(Almost) everyone loves the movies.
Many experts predicted that the dawn of the internet age would bring the movie business to a quick and painful death. But we are actually seeing that the internet has had the opposite effect on the film & video industry as a whole. The distribution model may continue to shift year to year (even day to day it seems), and the heavy hitters continue to battle for position at the top of the pile, but in general the movie industry continues to flourish with much promise of life-enriching entertainment for years to come.
What makes movies so lovable through the years? Why do posters of 30-year-old films still adorn teenage bedroom walls? Why do your friends’ mouths drop in disbelief when you announce you’ve never seen __insert_their_favorite_black_&_white_film_here_?
These questions are at the heart of our lifelong quest here at Premio. We don’t pretend like we know THE ONLY answers to them, but we are spending our lives seeking them out, and we believe that what we’ve identified so far bring powerful value to our clients.
Here are 5 reasons that our well-crafted films and videos are highly valuable to our clients:
1.) Films Inspire. A good film makes us experience something which is becoming more and more rare in the world…empathy. A great film makes us feel so much empathy that we can’t help but allow ourselves to be affected, even changed by the journey it has led us through. With the right mixture of discipline and craft, a film can inspire enough empathy for its audiences to do just about anything, from joining a movement to writing a check. People do amazing things when they are inspired.
2.) Films are Shared Experiences. While every viewer certainly brings their unique perspective into the movie-watching experience, the experience itself is shared with many others (sometimes thousands of others). This shared experience is also further-sharable by the audience themselves, giving our clients a launching point for a conversation to which they need not be the only contributor. By the way…viewing the film is not the only phase of a film which is a shared experience. The process of producing the film is also a shared effort…one which yields high dividends when we get the message (and delivery of that message) just right.
3.) Films Educate. There’s a reason that “walking a mile in someone’s shoes” makes a difference in how we treat them. When we learn about the realities of someone else’s circumstances, when we broaden our understanding of the world and the people in it, we open ourselves up to new possibilities, new ways of living. We consider an alternative that we may not have considered before. We advocate. We volunteer. We buy. We donate. But if we are unaware or ignorant of the situation at hand, we are far more likely to remain at a distance, uninvolved.
4.) Truth Resonates. The truth is sometimes too difficult to handle (hat-tip to Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter of A Few Good Men). A good film offers the space, characters, and empathy-building tools for the truth to be heard and even considered. At Premio we believe that even the hardest of human hearts is hungry for truth. We seek to craft films which claim it boldly and gently.
5.) Good Films and Videos Reach Mass Audiences. If a film is only enjoyed by a select few, something is wrong. The resources needed to produce it demand that it be taken in by mass numbers, and the craft with which it is made needs to match. The idea needs to have mass appeal. The approach needs to be inviting, not alienating. And the test of success is whether people are engaging with it.
The need for good communication isn’t going away…and it never will. Movies aren’t going away either…at least not the good ones.
