Video Changes Everything
Video killed the radio star and frankly it has decimated reading for younger generations.
As you watch anyone under the age of 30 when it comes to getting something done they aren’t picking up the manual, they are searching up a YouTube or manufacturers video. Have words become obsolete, or is it that they have just become more obsolete in transfering information?
Studies would suggest the latter. Video delivers real world visuals that when paired with audio simply deliver more information in a way that people can better interprete the complex information to which they are presented.
Telling a complex story is almost best delivered with video so that information can be delivered across senses. Imaging if you were trying to explain the scent of a new fragrence, you could use descriptors like woody, citrusy, earthy and you could try to use more words to dig into those a little more with such refinements as cedar wood, lemon citrus, forest earthiness, however even with these words detailing scents you might be aware of already or think you know of already there simply is no textual comparrison to actually using your sense of smell to do the ultimate refinement and heavy lifing. Certainly, even knowing the three scents outlined, it may not be clear what other scentual notes are created through the mix or what elements take front and center. Those three element styles could be mixed many different ways producing multiple outcomes. If you don’t smell what “Perfume X” smells like you just cannot effeciently explain that smell to a curious party.
While video can be manipulated to tell a scentual story through the complexity of light, angle, lens depth, subject placement, etc. it is also highly effective at just simple explaination. In an installation video, the video can show how two parts are assembled together and the nuance of making sure the parts of properly adjusted. In telling complex business differentiation stories video is able to capture emotion and nuance that just is not often delivered in textual business communications. Layering tracks of how you want to tell the corporate story allows soft tracks to carry the soft notes, the hard tracks of product delivery and the voiceover to tell the story in way that helps guide the viewer through the visuals in a well-timed, effecient and linear fashion which allows the user to continue their investment in the subject to the point of conclusion if the storytelling is well delivered.
If seeing, hearing or smelling wasn’t important then fashion houses wouldn’t included samples in your magazines and would rely just on words. Don’t let half of your story stay untold, allow video to share the nuance and the story critical to differentiating you from your competitors.