Do you prioritise authenticity?
When we read this BBC article about a Yorkshire Water ad which was criticised for using stock footage of the rolling hills of Herefordshire and images taken in a Russian bar, our immediate thought was that some poor editor has just gone from the joy of seeing their latest work go live, to feeling like shit and having their judgement questioned...
You may agree that this comes about due to a “laissez-faire, almost casual indifference” from the companies these are being produced for, and to a certain degree that might be fair, but we think it’s worth talking about how something like this might come about.
To be clear, we’ve not actually seen the video in question, but we think the following still stands regardless.
💰Budget
Like it or not, money is a major factor in producing films. If a company is producing a film to communicate their vision they’ll likely have all kinds of scenes they want to include to get across the scale of their service, the team, and that inspiring feeling they’re often looking for. But, does it make financial sense to send multiple crew to every single one of these locations, wait days for the perfect weather and hire actors to film in a bar that is indeed in the correct location? Probably not. If they did I think it’s fair to assume their customers would instead be fuming that they should’ve spent the money fixing burst water pipes…
🎥 Stock Footage
This is a murky world. There is much nicer stuff out there than there used to be, covering more varied locations too. But, the reality is when tasked with finding the perfect shot that has the right look, duration, context etc… the options can be limited. Again, unless you want to pay someone for a week of research to find one shot, you might find that compromises are made. These kind of shots do sometimes give an indication, either visually or in the description, of where they are filmed, but often you have no idea and go with something that just ‘feels’ right. With deadline pressures, and a creative inclination to go with what looks best, issues may start to arise.
🗣️ Talk about authenticity
The problem is that this is often not talked about in the production process. At the time it may seem like a pretty inconsequential decision, but when it gets called out it can be damaging.
It comes down to a conversation about authenticity. Would you rather paint a grand, but perhaps unrealistic and inaccurate, picture to your customers. Or would you rather prioritise authenticity? If it’s the latter you need to either set more realistic expectations of what your budget might get you, or even better allow more time for your creative team to develop an idea that is real and uses creativity to take your budget as far as it can possibly go.
I think this is particularly pertinent given the discussions around greenwashing. The risks of being inauthentic are becoming greater, so it’s time to start having proper discussions about this early in the process, and hold off from rushing into producing content that is going to come back to bite you when you’re not looking.
Get in touch if you want to discuss how best to approach your next video.
(Just for clarity, the image for this post is from one of our shoots, in a field near our office. How very authentic!)
