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The One Trick Pony
Every company video studio has a house style. It will be a combination of many things, but the net impact to you will be that their videos seem to look good, even when they're discussing relatively boring topics.
Then you'll notice at least one video company stands out from the crowd because of an effect they use, a way of making screens jump about or look more heightened. Or they do it with a slomo or time lapse effect. Or an urban colour effect, or other visual concept.
Typically this visual concept will be against a background of relatively fast editing cuts.
This conceptual look will stand out in the video and be obvious, and you'll probably like it.
There's nothing wrong in this, but you do need to know if it's a one trick pony or not.
Is the one trick pony all they can do - or is there more?
This question is important as many video studios are One Trick Ponies, and while this may be fine for you, you still ought to know it. For example, it'll give you a better handle of price negotiations.
Spotting when a video is wrong - 1
Here's another example of confusing post production drawn from recent experience:
I was approached by a producer / director / camera op, a highly skilled creative individual, looking for work opportunities. I viewed his showreel and work samples. They were all well made, and of "high concept" which made them impressive at first glance.
But closer examination revealed:
> The creative storyline actually overshadowed the key business message.
> The key messages themselves weren't memorable, although the creative style was
> Staff used as extras were asked to do too much in the video (to save costs) where either a cheap actor or two would have been much better, or a different approach could have been taken that didn't expect own staff to show emotion or be glamorised.
This company video was obviously a case of the video producer convincing the managing director to "produce something special".
In the course of events, the managing director lost sight of business basics, and let the medium overwhelm the message.
The result was a business video that didn't deliver the business.
Spotting when a video is wrong - 2
Here's another example of post production gone wrong, while initially looking right:
A company video sample you're shown might have a very noticeable and stylish visual effect. This may be the way screens jump about, or colours merge, or whatever. But it stands out.
The key point is that the visual effect looks good.
But what can go wrong is failure to consider how this visual effect impacts on audiences.
Often a strong visual effect can have the effect of throwing the audience's attention, and breaking their concentration.
In other words, the video effect acts more as a distraction or poorly timed surprise, albeit an attractive one.
Today's business owner, director or professional marketer has to be doubly diligent to ensure the video delivers the business message in the most effective and direct way, and doesn't get hijacked by "creativity".
This still leaves many opportunities for creative video production.
But this shouldn't be confused with creativity for creativity's sake.
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