There’s no doubt that as a marketing tool, video has seen exponential growth over the last few years…
In fact, according to Wyzowl it’s now used by 90% of businesses. An increased demand for our craft is great to see, but this also means we’re operating within a crowded marketplace, and the battle for consumers’ attention is higher than ever.
A key way to make content count, and reach and resonate with the masses: it’s all about relevance and newsworthiness — and in an ideal world, and client approvals permitting, news-jacking.
So, what technologies can we leverage to deliver content like this, while also ensuring it is impactful, meaningful and memorable? Here, I run through some kit essentials to consider adding to your arsenal across the capture, edit, and store and deliver phases:
Cameras: compact, lightweight, fast…
With audience expectations higher than ever, and attention spans fleeting, content needs to be simultaneously captured quickly, and in high-quality formats. Enter mirror-less cameras: they’ve got a small and portable form factor, and at the same time pack a punch with image capabilities.
This includes being able to shoot full-frame ProRes — aka high quality, ‘visually lossless’ lossy video compression content — in LOG format — which allows us to capture finer details including highlights, shadows and whites.
Both of these formats are effective as they enable us to capture footage with a tonne of dynamic range, which gives us greater flexibility in the edit where elements such as colours and reframing are concerned.
AI integrations for edit efficiencies
Like most sectors, artificial intelligence is changing up the film and content world, especially when it comes to editing, and you can’t go past the Adobe suite. The music you choose can make or break a piece of content, and the Remix tool in Premiere saves time, in that it has the ability to take a long music track and ‘remix’ it to reflect the desired duration of the video.
The Enhance tool is another one we swear by; as it allows audio to be cleaned up to a high degree of clarity. There is nothing worse or more disengaging than poor audio. This tool helps to keep audio crisp and clear; as and when this is needed.
Collaborating on a global scale, and on location
Editing often requires the expertise of several content pros, which is where cloud services from LucidLink come in handy. They allow creative teams to collaborate on files of all sizes, from anywhere in the world; so that we can work on projects at a good pace, including on a 24/7 basis if we’re based in different time zones.
Thunderbolt storage devices are another top tool, as they are super lightweight, enabling us to offload and backup projects very quickly when on location or on-site, as well as edit on the go — which is a must for producing premium content in line with quick turnarounds.
Content and technology applications
No matter the content style or type, all of these tools enable us to work more efficiently and ensure the creative process is a slick and seamless operation. They are flexible too, and can be used to deliver all types of high-end content in a timely way — whether you’re working outdoors and are piecing several 15-30-second pieces from the shoot together for digital platforms and TVCs, or are capturing a live event as it unfolds, ready for editing it into a singular highlights film that will be delivered on the same (or next!) day.
Audience-first content should drive us
In summary, given the need to stand out in this competitive landscape, producing premium content swiftly is key, as is keeping an eye on what consumers seek. Figures by those such as The Leap, for example, show us that 73% of consumers prefer to watch a short-form video to learn about a product or service, so it’s important we couple wider industry trends, consumers’ consumption behaviours, and the right mix of tools to deliver content that strikes a chord with audiences.
Featured image: Amar Preciado / Pexels
