“The more money you have the more you can do with it, sure. But the less you can say with it.”
Wim Wenders
In the arts, budget for creative video is always limited, but we have found that innate creativity flourishes when big spending is not on the table.
Non-traditional, or guerrilla marketing, has earned the maxim; creativity is more important than budget. Time and again ingenious low budget efforts are the high-visibility campaigns we read about on marketing blogs. Online video has shown a similar trend; most viral videos are neither branded nor have a high production values, they simply speak to people in a unique way. Here are our four reasons that creativity is more important than budget when producing creative video for the arts.
1. Originality
Low budget means you have to be original; you can’t peg yourself to the production values and generic aesthetic of industry leaders or corporate brands. Plagiarism is not an option. So whatever you do it will have to be unique; see this as an opportunity and a challenge to produce creative video content. This brings out the best in your creative team too, and lets you know if you have the right people on your team.
2. Core Messages
What budget constraints do is steer us back towards the essence of the piece itself, and away from ‘ad-speak’. By removing an easy option we are forced to return to the essence of what we are promoting and strive for creative ways of achieving our objectives with video. Pushing past the superficialities and advertising tropes that big budgets can afford (and tend towards) will force us to more truthfully represent the core messages.
3. Film Language
Film is a versatile visual language that lets us show things in many different ways. It’s not a secret; the higher budget hollywood films are not necessarily the best. Once we have drilled down our core messages we work out how these can be communicated with the tools at our disposal. We focus on what we need to do with the camera rather than what we could do ‘if only we had the budget’. There’s no budget for expensive floating dolly shots so we figure out another way to tell the story.
4. Collaborate
Working without a lot of money you tend to pool the only other great resource available; people. Using the energy and input of a variety of stakeholders when money is tight is often the only way to make a creative video project happen. This is particularly true in the arts where here is so much creative depth in collaborations. This can make the creative video process quite iterative, but it does mean arriving at a product everyone is part of and is happy with. It’s also much more enjoyable and inspiring to collaborate with set designers, writers, directors and marketing teams on a creative video project.
The best idea is the one that can stand out and speak clearly, without any bells and whistles on it. We believe our value is in our creativity, our collaborative working practices, and our ability to deliver a product that satisfies your brief no matter what the budget.
At Impact Video we often discuss long term strategies which are formed around the creation of in-house and professional content. To discuss how we can help you get the most out of your video invesment get in touch with or call 020 7729 5978
