Every picture tells a story — and the story itself should be the only impression the viewer walks away with — not the design or the writing or the countless hours that went into production — just the story.
When writing and designing a video for business, there’s always a call to action on the part of the viewer. The first call to action was to get the attention of the viewer to concentrate on the opening of the convention; the second, to celebrate a success story of saving a life and honoring the sales person who made this happen. Simply, the call to action for these videos are:
- “Show The Way” — “Sit down and pay attention.”
- “Turner Hodge” — “This is what we do and why we do it.”
Both videos were intended for the main presentation to sales professionals attending a yearly convention for the company, although the Turner Hodge movie developed a life beyond that setting.
“Show The Way” — 2016 Chicago Countdown Movie [5 min]
This video was designed as a “count down,” i.e., to get people’s minds focused on the meeting and to get them into their seats. It was designed to come in with very loud audio that quickly transitions to a different auditory pace. The visual effects were designed to prep attendees for topics to be discussed and bring familiarity to these topics from prior viewing. Stakeholders deemed the video to be very successful.
Purpose: Focus attendees on the meeting; highlight topics covered; create excitement.
Impact: Feedback from the convention was that the video fulfilled its purpose by getting people into their seats on time and focused on the start of the meeting.
Note: The visual effects were created in Adobe After Effects, and the Soundtrack was cut and edited in Adobe Premier along with the other video clips.
“Turner Hodge” — A Success Story [6 min]
This movie developed out of the need to tell a success story for a national convention. The power of the story comes to life through words and pictures and effectively selecting the correct song to play beneath the storyline. Originally, the stakeholders wanted a PowerPoint presentation after which the Hodge Family would come on stage. I advocated for telling the story in video form as it would give more power and emotion to the experience.
After researching the incident, talking with the family and other stakeholders, I wrote and developed a script, edited the photos in Photoshop, and compiled and edited the video and audio in Adobe Premier Pro. After the video played, the Hodge Family came on stage to thunderous applause. The stakeholders and convention attendees stated that the video was a very powerful presentation at the national convention and many copies were requested afterwards.
Purpose: Tell the story of Turner Hodge; highlight the salesperson who sold their policy.
Impact: This video made clear not only the product being sold, but its importance to the families who purchase the product — in this case, the difference between financial stability or instability.
The above videos can be seen at: https://vimeo.com/bettydeemer