So you are in charge of creating a video for your company’s communications. Making a good corporate video is a unique challenge. The video must reflect the ideals, culture and ethos of your workspace, but at the same time, it must also be effective.
Every aspect of it needs to be planned thoroughly, but the script is easily one of the most essential pillars on which your video stands it is also what will make your video stand out in a sea of dull video content. The easiest way to ensure that your video is different and engaging is to make sure you have a great script.
While scripting is an art, that like painting must be mastered over time, some sage advice always helps. We, at LMB Productions, have been helping Fortune 500 companies such as HCL, Western Digital, UBS, Epiroc, Amdocs and BMC Software, conceptualize and execute professional videos for over eight years.
If we had to condense this advice into four succinct points, they would be:
- Start with what you know: The Brief
- Brainstorm ideas for video Treatments
- Weave in a Story
- Write your script for your Audience
Let’s start with the basics: What problem are you trying to solve?
Ask yourself why you are making this video and for whom.
- Is it for internal communications to showcase the company’s growth to employees and external stakeholders alike?
- Is it to highlight how the top brass handled a crisis (very on topic this) to ensure that all its employees and customers were safeguarded?
- Is this for the HR department that wants more young, talented people to join the company?
- Or is it for the sales department, who want a short snappy video to explain a technical product?
Once the problem is understood, a whole new bunch of questions need to be asked:
- Who is your target audience – their characteristics?
- What value is your video providing to the viewer?
- Do you have a crystal-clear understanding of the solution?
- What action (if any) would you like your viewers to take?
- Where are you going to showcase your video – Company Website? Press conference? LinkedIn? Instagram? Each medium may come with its own set of restrictions and advantages.
Now you essentially have a brief! This document is now your bible. You will need to constantly refer to it as you make decisions about your video.
You will notice that thinking up ideas becomes a lot easier since you know what boxes you need to check. Once you brainstorm ideas with your team or find some video references (from that wonderful thing called the internet) that work for you, it’s time to write your treatment.
The Treatment: How will it look and feel?
The treatment is a roadmap to the script; it means deciding on the kind of visuals you would like and the tonality of the video.
If you want an upbeat video, you will have to think of fast-paced, cheery visuals, maybe a young voice over and groovy music. If you are thinking gravitas and looking to inspire, then it should be all about slow breath-taking views of your office building, visuals that signify growth and leadership. It could also be enhanced with a powerful voice letting your employees know that if aim they aim for the stars, the company will be the wind in their back.
Think of the treatment as a colour pallet for your video. All the essential building blocks should be here. This is also where you should come up with a generic storyline for your video.
Add in a Story
Treating every bit of content you release as a story is more fun to follow and boosts engagement.
Whether the story is about the company’s brilliant performance one year or the amazing hidden talents of company employees, it can always be made dramatic and exciting.
This is the exact process we follow at LMB Productions! When clients approach us, we usually have a discussion with them, ask them all the questions we need to for a clear brief and then send them 2-3 treatments that we think will work. These treatments all convey the message our clients want but in different creative ways (and with different budgets), and they simply choose what works best for them. And off we go to production.
Writing a good story is possible fodder for another blog, but till then, you can take a look at how adding a narrative make all the difference right here. Trust us, it’s a fun ride. Now back to this scriptwriting business.
From all the treatments that you have shortlisted, it is time to choose the one that works best for your company (this step of course includes adding inputs, rewriting and labouring over detail) but once the treatment is all set, you can finally get down to writing your script.
Scripting 101: Keep your Brief close and Treatment even closer.
While writing your script, remember who you are writing for.
If you are going for the voice over, remember that this is a spoken voice and not the written word.
Be conversational, empathetic and most of all, have fun. Writing a script often makes worlds come alive, even in a corporate setting that holds true.
Keep in mind that one of the most significant advantages of making a video is that you can add layers of information. The visuals are one, the voice over is one, and superimposed text is another. Try and make the most of it.
For example, here are three layers of information in a recruitment video:
Visuals show a conference room where a diverse group of young professionals are brainstorming and clearly having a good time.
So instead of the voice over saying something like, “we are a diverse, equal opportunity company,” (as that can be seen in the video). The voice-over could say something like, “no matter who you are, or where you are from, with us, you have a chance to be heard, make a change and turn your dreams into a reality.” This adds an element of space and honesty. It tells the viewer what it is like to work with your company, the culture there. It is also motivational, inspiring and calls out to passionate individuals.
Now for the third layer of information. A text overlay on the video can give actual statistics about the company’s diversity, such as, “Presence in over 60 countries” Showing the global scale of your enterprise.
All this in less than 10 seconds. That is what effective corporate script-writing is all about!
Now that you have a script in place, it’s time for you, find reliable vendors to execute your vision (Ahem!), make sure deadlines are met and that the video launches in time to meet communication goals. So what are you waiting for? Get moving!
If you would like to know more about this whole process or even just have a casual chat about how to go about creating compelling corporate videos, reach out to us at [email protected]
