What filmmakers can do for your brand

A visitor from outer space, missing his spaceship home, is befriended by some children who help him escape. That's the film E.T. But what's E.T. really about? E.T. is about friendship and how there are commonalities among all living things no matter how different we may appear.

How about this one. A teenager accidentally travels back in time and must return to the future before he ruins the past. We've all seen Back to the Future. But Back to the Future is really about how we control our destiny, and we must be courageous enough to confront our present because it will affect our future.

How does this help you drive sales? Let me explain.

The word "storyteller" is grossly overused in creative fields, as hilariously explained in this video by renowned graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister. We all intrinsically know what makes a great piece of media, whether a film, short, or branded content. What separates the good from the bad boils down to how the viewer feels after they watch it. Did it "say" what was intended? Did the piece of branded content elicit an emotional response that drives towards a marketing or advertising goal?

Creating an emotional response in the viewer is the hardest part of doing this work, but it's the most important. If done well, the viewer will subconsciously link their own experience to your product. Your brand will become more significant. It will stand for something more profound. It will help show potential customers that you exist for something larger than yourself and explain why they should care.

From a simple client testimonial video to an emotional piece of branded content, this "why" should anchor everything you do, and this is hard to get right. It takes years to master. Just because someone has a fancy camera or knows how to fly a drone doesn't mean they can tell stories effectively. These tools have a negligible effect on the overall value of your marketing efforts.  Filmmakers intrinsically understand this because it's at the core of making films, and perfectly translates to video production work for brands and businesses. Filmmakers don't have "words" to describe these abstract feelings and emotions. We have moving images edited together cohesively to tell a story, whatever that story is.

Unfortunately, brands and businesses frequently think about this last when they ultimately hire a video team. Most demo reels will ultimately tell you nothing about the storytelling chops of a video production company. The average person can learn how to use a 100,000 dollar camera in a three-day seminar (pro-tip, on all cameras, the red button means record). You could teach an eight-year-old the basic idea behind the most complex editing software in fifteen minutes. The technology is relatively easy to understand and use on its most basic level. But this isn't what makes the work grab potential customers.

Your brand has value, and it has stories that are worth telling. Filmmakers are the best people to help you do that. The ability to explain the "why" behind your brand is what filmmakers can do to help you achieve your marketing goals. They can pull potential customers closer to you, build relationships, and ultimately drive sales.

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