Communicate Video Production

09/09/2026

"We want to use the video everywhere."

Website.
LinkedIn.
Sales presentations.
Email.
Events.
Internal communications.
YouTube.

That's fine.

But that doesn't necessarily mean I'd make ONE video and upload exactly the same version everywhere.

Someone scrolling through LinkedIn is in a completely different situation to someone who's deliberately clicked play on your website.

The salesperson showing something during a meeting needs something different again.

So increasingly, when I'm planning a project, I'm thinking about the versions before we've even filmed the main video.

What could become a 30-second clip?

What could work without sound?

Do we need vertical versions?

Could one interview give us five useful pieces of content?

Could parts be updated later without recreating everything?

It's a small shift in thinking.

Don't just ask:

"What video are we making?"

Ask:

"What could we get from making it?"

That's where I think video production becomes much more valuable.

And apparently, looking cool in shades while doing it is also part of the job. 😎😂

08/09/2026

Some of the best people I've filmed aren't very good presenters.

And I'm absolutely fine with that.

Because I don't necessarily want a presenter.

I want the person who knows the subject.

The engineer who's spent 20 years solving the problem.

The lecturer who can explain something complicated in a way their students understand.

The employee who actually does the job every day.

Put a camera in front of them and sometimes they become nervous.

They stumble over a sentence.

They stop and start again.

That's normal.

My job isn't to turn them into a TV presenter.

It's to make them comfortable enough that we get the knowledge that's already in their head.

We can deal with the pauses.

We can deal with the mistakes.

We can edit.

What I'm much more interested in is getting the person who genuinely knows what they're talking about.

Because expertise doesn't need to be perfectly delivered to be valuable.

07/09/2026

"We need a video."

I hear that quite a lot.

But that's not really enough for me to know what you need. Because my next question is normally...

Why?

What's happening at the moment that you want to change?

Maybe customers don't understand the product.

Maybe employees aren't following a process.

Maybe your training takes too long to deliver.

Maybe you've got something that's incredibly difficult to explain in an email.

Those are completely different problems.

And they probably need completely different videos.

That's why I'm much more interested in the problem before I start thinking about cameras, scripts, AI or animation.

Because sometimes the conversation even ends with...

"I'm not sure you need a video."

Probably a strange thing for someone who makes videos to say. 😂

But I'd rather make something because there's a good reason for it to exist.

Not because somebody decided there should be a video.

The tools come later.

Whether it's video or whatever I was attempting to build here. 😂

04/09/2026

The more AI video I create, the more interested I've become in when NOT to use it.

Which probably sounds a bit strange coming from someone who uses AI video tools every day.

But having more ways to create something doesn't mean every way is equally good.

If I need to create multiple versions of training content quickly...

AI might make complete sense.

If something changes regularly...

Again, there could be a very good reason to use it.

But if I'm interviewing your founder about why they started the business?

I'd probably want the founder.

If a customer is telling me what changed because of your product?

I want the customer.

If an employee is talking about something deeply personal to them?

I want them.

Because sometimes the little imperfections ARE the communication.

The pause.

The laugh.

Having to think about the answer.

That's not something I'm desperate to optimise away.

I like AI.

I also like people.

Knowing when to use each is becoming a much more interesting part of my job.

03/09/2026

I think one of the hardest things to do in a business video is leave something out.

Everyone has something important to add.

Marketing wants this.

Sales needs that.

The MD wants the company history.

Someone remembers an award from 2020.

And before you know it, your nice two-minute video is trying to explain the entire business. 😬

I understand why it happens.

But when I'm planning a video with a client, one of the questions I'm interested in is:

What does this particular audience actually need from this particular video?

Not everything we could tell them.

What do they need to understand?

What do we want them to remember?

And what should they do afterwards?

Anything else has to earn its place.

Sometimes making a video better isn't about adding something.

It's knowing what to leave out.

02/09/2026

One question I'm asking clients much more often now is:

"How likely is this information to change?"

Because that can completely change how I'd recommend making the video.

Imagine spending thousands filming a training video.

People.
Location.
Crew.
Equipment.
Editing.

Six months later, one important part of the process changes.

Now what?

You shouldn't necessarily have to recreate the whole thing.

This is one of the areas where I think AI can be genuinely useful.

Not because "AI video is the future."

Simply because parts of a video can sometimes be updated without having to recreate everything around them.

But if the content is unlikely to change and trust matters?

I'd still happily put a real person in front of a real camera.

That's why I don't think the conversation should start with:

"Should we use AI?"

I'd rather start with:

"What are we making, who needs it and how is it likely to change?"

Then choose the right way to make it.

01/09/2026

I don't really want the person I'm filming to sound like they've memorised a script.

Especially when they're the expert.

I've seen people who can talk brilliantly about their subject suddenly become completely different when a camera is pointed at them.

They start trying to remember the "correct" words.

Their shoulders tighten.

Their personality disappears.

And suddenly the person who's spent 15 years doing the job sounds like they're reading the terms and conditions. 😂

That's why I spend quite a bit of time asking questions when I'm filming people.

Tell me what happened.

Why does that matter?

What would you say to someone who doesn't understand this?

Now we're having a conversation.

I can always tidy things up in the edit.

What I can't manufacture quite so easily is someone sounding like they actually believe what they're saying.

And for me, that's far more valuable than getting every word perfect.

31/08/2026

"We keep getting asked the same question."

I actually think that's quite a good reason to make a video.

Not because every frequently asked question needs one.

But if your team is explaining the same thing over and over again, there's probably something worth looking at.

Maybe customers don't understand part of your service.

Maybe employees keep getting stuck at the same stage of a process.

Maybe new starters are all asking the same thing.

That's useful information.

Because before I start thinking about cameras, AI, animation or anything else, I'd want to know...

Why do people keep asking this?

And could we answer it properly once?

Sometimes a two-minute video that gets watched 500 times is far more useful than something bigger and more impressive that nobody actually needs.

That's the kind of video I'm interested in making.

The ones that remove a problem.

What question does your team seem to answer over and over again?

28/08/2026

I think companies put a lot of effort into leadership away days and not nearly enough into what happens afterwards.

You know how it goes.

Everyone leaves feeling positive.
There are new ideas.
Decisions have been made.
Priorities are clear.
Everyone knows what happens next.

Then everyone goes back to work.

Two weeks later: "Hang on... didn't we agree something about this at the away day?"
And someone starts looking for the notes.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit when we're asked to create video around leadership events and strategy sessions.

Because I'm not really interested in filming everything that happens.
Nobody wants a six-hour video of an away day.

Before we film, I normally get the client thinking about what people are going to need to remember next week.

What did we actually decide?
What's changed?
What do people need to do differently now?

Because once we know that, we know what's actually worth capturing.
And if you capture those moments properly, you've got something people can actually go back to.

Not a recording of the day. But a reminder of what came out of it.
And I think there's a big difference between the two.

A great leadership day shouldn't just feel good in the room. It should change what happens when everyone gets back to work.

Does your business have a good way of keeping the important stuff alive after an away day?

26/08/2026