What is one to do?

You have so many choices and decisions before you.

Perhaps you are tethered to the notion that you have to decide…DIY – do it yourself – or the “Hollywood corporate” production. Either way, you feel that you are paying a cost you cannot afford.

In DIY, you run the risk of creating such poor quality that you will turn clients away, or the process will be so time consuming that you were better off turning to a professional. Your fear in shopping for a qualified and trusted professional production company is that you will not be able to afford more than one video – and you know that you want more than a single statement. In marketing and sales it is about the campaign.

We understand and appreciate these concerns. Beyond producing exceptional videos, we think it important to be recognized as trusted partners as you create a video marketing strategy.

We are not threatened by DIY productions. We think it should be one of the many video arrows in your marketing quiver. In fact, we think it important to help guide you and your company  to improve your in-house production skills.

Moreover, we understand that not every presentation need be epic in nature. Sometimes, you simply need a “CEO-Think” piece whose video imagery and graphics help to elevate the quality of the dialogue. The example below is a short film we created for the Clean Energy Council of New England upon the occasion of their annual Green Tie Gala in Boston.

The organization wanted to acknowledge current sponsors and encourage new ones while celebrating the vitality and articulate nature of the alternative energy community. We also filmed for them the keynote address and awards ceremony for internal purposes. In essence, for very little investment, we created a short marketing piece while providing them with content which they may re-purpose or use as an evaluative tool in creating next year’s program.

All this, of course, involves planning and collaboration to determine when you will want to produce a signature film that will live upon your home page for two years and influence all who view it. There are the “workhorse” videos that support the seasonal and seminal events for your company; and then there are the down-to-earth educational video blogs that will fill in the gaps and identify your organization as on that is both technically savvy and current with trends in your industry. And, of course, it goes without saying that you will want to partner with a production company that understands how to make all of your work not only web-savvy but mobile device savvy as well.

The analyses regarding the effectiveness of video on the web is compelling. It is no longer a question of “If” but “When” And in the case of “How” it is no longer “Either/Or” but “Yes – And…”

As ever, if you like our work and would like to talk, we always welcome and enjoy the opportunity.

We tire of talking heads – it requires eye contact. As a viewer, it takes energy to assess the authenticity of the presenter. If the presenter is uncomfortable; it makes us uncomfortable. And, if we don’t connect with that face and voice, we go elsewhere.

Animated text supplemented by an energized and sophisticated hip-voice – that seems to be where it’s at.

We’re not looking for “truth” – nothing so heavy. What’s wanted is something light, nimble, clever and engaging.

Interestingly, the story in a 30 second clip often becomes about the playful relationship between the visual text and the spoken script. Through the narration as the words and letters move through the frame, the words themselves become anthropomorphized – they take on a character and spirit of their own. The written word interacts with the spoken word to create a sum greater than the combination.

Here is a spirited engagement between the two forms that DigiNovations created for Cognizant. It represents one in a series of videos that will constitute a video campaign we are creating on their behalf.

Congrats to Mont Fennel, producer; and Paul Stephens, senior editor, for their collaboration on this project.