PUT THE AUDIENCE FIRST. COLLABORATION IS AWESOME
Working together is more productive, more surprising and more fun. But it also brings some challenges, especially when we’ve passed the rough cut and we need to make final choices. ‘We’ being - who, exactly?
Our clients hire us as expert film-makers. But when it comes to the end product, they need the final say. After all, it’s their brand on the line. So if we’re pretty sure on the structure we need, or the music, or the timing of a cut, but the client disagrees - how do we move past that creative difference productively?
Because if we just say ‘yes’, against our own judgement, we’re not giving the client real value for money. But if we dig our heels in and start moaning about creative principles - well, we’re here to tell their story, not prove we’re the next Orson Welles. Not least, because the person we’re dealing with needs to justify this outcome internally, and not just in creative terms.
In our experience, the answer is to build our conversation not around our own tastes - but on the audience. And to do that from the start to the end of the process
As the client, you know your audience better than anyone. You know who they are, what matters to them and how they behave. You know what you want them to take from all of this. And you’ve got the evidence to back it all up.
As filmmakers, we know how to tell your audience a story. We know how to move them, surprise them and make them care. We understand how the form of our storytelling shapes the way they understand it and feel about it. And we’ve got the language to describe this clearly, without making it sound like witchcraft.
Bring these assets together, and you’ve got the basis of a really powerful collaboration - because the final decision doesn’t rest on individual preferences, but on everyone asking themselves, is this telling the people we want to talk to the story we want them to hear?
And as the client, it can also help you keep focus. We understand what it’s like when the pressure starts coming from other departments - to squeeze in more messages, satisfy other people’s agendas or just prove value for money. Talking from the audience’s point of view gives you a robust platform to advocate for the vision you’ve worked to develop and deliver.
We’ve thought a lot about this at CASA, because it’s crucial to how we work.
There are companies who want to run your whole comms operation for you. There are others who want to just hand you a film and let you figure out the rest. We try to strike a balance. We like long-term relationships, ongoing conversations, random phone calls about that question that’s bothering you at 3:55PM (not AM, thanks). But we also want to crack on and make you a brilliant piece of content.
To do that, we think really hard with you about your brand and audience. We study your previous work, in serious detail. We work closely with you to set goals and a plan to meet them. And then we set years of experience and filmmaking skill to work, to bring your story to life.