With a vast array of organizations striving to promote their own visual storytelling projects, it is important to consider every facet of your video production from cameras and editing software, to the perfect lighting and sound per shot. As the cost of video production equipment and editing software falls, brands are getting creative to ensure that their project stands out against other marketing video initiatives.

Here are some great suggestions to consider when organizing your next marketing video!

Storyboards and Shooting Scripts

The addition of storyboards and shooting scripts lay the groundwork for the your video project.

By planning and storyboarding before you get behind the camera, you will create an outline of the shots that you plan to capture and your desired video project outcome. Your shooting script can easily serve as a pseudo-screenplay for your project. Placing the storyboard and collective shooting script within your range of sight will keep the direction of your project clear and stream your video recording process.

Ready Your Cast 

Whether you cast trained actors, anchors, or non-professional actors, preparing your cast will save you time and money. Make sure that your actors are familiar with what’s coming for them ahead of time. This will reduce mistakes and save you valuable editing time. Take the time to explain your end-goal to your subjects and get them comfortable with your brand’s culture and the video’s intended message.

For additional information about working with non-professional actors, check out our recent blog.

Beware of B-roll

If you want to add more character to your project, you’ll want to scattering in clips of your team hard at work and otherwise. This is what video experts call B-roll shots.

A B-roll shot is essentially any footage that is not your main subject. If you are explaining a service that your brand provides, then you may want to cut in B-roll footage of your clientele using and having a positive response to that service. You can also use B-roll to familiarize your target demographic with more aspects of your brand’s culture, like happy employees, shots of your office space, or company events.

Figuring this out during the pre-production phase will help you organize your storyboard and plan for transitions during editing. It will add to the overall composition aesthetic and hold your audience’s attention span more effectively.

Remember the Rule of Thirds

Visualize that your shot is divided into 9 equivalent segments by 2 vertical lines and 2 horizontal lines. By composing your footage in this manner, you will make the project easier for the eyes to read and produce a more aesthetically-pleasing and balanced shot overall. This rule can be applied to nearly any shot, landscapes and otherwise.

The Importance of Lighting in Marketing Videos

True. You can adjust picture contrast and brightness in the post-production (to varying degrees) but few things will take away from a video more quickly than a shot that is too dark or too light. It is far more important to film a shot right on your filming day than to rely on post-production adjustments later.

Artificial Vs. Natural Light

During the production phase of a video, lighting possesses different temperatures. These temperatures are measured in degrees of Kelvin.

This is certainly a complicated subject, but one that requires attention because combining lights with two different color temperatures can produce an unevenly lit shot.

For example, your chosen recording location may be great for audio recording and have bright artificial lighting. However, if the room also has a bright natural light source, the two different light temperatures could cause your shot to lose visual appeal. This sort of imbalance can be difficult to repair as well as challenging to pay for, truly a pain that you do need.

Manually Adjust Your Camera’s White-Balance

As we continue to account for the different temperatures that artificial and natural light produce, we must also account for these heat levels by manually adjusting the camera’s white-balance. This informs the camera of what “true white” appears like within your production area to prevent color casting.

While your camera probably has an auto-white-balance function, we have found our greatest success in balance color temperature by manually adjusting the camera’s white-balance feature.

Multiple Shots

Your actors may be professionals, but even professional actors and actresses can make mistakes from time to time. You want to make sure that you have multiple shots to avoid having to reshoot an essential single line due to an error.

When shooting your video, take the time to capture multiple shots. That way you have back-ups in case you notice something is missing or a slight blunder is a bit too apparent. You can then collectively edit your last series of numerous shots, instead of counting on only one.

We hope this helps you save time in your creative process – did we miss something? Let us know! We value your feedback.