Producing a successful brand video is like creating a piece of contemporary music. Generally, with a simple brand video you’ve got the introduction, the verse, the chorus, maybe a bridge or solo, and the conclusion. As video creators, this is how we initiate creating any number of brand videos for our clients. You’ve got about 10-15 seconds in your introduction to hook the audience to keep watching – do this by presenting “the problem,” a unique situation or location, or by showing stylized video with high production value. During the verse, we present the meat of the video – the who, what, where, when, why and how. The chorus is when we celebrate the brand’s achievement. The bridge may circle-back to “the problem” before reemphasizing how said brand is the right solution. And finally, the conclusion is the takeaway – the one piece of information (or a feeling) the brand wants the audience to walk away with. This will often include a call-to-action.
These holistic elements are the structure of a basic brand video, but a successful brand video works with a deeper understanding of music, taking into consideration the seven elements of traditional music:
- Melody: a succession of notes heard as some sort of unit.
- Harmony: the relationship between two or more simultaneous pitches.
- Rhythm: the variation of the accentuation of sounds over time.
- Timbre: the quality of a sound.
- Form: the structure of a particular piece, how its parts are put together to make the whole.
- Tempo: the speed of communicating an emotion in a particular piece, how fast or slow it’s played.
- Dynamics: the volume of all parts as a whole and every layer in the structure.
Look at any number of the videos we’ve created for our clients and you’ll see what I mean. Maybe it’s the melody in the way the video tells a compelling story:
Or perhaps the video showcases the harmony in which the brand works towards a better tomorrow:
Or maybe the brand is keeping in rhythm with its company mission:
It could simply be the timbre in which a brand continues to produce quality products or services:
Explaining a specific line of service of a business is similar to the form of a song:
The tempo in which a brand communicates can be very powerful – whether fast or slow – to emphasize emotions:
Lastly, and arguably the most ambitious to achieve, is the dynamics – the parts as a whole. We achieve this by creating a series of videos for a brand; each video individually elicits a specific element, but when combined, the dynamics tell a complete, compelling, and engaging story:
Need to strategize how to breathe energy into your next video project? Drop us a line via the form below!