Hey there - Thank you James for setting this up. Am very excited to help on this video. So to get underway, there are some quick questions to help shape which direction we want to go that everyone should start considering.
1.) For what purpose is the video? Is it promotional? Is it just an honorary piece? Basically what are you trying to get out of it? Who is the audience?
2.) Length... For any web based video it becomes dangerous territory to go longer than 5 minutes. If you are looking for a piece to be used at (lets say) a benefit dinner or something of that nature, you can go longer, but again for web I would think more in terms of 3-4 minutes is ideal and what you would want to achieve.
So my general take on all this up to this point would be to make a talking head documentary short piece (again in the 3-5 min range). With that, we capture interviews with the key faculty, contributors, and even kids going through the program and ideally a success story or two. (Sorry if this is redundant to ideas you have already thrown out). From there we capture the activity of the Emily K Center. Showing kids in the day to day, throw in some nice film making moves and you will have a solid slate of footage to work around and cut into a really tight, uplifting piece. So let me know if I am going in the right direction here and definitely start thinking about those first two questions. Look forward to it!
Thanks!
Phil
Phil,
ReplyDeleteWe've got some folks internally meeting on some specific messaging in a couple of weeks...but as far as your general questions go here's some insight:
1. We're looking at this as a promotional video (targeted at potential donors/volunteers NOT students). Big picture is that the Center and our programs are really powerful, but hard to describe. We have a ton of success fund-raising and getting supporters when they come in and see the place "in action". We want a video that can give a smaller version of that experience for folks who can't physically visit during programs. We'll get you more on specific audience and message as we go along but that should start you thinking.
2. Yep. We're thinking something we can use online or as something short at events. 3-5 minutes definitely sounds like the right range.
I think you're right on target with it having some "narration"/talking heads by key stakeholders with as much visual of the program, the kids, the facility as possible...and hopefully a few good success stories from some of the kids/parents...they're amazing and can be our most powerful spokespeople.
Lauren
Sounds great and looks like we are all on the same page. We should set up a call in the next few weeks to get it all going. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDelete