[Frank Johnson]

Thanks for the article Eric. Great info!

[Frank Johnson]

I think your crystal ball is right on the money. DDTV (Direct(or Digital) Download TV) will eventually take over the home market but that will take at least 5 years.

IMO a couple things will have to happen: In the near future, 80% of the new TV’s purchased will have a CPU included. For DDTV to take off, the monopoly of the cable companies and satellite companies will have to be broken. Movies from some guy in Hong Kong will be downloaded directly to the 52 inch plasma with integrated CPU hanging on my wall. Imagine how many choices there will be when that happens!

Also highband width / omni pervasive wireless will have to be more available. I understand there is some military technology almost ready to trickle down to us.

These things will take at least 5 years to become mainstream.

For years, in the beginning SD DVD was massively unstable and hugely expensive for anybody but large operations. Slowly the prices came down and SD DVD became cheap and easy to produce.

My prediction is that it will be another 2 years before blu-ray is as easy to produce as SD DVD. It will have a 5 year run before it starts to die in the home market.

Will the corporate world still see the value in a tangible media delivery item? Blu-ray may die for the home user but the corporate world may still need them.

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[Frank Johnson]

Has anybody made blu-ray discs with Encore?

[Frank Johnson]

Good point Bob.

[Frank Johnson]

GREAT input guys…

It may come down to budget and ability but…

I’d rather see the whole thing in graphics/animation and much shorter. The talking head, at least for me doesn’t do it. She appears to be “trying” to act professional. If you’re going to use an on-camera person, the talent needs to either be an expert speaking to the audience or a someone the viewer can relate too.

I think she’s too dry to be relateable and she doesn’t seem comfortable enough to be an expert.

She’s very attractive but perhaps she wasn’t the best choice for this role or maybe she was directed to be serious and wasnt given a chance to show much personality.

An After Effects artist could have a great time with this project… as long as it was kept to 60 seconds!

I agree that much of this information wold be better presented in an interactive mode. Perhaps a Flash presentation with examples and links to real word examples.

I was producing it, I’d pitch a 30-60 second animated introduction video followed by a flash presentation with examples.

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[Frank Johnson]

Playing stupid is good advice. Especially when working with marketing managers as opposed to a non-marketing person or business owner.

Many marketing managers often feel threatened and like to call the shots.

Most videos I work on are in the 25,000 – 65,000 range but it’s amazing how many clients, even those with a decent budget, still want a video that is all things to all people.

Accessing the person you’re working with is key..

Are they a real decision maker?

Are they really interested in a quality product or are they covering the bases cause their boss told them told too?

Are they willing to “go to bat” for a good idea?

What is their background? Maybe they have more video experience than you!

Are they looking forward to the project? How can you make it fun for them?

How can you make them look good?

[Frank Johnson]

>>I tell them the message is like an arrow, and the more topics you add onto it, the broader and flatter the point of the arrow goes until it can’t penetrate a target no matter how hard you pull back the bow(read as “spending money”).

That is a great way to explain it… I’m going to have to borrow that from you.

The trouble is tat during the discovery processes, I’ll try to convince my clients to focus on a target audience.

“Who are we designing this video for End user, Sales Reps, Recruitment, Training, Orientation.”

90 percent of the clients will say “YES!, all of them”! They interpret a diliniation of videos as an attempt to sell them more videos.

Often I try to convince them to break up the project into a few small 1.5 minute videos instead of one 6 minute videobut this is often the result:

‘All I want is a video”

“But Mr, customer, I’m trying explain that there are different videos for different purposes”

“My boss said he wants a video”

“Errr… OK”

[Frank Johnson]

Some easy way to add production values..

Graphics and music are probably the most common way to add production value. it can also be the quickest way to make a video look cheesy.

Informational graphics like animated maps can distract from a poorly shot talking head and add to viewer comprehension.

Tastefully done lower thirds can help

Animated transitions text treatments and backgrounds can make dry material more interesting.

Is there a voice over? Try using two voice over talents. One male and one female to add interest.

Different edit techniques are certainly over used but in the corporate world, they can still provide “wow”.. Time re-mapping, occasional flash transitions with a sfx,

Change the music often, depending on the production at least once a minute.

watch other peoples corporate videos!

Dont over do it!

[Frank Johnson]

Also..

Try to put yourself in a position to lead your client. Ten minutes is WAY to long for most corporate videos. A 3-5 minute video is much more watchable but not necessarily any cheaper to produce.

How are the going to use the video? Perhaps breaking it up into four 1.5 minute segments will serve them better for web use.

Leave yourself room to outsource. What if you decide you’d like to add an animation or logo fly? You’ll probably have to hire an animator. Sometimes it works better to sell your client on your ideas instead of just reacting to there requests