Best in the Biz: Make Professional Corporate Videos
The corporate video is a standard project that every freelance video pro should have experience with. That being said, these films should be anything but standard. Corporate videos are a very reliable source of work and there are hundreds of companies in the market for a good video—so if your work looks professional, more of these companies will turn to you.
If you’re fresh on the freelance scene, corporate videos can be intimidating. Working with a client and doing your best to impress them can result in a lot of pressure. Hopefully we can take some of the weight off of your shoulders by giving you some tips on how to make a good corporate video.
Tip 1: Know the Business
Alright, this one is a bit obvious, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to miss the mark when you don’t know enough about your client. It’s hard to send a message when you yourself don’t understand it. That’s why it’s important to meet with your client beforehand and discuss the company’s mission, values, and motivation for creating a corporate video. This will also make the job a lot easier because it gives you a better idea of the end product. A little research goes a long way.
Tip 2: Light Properly
There are many factors that affect the look of a video, but nothing can quite change the appearance of your films like proper lighting. However, most office spaces fall short when it comes to pleasant lighting. You’re more likely to come across an office with unflattering, overhead, fluorescent lighting than an office with beautiful, natural light pouring in from all directions. So how do you get that professional corporate film look demonstrated in this video clip?
One way to get around the unflattering light that you often find in offices is to shoot your video near windows. Windows are a great source of natural light, and the best part is that they’re free. The downside of using windows for light is that you can’t move them and you’re at the mercy of the sun. They don’t provide a lot of flexibility which is important when working with a client. The other option is to invest in some lights of your own. There are plenty of inexpensive lights on the market that can turn any office space into a well-lit set.
Tip 3: Use Effective Branding
If you watch any professional corporate video, you’re going to come across an end tag of some kind. These usually take the shape of a sleek animation of the company’s logo along with a call to action or a slogan. A corporate video wouldn’t be complete without this kind of branding, and the right logo reveal will leave a lasting impression on the audience.
But how are you supposed to animate a professional looking logo reveal if you’ve never animated anything before? You can’t just learn Adobe After Effects in a day. Softwares like this take years to master and animating can seriously increase the amount of time you spend on a project. That’s where After Effects templates come in. After Effects templates are pre-animated and customizable, so all you have to do is add the client’s logo and swap out the text and colors. Here are some of our favorites:
Download this sleek logo reveal.
Download this shatter logo reveal.
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Download this professional logo reveal.
Download this elegant logo reveal.
We have a bunch of other After Effects templates to choose from in our library, and even if you’re an experienced animator, these are great for saving time or gathering inspiration. However, templates can be a bit tricky—so check out our beginner’s guide to advanced tools in After Effects to help you along the way.
Tip 4: Add Good Audio
We can’t stress this enough—audio can make or break a corporate video. Nothing gets in the way of a company’s message like crackling noise, peaking levels, or annoying echo. You’d be surprised how difficult it can be to record clean audio in a workspace—people are working, keyboards are clicking, and phones are always ringing. Work doesn’t stop just because you need to record a thirty-second speech. So be sure to find quiet rooms, get your subject close to the mic, and set your levels properly—or you can plan your shoot around work hours for a better recording environment.
Good audio doesn’t stop with what you record on location. Finding the right music track can greatly increase the quality of your video, but honing in on the perfect song isn’t as easy as it seems. Composing your own score is time-consuming and much more labor-intensive, and finding a song online can sometimes lead to copyright issues. Don’t worry, we have your back! Our stock music library is filled with thousands of royalty-free tracks that fit the corporate setting. With access to our entire royalty-free library, you can provide several options for your client—and they can rest easy knowing that they won’t run into any copyright trouble. Here are just a few of many songs you can find in our library:
If you follow these tips, your projects are sure to look more professional. You better make some room in your portfolio for your next corporate video.
