“Past performance is not an indicator of future results.” In video production, as in finance, what worked in the past, won’t necessarily work in the future.

But it’s possible to read current trends and cast forward to how they might play out. Things change, but past change can help us guess what change to expect.

Professional vs Amateur

When YouTube was new, Becky or Chip from Fresno found a funny hat and a cheap camera could, like, get them, like, 20 million views. So corporate communicators and marketers surmised that video quality no longer mattered. Let’s ride this wave, make our own videos or get our users to make them!

What happened? Well, DIY video for corporate communication did remain with us, but it hasn’t replaced professionally written and produced content. It fills a niche in social media, especially LinkedIn, where individuals and companies are seeking to build authority by sharing insights and expertise with their connections.

But even for DIY marketing videos, the requirement for quality is constantly rising. Better technology is helping your competition do it better, and as they do it more, they’re learning how to be more compelling and strategic in what they create.

While DIY was becoming more professional, corporates who flirted with rough and ready video content have either returned bigger than ever to the professional production market, or invested in in-house capacity.

The bottom line is that good hand-held phone vision might pass for a quick shout-out to your followers, but it’s no way to deliver high-stakes brand-defining content, or for delivering strategically crafted and effective corporate messaging.

The future:

• Increase in DIY online business video will continue
• Audiences will become less tolerant of poor quality DIY video
• Demand for professionally created video will keep expanding

5G is coming…

The roll out of the 5G network has already begun here in Australia. That dramatic increase in bandwidth will drive content consumption to new highs. 5G is potentially 20x faster than 4G LTE, so videos will load faster and play almost instantly. Consumers, including business viewers, will watch more videos.

As a result, online video will continue to be essential as marketing strategy for business. That means more of it and more strategically conceived and created.

Leading organisations who underuse video in their marketing or other strategic communications will be at a disadvantage.

The future:

• Even more video in business communications
• Even more competition for viewer attention

360° Stories

A few years ago 360° video came to the market with a bang. We all said “Wow! Look at that.” And promptly went back to what we were doing. As with any tech, it needed a reason, an application.

However the ideas are fast catching up to the technology and practical, useful applications of 360° video are emerging and it is an area set to grow.

You’ll also begin to see evidence that 360° filming has been used in conventional videos, in a technique that GoPro calls “overshooting”. You’ll see what looks like a locked off action camera shot, but it will pan around, either with the action frozen, or as it continues. If you’re paying attention, you’ll think “Hang on, how did they do that?”. Now you know!

At its simplest, 360° video is about providing an immersive experience for the user. Show them your hotel, factory, project, or farm. But what do you want them to understand? How do you want them to respond?

360° video will never displace a conventional video, but 360° video will become more strategic, with better use of stories and crafted narratives.

The future:

• 360° video capture integrated into mainstream
• 360° business video becomes strategic

Drones

Drones are the fad that stuck. They revolutionised video by enabling aerial shots to be captured for a fraction of the cost. Everyone was in on it, and then the legislation started catching up.

There are now many rules and regulations to flying a drone for both recreational and commercial purposes, and the days of the simply putting up the drone to get a bit of video are well behind us. It is clear that in the future the legislation around drone flying will become even more stringent. So it will be critical to make sure the person shooting drone vision on your video CASA licenced and knows their legal obligations.

Wrap Up

Videos in business are here to stay. Want to ensure that your videos are future proof? Get in touch.