5 F I L M M A K E R S S H A R E T H E I R A DV I C E O N

C R E AT I N G M U S T-WATC H B R A N D E D V I D EO

VIDEO IS A UNIQUE WAY TO CONNECT WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS. It’s a chance to be inventive, entertaining, or inspiring. Or all three at once.

It’s never been easier to create video content. Costs have come down dramatically

as technical quality has gone up. While these traditional barriers to entr y have been

removed, new challenges present themselves. Many companies now consider video to

be an essential part of their marketing strategy, leading to a highly innovative and often

boundar y-breaking f ield. The challenge is no longer getting a video made – it’s producing

something compelling.

To understand contemporar y strategies behind developing and producing compelling

video, Shutterstock Premier spoke to f ive f ilmmakers who have worked extensively on

branded or promotional content. Each has their own unique perspective on the production

process and shared their experiences and advice with us.

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T H E F I L M M A K E R S

C H A D K O C H

N O A M K R O L L

S O P H I A P E E R

J U S T I N B A R N E S

E M E R Y W E L L S

Chad Koch is an experienced f ilmmaker with a diverse range of

productions to his credit . Now, he’s exploring large-scale VR content

that’s pushing the boundaries of the video landscape.

Noam Kroll is a f ilmmaker who works on feature f ilms and adver tising

campaigns. He runs the production company Creative Rebellion, as well

as a successful f ilmmaking resource blog.

Sophia Peer is an ar tist and director whose work includes several music

videos for bands, including Interpol and The National. She has also

created promos for brands like Ox ygen, MT V, and Pitchfork .

Emer y Wells is the co-founder and CEO of Frame.io. He’s been working

in f ilm and computer graphics for over 14 years and has played a role in

well-known video initiatives, like SNL’s Digital Shor ts.

Justin Barnes is the Creative Director at Versus, a creative production

studio that has developed a range of branded video for names like Vans,

Nike and American Express.

Shutterstock Premier spoke to f ive f ilmmakers who are well-versed in creating engaging videos. They have all worked extensively

on branded or promotional content, and each has developed their own unique perspective on the production process.

3

1 A L WAY S B E O N T H E L O O K O U T

Even if you’re not ready to star t creating a video,

keep track of things that inspire you.

“ I A M A HUGE FA N OF PIN T ER E S T. I ’m on it all day long creating boards. I tr y to

spend at least an hour ever y single night just relaxing and watching shor t f ilms

or seeing designs I like and putting them in there. And when a project hits, I ’ve

just been looking at all these things. I love going back and getting inspired again

– bringing ideas together, making connections, and making it happen.”

“ I COL L EC T A L O T OF IM AGE S. They ’re just inspiring images that I f ind online

from all sor ts of sources that I then organize them into categories. Sometimes

they are photos I took, something I saw on Instagram, or stills from movies

or different ar t projects. There’s also sites that I like to visit that are just

collections of images, like ffffound.com or browncardigan.com. I ’ll go through

these images and see if any of these spark an idea.”

“ I K EEP A T HICK NO T EBOOK OF IDE A S. Many notebooks actually. You should

always be learning and reading and seeing what else is out there.”

J U S T I N B A R N E S

S O P H I A P E E R

C H A D K O C H

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2 S H A R E Y O U R I D E A S

Collaborate with others and see what you agree on.

Brainstorm and share videos. Build on each other ’s ideas.

“ BEFOR E W E DO A N Y T HING, W E’L L USUA L LY CONSULT W I T H OUR CL IEN T S,

H AV E A BR A INS T OR MING SE S SION, A ND S AY, ‘OK , L E T’S SEE SOME OF T HIS

S T UFF T H AT YOU GU YS L IK E.’ We’ll pull up YouTube and Vimeo and look at

videos they like, share some videos that we like, and we’ll just star t dialing in on

a visual language that we can both connect with. From there, the rest of it falls

into place organically.”

“ MO S T PEOPL E T H AT A R E CR E AT I V E R E A L LY DON’ T NECE S S A RILY K NOW

HOW T HE Y COME UP W I T H T HE IDE A S. I think that it requires some sor t of

inspiration. Somebody gives you some direction, something they want to

achieve, and then you have to search for the inspiration in that.”

“ I WON’ T DO A N Y T HING A S FA R A S A MUSIC V IDEO UNL E S S I T’S A CONCEP T

T H AT I H AV E COME UP W I T H A ND C A N GE T BEHIND. I ’m not so into executing

other people’s ideas.”

N O A M K R O L L

E M E R Y W E L L S

S O P H I A P E E R

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3 T H I N K B I G

To stand out, you need to do something different. Focus on one big idea

rather than lots of little ones.

“ TA K ING RISK S IS R E A L LY T HE ONLY WAY

T O M A K E S T UFF FR E SH T HE SE DAYS.

Sometimes you have to reinvent a brand in a

crazy lucid way. Freeform it . Break it open and

make it something brand new. It ’s the kind of

stuff people dream about creating through

brainstorming sessions in boardrooms

ever y where. Most times though, the trickiest

par t is convincing your clients or backers to

take that risk . The trick is creating something

that has real impact and hopefully resonates

for more than the lifespan of a house f ly. So

much stuff is being created now, it makes you

wonder what value it really has.

“ YOU SEE A L O T OF BR A ND S T RY ING T O

PRODUCE QUA N T I T Y OV ER QUA L I T Y. We’re

in this crazy cycle where we’re just throwing

small budgets at anyone or any thing and

getting things done cheap just to have a ton

of content. Honestly, it shows.”

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6

“ INS T E A D OF T RY ING T O S AY E V ERY T HING, S AY ONE T HING

T H AT ENCOMPA S SE S E V ERY T HING. Maybe feature one

person. It could be the CEO or even a customer. Have that one

person give one message that is specif ic but also broad enough

that it encapsulates all the things that you want to say. Trust

your customer to f ind all of those little details elsewhere. If

they need to know what year your CMO joined the company,

they can go on the website and f igure that out for themselves.

If you put that in the video, all that’s going to do is distract them

from the bigger message.”

“ I T HINK A BOU T T HIS ONE IN T ER V IE W W I T H M AT T S T ONE

A ND T R E Y PA R K ER , T HE SOUTH PARK W RI T ERS. They were

saying that when you’re writing out an idea, you don’t want to

be saying , ‘So this happens and then this happens.’ You want to

be saying , ‘But and therefore.’ This keeps me from just throwing

ever y visually arresting thing into one pitch. If you’re not able to

say ‘But and therefore’ as you’re telling the stor y of what your

video is going to be, the idea is just not going to work .”

N O A M K R O L L S O P H I A P E E R

4 C O N S I D E R W H AT Y O U WA N T T O S AY

D o n ’ t j u s t i n c l u d e e v e r y i d e a y o u h a v e . T h e b e s t v i d e o s h a v e a t i g h t f o c u s .

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5 B E T R U E T O Y O U R B R A N D

It ’s tempting to follow the zeitgeist or tr y to f it in too much.

Your video should be unique and ref lect who you are.

“ T O M A K E I T WOR K , YOU H AV E T O S TAY T RUE T O T HE BR A ND A ND CULT UR E

YOU ’R E BUIL DING ON. Sometimes you come up with amazing , lightning in a

bottle type stuff, but if it doesn’t f it the brand then it ’s the wrong choice. When

I was at the Huff ington Post I wanted to do a lot of stuff that was off the core

brand. What can I say? Stories about time travel and Bigfoot excite me. How

do you know when you’ve come up with a good idea? That’s the $10 million

question, r ight? Ever yone wishes they knew the answer to this one. I use a few

templates to make sure it works. Most of that is going to be about structure and

I rely on John Truby ’s 22 Building Blocks as my star ting point for all that.”

“ R AT HER T H A N CH A SING SOME HUGE CONCEP T T H AT’S A L R E A DY BEEN

DONE SOME W HER E EL SE, TA K E A GOOD, H A R D L OOK AT YOUR COR E VA L UE S

A ND YOUR BR A ND. Study your own DNA to f igure out what’s really r ight

for your company.”

C H A D K O C H

N O A M K R O L L

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6 L E A R N T O L O V E C O N S T R A I N T S

Constraints lead to creative thinking. Your time, budget,

and resources might be f inite but a little imagination goes a long way.

“A N YONE W HO H A S $10 MIL L ION DOL L A RS A ND ACCE S S T O K A N Y E T O

M A K E A V IDEO IS GOING T O COME UP W I T H SOME T HING PR E T T Y A MBI T IOUS

A ND CR A Z Y, RIGH T ? But can you pull off that same feeling with $50k and four

days? I feel like a good idea should be judged by the constraints that have to

hold it . That’s the nature of our business, and to me it ’s what separates a good

creative director and a good studio from a really great one.”

“ T HE FIL MS I’ V E M A DE T H AT H AV E R E SON AT ED T HE MO S T OR I’ V E H A D T HE

BE S T FEEDB ACK ON W ER E T HE ONE S I USED T HE L OW E S T-END EQUIPMEN T

ON. It ’s not that they looked any worse, it was just that the technolog y didn’t

get in the way of the creative process.”

J U S T I N B A R N E S

N O A M K R O L L

“ YOU DON’ T NEED A T ON OF MONE Y T O CR E AT E PROFE S SION A L L OOK ING

V IDEO S. That’s a great thing because it becomes more about the ideas and the

concepts and how creative you can be than how much f inancial

backing you have.”

S O P H I A P E E R

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Keep on top of innovations, but don’t use them unless they

make sense for your video.

“ I’ V E A LWAYS EMBR ACED W H AT E V ER T OOL IS GOING T O HEL P T EL L T HE

BE S T S T ORY. I ’ve got a pretty extensive background in VF X and can always use

that to inform what I ’ll be shooting on set or enhance and even rescue a project

that has been tripped up one way or another. But VR and AR are something a

whole lot bigger than that. They ’re a new format for telling stories and that’s a

huge deal.”

“ W HEN COMING UP W I T H A N IDE A I H AV E T O K NOW W H AT’S AC T UA L LY

PO S SIBL E A ND NE W DE V EL OPMEN T S C A N GI V E ME OP T IONS T H AT I DIDN’ T

H AV E BEFOR E. Sometimes I f ind myself with an idea that forces me to star t

searching for a specif ic piece of equipment. Sometimes I ’m not even sure it

exists. I think it ’s def initely impor tant because it can inform how you work and

what you do and the decisions you make even when writing the concept.”

“ I T’S DEFINI T ELY IMPOR TA N T T O S TAY A HE A D OF T HE T ECH CUR V E. Or

at least on top of it . We’re really big believers in the idea that we never let

technolog y guide us creatively. It ’s there to help us realize those ideas, not

become a reason for it .”

C H A D K O C H

S O P H I A P E E R

J U S T I N B A R N E S

7 U S E T H E R I G H T T E C H N O L O G Y

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8 K E E P T H E M O M E N T U M

“ H AV ING A T OP-NO T CH PRODUCING PA R T NER IS T HE MO S T VA L UA BL E

T HING. Working with people who are experienced and educated and know

what you’re talking about when you say something like, ‘ This shot is going to

be a composite shot, so keep your hands from blocking the window. We don’t

have time or budget for rotoscoping.’ Those who understand stuff like that are

my favorite people.”

“ I T HINK ONE OF T HE T HING S T H AT GE T S PROJEC T S OFF-T R ACK MOR E

T H A N A N Y T HING EL SE IS SL OW I T ER AT ION… Eliminate all gaps in the creative

process. When there are gaps in the creative process, you lose the f low.”

“ I H AV E L E A R NED T O BE R E A L LY, R E A L LY CL E A R . Just set people’s

expectations with ever y thing – the budget, the timeline, and the concept.”

C H A D K O C H

E M E R Y W E L L S

S O P H I A P E E R

You have the idea, you’ve done your research, you know

what you want to say. Now keep the project moving.

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G E T I N S P I R E D B Y S H U T T E R S T O C K P R E M I E R

When your creative team is feeling less than inspired, Shutterstock Premier can

help. With a “one account, unlimited users” approach, Premier in the one-stop-shop

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Simplif y your team’s workflow with free research, unwatermarked comps, and

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