Video Content Strategy: Making the Right Monetary and Time Investments

When it comes to editing, be it B2B video content, 30-second commercials, documentaries or feature films, it pays to be organized and to have clear goals in place.

I find myself constantly reading up on how other creative people do what they do because it helps me wrap my head around the next project I’ve got coming up. And sometimes the best advice and most valuable lessons come from unlikely sources.

Today, I’m offering up what I feel are some hugely helpful takeaways from the experience of one Vashi Nedomansky (from here on, I will refer to him by his first name because it’s a lot shorter than his last name and I feel the freedom to take that editorial license).

Who is Vashi, you might ask? Well, his most recent project that you might be familiar with was seen by 3.9 million U.S. television viewers on July 30^th and subsequently aired in 86 countries around the globe. One month later, it was screened for one night only in more than 500 U.S. theaters.

It was Sharknado 2 . Trust me. Keep reading.

I know you’re asking yourself, “What does some crazy, absolutely ridiculous shark attack B-movie have to teach businesses about video content strategy?” The answer is: a lot. For our purposes, we’re going to focus on three key takeaways from a recent blog post written by Vashi.

#1 Equipment is not as important as the people using it

While Vashi edited Sharknado 2 and was not on set actually filming the movie, he points out that the flick was shot using a RED Epic as the main camera, the Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera as the B-cam, and several other pick-up shots done with the Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 7D.

Now, say what you will about insanely implausible B-movies like Sharknado 2, but the image quality of the shots is rarely if ever overlooked by the studio. There are sure to be some comical special effects, but when you watch the movie you will see an excellent image from a technical standpoint, plain and simple.

Rewinding to that list of cameras I gave you, let’s take a look at their price tags. The RED Epic rings in at (minimum) $15K+, and that’s without additional lenses. The rig used for Sharknado 2 likely cost at least somewhere north of $50K (my estimation, not Vashi’s). The Blackmagic Design Cinema Camera is much more affordable for your low-budget filmmaker at $2K, but again, top-tier lenses can add thousands, even tens of thousands, to that number. Next, we have the Canon 5D Mark III which clocks in at a little over $3K to start (also without lenses), and the Canon 7D at just over $1K.

What’s my point in all of this? Here it is: nine out of 10 people who watch Sharknado 2 would not be able to tell which camera was used for which shot. That doesn’t mean that the gear you use is not important, because it absolutely is. Specific cameras and lenses will perform better under specific circumstances, and there is never a single catch-all solution. But this goes to show that you can create compelling video content that looks great on a budget. You don’t have to spend buckets of cash on a RED Epic to make a great video.

#2 Find a structure that works for you and embrace it

According to Vashi, The Asylum (the studio behind the Sharknado movies) produces about 50 full-length features each year, and hasn’t lost money on a single one. That’s because they have a very organized process for production and post-production that guides everyone from start to finish and allows them to be as efficient as possible with their resources, including the most precious ones: time and money (take a look at his blog post for more information on how the post-production workflow was set up).

Businesses looking to build video content strategies need to find the processes that works best for them, put them in place and work to educate employees on how to use those structures. It’ll take some trial and error, but you’ll get there.

#3 It always takes longer than you thought it would

This one isn’t meant to sound negative, but it often takes brands a while to realize how much time and effort goes into video content. It’s absolutely an investment worth making, but you need to understand what that investment entails and plan accordingly. Educating your staff is a big component of that.

In his blog post, Vashi mentions that Sharknado 2 had eight acts that were about 10 minutes long each, and that he typically focused on one act per day throughout the six-week post-production process. An entire day was taken up by just 10 minutes of footage. And don’t take this to mean that those 10 minutes were finished in one day. It was just what he focused on for that day.

Each editing job will vary in terms of shot complexity, amount of footage, pacing needed to tell the story, etc. Often you’ll find yourself up against tight deadlines and you simply have to get the job done, but whenever possible, give yourself as much lead-time as you can to avoid major issues.

If you keep these three things in mind, you’ll start to develop a more efficient way of creating quality video content for your business, something that is completely attainable yet rarely realized by the majority of brands today.

Video Content Strategy: Making the Right Monetary and Time Investments