When companies are coming up with ideas for their next corporate video, they’ll often decide to use actors without considering other options. If you’re looking for people to feature in your company’s next video production London, then you seriously think about using your company’s own employees.
This isn’t just purely to save yourself the cost of hiring professional actors, there are many other huge benefits to putting your employees front and center of your corporate video. Real life employees bring a certain X-factor to your video that you don’t often get with actors.
Here we’ll outline some of the benefits they bring and also how you can get the best out of them.
“Your employees ARE your company. Using them in the video has so many benefits.”
Put a Face to Your Company
One reason you should use employees in your next video production London, is because it helps put a face to your brand. They’re perfect for representing your company’s personality and culture. This also makes the video feel more personal to the viewer. At the end of the day, when it comes to business, people buy from people. So if you’re wanting to connect better with your customers, maybe you should think about putting your employees in your videos.
Makes Video More Genuine
Using employees in your video production London can also make your video feel a lot more genuine. As great as actors are, people can often tell your using actors. It’s something about their chiseled good looks or their natural ability in front of the camera which people can often find slightly false. On the other hand, viewers will often find real life employees a lot more genuine and will be more likely to believe the messages you’re trying to convey.
It’s also worth remembering that your employees are experts in what they do. So they’ll know the business and they’ll know how to explain things in a way that viewers will understand. This is something that actors may not be as good at doing.
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Employees
So you’re probably now thinking that, whilst your employees are great at what they do, they may not be so great in front of camera. You don’t want their potential nervousness or awkwardness to bring down the quality of the video. Which is fine – but there are some things you can do to make your employees shine on camera.
Non-Speaking Roles
A lot of employees struggle to speak on camera, that’s only natural. It’s not an easy thing to do. You’ve got all the lights on you, a microphone floating in front of your face and multiple cameras pointing at you. Combine this with not wanting to look bad or say the wrong thing and it’s no wonder some people struggle.
So if you’ve got employee’s who maybe aren’t so comfortable with speaking, maybe give them non-speaking roles. Have them be apart of the B-Roll. This will involve performing simple tasks on camera (walking/talking to colleagues etc). This footage will then be used as cutaway footage and as a visual example of what’s being spoken about on screen.
No-Scripts
Quite often, if employees know they’re talking on camera, they’ll want to write down a script of things to say. Which is totally understandable. You want to look great for your company and don’t want to appear unsure by stumbling your way through the interview. But scripts aren’t always the best solution. The general rule of thumb is that you can’t put words in someone’s mouth and expect it to sound natural. Your employees will know the business, so just let them answer in their own words.
By all means you can be there to make sure they say the right thing, but if they’re saying it in their own words then it’s going to sound much more natural and a lot more.
Don’t Force Anyone & Give Them Notice
This one just boils down to common courtesy more than anything, but it will also affect how they perform on camera. Willing volunteers will always do a better job than people who are being forced, simply because they want to be there more.
So there isn’t much to gain from forcing someone to take part. It’s really easy to spot someone in a video who doesn’t want to be there. Also give them a heads up that filming it happening. There’s nothing worse than suddenly being sprung with the news that a film crew are coming tomorrow and they’re going to be filmed. Sometimes it’s not possible, but give them plenty of notice.
This will give them time to get used to the idea and they’ll be less nervous on screen.