Should You Use Long Form Or Short Form Content For Your Videos?

When you are considering visual content creation for use in your business, there is the question of whether you should use long form content or short form.

What’s the difference? Well, very simply, long form content is taken to mean a video that is over ten minutes long, while short form is under ten minutes. So, which one is best?

Well, the answer to that one depends partly upon what you are creating the video for, and partly upon where you are going to use it. For example, if you are going to create a video on how to build a garden shed from scratch, then long form content production is the preferred answer. There are many processes to undertake when building a garden shed, and the viewer will want to be able to see them all in detail and follow them step by step.

Equally, if you are promoting your business, will the viewer really want to sit through 20 minutes of you talking about how great you are? Possibly not. In fact, we just watched a video introducing a business and it was exactly 18 seconds long.

It also depends upon what channel you wish to show your video on. For example, Instagram Reels are limited to 60 seconds, TikTok to 3 minutes, and LinkedIn videos are limited to 10 minutes, so they cannot be any longer even if you want them to be. YouTube’s Shorts feature also limits videos to 60 seconds.

Your Audience

When considering visual content creation, the most important thing really is your audience. Your audience must not only like your videos but also their length. They may well not want to sit through a video that goes on for what they consider to be too long.

Either way, you should not create videos in a particular format just because that is what you are “supposed” to do. You need to choose what works the best for your particular audience. If you have produced videos in the past, it is worth taking a look and noting the length and the metrics. So, you might find that you get better results with long form content production and, if so, that would be the best way forward, provided that the platform you are going to use permits it.

Another factor of course, is your budget. If you are making a 20-minute documentary there is a lot involved, and it is going to cost money. There is the cost of the equipment, the crew, the edit, and all of the rest of the jobs involved. So that has to be taken into consideration as well.  

How to Shoot Action-Packed Video Campaigns

Video marketing is the leading marketing strategy for a good reason: Capturing life in motion brings the audience to the forefront of the action. 

Action-packed footage is a great way to grab your audience’s attention. Watching high-adrenaline action excites viewers and invites them to stay a while longer to see where it will lead. Energy Drink brand Red Bull makes full use of this across their social media content creation, which frequently features high-risk sports.

Sports also feature in many other brands, often accompanying values of inspiration, strength, community, a can-do attitude and determination. So if these are traits your brand holds dear, what do you have to keep in mind when shooting the action-packed video campaign of your dreams? 

Here are a few tips.

Know The Activity

No matter what type of sports or activities you include in your video campaign, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with it. Knowing the sport will allow you to understand what to focus on and make it easier to predict where and how your subjects will move. In addition, it teaches you which camera angles might work best, which critical moments you want to catch, and how quickly you can follow the action.

This will also determine which equipment you’ll need.

Use a Video Camera

DSLRs are usually considered optimal for sports photography, but they are not as well-suited to filming high action. For example, a DSLR isn’t designed to film for 10-30 minutes straight. In addition, thanks to its rolling shutter, it can create unwanted digital artefacts on your footage.

Use a video camera intended for filming, ideally an action camera designed to cope with high speeds.

Set a High Shutter Speed

Avoid blur in your sports videography by setting your camera to a high shutter speed. This ensures that each image frame lets in limited amounts of light, not recording motion blur. A high frame rate also assists in capturing the action and keeps the video smooth. We recommend 60fps at 1/120th shutter.

Depth of Field

Use a deep depth of field to make it easier to focus on the action. In addition, a deep depth of field allows you to create a clear focus. With the right lens, your video won’t keep going in and out of focus, compromising the quality of your footage.

Utilise Wide and High Shots

Film from the higher ground creates a broader vision field that accurately captures the whole scene. A top-down view makes it easier for viewers to follow the action and introduces a sense of drama and scale. While you might want to get in there to get close shots of the action, it’s equally important to set the scene and remind viewers of the stakes. For instance, the vast mountainside, the endless desert, or the roaring crowd in a stadium.

The trick is using a variety of shots so that your camera work reflects the high-action in the video. Nothing should feel static.

Keep It Smooth

There will already be plenty of action on screen, so ensure your camera work is steady to not further disorient your viewers. For example, use smooth and stable pans, and avoid moving in and out too fast. Similarly, when editing, make sure you don’t overuse rapid cuts. You don’t want your audience to get motion sick!

Work with the Pros

Shooting high-action video isn’t easy and comes with many of its own unique challenges. You will also need a special set of equipment, including highly portable cameras, steady-cams, special lenses, and sound equipment that can pick up audio outdoors. 

If your content creation focuses on fast-moving and high-action subjects, consider working with a production company that can bring the equipment and the needed expertise to the table. Highstakes Films is a production company in London that works with innovative brands on creating highly engaging, never-before-seen video campaigns. Get in touch with us today to chat about your next high-action project.

How to Overcome Camera Shyness

A lot of digital content creation today focuses on video marketing. On top of this, video is no longer always a formally scripted affair. Instead, brands increasingly benefit from showing their authentic selves in front of the camera. Whether through live video streams or more random videos, it’s often a good idea to put someone in front of the camera and let them speak.

Whilst featuring yourself or team members on video is a great strategy, it’s far from easy. If you’re uncomfortable in front of a camera, you’re far from the only one. Plenty of people are camera shy, making them freeze up when they have to shoot a video. If you want to become a more comfortable speaker for your video marketing, here are a few tips to overcome your fear.

Take a Few Deep Breaths

The first step before doing anything that frightens you is to centre yourself. This is the same with any type of stage fright. Take a few deep breaths to calm down, and remind yourself that whatever the outcome of the video, you can always do another take. Remember, it’s normal to be nervous and that videos aren’t meant to be perfectly produced! Relax your body as best as you can.

Talk Slower

If you fear you might mess up your lines, just slow down and take your time speaking. There’s a correlation between speaking faster and feeling anxious – slowing your speech can help you relax and make it much easier to formulate sentences. 

Focus your Thoughts on a “Conversation Partner”

Staring into a camera’s black, round eye can feel frighteningly lonely. However, establishing eye contact with the camera is a good idea, as it will make the audience feel like you’re looking at them. When you want to look directly at a camera, try to picture someone watching on the other end. 

Treat your video recording more as one side of a two-way conversation and focus your thoughts on the person receiving the message. This will also help you focus on what you are trying to say and how you say it.

Set Up a Mirror Behind The Camera

Doing so can help you recognize when you are hunching your shoulders or tensing up. It will also show you if your posture is defensive or if you are fidgeting. A mirror is a quick way to adjust your body language as you go. Some people find it distracting, so try this out for yourself to see if it helps!

Dress for Confidence

If shooting a video makes you nervous, turn to all the things that usually make you feel confident. For example:

• Have your favourite colleagues around to cheer you on or stand behind the camera
• Wear an outfit you feel strong in
• Watch comedies or inspirational talks before the shoot to get yourself into the right mindset.

Digital content creation in the form of video isn’t for everyone, but you can overcome your camera shyness with practice. If it’s not you in front of the camera but a customer or colleague, it’s good to work with professional filmmakers for your digital video creation. High stakes films is a digital creation agency in London focusing on video marketing. We help brands bring their authentic stories to life and know how to help camera-shy actors unlock their full potential at a shoot.

Get in touch today to chat!

How to Draw Up More Useful Storyboards

Every video project starts with a creative brief, which develops into a script and a storyboard. The storyboard creates a step-by-step instruction manual for the film, guiding the story and planning out shots in advance. This ensures that the film is cohesive, that one shot flows seamlessly into the next, and that your cameraman and team know exactly what to do on-site.

If you’re producing videos in your own in-house production studio, storyboarding is something you might be tackling yourself. But it can be helpful to pick up this skill even working with a film production agency. Namely, it helps you capture your thoughts in a more actionable format for film.

Here are our tips for producing more useful storyboards that get the point across.

Can’t Draw? Don’t Be Afraid to Keep It Simple

Storyboards serve to outline the ideas behind the film project. They provide information on what shots to set up, which characters to involve, and where to place actors in the scene. It doesn’t matter if you’re not an artist – even stick figures can communicate these critical details. In fact, creating storyboards with rapid, rough, stick-figure sketches can help you iterate more quickly. 

Draw up a very rough version of your storyboard, and go back in to add details later if needed. This process ensures you end up with the best possible version, having tried and discarded less effective ideas.

Be Aware of the Key Objectives of Your Film

To create a more focused and cohesive storyboard, make yourself aware of the objectives of your project early on and answer the following questions:

• What and who is the video about?
• Where and when does it take place?
• What is the intended look and feel for the video?

Use Simple Symbols with a Legend

We talked about how effective stick figures can be in a storyboard. The same goes for repeatable iconography. Simple symbols can help you introduce more information into a shot. For example, you might draw a little sun symbol and a directional arrow to indicate where the light is coming from or decide on an arrow style that indicates where an actor is coming from. Perhaps you decide on shorthand for pans, shaky cam, focus, etc. Include a legend with your storyboard that details what these symbols mean.

Think Spatially

Whilst you’re drawing your storyboard on a 2D frame, remember at all times that the final product will be shot in three-dimensional space. This means you should always consider where your actors will be moving and what they have around them. Certain shots are not achievable in specific environments, and you’ll have to remember that actors must move around one another and obstacles on the scene or in the production studio.

Take photos of the locations you’ll work with to help you achieve this. You might even draw up quick floor plans to placing characters in the scene. 

Our Final Thoughts

Spending more time in pre-production allows you to iron out first mistakes and prepare for a more concise, streamlined filming process. In addition, a storyboard can give you an excellent first impression of your video and how the story will be communicated.

Storyboarding is a skill of its own, which experts can take years to master. So whilst you can create your own storyboards, why not work with a film production agency to take your next project to the next level? High Stakes Film in London partners with innovative brands to create powerful stories through video. Get in touch today to have a chat.

The Secrets to Finding a Good Video Production House

Are you thinking about adding expert video marketing to the things that make your brand stand out? If so, you’ve probably considered working with a video production house. These businesses help you fine tune your video marketing strategy, develop briefs for your content, and execute your ideas expertly.

Lots of skills go into video marketing, and most small brands don’t have the in-house team to bring all of them to the table. By working with a video production house, you can benefit from the expertise of several talented creatives, their industry connections, and their in-depth knowledge of the art. 

It’s worth finding such a partnership even for short-form content constantly dominating the marketing world. This is content up to 2 minutes and 30 seconds in length. In other words, they have to hit all the right notes in a concise amount of time. 

We’ll share some secrets to help you find a good video production house getting short-form content just right. 

What to look for?

Below are what you should be looking at to identify top video production houses.

Portfolio

Every good production house displays its portfolio of work online. Check if they have done similar projects to what you are looking for before and if they have shown creativity, professionalism and innovation across their existing body of work. Not every video production house offers an aesthetic that vibes with your brand, so try to get an impression of whether their creative identity matches yours.

Niche

Different video production houses focus on various niches. For example, some are better at animations, others concentrate on educational videos for businesses and schools, and others again excel at highlighting the unique stories of innovative brands. Ensure that the video production house you choose to partner with specializes in your niche.

Professionalism

You won’t get a full impression of a video production house until you communicate with them. Through those interactions, you should be able to work out whether communications with them feel right. Do they reply promptly? Do they listen to your questions? Do they understand your brand and its needs? Checking customer reviews is also an excellent way to learn about a company’s professionalism. 

Why choose High Stakes Films for your short-form video production?

High Stakes Films is an innovative video production company in London focusing on brand storytelling. We aim to bring brands to life, in full colour and with the enthusiasm your projects deserve. Our team are experts in both stills and films. As we partner with a creative marketing agency and an insights platform, we know exactly how to wow young audiences. Focusing on short-form content production, we know how to make snappy content work! Get in touch with us today to talk about your next project.

Best Practices for Mobile Video Advertising

Mobile devices should always be at the forefront of the discussion regarding video marketing. Every year, mobile video consumption doubles and over 57% of global video is played using mobile devices.

For video marketers, this means they have to keep the needs of mobile users in mind when they create and distribute their videos. As many mobile videos are tied directly to social media content, this is particularly vital for your strategies on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

This article will explore a few tips for optimising your videos for mobile.

Design Videos With Low Bandwidth in Mind

Watching video on mobile means occasionally spotty connections or a reluctance to use up much data. That’s why short videos require much less commitment and hassle from mobile viewers. Gen Z has grown up with micro ads and responds well to 15-seconds or 30-seconds videos. However, much more than that may be too much for your mobile audience.

Shorter videos will load quicker and appeal to an already shorter attention span.

Design Videos for Vertical Screens

Facebook and Instagram Reels, and now TikTok, have all started utilising a vertical video format to better use the space on an average phone screen. In addition, most users hold their phone in portrait mode most of the time, which means viewing videos in the same format is less hassle and feels more natural. 

If you know your next video ad will be displayed on mobile primarily, consider catering to a story format.

Make Your Message Known Even Without Sound

Another habit of mobile video audiences is that many viewers will watch a video without sound. They may be checking out a video on the go whilst listening to something else or be in a situation where turning their phones up might be inappropriate. 

Some apps don’t play video sound when scrolling past content unless the user activates explicitly the sound.

As such, it’s essential to communicate your message silently. Easy-to-read subtitles are one solution, but you can also get your brand across through consistent use of bold, catchy colours and clear on-screen actions. In addition, keep unnecessary noise and fast cuts to a minimum to make videos easier to follow.

Optimise Your Video for Social Media Content Consumed on Mobile

A lot of thought goes into distributing marketing videos and similar projects. However, to launch a successful video campaign on social media, you should familiarise yourself with each platform’s algorithms and aspect ratios. High stakes Films is an expert in bringing brand storytelling to your target audience in the form of high-converting mobile video ads. Get in touch today to learn more about how we can help you.

How to Reach a Broader Audience with Video Localisation

Your video marketing campaign has every potential to reach global audiences. So why not make the most of this? However, while you can simply post your video online and hope for the best, video production companies in London would advise you about localisation.

Localisation describes the process of adjusting a piece of content to better appeal to specific foreign audiences. This may include translation, subtitles, and small changes in the video’s content to better resonate with particular cultural groups.

Just because your video can be seen from anywhere doesn’t mean it will win the engagement you desire. That’s why in this article, we’ll discuss how video localisation can help you reach broader audiences.

What Goes Into Video Localisation?

Video localisation can be surface-level or in-depth. It can involve audio or video changes to the content.

Audio changes may include:

• Translation of the text
• Dubbing of the speaker
• New editing of music and background sounds

Video changes include:

• Adding the subtitles and translation of on-screen text
• Changing the playback speed of the episodes to match new voice tracks
• Editing graphics and typography to make a better impression in other languages
• Occasionally, tiny bits of the content may be cut to avoid signalling that doesn’t work for different cultures.

The Benefits of Video Localisation

Here are the main reasons video localisation should be in your consideration.

• Expand your global reach. If your product was designed to appeal to the masses, your promotional video should be too. Without localisation, you might be missing out on segments of your target audience that speak another language or hold different cultural sentiments. Localisation can bring all of those customers into the fold.

• Make a more significant impact. The best-localised content keeps in mind different audience groups’ cultures and local circumstances. Your audience is more likely to respond to a message designed specifically for them than to respond to subtitles translated from another language. They may also respond better to different formulations, imaging or even colours, which localisation can address.

• Increase your web traffic! Webpages with localised content spark extended engagement from a broader audience. This puts you in a better standing on search engines. You can go one step further and localise your meta tags and descriptions to match the market you are trying to engage.

Video localisation works by going back into the thousand components in the source clip. This entails multilayered graphics, logos, screenshots, video footage, animated effects, voiceover tracks and more. 

The process can be a complicated one. That is why it is often best to work with a video production company in London from the start and ensure that localisation is considered early on. 

Creativity Without Losing Sight of the Brief – How to Evaluate Creative Ideas

Customers get bombarded with ads every day, so standing out has become the number one priority for many brands. A creative, break-the-mould campaign could be the answer. Agile content creation is often the best way to arrive at a mind-blowing innovative solution.

Why? Agile content creation encourages everyone to brainstorm ideas and consider different perspectives. As a result, the team can be as creative as they can be. Thanks to this methodology, you’re almost sure to find a diamond somewhere amongst the coals. But this is where a first challenge arises.

How do you objectively evaluate a creative idea to find that needle in the haystack? How do you weed out the peas from the ashes? 

Check Back Against the Brief

When you brainstorm far and wide, it can be easy to lose sight of your initial task and get off track. So the first thing to do when evaluating a creative idea is to bring it all back to the brief.

Ask yourself if the idea directly relates to the message your brand is trying to send. One way to do this is to let anyone who hasn’t worked on the concept read through the idea and report what emotions and impressions it evoked. Are they what you were aiming for? Then you might be good to go.

Keeping It Simple

The next question is if your creative idea is communicating simply and efficiently. Your ads shouldn’t be fine art – your target audience should be able to understand it straight away and walk away with a clear message. If your idea needs explaining, it has probably failed this criterion.

Does the Idea Inform Your Brand?

Standing out is excellent. Standing out with no relation to your brand? Not so much. Make sure your creative idea aligns with the values and emotions on-brand for you. Does your creative idea inspire a positive reaction towards your brand? Does it reflect your tone of voice? Each campaign should authentically represent your brand, so your creative briefs must communicate your culture.

Does Your Idea Offer Something New?

The goal with creativity is to create something that stands out from the masses. This is where market research is vital. Ensure you know what has already been done before and what is currently traditional for your market. 

That way, you can evaluate whether a creative idea falls right in line with other brands’ work or whether you have found something distinct and new. Don’t presume an idea is fresh because it appeared that way just to you. Instead, make doubly sure that your concept can grab attention in an oversaturated media world.

Is It Doable?

And finally, your creative ambitions should fall within your budget and capabilities. As lovely as it might be to shoot an ad on the moon, it will probably not happen.

Evaluate your creative idea against the equipment you have available. Quickly count up what would be required to make your idea work and how much it would cost. It’s better to leave a great, ambitious idea for later when you have the means of production than to drag it down with limited resources now.

Check-in With Your Agency

If your agency has supplied you with creative ideas, it’s worth asking them for a bit of background. Where did the idea come from, and how did it first arise? Why do they think it will be successful?

An agile, creative agency will communicate its vision and align it with your brand. Highstakes film is an agile content creation agency in London that works with unique brands to produce creative ideas just as special as they are. So get in touch today to start working on your following creative brief.

The Importance of Branded Content

Branded content is a modern marketing technique used to promote a service or goods. Unlike traditional advertising, branded content is a way for companies to showcase their brand rather than their product. The logic behind this strategy is that consumers have often become blind to advertising because the market is so saturated. Branded content reframes brands through the lens of culture, stories and emotions. The content created represents a brand’s values in a less intrusive way than traditional advertising.

The Benefits of Branded Content

Many companies are turning to branded content to show consumers what they represent. The move can be seen as a remedy to the buying behaviours of the millennial and Gen Z demographics. In particular, research on Gen Zs has shown that the group takes a specific interest in brands that they identify as having similar beliefs. 71% of Gen Zs felt brands must address diversity and inclusion. Gen Zs want to see a real and consistent commitment to social awareness on the part of brands. Branded content is a way for companies to bring their character and beliefs to the forefront. In this way, people are more able to identify with them.

In other words, branded content is about opening a dialogue with customers. It can help to:

• Generate an emotional connection with consumers
• Reify brand beliefs and values
• Create brand recognition
• Generate engagement and brand loyalty
• Promote traffic and conversion

Branded content is also about visibility. The digital native demographic – those brought up in the digital age, such as Millenials and Gen Z, are very much influenced by technology in how they make their purchases. In fact,  51% of Gen Zs expect to make purchases quickly between different shopping channels, such as in-store, through social media, websites and apps. With this in mind, branded content must be adaptable, transmittable and relevant across different platforms.

As of 2021, 42.0 million Gen Z users were on Snapchat, with another 37.3 million users on TikTok. These figures are only expected to grow in number. Several successful branded content campaigns have already brought in a new demographic of fans and consumers. So it’s time to get your brand on board.

How a Branded Content Agency Can Help You Develop Your Content 

Branded content agencies help develop content specifically for businesses that want to use a branded content strategy. In addition, they can provide insights for content ideas, taking you through the different stages of content development and production.

They can also help with the production itself, from preparing filming equipment to the complete shooting and editing of the piece. Established content agencies will take you through editing and post-production necessities to ensure that your content becomes the industry standard.

Branded content is more than just making a sale; it is about telling your story. A narrative is a powerful tool that companies can use to change perceptions, inform, entertain and persuade. When done correctly, it’s an incredible way to open up communication and get customers opinions on critical issues that affect your business.

Takeaways

Using branded content is a strategic way for a company to establish itself in a competitive market. But, unfortunately, ad blindness is a real thing. Customers have become immune to traditional marketing tactics. They want brands to give them more. They want to know who they’re buying from as much as what they are buying. 

High stakes film is branded content agency with a difference. We capture authentic culture and societal responses in a fast-changing world. We can help you to communicate your brand’s story and make you stand out from the crowd.

How Content Marketing Changed in 2021

Content marketing has continued to flourish this year. Nothing has changed because users want to see high quality, relevant and engaging content that adds value to their lives. Impersonal marketing like banners, popups and ads continue to be intrusive and ignored.

But whilst content marketing has not been pushed off its throne as one of the leading strategies, it is nonetheless evolving. This article looks at what content marketing looks like in 2021 and what we can expect in the year to come.

Video Has Become the Most Popular Marketing Format

Blogs and infographics are a thing in the past. According to Hubspot, in 2020, video has become the most commonly used format for content marketing. This means visual content creation now has a strict focus – and it is a moving image.

It’s no surprise why video should have become so much more popular this year. 87% of marketers claim video has increased traffic to their website, and 80% claim it has increased sales. 

But video marketers aren’t just creating anything. Promotional videos and brand storytelling are the most essential tools for brands in video marketing.

Social Media Became the Undisputed Place to Post Content 

Facebook led that charge by becoming the primary channel for visual content and otherwise. Going forward, marketers intend to invest much more into Facebook Video and even YouTube as new marketing channels.

2021 also saw an increase in an appreciation for statistics and data. Marketers have now understood the value of social media metrics to see how customers engage with content. Rather than aiming to improve clicks and likes, the name of the game is shares and comments. 56% of marketers now rely on such engagement metrics, compared to a smaller number of marketers that care about conversion data.

Live Streams Gained Momentum

After the global disconnect from face-to-face connections in 2020, it is no wonder that live stream has begun to show its true potential in 2021. According to Search Engine Journal, Facebook live posts achieved 178% higher average engagement than regular posts. 

Live stream falls right in line with the focus on brand storytelling. Authenticity is key. There is nothing more authentic than a real-time connection with audiences in which you can answer questions, talk sincerely about your brand, and introduce your team.

The Average Length of Content is Increasing

You might think this trend implies quantity over quality, but the opposite is true. Readers have come to appreciate more in-depth, thought-out posts over the years. So whereas the average blog post was 808 words in 2014, this number has gone up steadily.

Now, top-performing posts have an average of 1447 words. 

It’s easy to attribute this to the trend we mentioned in the intro: Audiences want relevant, high-value content more than anything. The problem with short blog posts is that brands can knock them out more easily just for the sake of populating their pages. This has saturated the market and led to more thought out posts rising to the top.

Longform content is not just popular for blog posts, however. In 2021 and beyond, we also see brands take more risks with long-form videos. 

Make the Most of Video in Your Visual Content Creation Strategy Next Year

One trend is clear as day: Video marketing has risen to the top of visual content creation and will stay there for years to come. Now that brands are churning out video content, it is more important to cut through the noise with brand storytelling and promotional videos to engage the viewers most effectively. This is where High Stakes Films comes in – we are a creative video production company in London that specializes in brand storytelling. We work with authentic, ground-breaking brands to help them stand out for what makes them unique. Get in touch today to learn more.