A Corporate Video is a piece of media, whether it be audio, video or both, this media is then used by the company, this could be for a wide variety of reasons, such as company promotion, staff training videos or even to help portray an idea to other members, partners or investors of the business.
For example some time ago I edited some footage for my father which he used to help explain an idea he had that might revolutionise the way his company works. This would be an example of a corporate video as he used it to help portray his idea to the rest of his colleagues.
For my corporate video I worked with two groups, the first one I worked with was the Network Rail Promotional Video, this video was a behind the scenes look on what Network Rail is and the things they do up and down the railway.
The second project I worked on was for London Farmers Market, This video was more for advertising London Farmers Market, showing the audience the different types of products and produce available, highlighting the “We Grow It , We Sell It” aspect of the company.
For the Network Rail project, my duties we limited to filming, me and several other students would travel to several locations, this included St Pancras International station, Ebbsfleet International Station and several locations up and down the railway.
Once there we would film shots of the staff interacting with customers, trains arriving and departing from the station, establishing shots of the stations and I was relegated to making time lapses, this meant framing a good shot and setting up the camera to photograph the scene every few seconds.
Once we finished filming all the footage was given to our editor, I was asked to make some graphics for the video as the graphics they had been given were not industry standard, my graphics were clean and simple consisting of white text on a light blue background, animated to appear as if they were being typed on.
For Network Rail we were working with two women from the company, I found that when working with them we made an effort to be as professional as possible, this was because their opinion did matter, they could quite easily have gone to their superiors and complained if we didn't seem to be working out hardest.
For the main project I worked on London Farmers Market, I was brought in by Tim to help with the filming and I was to create my own independent edit for the video. I was working mainly with Annie Hopkins, another girl in my year who was similar to an assistant director.
When making a corporate video, it is important that you know the clients aim, therefore you should research the company thoroughly before setup an preliminary client meeting this means that you can talk to the client without appearing unprepared.
Me and Annie sat down and discussed at great length what we needed to be done, dates for the shoots and any information I would need, whilst I never met the client in person, Annie kept me up to date with everything I needed to know.
The first meeting is where you would decide the client’s aim, budget and schedule, once you find out as much as you can ,you can then write up a treatment and agree to the work. Deciding what needs to be done to achieve the vision of the client.
Annie and Tim sat down and had a long discussion with Mark about what kind of corporate video he wanted, he explained that he wanted a promotional video that advertised the different markets and the wares they sold, he wanted the video to be interesting to both young and old demographics.
We then needed to get everything we needed or thought we may need, we needed to be in and out of a location quickly, therefore having a plan of the shots we needed and a schedule that we could look to was very important, looking professional was a very important aspect.
When it comes to making a corporate video, if you want more clients or more work in general a clients opinion is one of the best types of promotion, if you do a brilliant job and act like professionals the client would be more likely to recommend you to a friend or other businesses.
There are many types of corporate video these are varied so to achieve various purposes, some of the most common are:
Training Videos - these are typically for staff and could range from an instructional video for cooking food in a restaurant to how to keep yourself safe in a dangerous work environment.
Financial Results – usually these would be for investors or shareholders, normally in the form of an infographic or a slide show, these visual aids are extremely helpful for getting complicated information across to someone.
Promotional Video – These are usually on the front page of the companies website, informing the viewer on what they do and their reasons behind it, this could help a company bring in customers or investors.
Video Role Play – This type of corporate video is complicated to explain, usually made to bring attention to something, for example a tobacco company made a short film to help show their customers why the illegal tobacco trade was dangerous and how it affected their staff.
Client and Customer Testimonial Videos – These are seen quite often, featuring an interview of a someone who is pleased with the service or product they have received similar to a online review but with a more personal touch.
Event Filming – similar to a promotional video this is when a company host an event, for example a concert and filming what takes place, they could share this video to draw in more people to go to the next concert.
Product Demonstration Videos – This type of corporate video is when a company creates a video showing the use of a product, an example of this would be Vanish Stain Remover, in the advertisement on tv the showed a time-lapse of the stain being removed from the white shirt, these types of videos are helpful because people may not believe what the product claims to do without proof.
Before we started to film we needed to determine what the ethos of the client was, we researched the company's website and found several paragraphs explaining what their goals were, the motto and ethos of the client was “We Grow it, We Sell It”.
To help highlight this fact we composed the interview questions around what their goals was and how they are different from supermarkets, we also asked questions relating to how they check the farms to make sure they are growing the product themselves and not buying and reselling.
We decided to use the Black magic Camera's as they gave the best quality images we could provide, we brought along many types of lenses to give different kinds of images and also used a slider, this allowed us to get a unique type of movement in the shot.
Before and after we filmed the various markets me and Annie researched the London Farmers market website, we did this to get used to the colour schemes and general mood of the company, we found that London Farmers Market had a “healthy environment” theme, this helped us when we were choosing the song for the edit of the video.
We looked at dozens of songs, deciding early on that we would use an instrumental piece, we wanted to help convey the message of natural and clean, referring to the products they sell, as they are natural and clean (no preservatives).
We scoured websites for songs we could use and we came upon Minor Swing made famous from the film Chocolate, this song was played mainly on guitar, it was old fashioned and we agreed that we didn't want a modern sounding track.
When it came to editing the promotional video for London Farmers Market I decided it should be fast paced, I made more use of the cover shot footage than the interview, as I believed that the interview would quickly become boring.
I tried to keep as much movement in the edit as possible, favouring the track or pan shots, these kept the momentum in the edit, keeping it interesting and dynamic, however there was a few shots that were unsuitable because of exposure and colour balance.
When we were filming the shots the weather was unpredictable, clouds would cover the sun and on one shoot it began to rain, this meant quite a lot of footage was unusable or at least required more work in post production.
The audience for the London Farmers Market promotional video was aimed at both old and young people, to achieve this target I kept the edit fast paced, trying to introduce the more interesting shots at the forefront of the edit as these would draw the viewer in.
once I finished cutting the clips together I decided to create a graphic at the end of the video, this consisted of contact information, the logo and title for London Farmers Market, I had the contact information appear in the shot and then slide into place.
I decided to add a bit of detail and animate the logo so that the wheels of the tractor, the clock on big ben and the London eye were all rotating, it was a small adjustment but it added an extra layer of complexity and made the video look even more professional.
Once I completed the video I converted it to a shareable format and uploaded it to youtube, I am happy with my edit, even though there are things I would like to improve on.
Such as the cover shots, since we filmed at the beginning of autumn the weather was unappealing, If we could have filmed in the summer I believe this would have made the shots look better, it would also have the effect of making everyone look carefree as most were huddled up in coats.
I would also have like to get a wider variety of shots, as many of them featured the same type of things, this would make editing much easier in the long run, I would also have gotten better equipment, I think a Jib shot of the market would have been a great thing to open the video with, as it could introduce the title and then show the size of the market in one movement.
For the interview I would like to have found a more scenic place to film as the room in which the interview was filmed was dull and grey, although the song we chose was good I think we could have done better, however we did spend several hours researching the right song.
When I was working on a Corporate Video, whether for London Farmers Market or National Rail, I worked in a professional and well behaved manner, especially since I was also representing the college.
I was friendly with any staff and if anyone refused to be filmed I respected their wishes, I also made sure to clean up after myself, if I was unpacking or eating anything I made sure to keep the area tidy, equipment wise I also kept anything large or protruding out of the way as health and safety was a big issue.
In conclusion filming a corporate video is far different from anything we had done before, the wishes of the company came first, when making a corporate video it is important to keep in mind what they want, theres little point in following your own ideas if the client is unhappy with the final product.
It is also important to appear as professional as possible, as this could help you get more clients in the future, planning is key, if we were to show up at St Pancras station and wander about aimlessly it would look bad for both Network Rail and us.
Writing shooting scripts and storyboards is very important, also keep in mind that the client needs to have a say in what you do, therefore contact and communication between you and your client is critical.
Doing research on the client is also important, by doing so you can get ideas on what to do for the video, It also allows you to get an idea of what the company is about so you can send the right message.
My three key points would be to be as professional as possible as this will help with your reputation, make sure you are fulfilling the clients needs because a happy client means they might recommend you to another client and do the research of the company, showing up at a meeting with an unclear idea of what the client does sends a bad message.
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