Feb '18 | Digging Into the Video Archives

Capitalize on your video investment by thinking ahead.

For over a year we had a standing event where Patina Pictures offered RocketSpace monthly event video services and came in with a simple camera set up to film their Speaker Series in San Francisco. And because creating value is Patina’s top mission, we’d often come in early just to capture soundbites for future use. Which is how the above recruitment video ultimately got constructed. We took these interviews and, with footage from 7 past events, constructed a Glassdoor video specific to the sales team.

The Challenge

Getting clients to understand the value of thinking five steps ahead. Look, we get it, you’ve got a lot on your plate. But there’s so much value to thinking strategically which is why you’ll always hear us pushing for it.

Tips For Marketers Who Skim

• Look at your marketing strategy when planning production days– are there any soundbites or visuals you can collect that might come in handy for future use?

• Ask about your production team’s archival process. What does it entail?

• Create consistent workflows to safeguard against disparate looking footage.

The Value of Thinking 5 Steps Ahead

When you’re prepping for your video shoot, take a look at your marketing strategy and see if there are any soundbites or visuals that you could collect for future use. Remember, video crews are typically contracted for 10 hour days, whether or not they actually film for 10 hours.

To ensure you’re getting the most out of your production day, ask yourself these questions:

• Is there a bonus question we can add to the interview script that may be useful when targeting a secondary audience group?
• Is there a team member we should tag onto our interview list for a future HR video?
• Are there certain visuals we should capture for  future use?

Organization is King

One of the main value adds of Patina Pictures’ event video services stems from our archival process. Even if you shot your video two years prior, we could still pull the media out of our archives and make edits, or cut together something new using your old media. When contracting with a production company ask about their archival process. Where will all that media be stored, and how, and for how long?

When it comes to Patina, your media is duplicated three times and stored in two different locations, for up to 10 years. So during staff transitions, your media doesn’t disappear in the shuffle, instead it stays intact for future use.

Think With the End in Mind

The editing process is similar to a very large filing cabinet. If you don’t put an organizational system in place on day one, with different folders, tabs, and labels, then you might get by for a short period of time. But over a year, you’re cabinet will resemble a stack of messy papers.

If you want to have the flexibility to dive into old media and create something new, make sure your production team has the organizational workflows to accommodate for that. For example, at Patina, we have post workflows that remain consistent, so even one editor leaves, another can jump into the project file with ease.

We also use products such as Vimeo Collections to store raw footage so clients can easily scroll through old interview footage and look for new soundbites.

And when it comes to production, you’ll want to have technical workflows in place as well. If possible, use the same family of cameras rather than switching between Canon and Sony, for example. Or in the least, make sure your camera settings remain consistent. That way your archival footage won’t look vastly different from shoot to shoot and you’ll be able to take full advantage of your event video services.