The commotion of the past week has upended our lives. Long commutes and school drop-offs and iced coffee runs are no longer part of our workweek. Everyone is working from home, and many are experiencing its joys and pitfalls for the very first time.
No doubt you’ve been inundated with “helpful” tips. “Make sure to get dressed’ they say, ‘Take a walk around the block’ and ‘Set up a designated workspace.’
But, ultimately, you have to find your own rhythm for working at home. No one can tell you what it is. Sure, there are some fundamentals that help you start off on the right foot, but it’s an individual experience. At the end of the day, you just need to do your work in the way that it works for you.
An Individual Approach
And, that’s the impetus behind our creative process. We have a few building blocks to guide the process, but each client and project is distinct. Every client has different needs and motivations, and we believe it’s important to adapt accordingly.
Our goal isn’t just to create a beautiful piece of video, it’s to give you content that matters. And, that is not dependent on a rigid creative process. The magic can still happen with our team dispersed in home offices and our clients calling in from their couches and kitchen tables.
So, let’s walk through what that process looks like.
Discovery Meeting
We begin most projects with a discovery meeting. That’s when we discuss what kind of video you would like, who you want the video to speak to, and what you’re hoping to accomplish through the video.
This is the best time to share your crazy, big ideas and hopes with us. Our goal is to listen, absorb, and fit as much of your vision into your budget as possible.
All of our proposed creative flows from the fruit of this meeting. So be thorough and present and ready to share with us.
Discover from Home
While we’re all working from home, a discovery meeting is still easy to implement. We coordinate schedules and set a time on Google Hangouts or Zoom.
We find that video meetings are preferable when possible because (1) we love getting facetime with our clients (we’re the video folks after all), and (2) a video call makes reading those non-verbal cues possible. That not only streamlines communication, but also prevents unnecessary misunderstandings.
Creative Brief
After we get a feel for what you’re hoping to accomplish, we put together a creative brief. Your creative brief will serve as the reference document to guide the vision of the project.
We like to use Dropbox Paper, so we can share visual references and contributing ideas and comments all in one place. It’s easy to format and easy to share. And, that doesn’t change when you’re working from a home computer. Easy peasy.
Content Outline, Script, and More
After you give us feedback on the creative brief, we will solidify the content outline for your video.
A content outline is a written structure that establishes what needs to go in your video. Start off with what your video must have. Then sit with that outline and add in ideas that boost what you have in mind.
Again, we’re here to lead or help you through this process. It’s all about proactive communication and setting up a zoom conference when things stall or become unclear.
Then, our writer will begin working on a script if you have one. (But, sometimes you won’t have a script). We’ll follow the same feedback and revision process we did for your creative brief until we’re ready for production!
Congratulations! Your creative messaging is good to go!
