Nuts & Bolts

Good visuals should be Striking. They should make people stand up and take notice, right? In this age of constant noise, nobody wants to blend into the background! 

So how to go about creating a video that serves your needs? Everyone’s got an opinion! “Film it yourself, your iphone is awesome,” says one voice. But where to start? The self shooting option certainly is one route, but bad production screams unprofessional and you want to be taken seriously. 

So we know that the idea of making a video can be overwhelming. Not everyone enjoys the spotlight on them, but in this age of social media and constant messaging, if you want your business to thrive, you have to have a presence and you have to be seen. 

So, how does it work? We take it in stages, make it manageable. Kind of like eating an apple in chunks … 

Chunk 1 is the pre production. A personal favorite of the Striking Media team because we believe in the power of the planning. In essence, you talk, we listen. We read the unconscious signs and try to give you what you even don’t know you want. Like the peanut butter dip! Slightly more tricky with the COVID need for distance and much preferred in person but still, as long as we have the gift of time, the pre production can be well planned and thoughtful. 

A key part to the planning is the pre production interviewee calls. We’re all too aware that a set can look intimidating. Cameras, lights, expensive equipment. It’s not exactly the ideal situation to expect our interviewees to reveal deep, dark personal insights to their soul or to turn on the news presenter charm! We find a warm friendly bond building phone call in advance of filming day goes a long way to building trust. Time well spent. Always. 

Once the content plan is in place the technical planning begins. What kit do we need? Are we in a studio? We have studios to fit all budgets and requirements in a variety of locations across DC/ MD/ NOVA so we will make it easy for you. Or if we’re on location, do we need permits for filming?  All of this will be the role and the responsibility of Striking Media, never the client. Our goal – to lift the responsibility from your team to ours. 

Chunk 2 – now it’s our turn to shine – we will present you with the ideas that will connect you to your target audience, the right voices to portray your message to make a true connection that will get results. This may involve storyboarding, scriptwriting, question writing, or just collaborative meetings to make sure we’re on the same page. We’ll talk make up, clothing, whatever questions you have, we have answers and we are available for our clients. No question is too silly! 

And we know our clients like to be pro-active, so this is the time to practice. Bear in mind that a one minute script is 130-150 words so plan accordingly. Time your script, read it with a stopwatch. You’ll be amazed at how fast the time flies by. 

People often ask, “How can I come across as good as possible on camera?” Great question. No simple answer. As with all things in life, it takes practice and … practice. If you’re reading an autocue, practice it. There are apps to download that will help you. Smile, relax, drop those shoulders, do some voice warm up exercises. Smile again! Your energy levels need to be high, and your voice speaking with emphasis. Go through your script and highlight words, speak like you mean it. You will have an audience, as if you are on stage – perform! 

Show Day will roll around before you know it! There’s always a little bit of adrenaline running through your veins on show day and that’s a good thing. That feeling helps the performance. Whether we’re in studio or on location, by the time you show up the team will be all set. Cameras in place, lighting and audio ready to go. And the crew fed and watered, like the finest racehorses, or something! We can often be found listening to a bit of Dolly Parton to set the mood! 

There’s an excitement in every type of production. With the live shows, you’ll always find there is one key crew member who is your point of contact. They will be making sure everyone knows what’s going on, the countdowns, the cue – they’re basically holding it together. Often they’ll be on talkback to the streaming crew, so if it looks like they’re talking to themselves … well, don’t be surprised! As you hear the count down – the 3,2,1 – you know the audience is watching. Smile, go big, and put that practice into place. Once it’s over, that’s it … we always debrief (more on that later) but it’s done. Glass of champagne and off we go! 

Pre recorded is different. The atmosphere will be welcoming and you just need to focus on yourself and your answers or performance and let the crew work their magic. The beauty of pre recorded is we can take our time, ask the questions multiple times to garner different responses. Try to focus on yourself, block out the noise, the kit etc, but feel free to ask for a BTS shot for your social media! 

Chunk 4 is the editing part, so you get to go home and …eat cake. We will bring the footage back to our studio and bury our heads in it. We will log all the footage, and timecode it, focus on the parts we want and build the video, like a jigsaw puzzle, piece by piece. With access to music libraries and stock footage we can work with a ton of resources to create the most dynamic possible product. 

And in a short window of time, voila, ping, your video will appear in your inbox! We aim to make it easy, to serve you, the clients, and ultimately for you to see the benefit of your investment. 

And that pre-mentioned debrief – well we believe that’s how we grow and learn. So we will debrief internally and we welcome external debriefs too – and we promise we’re after more than just a glowing testimonial – although we’ll take that too! 

Ready to take that first bite? Get in touch with Striking Media today. 

helen.saks@strikingmedia.com / www.strikingmedia.com