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Doug writes a very interesting post on how his company lost a bid by not using a video.

While I have to agree that video is a powerful tool, I would like to make some remarks:

For that video to be powerful, it has to be well made. A badly made video hurts more than a badly written text. But a well scripted, well executed video can convey information - and emotion - more efficiently than written text can.

Rather than Video >= Images + Stories I would suggest a formula along the lines of value of a video = min (story; technical quality; execution). It’s the weakest link that defines the potential of your video.

There are many companies that call themselves “video production”, and even more people with a video camera. Video cameras can be had for little money, simple editing programs come with all modern OSes. While it may be tempting to go for a cheap in-house solution, as always quality costs.

Different clients need different presentations

Not all clients appreciate “meat”. One of the first bids we did was for a state controlled company. After the presentation we were told (unofficially), that our presentation was the most creative, most exciting. But, in the end they went with a production company that is used by most other state companies. They got an alright, off-the-shelf video, that is watchable. But not memorable.

While our solution promised to actually excite the audience, it also would have been a non-standard way of presenting. Our client was not prepared to take the risk of doing something unusual. So, they got a run-of-the-mill presentation, well executed, passionless. Something our client could safely show to his boss and say that he o.k’ed it.

Reading in the web time

I don’t think that people read less than before. It is just that the amount of data people have to process has exploded. I actually think that we read more, but we skim also more than before.

Lovely ad from PepsiCo:

(via)

The first documentary I worked on was about a deaf actress. On one shooting day we were invited to a birthday party. It was so beautiful seeing all these faces and movings hands full of expression.

As part of prepping for that project, I read about deafness, and learned many interesting things. For one there are many different sign languages. Babies that are taught basic sign language can start interacting with their parents much earlier than speaking babies. Sign language is much better for expressing feelings than words are.

Recommended movie: Jenseits der Stille

With the new installment of 24 the series being delayed for probably one year, the producers decided to push ahead, and secretly made a feature film with some young actors and hungry writers, willing to break the strike. Tony is coming back! Here’s the trailer:

Following up on a previously posted video on Germs are from Germany, here comes CollegeHumor’s take — using only archive footage and some novel soundbites. Enjoy.

…well, not yet, but this is how it might look like:

These digital times are exciting times, but also weird times. On the one hand cinemas are better equipped than ever, people are queuing to get a wall sized (anyone having read 1984?) flat screens (Sony has just announced an OLED screen with a contrast ratio of 1.000.000:1 [sic!]) with surround sound. And on the other hand you get video-to-go on an iPod nano or youTube. One has a resolution of about a gazillion pixels and fills a substantial part of your field of vision. The other other one has less pixels than the early digital cameras and often the weirdest screen formats.

The latter is perfect for watching cats on a skateboard, but for a cinematic experience, you need a big screen. Listen to what David Lynch has to say:

And for us cameramen it poses the extra difficulty of having to frame for multi-use. Which means you have to compromise. Which again means you minimize the impact on the big screen, because you have to protect your content for delivery on the small screen. My plea to producers: if you want to use your program on different screens, please budget for that by allowing the camera crew to shoot multiple takes for each delivery format. (You’ll end up with a more salable product, too. Now that is pareto optimal )