing diverse groups. It needs to be informative, without being too, well, boring. Ultimately, it needs to convince the viewers to a call to action. Namely, to purchase the service described.
The power of video to do all of that is greater than ever. According the the Social Media Revolution, 25 percent of Americans in the past month say they have watched a short video…on their phone. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. Hulu has grown from 63 million streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009.
Far from being killed by new media, video has finally come into its own. It’s true power is only now beginning to be unleashed.
But while the avenues of delivery may be evolving, and the cost decreasing, the essentials of good video haven’t changed.
Good story. (Production)
Good pacing. (Editing)
Dynamic visuals. (Post)
No magic in editing or post-production can turn a bad story into a good video. But bad editing or post can turn a good story into something rather forgettable. That is why both the editor and post-production lead should have an understanding of what makes for a good story.
Video isn’t going away. Far from it. It’s becoming a critical tool for marketing and communications. Now more than ever businesses need to turn to professional communicators to help them craft their story via this powerful tool. It’s no longer a nice-to-have feature. It’s expected. But that doesn’t give license to create video for the sake of checking off a box on a marketing to-do list. It must still be thoughtful, targeted, and professional.
In other words, no boring talking heads.
