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Corporate Video Production – Part 3: The Edit

October 29th, 2011 in Motion Graphics, Video Production Posted by cathy

Title Sequence for travel incentive

Unfortunately, they haven’t yet invented a camera that pops out a printed DVD at the end of a shoot so there’s still a lot of work to do.

When you see the first cut, what should you be looking for?
Hopefully, there will be lots of lovely cutaways to illustrate your corporate video.

But to keep the viewer engaged with the programme it needs to have structure.

If there’s a lot of information it helps to add chapter headings.
In the same way that you would add paragraph breaks and headings to a long document, you can add title screens and music breaks to punctuate your programme. Here are some examples:

Music does more than punctuate a programme it will dictate the tone, mood and overall impact of it. It takes a lot of research and time to find the right music track but when you find that special track, its well worth the effort.

Another thing to consider is using a track with a vocal. This is something else that adds personality and helps a video to stand out from the crowd.

SOUND EFFECTS
If you have graphics or special effects, don’t forget to add sound effects.

As with all post production, this is time consuming but it makes a huge difference and brings your graphics to life. Here’s an example:

MOTION GRAPHICS
You may not have considered this from the outset but its likely that you will want some motion graphics in your corporate video.

This can be anything from onscreen name straplines, title sequences or illustrative graphics to explain concepts.

When you’re commissioning a corporate video production company, it’s a good idea to find out whether they have an in-house animation studio. Not only will this mean that they can provide additional elements for your programme at a cost effective rate but they will also be able to quickly respond to your feedback and make any amends you request.

COLOUR GRADE
Finally, once the programme is approved, we colour grade it. In the same way that you would photoshop a still that you were going to publish, we treat every shot to bring out the contrast and saturation and give a programme a look. It’s amazing what you can achieve – take a look at this video:

SUMMARY
To make engaging corporate video, it needs to be appropriate.

Video production is very labour intensive and the results really come down to the amount of care and therefore time that is lavished on a programme.

Some companies may appear cheaper than others but it’s often the case that they are doing half the work. You need to make sure you’re comparing like with like, so when you watch a professional video consider the programme structure, the creative, the shots, the music mix, the sound effects, the motion graphics, the colour grade. How much time has been spent on each of these elements?

Not every corporate video production needs to look professional but when it does, you need to invest in a skilled production team.