More Than Talk » Communication lessons learned from the “YouTube Generation”

Jan 09 07

Communication lessons learned from the “YouTube Generation”

By Renn Vara

Our daughter is in the middle of her senior year of high school. During the past two years, she’s been involved in a unique learning experience combining documentary video with her history and English studies. She and her fellow classmates spend hours discussing stories, searching for interesting people to interview, videotaping and editing.

While it’s been a wonderful learning experience for her, it’s been an eye opener for me to watch how these kids shoot and edit video. This is the generation most comfortable with creating video and the technology needed to bring it to an audience. They’re not careful about the framing and lighting like we are. Instead they focus on the content and if needed, will compromise everything else to protect it. The results are surprisingly creative and effective. “The YouTube Generation.”

As a result, SNP is adopting what I call the “BizTube” approach to corporate video. You might compare it to the current “run and gun” shooting of television news teams. The picture often jiggles and the primary subject falls in and out of frame. The sound is not perfect. However, unlike the earlier innovations adopted from MTV and other youth-oriented programs, these video aesthetics are neither planned nor manipulated. They are driven by the content and the reality of the situation being videotaped.

Our customers are asking for BizTube without really knowing what they are asking for. Here’s what they’re saying:

We’re tired of all the big production teams and equipment needed to simply videotape our leaders or products.
We resent the time it takes both for us and our leaders.
We don’t understand why we can shoot cool video at home with our own video camera and at work we have to have a full video crew with all that equipment.
And in the end, we’re not going to pay your high prices anymore.

With that in mind, here are a few of the general ideas behind SNP’s BizTube:

It’s not to be used for everything. Critical business events and most marketing projects still need high-end video crews; for example, an annual partner meeting or the launch of a new product.
The BizTube equipment and production teams must be low-profile. Small cameras and ambient sound are better than a big cameras and lavalier mics.
Staging of the subject is weighted against the content. Meaning, don’t spend hours on the setting, lighting, and look and feel. Put the subject in an interesting place of activity rather than in safety for the benefit of the video process.
Use the reality of external sounds and pictures to tell the story.
There are generally two pictures: facial emotion and activity.
Everything is captured in memory rather than tape stock.
Limited use of makeup, it it’s used at all.
Total concentration on capturing the content without impacting it. This means let the cameras roll, rather than stopping and starting the video.
More dependence on the camera focus abilities rather than getting up close to the subject being videotaped.
Additional lighting is not essential.
Use two cameras when possible. One is stable on a tripod, the other floats and follows the action.
Post production is quick cut for the benefit of the content.
Output is targeted to the small computer screen, PDA, and phone, rather than the big screen.

You get the idea. The primary benefit of BizTube is the lower costs, lower impact on the business, and the ability to use video more often. We’re coming into the video age of mobile communication and businesses have to meet it. Our customers and employees expect it. BizTube allows us to do just that. Who knows, we may end up being called the “BizTube Generation” in a few years. So get out that home video camera and start shooting.

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