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Video tidbits
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[David Roth Weiss] “I have to disagree. I think its reality. And, while reality may be a bitter pill, its better for everyone if the client is grounded in reality”
Perhaps the “any two” line is useful at some critical point in the negotiation. But for first impressions, I just think it’s negative and off-putting to put it on a website. I also think it’s sort of condescending to talk to a client that way. But perhaps that’s just me.
I would be delighted if my competition used the “any two” line on their website, and I’ll make sure my website is full of client benefits. (In actual fact of course I don’t even have a website so I’m speaking purely theoretically here. But this discussion is interesting, as I am girding myself for actual marketing, after 30 years of referrals.)
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Well, I’m not saying it should be used as the banner for your production company, but its very useful, and it can be a great ice breaker if mentioned in a humorous way that gets the client to see the irony. In fact, make certain to point out the irony to them and they’ll immediately begin to appreciate your Harvard education.
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[David Roth Weiss] “they’ll immediately begin to appreciate your Harvard education”
Isn’t there some code of ethics about outing somebody without their permission?
I could of course tell the world about DRW’s 110% approval rating from the Americans for Democratic Action, the ACLU, and the American Communist Party. But that would cross a line so I won’t.
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Well the “triangle” discussion happened before you fleshed out what it was you were looking for. I agreee it’s not a sales pitch to clients type of message of itself, because arrogant clients will just say they demand ALL THREE. They may think they get all three, but that’s rare.
To the new point you’re trying to make, you could cite the various scientific studies which show people retain information better when it’s presented visually as well as aurally. Wikipedia and google are your first stop for those.
And you can make a case for messages that are retained better when they engage the audience’s emotions, something video with sound is very good at.
Conversely you could point out how weak video is at conveying a lot of things better suited to text. I have had clients I would like to drill that message in to:-)
If you are trying to define a new market, you can show statistics about video sites such as youtube, which just hit some kind of record large milestone of postings/downloads this week… as well as getting sued for copyright infringment by the guy who shot footage of the Rodney King beating or whatever.
You can show how network Tv viewership this month hit an all-time low, at the same time apple is rolling in money distributing postage-stamp sized video via itunes. You can discuss how the TIVO phenomenon means advertising as we know it has changed forever, and that you know where it’s going next and how to execute it for the new environment.
You really need to kind of define what you’re trying to communicate on this site of yours and to whom; then the good choices for you will be more apparent.
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[Bob Cole] “Isn’t there some code of ethics about outing somebody without their permission?”
Bob,
Apparently its okay to out anyone these days. Hell, I may be due a medal of some sort of medal for outing you, or at least I should be entitled to a promotion and a guaranteed bi-weekly paycheck.
DRW
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[David Roth Weiss] “at least I should be entitled to a promotion and a guaranteed bi-weekly paycheck”
It’s in the mail.
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How often does someone dash in the door, at the last minute, and need their project done that they forgot all about? The fact that they know up front that they have to give up something for their tardiness, or lack of money, tells them something.
We had a client a while back that was always late and then he would suck up to my wife, who runs the front desk: “How’s your Mom doing”, “Oh, you got your hair done. Wow! It looks great!” Then, she would say “Oh, can’t we do this for Mr X? He’s such a nice guy.” Nice guy, my ass. He’s a con artist. Of course, he would drop it off at 5pm on Friday and say “How early can I get this Monday morning? I have to show it to the group at our breakfast meeting.”
Sure thing, idiot. It was the same thing when I was in the car repair business. People want to drop it off on the way to work and pick it up on the way home, 9 1/2 hours later.Oh crap! I’m blogging again. Sorry.
My next topic of complaint will be the clients who think that we should charge the same thing to work on Sunday as we do on Wednesday afternoon. Our company has a sliding scale for day of week and time of day. You don’t? Why not? Get the plumber to come over Sunday night at 9pm and see what that costs.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, ArizonaIt’s a dry heat!
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I might lean on Orson Welles, with his
“A film is never really any good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.”
Or maybe David Oglivie’s
“When I write an ad I don’t want you to tell me you find it creative. I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”
Or even Gwyneth Paltrow:
“From my experience in film there is no truer adage than, ‘It’s very hard to make a good movie from a bad script’.” -
Mike,
The Orson Wells quote is outstanding.
As for Gwyneth Paltrow’s quote, she left out something… It may be hard to make a good movie from a bad script, but, its also easy to make a bad movie from a good script. Hollywood seems to manage both feats more and more each year.
DRW
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Hi David,
I just love the Welles quote too. I think it hints at an essence of what film (I’d include visual communications) can be – what it maybe needs to be, if it is to reach, influence, move, perhaps even change people … Hannah Arendt approached a similar idea with her “Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.”
I hesitated on suggesting the Paltrow line: I so agree about how easy it is to trash a good idea / script, and how often it seems to happen. And, somewhere, I’m a little scared on this one. I think a great script is a really useful starting point for any project, and one that my clients sometimes see more as cost and delay than as essential blueprint. So yea – push script and preparation.
Yet sometimes the film has to “take flight” in production – build on what’s in the script and preplanning, and use it as a launch pad for something more extraordinary. I’d hate to see the need for script time turn into a reason to mechanise the production process – “we have the script, now paint in the scenes by numbers.” If it’s a mechanical process, it may be controllable and costable, but will the results be as good as they should be ..?
Mike
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