Video Production for Atlanta-Area Businesses

Video combines picture, sound, motion, and story, and that combination is hard to match. A story lets a viewer feel something about a business, whether humor, relief, curiosity, or trust, before they have decided anything. That is the opportunity. The risk is that video is easy to make poorly and costly to make twice, so the first decision is not about style. It is about the job the video has to do and the person it has to do it for.

Kirk Donovan Enterprises offers video production to businesses in the Atlanta area. The sections below describe the common kinds of business video, how to choose among them, and how a video project is typically planned, produced, and judged.

The table lists formats that businesses commonly use, what each is usually for, and the first question worth answering before any filming starts.

Which of these suits a particular business depends on its goals, its audience, and where the finished video will be seen, and that is usually the first thing to talk through.

Many video projects go wrong at the choosing stage, long before anyone films anything. Four questions narrow the field quickly.

Who is watching, and what do they already know? A viewer who has never heard of a business needs an introduction. A viewer comparing two suppliers needs detail and reassurance.

Where will they watch? A commercial in a broadcast break is viewed passively and briefly. A video on a product page is watched by someone who has already shown interest and will accept more explanation.

What should they do afterward? Booking, visiting, signing up, asking a question, and simply remembering the name are different goals, and each calls for a different ending.

How will you know it worked? Decide in advance what counts as a response, such as inquiries from a landing page or customers who mention the video, so the finished piece can be judged by something other than opinion.

Planning

Planning begins with the objective and the audience, then moves to the message, a script or outline, and a storyboard when visuals need to be agreed in advance. This is also the time to settle practical matters: who appears, where filming happens, what permissions are needed, and when everyone is available. Time spent here is inexpensive compared with changes made later, because changes on paper cost almost nothing.

Recording

Recording turns the plan into raw material. A well-prepared session captures the planned shots and clean sound, along with extra material that gives the editor choices. People on screen usually do better when they know the questions or the key points ahead of time and have a chance to run through them once before recording.

Editing and finishing

Editing shapes the raw material into the story. Picture is cut, sound is cleaned and balanced, music and graphics are added, and the piece is trimmed until every moment earns its place. Review comes next, and useful feedback names the goal, not a preference: “this section slows the opening” is easier to act on than “I don’t like it.”

Delivery

The finished video is delivered in the files each placement needs, which may include a broadcast version, a website version, and shorter or vertical cuts for social platforms. Captions are added for viewers who watch without sound, and a description and thumbnail are prepared wherever the video will be published.

A script fixes the words, and a storyboard fixes the pictures that go with them. Both are inexpensive to change and expensive to ignore. When the people approving a video agree on the script and the sketches first, they are agreeing on what the finished piece will show, which cuts down on surprises at the first edit. Without them, opinions arrive late, and late opinions are the ones that force a reshoot.

Not every project needs the same level of detail. A short interview-style piece may need only a list of questions and a general idea of the setting, while a commercial with several scenes, people, and locations benefits from a full storyboard and a shot list. The rule of thumb is simple: the more people and places involved, the more should be settled on paper beforehand.

Kirk Donovan’s philosophy, stated plainly, is that the purpose of advertising is to get a response. Applied to video, the measure of a finished piece is whether viewers do something after watching it, not how polished it looks. A video can be beautifully made and still fail that test, and a plainly made one can pass it.

Customer story videos are easy to spoil with over-preparation. A scripted speech sounds scripted, and viewers discount it immediately. What persuades is a person describing something specific in their own words: what the problem was, what they tried, and what changed. The usual approach is to prepare questions rather than answers, to talk with the person beforehand so they know what to expect, and to record more than will be used so the natural moments can be chosen.

Two practical points apply. Get written permission from everyone who appears, and make sure that what is said is true for that person. Advertising rules expect endorsements to be honest, and any reward the customer received for taking part should be made clear to viewers.

A video that cannot be followed in a noisy waiting room, a quiet office, or a moving car loses part of its audience. Captions help viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing and viewers who simply have the sound off. On-screen text should be large enough to read on a phone and stay up long enough to finish. Audio should stay clear of competing music, and the spoken words should make sense even if the picture is not being watched closely. A short written transcript on the page that carries the video also helps people who prefer to read.

• Starting with the look instead of the goal. Decide what the video must do before anyone discusses how it will appear.
• Trying to say everything in one video. A video that covers every product, every benefit, and the company history satisfies nobody. Make several short ones instead.
• A slow opening. Viewers decide quickly whether to keep watching, so the first moments should show them why the video is for them.
• Ignoring sound. Poor audio makes even good picture hard to watch, and many people watch with the sound off, so plan for captions as well.
• No closing action. End by telling viewers what to do next, and make that step easy.
• Using music or images without permission. Every element needs the right to be used wherever it will appear.
• Making one video and forgetting it. A finished video needs a place to live and a reason for people to see it, such as a page, an email, a social post, or a sales meeting.

Video rarely works alone. A commercial made for broadcast pairs with television advertising for placement, while a web video is only as useful as the page or channel that carries it, which is where social media marketing comes in. The production overview covers commercials in more detail, and the creative overview shows how ideas are developed before anything is filmed. The video marketing article on the blog looks at why businesses use the format. Video also works better when it matches the identity described under brand management: the same voice, the same look, and the same promise. More articles on the subject are collected under television and video advertising on the blog.