1. Make sure you have plenty of time to produce a successful video. I get calls all the time from professionals who want to produce a video in a matter of days…in some cases in less than 24 hours! From the perspective of a corporate video producer, it’s nearly impossible to create a quality presentation with such short notice. It can be done, but you will almost always pay a lot more money for a finished product that will have trouble meeting or exceeding your expectations.

Every corporate video you produce needs to go through the proper planning stages to make sure your goals for the project will be achieved. An ideal turnaround for the average corporate video production company is 6 to 8 weeks although my company, Fire Eye Productions, Inc., typically turns complicated video projects around in 3 to 4 weeks. Turnaround time depends on how many projects your production company has in their queue and the level of difficulty associated with your corporate video.

By all means, if you need a video ASAP and don’t have a lot of time before you have to show it to your audience, call the video producer anyway. But, the rule of thumb is to give the producer and yourself plenty of time to plan and produce a successful video presentation.

Questions about producing a successful video for your business or organization? Contact Kris Simmons at 423.757.9585 or send an email.

2. Decide whether you want your finished presentation to be produced and mastered in High-Definition (HD) or Standard-Definition (SD). There is a lot of confusion among business professionals regarding which format is the best for showing their corporate videos. Obviously, HD video is a hot topic right now and I get a lot of customers who want us to produce their videos in HD. A problem with this…and a major problem at that…is that even though we produce and deliver the finished video in HD, the client rarely ever has the ability to show the video in High-Definition.

They may have an HD screen in their conference room but they won’t have a BluRay player that can play the HD DVD. Or, they may have a BluRay player or a computer than can playback the HD video but the projector they are using in the meeting isn’t a digital HD projector. So, before you move forward with producing a corporate video for your business, decide how you will deliver it and to whom before choosing HD over SD. For instance, if your plan with the finished video is to send it via DVD to thousands of members, customers or prospects, the best delivery option will be SD. The reason for this is because the majority of people out there DO NOT have the ability to play HD video in their office or home.

The other thing to consider is how long will you be using this video as part of your communications strategy. If the video will only be in the marketplace for up to two years, I’d seriously consider producing it in SD. If you plan on showing the video beyond 2 years from now (8/26/09) then I recommend you produce the video in HD and down convert it to an SD DVD for your short-term delivery solution.

A compromise, and one that many of our clients are choosing at this time, is to shoot all the footage in HD but edit the video in SD. That way, if you want to come back in a couple years and update/re-edit the corporate video project, you’ll have all the original footage in HD and can remaster the edited video in HD.

One more thing to consider regarding HD video production. It takes quite a bit longer to edit an HD video than an SD video. So, if you ask your corporate video producer to develop an HD presentation for your business, don’t be shocked if their estimate is about 30% higher than what the fee would be for an SD presentation. HD videos contain files that are almost 3 times the size of SD files. This causes our edit computers and software to work a lot slower than when processing SD content. In a world where time is money, the longer it takes for computers to process HD footage, the more if will cost you as the video client.

HD what? SD who? Need someone to give you the Tech-to-English translation? Call Kris Simmons at 423.757.9585 to schedule a free consultation.

3. Make sure you schedule the time and resources necessary to help the corporate video producer make your project a huge success! As a corporate video producer, my job is to quickly learn as much as I can about your company or particular initiative so that I can produce a successful video that speaks to your target audience. It’s sort of like cramming today for a test you have to take tomorrow that you just found out about yesterday. Okay, so its not that bad but its close.

Your job as the video client should be to help the producer collect as much information as possible about the company or initiative as soon as possible so they can get up to speed. The other things you should be doing as the video client is rounding up any images, graphics, logos, video footage, etc. that your video producer can use or should use in the project. There is often a huge disconnect here.

Clients assume that once the video producer is on board that they will take care of everything. This is only true IF you have armed the producer with the necessary resources inside your company or organization. Who can provide a high-res version of your logo and branded graphics? Who on the inside will help coordinate interview shoots with company executives? Who will sit down with us to make sure we understand EXACTLY what you want to accomplish with the video? Who will be responsible for reviewing all versions of the script and edited video to make sure those goals are being met?

Sometimes its best if the video producer has a single point of contact for all questions and issues related to your video. On other occasions, it’s better to give your producer the names, phone numbers and email addresses to the exact people responsible for certain things inside your company. For instance, I have a large client that I produce videos for regularly and in order for me to meet their tight deadlines, I have the contact information for several people within their internal creative and marketing departments. This gives me the freedom to work with EXACTLY who can get me what I need instead of going through a project manager (middle man). Some companies prefer to always go through a single point of contact but I’ve found that its easier to get things done faster if I have access to multiple people inside your organization. Now, if the project manager is a rock star, and many of the people I work with are, a single point of contact is great because as the video producer, I only have to make one call or send one email to get multiple things done.

Finally, try to return phone calls or emails from your video producer immediately during the course of your project to answer any questions or to address any issues. Waiting several hours or even a full day to hear back from the video client can either delay the video project or force the producer to continue working in a direction that may not be what you were hoping for. The video producer has to deploy resources in order to meet a deadline within a particular budget. Any delay in response from the video client can create problems that may pop up later in the project as missed deadlines, miscommunication regarding expectations or an increase in budget. Dealing with any of these issues isn’t fun for you or them so do your best to communicate often with your corporate video producer to make sure your project results in a successful video for you and your business. If they are worth their salt, they will return the favor. Frequent communication regarding project goals and milestones will ALWAYS result in a better experience for everyone.

Want to produce a corporate video for your business? Need a video producer with years of proven experience? Call Kris Simmons at 423.757.9585 or send an email to arrange a discussion.

I’m not looking for a job…but if I were a talented prospect searching for one in your industry, how would you capture my attention? What would you say or present that would convince me to choose you over your competitors?

Every business needs a competitive edge when it comes to attracting quality employees and a great way to do this is to produce and distribute a recruiting video. Here are the characteristics of a successful recruiting video:

Focus – Make sure your video communicates to the exact type of employee you are trying to recruit. Do you want to recruit high-level executives, mid-level managers with a lot of experience or young professionals fresh out of college? The best videos will only feature one target market but because of budgetary reasons, most recruiting videos are designed to speak to many types of prospective employees.

Empathy – Demonstrate that you understand the concerns of your prospective employees. They are looking for assurance, but first you have to show that you understand and empathize with their concerns. For instance, most recent college graduates are concerned about their social life and how fast they can move up within your company. Employees with young children are concerned about flex-time, sick-days and how often they may be expected to work late, on the weekends or to travel out of town. Experienced executives are concerned about the stability of your business, the quality of your support staff and the company’s overall growth potential.

Solution – Show that you have a solution for their concerns. For the young professionals, talk about all the wonderful things your community offers regarding nightlife and outdoor activities. Discuss the types of programs you have in place to help them get to know other young professionals in your business and talk about the community programs you support that cater to young professionals. For the employees with young children, explain your policies regarding flex-time, vacation days, sick days, medical benefits and your overall philosophy regarding quality of life for them and their families. For the executives, focus on the overall strength of your business and where it stands in the marketplace. Talk about your vision for the future and how they can play an important role in the company’s growth.

Benefits – Talk about all the other great things that come with being employed at your company, beyond just what they are concerned about. What else will they get that will make them feel even better about working for you? Do you offer professional development opportunities, financial incentives for exceeding goals, cell phone allowances, expense accounts, free parking, personal time off days, etc.?

Proof - Let some of your employees talk on camera about the various reasons they chose to work for your business, what they have experienced in their time there and why they recommend that your prospects apply for employment. This validates all that you have promised in the sections above which adds credibility to your video.

Action – With confidence and clarity, tell your prospective employee exactly what they need to do next to apply for employment or to find out more information. This will be at the very end of the recruiting video and will usually include a telephone number, website address and perhaps an email address.

Distribution – After you have produced your recruiting video, you’ll want to synergize it by delivering it on multiple platforms. Create a DVD that you can run on a screen at trade shows and burn it to CD-ROM cards that can be given away at your booth. Your video should also be posted on your website and shared via emails to prospective employees.
Want to learn more about producing a recruiting video for your company? Call Kris Simmons at 423.757.9585 or send an email to kris@fireeyeproductions.com for a free consultation.

Fire Eye Productions, Inc
“Helping You Bring Recruiting To Life With Videos and Interactive Media!”
http://www.fireeyemedia.com