Documentary

A documentary is a behind the scenes look at your company and can be used to capture how you work, the way your team interacts or how you approach a certain project.

The main purpose of a documentary is to tell a story, and this is what will keep the viewer watching your video, to find out how it concludes. The viewer will buy into your video as it feels more genuine than a scripted approach, as they get to see what your company is really like.

Documentaries can take many forms, depending on your message and what the purpose is, but they all usually involve interviews with the people involved, fly on the all style filming and plenty of b-roll to make the viewer feel as though they are a part of the whole process.

Benefits

Documentaries are becoming some of the most watched content, but are still being under-utilised by the business community. By creating a documentary or series, you are helping your company stand out from your competitors, and showing your potential clients that you do things differently.

Documentaries provide evidence about your approach to work, the struggles that came along the way, and the successes you were able to achieve. It gives a more realistic picture of your business and team, rather than scripting how you want your business to be perceived, this helps a potential customer relate to you emotionally and can give you the edge over your competitors.

In a documentary, the audience feels connected to you, as they are seeing a behind the scenes look at your business, your team and your values, allowing them to connect with you on a personal level. This can give your business more personality and helps build up your brand to appeal to your target audience. 

While using this format of video may not get you the immediate results that other forms will, documentaries usually have a long lasting effect and you often find people wanting to work with you because of who you are over the results you are able to achieve.

The Production Process

Pre-Production

The first stage of the process is to fully understand your brief and work on creating a strategy for your project. This is the most important stage, as both parties having a clear understanding of what needs to be achieved will help the project run smoothly and set realistic expectations. Through this stage we then plan the shooting schedule, any additional factors that need to be introduced, and set project deadlines.

Production

During this phase, we will capture all the media needed to produce the video. The video shoot will be custom to your project and could be over multiple days, in different locations. Depending on the content in your documentary, the filming could be done over the course of day or even months to make sure all the relevant footage is captured, and that it gives a natural feel. Our in-house camera operators will lead the projects and we will use our network of freelancers to support us on the shoots when required.

Post-Production

This is the longest stage in the production process and is where your video starts to take shape. Using all the footage that has been shot, we will create a story that shows what was detailed in the brief. With documentary filming usually involving recording a lot of footage, this stage will likely run alongside the production process, so that the edit can help amend the production schedule if needed.

Marketing

There is no point having a gripping documentary if no one sees it. This is where marketing comes in, and we will use the distribution strategy created in pre-production to promote your video across the relevant channels. Whether this is on your website, across social media or using our PR team to reach out to publications. With longform content, there is also the possibility of reaching out to streaming services as a way of distributing your film.

Examples

The Process - Bigger Than Me
The Process - Belfast Bound

Client Testimonial

The video that Innovate has produced perfectly captures what life at the agency was like over the first year, and shows the struggles that come with the successes.

Paul Ngoie SEO Strategist, Contrast