NUMBER 1 - Know Your Viewers
Any successful marketing executive/businessman will always say one thing: understand your market. Well, the same goes for successful web video. For example, if you are targeting your film at people who want to get healthy/eat healthy food then you must be gain knowledge of that particular market, understand the kind of messages that are most effective, and from that begin to create your storyboard for the video.
Ask yourself some simple questions: what would I want to see if it were ME who was the viewer? What information do I need? Is entertainment important or possible in the video? How can we be different from the other videos that have a similar message? How can we avoid being predictable?
Once you have been through this process carefully, you will find that some ideas will eliminate themselves naturally, and other ideas will appear that show promise. You are now on your way to producing the outline for your video, and from there you can start working on the treatment.
Some final points to remember:
*Always check out the competition or others who offer similar services to see how use video (and IF they use it)
*Content is King! - no amount of fancy music or graphics can save a badly conceived video. Too much info and your viewers will nod off, too little and they will get bored. The trick is to always balance the two.
*Be bold - if you think the idea is strong enough, then make sure it comes over in the final video. If that one element you need is a shot from a mountain top, then go get it. Don't try and cheat it by filming from the top of your local multistory carpark!
Next Week - NUMBER 2 Avoiding Common Mistakes