The cardinal sin is dullness

Frank Capra said there are no rules to filmmaking, only sins. And the cardinal sin is dullness.

By Mark Oulson-Jenkins, managing director, RTR.

Of course, we are not saying your production needs to compare with ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, but what we are saying is that maybe as business people you are possibly in need of a little guidance with your latest video production.

We are no angels and it’s no myth that we do know our stuff, but here are a few misconceptions which we feel need to be put to bed.

You can produce a viral video... The simple answer here is ‘no you can’t’. There is no guaranteed formula for creating a viral video and any company that claims it can produce a video and make it go viral is talking nonsense. A video only goes viral if it catches the imagination and attention of the social media world and that is, to a large extent, beyond the control of the producers.

Producing a video is too expensive... As long as your film is promoted effectively and the production values are strong, you will make your money back with new business generated from your promotional or instructional film. If you are producing a training, safety or product film you will also be undoubtedly saving money instead of paying staff to train or producing endless product brochures, which leads us onto the next misconception..

Print is more effective than video... Our view is that print is becoming less effective in terms of a modern marketing strategy. As a business you will want to be able to track your marketing, create a campaign that has instant accessibility and assist in making your website look and feel more dynamic. You will also require a product that will not end in the bin or forever live in the pigeon holes of business complexes and office blocks.

We can sort it in post... Editors have personal lives too. Not only are eighteen hour days illegal, unproductive and costly but they’re also totally unnecessary. Yes, a good editor can save the day on occasions but there is only so much a person can do with bad film rushes. All of the correct ingredients such as concept, narrative, direction, sound and photography need to be there from the start and can make a production run much more smoothly. Graphics are simple and don’t affect budget... No they are not and yes they do, so you need to ensure you are happy with your producer and motion graphics artist from the start and check that they are heading in the right direction. If you do not like what you see, make sure you are heard earlier rather than later as this can save you time and increased production costs down the line.