The first movies were silent. Then came movies with powerful sound tracks… Your video should also be more than moving pictures. If your video is just images and some text, it's not living up to its full potential. It's like running a race car with half an engine, or with the throttle pulled back half-way.

 

Why would you?

 

Properly narrated videos with a tightly written, powerful script plus dynamic music and natural sound are more impactful, more memorable and convert more often. They also present more information in a shorter time frame. Sometimes all you need are images to tell a story. But in a fast-paced B2B world, more information in a shorter span of time is more effective. We can process images, on-screen text, narration, natural sound and sound effects AND be influenced by the music background - all at the same time! If we could send the aroma of fresh coffee or chocolate chip cookies down the Internet pipeline with video, we'd be able to process that, too.

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Many viewers watch with the sound off. They're sneaking peeks during meetings, phone calls, conversations, or are just too lazy to turn on the sound. Captions fix that. And can tempt viewers to turn the sound ON.

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Video producers who ask you to write the script (or don't ask about scripts at all) are often video gear junkies... in love with their tools - not your story. They can shoot and edit but depend solely on pictures and simple on-screen text to tell the story. By not writing a script they're also avoiding the real work of storytelling and you're losing the advantage of putting your business' story in front of prospects in a clear, concise, logical and persuasive manner.

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Your story is critical. Your WHOLE story. Don't short change it. But do caption it!

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Check out the captioned video (above) from State Line Foundries. All elements are present and tell a powerful story.

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Dennis Dean is an Emmy-winning journalist and Chief Creative Officer of Dean Group Media and Story Vision Video. He may be reached at dennis@deangroup.com, on his cell phone: 414-405-8197 and occasionally by shouting.