A Video Production Tips reader just let me know that his online marketing video, the video baby he nurtured for five long months, is finally done.  Congratulations George!

I liked it so much I wanted to use it as an example with all my readers.

For a first time video producer, I would say George Fourie did a remarkable job.  Here is a link to his two-minute animated online marketing video that he is using on a squeeze page:

That MLM Beat:  Online marketing video

What Makes This Video Good?

First, George has an easily recognizable storyline told using an easily recognizable character. George and his video production team created an “everyman” character that will relate to ANYONE who has ever tried MLM, including me!  (I cringed when Mr. Everyman wrote out his list of “friends and family.” because I hated that part of MLM.  The last thing I want to do is annoy my friends!  Family, well… I pissed them off just by being born, so I kind of hesitate to make that situation any worse.)

What the everyman character experiences in the video is typical so the storyline is not complex, but rather simple and basic.  That’s a good thing; a two-hour movie might need a convoluted plot, but for a two-minute marketing video, simple is best.

You’ll notice that there wasn’t ANY dialogue, the entire story is told through visual action, graphics (words) on the screen and music/sound effects.  No narration.  The everyman does not need to say anything, the emotional expressions on his face say plenty!   Combine that with a few well-placed words on the screen and you have a story.

Now just because there is no dialogue doesn’t mean there is not a script.  The script contains a timed description of what the viewer will see and hear. Here is an excerpt from the beginning:

Actions:

5 Seconds: First scratch needs to have his hand

6 Seconds: Head line Appears:

Has MLM lost its beat?

Font: Garamond, in italic

Using Color for Storytelling

Another cool visual storytelling technique George used was to contrast B&W video with color video. During the low period for the everyman character, his world is black and while.  Once he gets the beat, his world becomes color.  This same technique has been used in movies from the Wizard of Oz to Traffic and it’s a good one to convey overall tone and mood.

George himself acted as the Executive Producer on this video, which means he was the overall project manager and hired people to do the tasks he was not skilled at, like the animation.  I think that is absolutely the best way to go for most first-time video producers.  You can NOT learn everything you need to know if what you want to produce is complex.  George found an animation production company, www.animantz.com and paid them $850 for the two minutes.  That might sound like a lot, but it is a lot cheaper than spending months trying to learn animation yourself.

In order to be as efficient as possible, George says it was necessary to communicate with the animators EXACTLY what he needed, down to the second.

He did the audio track before the video, which is absolutely the best way most of the time.  Once you have your sound track, then you know exactly what kind of video you need and how long that video needs to be.  You know you need exactly six seconds Mr. Everyman walking, eight seconds him reading over the MLM manual, etc., etc.

Here is George’s advice, in his own words, for other first-time video producers:

- Know how long you want it to be and confirm that the cost will be fixed according to the time, not the actual design.

- if you have sound or a soundtrack, get a basic demo version in place, that way it help when creating the story line second by second.

- give accurate instructions where you would like the sound effects to take place (the exact second)

- Use something like itunes to time each second and picture each scene as it will be happening. The more time you can spend on clarifying each picture with its background, and most importantly, express the emotions and facial expressions you see happening, the easier it will be for the animators to deliver exactly what you want.

So I appreciate George letting us profile and critique his video here at Video Production Tips.  Let me know if you need some advice on your video project.