How to Invest in Professional Video Production.
There’s a lot to think about when investing in a video production company or videographer, to shoot bespoke work for your business. We’re Walnut Wasp, a Glasgow-based agency shooting regularly in Glasgow, Edinburgh and throughout the UK - and we’ve put together this handy guide to get the very best out of your video budget, and to choose not only the right video company, but the right projects and the right outputs, for you.
1. understand the specific purpose and use-case for your video production
Sometimes, prospective clients come to us for video content simply because they feel like their competitors are doing it and they’re kind of missing out. That’s one very understandable motivation, and sometimes it’s a good enough reason to get the ball rolling. But to have a really successful video production, you’ll want to really clearly define your goals.
It therefore makes sense to consider the following checklist of questions about the actual video outputs themselves:
What’s the broader shape of this piece of video? Am I looking for an overall promo film that introduces my business to new customers? Am I promoting a very specific product or service? Or is it internal-use?
Where will I use the video, and what are the conventions and formats for that platform?
Am I better served with a lengthy piece of video with a clear narrative, or with multiple short pieces without an overarching story?
How would I define the intended audiences for this film? Are there different priorities for different audiences that all need to be fulfilled?
What are all possible future uses of this footage? Do I need to make sure I have permissions from e.g. on-screen talent to cover potential future uses also?
The most important takeaway here is: what do you really need video to do? Where is it best going to benefit your business? Make sure you know this before you go shopping.
Example: Jo + Liam
For photographers Jo + Liam, we produced a substantial 10 minute promotional film, which was designed to live on their website and throughout their customer journey in separate chapters. This was about getting across very specific things about their business - their joyful, emotional photography; their unique and super-fun personalities; and the amazing impact that their work has on their clients. We knew where on the website we’d use each chapter in advance, which helped design the storytelling and to generate ideas.
2. identify exactly what’s worth committing to video
Presuming for the purposes of this blog that your video production is public facing, and is intended to promote either your business as a whole or some service or product contained therein, then it’s super important to think about exactly what it is about your business, service or product that someone else should care about. This is the art of differentiation: what’s exciting and positive and worth shouting about, about your business specifically? And how does it meaningfully differ from your competition?
It’s really useful to think about this from the point of view of someone who’s never heard of you and who’s scrolling through their Instagram feed. What’s the genuinely interesting thing about your business that should make them stop and pay attention? That idea could be the heart of your video.
Example: Loop & Scoop
Loop & Scoop are all about pure fun and indulgence. We wanted a sugary, short, and interruptive piece of video to stop people scrolling, and to make them desperate for some churros. This was about impact - we wanted this to be the next best thing to tasting their food in person, and we wanted to really get across the key reasons to spend your money at Loop & Scoop.
3. how can you use all of the facets of video to communicate the central idea?
Video is a very powerful and very exciting platform, because it has multiple simultaneous threads running. With video production, you can play with live action footage, stills photography, animation, typography and titles, music, foley and environmental audio, dialogue, and subtitles. That’s a hell of an assault on the senses, which is why it has such incredible upside as a potentially disruptive medium.
So the idea is to look at each of those facets in turn, and try and figure out how that particular asset can help tell your story. This is of course something that a skilled videographer or video production company should be able to design for you, or at least contribute to - but nobody knows your business or your product like you do, and it certainly helps for you to have some sense of this yourself.
Example: Big Bear Bakery
The following video was created to communicate a very specific idea for Big Bear Bakery: that you can buy your Sunday breakfast box on Saturday afternoon, and it’ll be just as fresh the next morning if you crisp it up in the oven. We used not only gratuitous food close-ups to tell this story, but crucially, we also made full use of the sound design in order to really put across this freshness. Graphic presentation and stylistic transitions made for an arresting visual feast that would interrupt that scrolling.
4. is my video production budget better spent on volume or quality?
This is always incredibly tough. Obviously the goal is to get as much as you can, at the highest quality possible, for the best price. Video is of course an expensive habit, and it makes sense to carefully choose your projects and priorities. So - how do you do this?
Well - some businesses are incredibly aesthetically driven. If you’re in any kind of luxury market or segment, then you’re probably in this box. Any business where the aesthetic standards are at issue when a customer is considering making a purchase, probably should be very invested in aesthetics, by definition. If you’re in this category, then I recommend investing in the best quality footage that you can (I’d suggest this means going with your top choice video production company in terms of actual quality), and trying to invest in footage that will last a long time and that can be used for multiple purposes. You can always go back for more later, to build up your list of assets.
If you’re instead looking for longer form utility content where aesthetics are less of a central consideration, then I think that means shopping around a lot more, getting plenty of quotes, and making sure to tick all the boxes with a competent agency that can deliver value for money and that understands your project well.
For our part, we’re a thoroughly aesthetically driven agency, but we’re also highly scalable. We do everything from single-videographer shoots right up to full crew corporate productions, so we’re a great fit for clients who care about aesthetics regardless of the overall production value.
Example: Ubiquitous Chip
We produced a series of short films for Ubiquitous Chip when redesigning their websites, with multiple purposes. Firstly, they would serve as individual atmospheric films to promote and show each of their five component venues within the building as separate entities. And secondly, they could be excerpted as shorter social media clips to highlight specific dishes. They would also serve as website headers, and so certain shots are static in order to allow for a cinemagraph-style impact - and the footage is general enough to form the basis of future video content for a wide variety of purposes, so it’s extremely flexible and has multiple potential purposes.
Walnut Wasp are a video production company working regularly in Glasgow, Edinburgh and throughout the UK, on big shoots for clients like Dobbies Garden Centres, Arran Sense of Scotland, Highland Park Whisky, Ubiquitous Chip - and also on smaller shoots for clients like Big Bear Bakery, Buddy’s BBQ, Photography Farm, and many more.
Interested in working together?