One of our running commentaries in our blogs and articles we write has been about the amateur quality people have been applying to their use of rich media content on the web. One of the things that got us interested in producing audio, and later, video podcasts, was that we found a lot of content sounded like it was being produced at a college radio station, with the same novice mistakes that college broadcasters often make.
So this blog post from new PR guru David Meerman Scott hit home, and we wanted to share an example of how to think about producing your web video. As you will see in the video below, David used an inexpensive Kodak pocket video camera to capture video clips.
He shot some interviews with people about his topic (he’s promoting a new book, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History). He shot what we call “b-roll,” images that show scenes from a Grateful Dead tribute concert appearance by some of the original members of the band, he even got b-roll of some of them examining his book almost quizzically, and shots of himself and co-author Brian Halligan being interviewed by a local rock radio station at the concert/festival.
Telling a story in video is more than just talking into the camera. You have to show people your product or service. Video is a visual medium, and you need to think about what images you want to use to convey your message. It doesn’t have to be overproduced, it doesn’t have to be clever or funny, but it should be natural. Don’t try to be a TV commercial. Just be you.
Be sure to listen to our 2006 podcast interview with David Meerman Scott.
Steve
Many thanks for pointing to my video. I had a great time working on this and Brian and really enjoyed launching our book at Gathering of the Vibes.
I shot about 100 clips totaling about 2 hours of video over a week. That was really easy because the Kodak PlaySport I used fit into my pocket and because it was digital, I could shoot all sorts of things not knowing what (or if) it would make the final cut.
Then I looked at the clips when I got home and roughly assembled them to tell a story about what the Grateful Dead did and how businesses can use the Dead’s ideas.
The resulting seven minute video took about about 13 hours to edit.
David