To tell an impactful story, work backward from a singular goal. When your audience is done reading or watching your story, what should be the first thing they think or do? When you understand that, we can develop a story, storyline, multiple storylines or an entire campaign around that singular goal.
Branded Storytelling: Setting Up Your Creative Infrastructure
One of the most confusing and vexing areas for any company starting up an internal creative team is knowing what equipment to purchase. There are thousands of pieces of equipment and hundreds of recommendations on ‘what you need to buy.’ While every situation is different, here’s a basic primer on the types of equipment and how much you might spend to set up a basic two-person internal team.
Branded Storytelling: Hiring Your First Creative Team
Branding today is all about storytelling. And there's no better way to tell your story than through video.
With social media, you want to be putting out content every single day. Especially if you're a consumer product. But if you've never built a Creative Team or an Internal Creative Agency and you're thinking about starting one, well where do you begin? You start with Two.
New Series of Video, Creative, Branding and Marketing Tutorials and Tips
It’s been a while since my last series of tutorials, tips and tricks but I’m happy to say, I’m getting back in front of the camera to share more knowledge and advice.
Music Licensing and You.
My response to the Peloton Interactive lawsuit by the music industry has garnered a lot of interest with some of the responses mirroring what I've seen from creative clients. Basically "I understand going after the big companies, but why would they care about the little guys and small companies? What is that going to hurt?"
It could hurt the music industry dearly.
I'm not a lawyer and it would take pages and pages to explain all of the legalities, but here's a basic primer on what you need to know and understand about music licensing.
Branding Videos - Start with Audio.
Almost every time someone asks me for advice on getting started with video they always lead with 'what camera should I use?' or 'how do I make my smartphone camera look better.' Not one person has ever asked me how to make their audio sound better and that's honestly the most important aspect of creating good videos.
The "Right Tool" Might Be Your Brain, Not A Specific Camera
Filming “We Are: Brewton, Alabama” for Georgia-Pacific with dual Canon DSLRs and a super cheap Best Buy LED light. The high quality lenses are more important than the cameras themselves in making pretty picture.
Too often I hear from videographers and DPs that “the camera is just a tool, and if you want to shoot something correctly, you have to have the right tool for the job.” In some cases they are correct. When it comes to big budget episodic shows and films, bigger is often better.
But when it comes to digital storytelling and branding, it’s the creative use of the tools at hand that matter more than the ‘right tool.’
Branded Storytelling: Sell Without Selling
The power of digital media is that it opens up a direct pipeline between you, the brand and… well pretty much the entire world. If you’ve built your destination correctly as described in the previous three chapters and have begun thinking about edutainment as the driving model for your content, now it’s time to think about what does that content actually look like? How does edutainment apply to my brand?
Branded Storytelling: Inform, Educate and Entertain.
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to… I don’t even have to finish that sentence. Most of you already know how that sentence goes. I’m betting at this moment you’re thinking back to some of your favorite Sesame Street moments.
Branded Storytelling: Build Your Destination
Now that you’ve got their attention and they’ve stopped the car, the last thing you want to do is set up a tourist trap. Lots of color and flash, but no substance. Cheap, chintzy trinkets are fun for a few minutes and maybe some selfies to post to your friends, but not someplace you want to visit again. That’s going for the quick buck, not long-term audience engagement. You’ll need to continually lure a new audience to make the tourist trap work. To do that you need a connection.
Experimenting with Vertical Video and IGTV
I began experimenting pretty much immediately after IGTV was launched and it's turning out to be quite a lot of fun, and challenging. As I mentioned in my first post, one of the biggest challenges is the lack of horizontal space for graphics and to showcase elements in the scene.
Georgia-Pacific Storytelling Episode 2 - "We Are: Palatka, Florida"
Building on the first episode, "We Are: Brewton, Alabama," we've now launched the second episode coming from Palatka, Florida. This 'move the needle' campaign is traveling the country to showcase the employees who make up the GP Brand, one small town at a time. You'll notice we've done a little tweaking on the title graphics. We're liking this new, large direction. The main show was edited by Kim O'Neill then I tweaked it a bit and the show was finished by Editor Scott Franklin.
In this episode, we travel south to Palatka, Florida. Palatka was the largest town in Florida through the early 1900’s though it’s hard to believe it today as you drive through this beautiful small town. Home of the St. Johns River and it’s world-class fishing, Palatka is also the home of the Dallas Family. Beginning with Mom back in the 1960’s, the entire family has over 150 combined years working at the Georgia-Pacific mill. You’ll meet “The Inventor,” Wade Dallas who has three patents and is always tinkering with new ideas, along with his older sister Karen who is celebrating 42 years at the mill. Come along as we meet this amazing family, try out Florida’s oldest diner, relive high school football memories and enjoy the Florida Azalea Festival. We might also discover what’s in Wade’s “Super Chest.”
About the series: Georgia-Pacific is more than just a brand. We’re proud to be over 30,000 great people, making great products in communities all across this great land. Join us on “We Are” as we travel the highways and byways to introduce you some of these amazing people and their hometowns.
Quick Turnaround Project Completed: MLK50th. A Difficult Conversation
Well we finished one of the most difficult projects I have ever produced and we did it from concept to completion in just two weeks.
The task was to present a message that ‘it’s ok to have difficult discussions’ on race and social inequality framed around the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This was an almost terrifying assignment because not only did we have to honor the legacy and man who was Dr. King, I was going to be wading into difficult territory having people speak openly, on-camera, about race and social inequality in America. This coming only a month after a Super Bowl commercial turned into a PR fiasco when Dr. King's words and image were used to sell a product.
Filming completed for "We Are: Muskogee, Oklahoma." Episode 3 for GP.
Ringing cow bells for chili at the Chili Cookoff.
We're getting on a roll with these the "We Are" campaign having just come back from 3 days of filming in and around Muskogee, Oklahoma. "We Are:" is a 'moving the needle' campaign I designed for Georgia-Pacific. GP has amazing individuals all across this great land and "We Are:" aims to introduce them and the places they live, one small town at a time. Muskogee is the largest town we've visited so far with a population over 39,000 people.
Filming completed for "We Are: Palatka, Florida." Episode 2 of Georgia-Pacific image campign.
Simply stunning sunrise over the St. Johns River in Palatka Florida.
We just completed 3 days of filming in and around Palatka, Florida for the second episode of the Georgia-Pacific 'move the needle' campaign, "We Are:" Palatka is in the heart of Florida right along the St. Johns River. Quick fact, Palatka was the largest town in Florida right through the early 1900's because the river made it the center of commerce in the state.
"Video Producing" course now available on Lynda.com
What exactly does a video producer do? Understanding the role of the modern video producer will help you recognize if you have the skills and the mindset to take on the job.
Going Airborne for new Georgia-Pacific Image Campaign
Drone approaching a GP employee in Brunswick, GA
Last week I traveled to Brunswick, GA to oversee aerial filming for a new Georgia-Pacific image campaign focused on sustainability. There are many steps and actions GP does every day to ensure the land and water in their communities is protected and will be here for future generations. Trying to explain those ways can be complicated and long-winded. So I developed a campaign that involves just one, maybe two shots in a series of 10 - 15 seconds spots. Each spot is a single message, simplifying the storytelling to help encourage audience retention and social sharing.
New Georgia-Pacific Storytelling launches with "We Are: Brewton, Alabama"
My new storytelling initiative for Georgia-Pacific was rolled out externally this week, "We Are: Brewton, Alabama." It's a few months later than originally planned, but forces beyond my control delayed the external release. But Episode 1 of the series featuring the incredible Glen Freeman is now live.
Taking the Dixie brand to VR by Working Backwards
Filming in the woods of North Georgia
In order to sell a product well, you need to understand the manufacturing process. The entire manufacturing process. GP Studios was tasked with creating an immersive experience to showcase how Dixie products are made to the internal sales teams. Originally it was planned to start with the papermaking process, however I proposed starting at the very beginning, in the forest. That segment introduced a vital message to the sales team, the sustainability of forests is first and foremost in everything Georgia-Pacific does. Sustainability is a buzzword that can be tossed around, but to visually be reminded that this is more than just a word, turned out to be a key takeaway from the presentation.
Storyboarder is a Great Storyboard App.
I storyboard everything from the most basic project all the way through multiple episode series. I can't draw worth a lick, but even stick figures show the basic idea of what you're trying to accomplish for a given scene. I've always used 4x6 index cards, but when I purchased my Microsoft Surface Pro with the ability to draw right on the screen, I wanted to start storyboarding right on the computer. I started out playing with Sketch.