Internal video: involving your employees, why and how | Responsive

When you plan to involve collaborators to carry out a project, embody an idea — in the form of an interview, a report, a web series... — it is preferable to involve them in the script writing phase. How do you go about it? At what level?

Often, The collaborators discover the text a few days before shooting. It can then be difficult for them to appropriate it and to wear it effectively.

On the other hand, if you involve collaborators prior to filming, they will feel more concerned. This can take various forms, more or less engaging. For example, you can choose to involve them in the creative process of the video, whether it's the editorial part, or the creation of illustrations, the distribution of interventions, or simply interview them to gather material on the subject...

Involve employees in the creative process

The Reactive Production agency recently carried out this work with one of their customers. These were short, three-minute videos with three speakers per video. The teams aimed for a dynamic rendering on a colored background with motion design to support the words. The collaborators wrote their text themselves. It was redesigned by the agency that then organized a working session on each video, with the collaborators concerned and an editor. The aim: to offer them ideas for live illustrations, and refine them together. The speakers really liked this exercise and even got into the game of being a force of proposals. The distribution of texts for dynamic rendering was also decided during this workshop. It was also an opportunity to prepare for the shooting informally (how to read the teleprompter, how to dress with a green background...) so that everyone arrives relaxed on D-Day.

Having been involved in the creative process early on also created expectations among employees who were eager to see the results of their work.

Create moments of informal exchanges

Beyond the benefit for the targeted project, which will undoubtedly be better embodied by involved employees, engaging employees in the creative process also has a team building dimension. The exercise is different from their respective profession and offers an almost recreational dimension. Everyone comes up with ideas, improvises as an editor for a day. In any case, it is a moment of exchanges that are both constructive and pleasant. It is also a plus for the quality of the program.

In the context of a fiction in the form of a web series, for example, collaborators can intervene at the scenario stage to validate the credibility of this or that situation. They can think of the detail that makes the scene sound real, the anecdote that makes viewers say to themselves when they watch “It's true that this is happening”, and that will make the program meet its audience by creating a real complicity.

Allow employees to have experiences that are different from their usual tasks

As has been said, being involved in the creative process can be done at different levels, but also at different times. In the case of a fictional web series, while it is wise to have the main role played by a professional actor, it is also smart (and economical) to use the collaborators in their own role for the rest of the cast. Again, The shooting experience is a fun moment, which differs from the rest of the day, with a real team building dimension. If they played in the web series, employees will be more likely to talk about it around them (thus becoming a real communication relay in addition to the system set up by internal communication). Everyone will also be eager to see the result, to see the colleagues, ensuring both good word-of-mouth and a high viewing rate at the start.

For your internal meetings, within a team, which does not therefore affect the company's image, you can go even further and offer employees to make their videos themselves. Quite basic editing software is now available to do simple, but effective things to change PowerPoint during a presentation. Of course, in this case, the employee speaks in his own name, not in the name of the company or brand, because in general the quality standard is not the same as a production managed by the communication department and its partners. Creating a sense of belonging and cohesion is one of the main objectives of internal communication. Involving employees in the video creative process seems to be a good way to achieve this.

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