Adam Pelling-Deeves: Video Production, Oxford – Corporate & Creative

Posted on May 10th, 2022 by Adam Pelling-Deeves

It can be difficult to convince a client to add time to their video production to create additional material. They usually have a brief, a deadline and a budget, and that’s all they want to focus on.

This is a major missed opportunity, as generating additional versions, durations and adaptations from a production gives great value for money. Each new asset is created from the efforts of the last, and so is produced in a fraction of the time that it would take to do so from scratch.

I was however, given the opportunity to apply this strategy to a recent job.

Educake produce homework and revision software for GCSE students and teachers. They required a collection of screen-captured demo videos, and agreed that from these videos, a short promo would also be produced, along with a toolkit of marketing assets.


The Demo Videos

There are a number of ways to approach software demo videos, many of which are inefficient and compromise the end quality. By their nature, they’re not the most exciting of productions but don’t let their simplicity lull you into a hasty approach! As with any video, every hour spent on details in pre-production will generally save two fixing problems in post.

My preferred approach is to ask the client to record a rough demo, then generate a voice and action script from it. Once the content of the script is agreed, the voice and screen are recorded separately.

Performed on a 4K monitor with slow, distinct movements, the screen recording can be easily controlled in both time and scale as it’s laid into a sequence along with the voice-over. A little extra planning and control means there are no jarring surprises for the viewer that will require the addition of messy boxes or highlights.

Using this process, four demo videos were produced for Educake, covering various aspects of their software. They’re currently displayed on their Teachers page.

Pop these demos up to full screen if you want to watch them in more detail.

While discussing the scripts in the early stages, it became apparent that one of the demos contained a sequence that would also work as a shorter standalone video. All that was needed was the addition of a couple of extra lines as its top and tail.

These demo videos were then used as a basis to generate a range of other marketing resources.


The Promo Video

Along with clips from a couple of Educake’s pre-existing videos, elements of the demos were used to create a simple text and music-based promo.

This eye-catching overview can be put to work in a number of contexts, such as conferences, exhibitions, social media and sales pitches, and currently features on their website homepage. I also provided Educake with a minute and a 30 second version if needed.


The Social Media Assets

The final part of the package was to select moments from the videos to isolate as both looping gifs and still images. Again, to be utilised in marketing and sales materials, particularly on social media sites. Each one was exported and organised into folders relevant to a number of popular sites’ size, duration and ratio limitations.

A few looping common phrases were also generated using elements of the edits: “We’re hiring!” “Congratulations!” and “Thanks!”.

At the end of the production, Educake walked away happy, with a toolkit of assets to use across their marketing, sales and social media communications. As well as the four demo videos that they initially needed, they also had a shorter standalone demo, a promo in various durations, and dozens of screen shots and looping gifs optimised for a number of sites.

This particular job didn’t require any shooting, but if it had there would have been even more scope for additional video assets – uncut shots as website backgrounds or profile loops, for example.

If you’re considering how video might be effectively used in future campaigns, then please get in touch. I’m always happy to chat and share ideas.

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