VIDEO REVIVAL

shig — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:56:49 +0000

Video has been given a bad name over the last 30 years. Why does the audience begin to yawn after the first few minutes. When uttered, the words ‘Corporate Video’ bring to mind ‘news style’ photography, cheap ‘canned’ music and droning announcers with friendly, yet cliched scripts. In most cases the videos have been much too long and conclude much like a bad date; lots of useless information and no ‘zing’, no sexiness. When the City of Surrey hired Mill Creek to produce a video for them we had to consider a number of things before we began. The brief was simple: “Don’t produce a ‘typical’ video for us”, oh and by the way “we are considering previewing it to Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, so it better be good”. After years of creating anything but typical we relished this opportunity and the fresh attitude presented to us. The City of Surrey had a lot at stake; with a very distinct reputation of being one of the most crime ridden, suburban armpits of western Canada, city officials needed to show something very different about their city and get visitors excited about investing in their plan. What we created for them addressed this issue to the letter. Today, the Mayor uses the video to open every function and economic development staff actively send the video as a calling card on a USB stick to every new contact.
And we did this by NOT doing everything that is incorporated in OTHER videos. We kept it short, minimized the announcer scripting, we filmed footage with our award winning cinematographer and created an emotional piece which got viewers sitting forward on the edge of their chairs. I remember when we first previewed the rough cut to city staff there were a few damp eyes of pride in the room!
I would dare to venture that 80% of videos produced in the industry are long, boring and a complete waste of money. Done right though, and the effects are immeasurable. Video can be that emotional connector to someone who’s never met you before by conveying who you are and what your company is about . Things that no other medium does be it print (no one reads them really), phone calls (everyone forwards your call to the message box) or glossy photos (too static). Business people still look for relationships, something personal, before they make a decision to engage in business with you. A well produced video like the one we produced for Surrey can do the same thing. In this changing economy, video, as a representation of what your company is about and what it stands for can be highly effective in influencing potential new relationships.
You will see it make a resurgence as a communications tool.

View the completed video on our samples page. It’s called “The Future Lives Here”

Millcreek Pictures » corporate video

VIDEO REVIVAL