Get to grips with video – minimal effort, maximum impact

This is a guest post from Lucy Yeatman, a PR at Ruder Finn in their Global Health and Advocacy division, and a volunteer with Savvy Kids. You can follow Lucy on Twitter at @Luce_Y.

Is your organisation always under pressure to generate new web content in order to engage supporters? If this is becoming difficult, a great way to do this is by producing a video to place on your site. If done well, videos can be a powerful communications tool which can convey the messages of your organisation in a dynamic, genuine and engaging way.

“A video?” I hear you ask. “Surely, that requires a lot of time, money and technical know how?”. In actual fact, producing a simple ‘mash-up’ style sequence set to music using something as simple as a flip camera requires minimal effort and editing, and can make a huge impact. What’s more, a flashy corporate video can often send out the wrong message for a third sector organisation. A simple creation often better portrays the community your organisation represents by personalising the story.

Demonstrating this point brilliantly is the “Don’t divorce us” video created last year by ‘the Courage Campaign’ which fights for marriage equality amongst gay and lesbian couples in the U.S:

No filming was even required to create the video. Instead, a request for photos was sent out on the website asking supporters to submit photos of themselves holding “don’t divorce us” campaign signs. These were compiled into a simple slide sequence accompanied by a cool soundtrack which produced a powerful and emotive result as I’m sure you’ll agree. The video also conveys a truly community-generated feel whilst the process of making the video simultaneously created a call to action to engage supporters and reward them.

We took inspiration from this at Bright One recently when we provided recommendations for a filming session at the pilot sessions for Savvy Kids, an organisation that goes into schools and trains teachers to educate children about the psychology behind nutrition. We filmed children holding up large signs showing their attitudes towards food and nutrition. Down the line, we’ll do the same, aiming to produce an inspirational video that hopefully conveys the change in attitudes brought about by the programme.

So, what are you waiting for? Give it a go! We’d love to see links to any results in the comments section! To get you started we’ve included some handy hints for filming below.

Lucy’s Top Tips for video filming:

1. Aim to get a variety of shots, some close up head shots, other full body shots
2. Ensure the area is well lit
3. Do a test prior to filming to ensure sound is working
4. Always film too much. It’s easy to edit down, but more difficult if you don’t have enough material to play with
5. Record each shot twice in case something goes wrong and the material is not useable
6. Experiment and try out things that you think will work well e.g. asking people to enter the shot in different ways
7. Think about whether consent forms will be needed from participants
8. Remember to get permission from the copyright holders if you are going to use music or images
9. Have fun and don’t be afraid to try new creative ideas out!