Better #20

Kia ora,

There are three little milestones to celebrate today: it’s one year since the first edition of Better; this is the 20th edition overall; and we’ve now passed 400 subscribers. Hooray!

Thank you for opening, replying, sharing, clicking and supporting. But mainly, thank you for reading. It means a lot 😊

Today’s edition is all about video, because whether we like it or not, video isn’t just a fad 😅

Research in 2023 showed that 68 percent of New Zealanders aged 15+ watched ‘overseas online video’ (YouTube, Facebook etc) every day. And that includes a lot of older Kiwis, as the age breakdown shows:

• 15-39 (88 percent)

• 40-59 (58 percent)

• 60+ (47 percent)

Being able to offer video as part of your overall content mix is always going to be a challenge - particularly for smaller teams - which is why getting the most out of every clip is so important.

Read on to find out how.

Cheers,
Seamus Boyer 👋

Spending time with Chris Riordan is an absolute pleasure - and a bloody good laugh.

I met Chris in Canberra recently and was struck by his enthusiasm, sense of humour, and passion for storytelling.

He clearly loves people and telling their yarns, and that’s what this interview is all about - practical, engaging ways to draw out people’s stories and share them on video.

I hope you enjoy it.

👇👇👇

Firstly, Chris, where do you work, and what do you do?

I started in advertising then moved to video production. From there I went into government doing publishing, then comms, then in-house video. I’m now the Creative Services Manager at the Department of Education in Victoria, where I manage a team of in-house visual designers and videographers.

What’s your team set-up?

In terms of ongoing roles I have a design team made up of a Senior Visual Designer and two Visual Designers, and on the video side, a Senior Videographer and a Videographer. I also have two videographers working as contractors.

Let’s jump straight into it - what should all videos have, regardless of length?

Whenever we have a job come into us, we always ask the same three questions, and unless it's got all three of these things, we won't do it. And so the first is a story - everything has to hang off a story. It's no good announcing a policy, you need to have the story of how that policy is going to benefit someone because that's what people engage with. And then you also need a storyteller, that's our second thing. You can't just wheel out the head of the department or the most senior bureaucrat in whatever area it’s in because they tend to talk in a way that normal people won't engage with.

In a perfect world the story is how it's helping someone, and the storyteller is the person who is actually helping. And then our last thing is a visual element. You have to assume that this video is popping up in someone’s feed with no sound, so you need to hit them with enough visuals that it ropes them in.

So those are our three things. You can make a video work with two of the three, but it will never work properly. If you've got all three, then we reckon that will work, and whether that's a 30-second video, whether that's a one-minute video, whether that's a five-minute video, you just need those three elements, I reckon, to actually have something that people will engage with.

That’s so useful because the cliche boring corporate video is none of those things, right? There's no visual element, the person is not a storyteller, and the story is just some corporate message…

Exactly, and for those boring videos if it's just going to be a person talking to screen for three minutes, I can guarantee people can read that faster than they can listen to a person talking. So you’d be better off putting it up as a document or audio, rather than waste your time with video because that's a waste of the medium.

How important is the role of storyteller in video?

The storyteller is key. Whether they’re a celebrity or a person talking into their phone. They’re the person connecting with the audience.

It’s an interesting one because I run a video team, and we're all trained videographers, and we all have nice equipment, and we like to make the nicest possible looking videos. And there's a real push at the moment to do everything just on the phones, because that's what the algorithms really like, and that's what has cut through. There is a presumption that if someone's just talking into their phone, then it's not rehearsed, it's not practiced, it's not just key messages, it is an authentic person talking.

But to my mind, it's not the visual quality that's making the difference there, it's the authenticity of the person talking. So I think if you had that same person talking in a beautiful looking video, it will still be as impactful.

And I think that's what the storyteller is. It is that person that you actually connect with. And it's such an ephemeral thing that you don't notice it when it's not there, but you do notice it when it is there - suddenly you actually connect with someone. They're not trying to reel off as many different terms and correct phrases as possible, they are just talking about their experience.

Did TikTok help with this? Putting people back into the centre of things?

Yes and no. On TikTok you can see five or six different videos that look exactly the same, and then you're saying, like, oh, wait, is it authentic? It puts people front and centre, so I think that works for that authenticity thing, but then you get these influencers who have that role of connecting with you, and it starts to look less and less like real connection and more like performative connection. They know how to look like they're not scripted and maybe that's where it detracts a little bit.

How do you help get people into a place where they can be themselves? Because being in front of a camera is scary, right?

Any time we're going to film someone, we'll always spend the first 10 minutes or so just having a chat, just to get comfortable. And that 10-minute investment at the start of talking to someone, regardless of how long the video is going to be, will yield so many dividends, because you get that person comfortable and to the point where they're just talking. That's really important, that they feel as though they can talk to you as a person.

I tend to have my questions in my head, but then not read them off when I'm talking to people. So just letting it evolve, because there's nothing worse than when someone gives you a really good point, and instead of bringing that to the next level of that point, you suddenly go, ‘cool’ and move on to the next question. Whereas, if you can just have that ability to sort of float a little bit in between questions and make them feel like it's a conversation, not an interview, I reckon that's where you start to get those really beautiful little nuggets.

And occasionally just stop talking…?

If you just give them a little bit of space, people will invariably fill it, and it's often that little bit extra that they throw in that was absolute gold. So yeah, that ability to keep your mouth shut at the end of each answer is a golden rule.

Where are we at with short-form video now, and what does that mean for long form?

I often think about it like if you're looking to make a meal, and you jump online to find a recipe, and you're like, ‘cool, I'm gonna make a risotto’. You type in risotto, click the recipe, and you go, great, here we go. And then it starts with, ‘risotto is a peasant dish that was created in …’ And you’re like, no, I don't care about that, I just want to cook it. And then the website continues: ‘Risotto reminds me of the first time I went to Tuscany…’ And you’re like, I don't care. I just want to know how much rice to buy. So now a lot of them actually have that ‘go straight to the recipe’ button, which is what I think the short form video format is. It’s just ‘what you need to know’.

It's not that the storytelling isn't important, it's not that the history of it isn’t important, it just depends on what you want it for at the time. If I'm looking at it the day before, and I know I'm going to have a group of friends around and I want to be able to talk about the meal, that sort of stuff is invaluable. If we've just got home, and I need to have something done really quickly because everyone's hungry, it doesn't make a rat’s arse of difference how arborio rice differs from other rice.

And I feel like that's kind of the split between long form and short form, and I don't think they are mutually exclusive, they just have different purposes and potentially different audiences.

Can we go too short? 

There's a point at which you say, ‘okay, how much can you actually convey in 10 or 20 seconds?’. But I can also remember when we had to suddenly start cutting our videos back from three minutes to two minutes. And you're like, I can't tell that story in two minutes. And then actually, no, I can. And then you get down to a minute, and actually, that's a better piece of communication, because I've had to strip out all the explanation and all that sort of stuff. I've had to just get to the bare bones. And ultimately, that's what the audience wants nine times out of ten. They don't particularly care about the beautiful shot that you crafted here, or the fact that you really like that answer because you asked a really clever question.

What are some tips for keeping video short?

First and foremost, think about what heavy lifting can be done by the post. Assuming you're launching a new project or whatever, you don't need to go through all the detail, you don't need to talk about what the funding agreement was. The video can just be the benefit, and to me, the video is the hook to get people in to find out more. I reckon that's what your focus has to be. 

At a really practical level, you don't need to have people explain who they are and what their job is and where they are on that day. No one needs to know that and if they do need to know it, it's a graphic that says the name and title of the person. So don't waste 10 seconds of your precious video, and certainly don't have that as the first 10 seconds of your video, because everyone will have checked out by the time you get to the interesting part. 

That first line has to be an absolute banger. You actually need that call to action, that big hook, to be at the very, very front. And then hopefully you've hooked enough people in and you can hold their attention for the remainder. 

Does it come down to just respecting your audience and their time and attention?

Yes, and it's probably the hardest part, because you were there for the whole shoot. You heard every question, you heard every answer, you remember what happened, you remember what they were like. But your audience doesn't have any of that, they're not going to know all the little things that went on in the background, and so you can't assume that they know that. So you do need to give them that information, but you also have to remember that they're not there to hear the clever question that you asked. They're not there to see that clever shot that you got. If it doesn't work for them in the video, then it isn't worth having there.

What about getting on the other side of the camera? Do you have tips for featuring in videos yourself?

It's one of the things I recommend doing, if you can, is to get on the other side. It gives you a sense of empathy for what you're making people go through on a daily basis. I'm probably not the ideal person to talk to about challenges with it because I actually really enjoy it. If I could, I'd probably do it a lot more.

What about gear and software? Do you have recommendations?

There is no one size fits all, that’s the first thing. And there are things that we can do with the cameras we have at work that look phenomenal, and I couldn't do that with a phone or with a DSLR. So there is a difference. Does the audience particularly care? I don't know.

Being able to shoot at 4k makes a big difference, because you suddenly have a big tapestry to work with, you're not just stuck with your one shot. If you do need to just crop in on one part of it, you've got four times as much as you've got with 1080, so you can actually make it work as a standalone shot. And you can go from horizontal to a vertical with the one camera. That makes a big difference.

I think you really do need to have a dedicated audio feed. If you're relying on your phone's audio, then you're going to just be doomed, because the further back you get, the more distance there is between you and the person talking, the more interference comes into it. So I think you do need some way of making sure you can isolate that voice. And I think good autofocus is probably the other thing. You need to know that whatever you're shooting with is going to grab onto that face and hold it no matter how much you move around. There's nothing worse than getting a really great comment and then realizing you can't use the shot because it’s out of focus.

If you do a lot of content, then I think people will forgive stuff more. The less content you're putting out, the more pressure there is to make it look really good, at which point the editing makes a big difference.

A lot of younger people are becoming amazing content creators without any formal education or training. What do you look for in a hire?

I think the thing that I would be looking for is someone who can tell a story that engages the audience. So you really do need to know who your audience is, and ideally you want people from that audience making the content, or at least who know that audience really well and know how to reach them.

Finally, what are you most proud of in your work?

I’m a big fan of getting as much out of a video shoot as possible. If we’re going to commit the team to filming, I want to get as much content as possible. So for this project we were creating a video for the launch of an initiative on Gender Equality. We were given complete creative control and we created:

1. A hero video.

2. A cutdown focusing on Angelina.

3. A video about women and girls in STEM.

4. And a video for Vocational Major.

All four videos are really strong, they all have a story, storyteller, and visual element, and they showcase the skills of the team (from photos, to handicam, to editing and graphics).

Quick 6 with Chris Riordan…

1. Strategy or tactics?
I think government spends too much time on strategy and not enough on the actual doing, so I'm actually going to say tactics.

2. Favourite platform?

It's probably Instagram, because my preference is for photos. It also hasn't got the nastiness that a lot of the other platforms have.

3. Least favourite platform?
I got off Facebook a few years ago, so I'll go with that.

4. One public sector account to follow?
I love a lot of the Census stuff. That and the Australian Electoral Commission, I think both of those have had a willingness to push it a little bit and to do things a little bit differently.
 
5. One non-public sector account to follow?
I’m going to go with Kook Slams on Instagram. It is literally just an entire feed of people hurting themselves while surfing, and it should not be as entertaining as it is.

6. Something you wish you’d known earlier in your career?

The work will always be what it is, but you can have a big impact on how much everyone around you is enjoying it. I used to get just so worried about things, and how the work was going, but now I feel I actually enjoy the process a lot more, because I'm more focused on making sure that the people around me are enjoying it.

That’s it for Better #20.

As always, please consider sharing this newsletter with someone you think might get value from it.

Next edition will be all about …

… you’ll have to wait and find out!

See you in two weeks for more tips on how to get a little bit Better 👋