Welcome to our regular series, “All Video is Not Created Equal.” We here at Digital-11 love talking about what makes the perfect video – one that’s engaging, creative, clear and effective. Below are two videos – one that gets the job done and one that falls slightly below the mark for us. Find out what we think we can help you achieve for your own story.
1) Corporate Fitness Culture
This video is pretty ineffective for me because it lacks the obvious creativity needed to hook an audience and explain a mission. I don’t feel the need to look this company up nor do I even feel the need to exercise at work after watching this clip. The straight shots of men and women in suits exercising becomes repetitive and boring after awhile.
What does this company stand for? Why is ‘corporate fitness’ important? Why should YOU be invested and engaged in fitness in the workplace, especially in possibly using this company?
More video and better use of text, transitions and music would greatly improve this entire presentation.
However, do I feel for the creators of this video. Even though it lacks creativity and becomes boring after awhile, the repetitive nature of the videos paired with the music (despite being horrendous) shows that a substantial amount of thought went into the design and concept of the clip… I picture of group of people from this company brainstorming around a table for hours of this video’s concept. A lack of video clips could also be a sign of limited budget.
In any case, despite the limitations and time that went into making this video a reality, the end product doesn’t do it’s job – which is to entice new clients and play up all the great things this company does and believes in.
2) Google Chrome
This video is what I’ve been waiting for… talk about powerful, emotional, and engaging without a single word spoken. The idea behind this video – a dad setting up an email account for his infant daughter where he documents and archives her growth – is so powerful and perfectly constructed to not only get the audience on board and ready to watch the entire (fairly short) video, but to visualize and display the features and capabilities of Google Chrome.
There’s no talking head telling you why this program is important and what it can do, yet you as the audience get everything you need to know about it from the variety of shots of the fathers documentation process. And the fact that you have no real idea what exactly is going on, i.e. that a father is creating an archive for his daughter, until the end really helps add mystery and hook the audience into watching the whole video to see what happens.
But this clip isn’t just great at showing off the capabilities of Google Chrome. It’s also pretty awesome and clear at telling you what Google as a company values and what it stands for. From this video the viewer gets the message that Google cares about you, your family and your interests and they willingly and happily help you exist, document and live for and with what is important to you. This message isn’t explicitly laid out for the audience, yet its presentation as an underlying thread throughout the video is engaging, endearing and quite genuine.
Sometimes its the simple ideas, blended with great looking footage and that human connection and spark that make the best videos. Now pass the tissues.
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