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7 Oscars-Inspired Ideas for Your Next Corporate Video
People love watching the Academy Awards: it has everything you could hope for! Drama, Hollywood stars, and plenty of compelling storylines. 2017’s award show was certainly no exception. Unfortunately, your corporate videos aren’t released with the same hype and fanfare. You need to meticulously build your audience and constantly convince them that your content is worth paying attention to.
Despite these differences, the Academy Awards are at their heart a celebration of professionals who have mastered the art of video. Therefore, even though nobody will mistake your videos for a Hollywood movie, there are still plenty of lessons to be learned. Here are seven of the most interesting:
1. Nail the Writing
One thing that every single movie nominated for an Academy Award has in common? A great script. For your corporate video, the script is just as important. As you write the script, make sure to include all the details you can think of – lighting, acting notes, dialog, sets, prop, etc. This ensures that you have everything you need when you’re ready to shoot and that everybody involved knows exactly what creative direction you’re trying to take. With everybody on the same page, it’s much easier to create a masterpiece!
2. Play to Your Audience
If you want to win an Academy Award, you need to create something worthy of that distinction. You can’t create a comedy that relies on low-brow toilet humor and expect a nomination. The takeaway? If you want to win an Academy Award, you need to know who your audience is and create something they’ll appreciate.
It works the same way with a corporate video, too. If you want your video to get results, you need to give your audience what they’re looking for. Spend plenty of time figuring out what needs they have and build your videos around solving them. If they’re hanging around a specific platform (for example, younger audiences tend to spend more time on Snapchat), you might want to consider building a presence there, too.
3. Keep Them on Their Toes
The most memorable part of the 2017 Academy Awards was the ending. When La La Land was announced as the winner and Moonlight was announced as the real winner shortly after, we could hardly believe what we were seeing. The lesson, though, is that while it was an embarrassing mistake, it generated a huge buzz. People are still talking about it weeks later!
You shouldn’t intentionally make mistakes with your corporate videos, but you should try to surprise your audience. When you’re not producing the same old boring content, your videos become must-see and shareable. You’ll see your audience and reach grow.
4. Stand Out From the Crowd
A great movie isn’t given the recognition of an Academy Award for doing something that’s been done before. They get recognized for breaking through and doing something brand-new. This is a good point to keep in mind as you develop your own video content plan. What does your company do that nobody else can? What makes you different? Focus on these competitive advantages throughout your videos to drive home the point that you’re not like every other company – you’re bigger, better, and more able to help! This goes a long way to helping you break through all the noise out there.
5. Make it Easy to Find Your Videos
You can’t be considered for the awards if you don’t let anybody watch your movie. And if nobody watches your corporate videos, they’re not worth the film they’re recorded on. Figure out what channels make the most sense to connect with your audience. Place videos on high-traffic, important pages of your website, like on product pages and landing pages. Don’t be afraid to email your videos to your mailing list, either. In fact, emails that have a video in them have a click-through rate that’s increased by an average of 200 to 300 percent!
6. Tell a Compelling Story
Every movie at its heart is simply a compelling story. If it wasn’t, there’d be no reason to sit down for over an hour and watch the whole thing. Even though your videos are much shorter, your audience’s attention span is limited, so you need to keep their attention, too. You can do this by telling a story.
The story you tell throughout any individual video is what ties everything together. What message are you trying to get across? What promises are you making at the beginning that gets fulfilled throughout the body of the video? Is it something your audience even cares about? A good story keeps their attention and minimizes drop-off, giving conversions a significant boost.
7. Keep Production Value High
There’s a reason that so many Academy Awards are given out for production, like Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, and Best Production Design. In the end, if you have a great script and the perfect message, it’s going to get lost if your camerawork is bad or your editing is choppy. In order to bring it all together, you need a team that ensures quality throughout the entire video production process.
If you need a high-quality, reliable video crew, even if you don’t know where to get started, Crews Control is here to help. We’ll help match you with the perfect crew for your corporate video needs, no matter where in the world you’re shooting. Get started is as simple as turning on the Academy Awards was – just click here for a free quote!
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