Seven steps to the perfect Corporate flick
When producing a corporate flick, you’ll run into a great many things. Therefore we give you a short description detailing how you arrive at your perfect Corporate flick in seven steps.
Step 1 – Determine what message you want to communicate in your corporate flick.
Think hard on what you want your viewer to remember after having seen your film. Will it be ‘Let’s talk about me!’, or do you have a specific goal with your film and do you want your viewer to act, based on your film? Images convey more than words do. So don’t try to tell it all and keep it brief. Cut down on what you mean to say into one single, main message, and keep it simple. Take a look from the viewers’ perspective. What’s in it for them? Having trouble? No worries! The director and your script-writer will help you out.
Step 2 – Determine your budget.
The costs of your corporate flick fully depend on your desires. The sky is the limit. A lot of factors are involved: quality of the image, script development, storyboards, actors and voice-overs, preparations, the number of production-days and the special effects. You don’t want to have any expenses for this production? Then use your own camera and patch up something. If you want something professional, you’ll need an experienced video production company. With a clear cost-structure, you’ll know what’s coming at you.
Step 3 – Pick a production company that suits you.
Producing a Corporate flick is an intensive process. Better to find a creative counterpart that’ll think along your lines, and feels instinctively what you want. People with whom you can grab a beer in a pub, but who are there to make the best of your production. Do you mean to spend (more than) a lot of money on it, seek your partner within the Amsterdam channel district, the Gooi, or call Matthijs van Heijningen, jr. If you just want a beautiful film for a good price, call a club of young and enthusiastic film-makers. Like that nice lil’ gang in Arnhem…
Step 4 – Determine the level of knowledge within your target audience.
You know a lot about your product or service, already, but your target audience probably doesn’t know that much, yet. Keep it simple and avoid jargon. Otherwise, you will loose people in a matter of minutes. Consider your own channel-zapping behaviour. If you’re a marketeer in the B2C-market, you probably already know how to communicate clearly. If you’re into B2B, that might prove to be hard. Test your voice-over text on a layman and find out if they truly know what it’s about. Dare to be different from your competition and communicate clearly!
Step 5: Determine your style.
Tune in to your target audience. Are you looking for a modern, colourful appearance such as you might have seen on Top Gear, 24, or CSI (except, preferably without the corpses)? Or perhaps a business-look, like the one used by KPN or Delta Lloyd? If your target-audience is young and dynamic, you’ll want MTV-ish, flashing images. But if your target-audience is of the greying masses, MTV might not be that successful. Will you have an attractive presenter, or a smooth voice-over? If you try to launch your own employees to stardom, keep in mind that a flick grows stale a lot faster. You could also choose to employ tasteful actors with some experience. All of these questions will come by in the brainstorm sessions with the producer.
Step 6 – Let’s get going!
After you’ve pronounced your ‘I Do’ to the production company that best matches your company, it will get together with you for a briefing and brainstorming session regarding the contents of your film. This kicks off the pre-production stage. Next, the production company sets out to write a script and possibly construct storyboards: simple, drawn representations of possible shots. After the script’s been approved the locations will be visited, actors will be booked, a recording-planning and an overall planning are made, the so-called callsheets are drawn up, as well as a shotlist. This is a very industrious period, since a great many things need be arranged. After all this, the production-stage emerges: the actual shooting is about to take place. If you’re the one who commissioned this gig, it’s good to for you to be present on set, to make sure all things externally are taken care of. Usually, a film-crew is not easily admitted to film within offices or other non-public buildings, for example. When all shooting is done, the post-production stage is coming up next. All footage is uploaded and the corporate flick is edited. It is in this stage that music is added, as are any possible voice-overs and animations. In short, it takes some doing, alright, before a corporate flick is considered ‘finished’. Do you have a clear deadline? Start producing the film on time. The more time you have at your disposal, the better the end-result will be!
Step 7 – Put it out there!
Your corporate flick is done! Have it put on DVD. Show it on a large LCD-screen in your stand, loop-playback it in your shop, distribute the DVD on an event, or make it part of a brochure. Put a short version online, use it as streaming media in a banner, in short, distribute it and make sure your intended audience gets to see it! And increase your turnover!
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