5 FILMMAKERS SHARE
T H E I R A DV I C E O N
C R E AT I N G M U S T-W AT C H
BRANDED VIDEO
VIDEO IS A UNIQUE WAY TO CONNECT WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS.
It’s a chance to be inventive, entertaining, or inspiring. Or all three at once.
It’s never been easier to create video content. Costs have come down dramatically
as technical quality has gone up. While these traditional barriers to entr y have been
removed, new challenges present themselves. Many companies now consider video to
be an essential part of their marketing strategy, leading to a highly innovative and often
boundar y-breaking field. The challenge is no longer getting a video made – it’s producing
something compelling.
To understand contemporar y strategies behind developing and producing compelling
video, Shutterstock Premier spoke to five filmmakers who have worked extensively on
branded or promotional content. Each has their own unique perspective on the production
process and shared their experiences and advice with us.
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T HE F IL MM A K ER S
Shutterstock Premier spoke to five filmmakers who are well-versed in creating engaging videos. They have all worked extensively
on branded or promotional content, and each has developed their own unique perspective on the production process.
C H A D KO C H
Chad Koch is an experienced filmmaker with a diverse range of
productions to his credit. Now, he’s exploring large-scale VR content
that’s pushing the boundaries of the video landscape.
NOA M K R OL L
Noam Kroll is a filmmaker who works on feature films and adver tising
campaigns. He runs the production company Creative Rebellion, as well
as a successful filmmaking resource blog.
S OP HI A P EER
Sophia Peer is an ar tist and director whose work includes several music
videos for bands, including Interpol and The National. She has also
created promos for brands like Ox ygen, M T V, and Pitchfork.
EMER Y W EL L S
Emer y Wells is the co-founder and CEO of Frame.io. He’s been working
in film and computer graphics for over 14 years and has played a role in
well-known video initiatives, like SNL’s Digital Shor ts.
J U S T IN B A R N E S
Justin Barnes is the Creative Director at Versus, a creative production
studio that has developed a range of branded video for names like Vans,
Nike and American Express.
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A LWAY S B E ON T HE L OOKO U T
Even if you’re not ready to star t creating a video,
keep track of things that inspire you.
J U S T IN B A R NE S
“I AM A HUGE FAN OF PINTEREST. I’m on it all day long creating boards. I tr y to
spend at least an hour ever y single night just relaxing and watching shor t films
or seeing designs I like and putting them in there. And when a project hits, I’ve
just been looking at all these things. I love going back and getting inspired again
– bringing ideas together, making connections, and making it happen.”
S OP HI A P EER
“I COLLECT A LOT OF IMAGES. They ’re just inspiring images that I find online
from all sor ts of sources that I then organize them into categories. Sometimes
they are photos I took, something I saw on Instagram, or stills from movies
or different ar t projects. There’s also sites that I like to visit that are just
collections of images, like ffffound.com or browncardigan.com. I’ll go through
these images and see if any of these spark an idea.”
C H A D KOC H
“I KEEP A THICK NOTEBOOK OF IDEAS. Many notebooks actually. You should
always be learning and reading and seeing what else is out there.”
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S H A R E YO U R IDE A S
Collaborate with others and see what you agree on.
Brainstorm and share videos. Build on each other ’s ideas.
N OA M K R OL L
“BEFORE WE DO ANY THING, WE’LL USUALLY CONSULT WITH OUR CLIENTS,
HAVE A BR AINSTORMING SESSION, AND SAY, ‘OK, LET’S SEE SOME OF THIS
STUFF THAT YOU GUYS LIKE.’ We’ll pull up YouTube and Vimeo and look at
videos they like, share some videos that we like, and we’ll just star t dialing in on
a visual language that we can both connect with. From there, the rest of it falls
into place organically.”
EMER Y W EL L S
“MOST PEOPLE THAT ARE CREATIVE REALLY DON’T NECESSARILY KNOW
HOW THEY COME UP WITH THE IDEAS. I think that it requires some sor t of
inspiration. Somebody gives you some direction, something they want to
achieve, and then you have to search for the inspiration in that.”
S OP HI A P EER
“I WON’T DO ANY THING AS FAR AS A MUSIC VIDEO UNLESS IT’S A CONCEPT
THAT I HAVE COME UP WITH AND CAN GET BEHIND. I’m not so into executing
other people’s ideas.”
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T HINK B IG
To stand out, you need to do something different. Focus on one big idea
rather than lots of little ones.
C H A D KOC H
J U S T IN B A R N E S
“ TAKING RISKS IS REALLY THE ONLY WAY
“ YOU SEE A LOT OF BR ANDS TRYING TO
TO MAKE STUFF FRESH THESE DAYS.
PRODUCE QUANTIT Y OVER QUALIT Y. We’re
Sometimes you have to reinvent a brand in a
in this crazy cycle where we’re just throwing
crazy lucid way. Freeform it. Break it open and
small budgets at anyone or any thing and
make it something brand new. It’s the kind of
getting things done cheap just to have a ton
stuff people dream about creating through
of content. Honestly, it shows.”
brainstorming
sessions
in
boardrooms
ever y where. Most times though, the trickiest
par t is convincing your clients or backers to
take that risk. The trick is creating something
that has real impact and hopefully resonates
for more than the lifespan of a house fly. So
much stuff is being created now, it makes you
wonder what value it really has.
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C ON S IDER W H AT YOU WA N T T O S AY
Don’t just include ever y idea you have. T he best videos have a tight focus.
NOA M K R OL L
S OP HI A P EER
“INSTEAD OF TRYING TO SAY EVERY THING, SAY ONE THING
“I THINK ABOUT THIS ONE INTERVIEW WITH MAT T STONE
THAT ENCOMPASSES EVERY THING. Maybe feature one
AND TREY PARKER, THE SOUTH PARK WRITERS. They were
person. It could be the CEO or even a customer. Have that one
saying that when you’re writing out an idea, you don’t want to
person give one message that is specific but also broad enough
be saying , ‘So this happens and then this happens.’ You want to
that it encapsulates all the things that you want to say. Trust
be saying , ‘But and therefore.’ This keeps me from just throwing
your customer to find all of those little details elsewhere. If
ever y visually arresting thing into one pitch. If you’re not able to
they need to know what year your CMO joined the company,
say ‘But and therefore’ as you’re telling the stor y of what your
they can go on the website and figure that out for themselves.
video is going to be, the idea is just not going to work.”
If you put that in the video, all that’s going to do is distract them
from the bigger message.”
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B E T R U E T O YO U R B R A ND
It’s tempting to follow the zeitgeist or tr y to fit in too much.
Your video should be unique and reflect who you are.
C H A D KO C H
“ TO MAKE IT WORK, YOU HAVE TO STAY TRUE TO THE BR AND AND CULTURE
YOU’RE BUILDING ON. Sometimes you come up with amazing , lightning in a
bottle type stuff, but if it doesn’t fit the brand then it’s the wrong choice. When
I was at the Huffington Post I wanted to do a lot of stuff that was off the core
brand. What can I say? Stories about time travel and Bigfoot excite me. How
do you know when you’ve come up with a good idea? That’s the $10 million
question, right? Ever yone wishes they knew the answer to this one. I use a few
templates to make sure it works. Most of that is going to be about structure and
I rely on John Truby ’s 22 Building Blocks as my star ting point for all that.”
NOA M K R OL L
“R ATHER THAN CHASING SOME HUGE CONCEPT THAT’S ALREADY BEEN
DONE SOMEWHERE ELSE, TAKE A GOOD, HARD LOOK AT YOUR CORE VALUES
AND YOUR BR AND. Study your own DNA to figure out what’s really right
for your company.”
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L E A R N T O L OV E C ON S T R A IN T S
Constraints lead to creative thinking. Your time, budget,
and resources might be finite but a little imagination goes a long way.
J U S T IN B A R NE S
“ANYONE WHO HAS $10 MILLION DOLL ARS AND ACCESS TO K ANYE TO
MAKE A VIDEO IS GOING TO COME UP WITH SOMETHING PRET T Y AMBITIOUS
AND CR AZ Y, RIGHT ? But can you pull off that same feeling with $50k and four
days? I feel like a good idea should be judged by the constraints that have to
hold it. That’s the nature of our business, and to me it’s what separates a good
creative director and a good studio from a really great one.”
NOA M K R OL L
“ THE FILMS I’VE MADE THAT HAVE RESONATED THE MOST OR I’VE HAD THE
BEST FEEDBACK ON WERE THE ONES I USED THE LOWEST-END EQUIPMENT
ON. It’s not that they looked any worse, it was just that the technolog y didn’t
get in the way of the creative process.”
S OP HI A P EER
“ YOU DON’T NEED A TON OF MONEY TO CREATE PROFESSIONALLOOKING
VIDEOS. That’s a great thing because it becomes more about the ideas and the
concepts and how creative you can be than how much financial
backing you have.”
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U S E T HE R IG H T T EC HNOL O GY
Keep on top of innovations, but don’t use them unless they
make sense for your video.
C H A D KOC H
“I’VE ALWAYS EMBR ACED WHATEVER TOOL IS GOING TO HELP TELL THE
BEST STORY. I’ve got a pretty extensive background in VF X and can always use
that to inform what I’ll be shooting on set or enhance and even rescue a project
that has been tripped up one way or another. But VR and AR are something a
whole lot bigger than that. They ’re a new format for telling stories and that’s a
huge deal.”
S O P HI A P EER
“ WHEN COMING UP WITH AN IDEA I HAVE TO KNOW WHAT’S ACTUALLY
POSSIBLE AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS CAN GIVE ME OPTIONS THAT I DIDN’T
HAVE BEFORE. Sometimes I find myself with an idea that forces me to star t
searching for a specific piece of equipment. Sometimes I’m not even sure it
exists. I think it’s definitely impor tant because it can inform how you work and
what you do and the decisions you make even when writing the concept.”
J U S T IN B A R NE S
“IT’S DEFINITELY IMPORTANT TO STAY AHEAD OF THE TECH CURVE. Or
at least on top of it. We’re really big believers in the idea that we never let
technolog y guide us creatively. It’s there to help us realize those ideas, not
become a reason for it.”
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K EEP T HE MOMEN T U M
You have the idea, you’ve done your research, you know
what you want to say. Now keep the project moving.
C H A D KO C H
“HAVING A TOP-NOTCH PRODUCING PARTNER IS THE MOST VALUABLE
THING. Working with people who are experienced and educated and know
what you’re talking about when you say something like, ‘ This shot is going to
be a composite shot, so keep your hands from blocking the window. We don’t
have time or budget for rotoscoping.’ Those who understand stuff like that are
my favorite people.”
EMER Y W EL L S
“I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THAT GETS PROJECTS OFF-TR ACK MORE
THAN ANY THING ELSE IS SLOW ITER ATION… Eliminate all gaps in the creative
process. When there are gaps in the creative process, you lose the flow.”
S OP HI A P EER
“I HAVE LEARNED TO BE REALLY, REALLY CLEAR. Just set people’s
expectations with ever y thing – the budget, the timeline, and the concept.”
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