A "Gleeful" Training Video

Few television shows have had as loyal a following in recent years as Glee, the program that follows the group of misfits in a high school glee club. Well-known television shows often wind up being parodied in corporate training videos where, it’s hoped, the familiar format will hook viewers and keep them engaged. But parodying a show like Glee, which is best known for its rousing musical numbers, is a particular challenge—can a corporate video combine entertaining musical numbers with effective training? Cohn Creative Group recently faced this challenge when a client asked us to make a video about their process for winning new work. The client was looking for something beyond the typical (and dull) conference room back and forth dialogue. We suggested a Glee parody, and the fun began.

With our deep knowledge of the client’s industry and business practices, we were able to quickly understand the new sales process. We then worked closely with a composer and lyricist, who translated our knowledge into catchy and clever songs (fortunately, “process” rhymes with words like “confess”). We cast a group of actors with long experience in musicals, including some who are currently performing in the most popular Broadway shows. The resulting video hit the mark because it clearly explained the client’s process while simultaneously entertaining viewers. Audiences that included some of the most senior client executives gave our songs rave reviews and hailed the training as highly effective. So if you’re looking for a unique and engaging way to train a highly demanding corporate audience, give us a call. We’ll give you some songs that will make your whole company sing.

Location, Location, Location

What’s true in real estate is sometimes just as true in video: location matters. Many corporate videos take place in offices, and for these videos, one office building is usually just as good as another. But occasionally, a video calls for a unique location, and in those cases, finding the right space is critical.

One of our recent productions in Manhattan called for a high-end restaurant. To find the right place, we hired a location manager. These professionals, who work on feature films more often than on corporate videos, are remarkable for their encyclopedic knowledge of every residence, restaurant, school, and hospital in the cities where they work.

Location managers are experienced at negotiating with home and business owners for permission to shoot in their spaces. In particular, a good location manager can help determine a fair location fee – the amount you’ll pay the owner for the right to shoot in their space.

For our production, the location manager found a perfect restaurant, ideal for our upscale, professional characters. This film-friendly location had actually been used the week earlier for an Episode of “30 Rock.” The fee to shoot for a day: $1,250

Other recent projects have taken us to equally distinct locations, such as a hospital maternity ward ($2,500 for a half-day); the New York Public Library (a $3,000 charitable donation); New York’s Time Square (free as long as you have liability insurance for a permit); and the Dragon Roller Coaster at Rye Playland ($1,300).

Be prepared for the unexpected: On the day of our shoot at Playland (featured in the movie “Big”), the historic wooden roller-coaster cars needed emergency repairs. So we did what any good location manager would do: We got out and pushed.

Lights! Camera! Still Photography?

The dramatic video is a staple of corporate training, but adapting it for use in e-learning courses has proven to be difficult. Many companies simply don’t have the bandwith to host video vignettes on their Intranets when thousands of users may be trying to watch at the same time. So how do you retain the benefits of dramatic video without actually using video?

Having faced this question a number of times, we've come up with an answer: use still photos. Producing dramatic scenarios with stills presents a few challenges, but done well, it can be just as effective as video.

Perhaps the most important element in making stills work is to hire the right photographer. A stills photographer who specializes in portrait style shooting won’t understand how a dramatic scene is put together. It’s much better to hire someone with experience in shooting scenes on video and let that person adapt to still photography.

It’s also good to hire actors who are used to performing in dramatic scenes rather than models who usually just pose for photos. You’ll want to have the actors perform the scene multiple times just as you would if you were shooting on video. You can also save time and money by having the actors record their lines on the same day you shoot the stills.

Post-production is similar to video, although we do our editing in Flash rather than a program like Final Cut Pro. And in fact, it’s possible to give some scenes a feeling of pace and movement with quick cutting and the right music. The resulting dramatic scenes can help spice up even the most dry, instructional e-learning courses. So when your e-Learning course calls for action, you might find yourself telling everyone to hold still.

Lost in Translation?

An enduring business legend tells the story of what happened when Pepsi brought its “Come Alive With Pepsi” campaign to China in the mid 1960s. Sales dropped precipitously, it is said, because the slogan was mistranslated as “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Dead.” Though the truth of this tale has never been substantiated, it does illustrate the risks that companies face when they translate their media for international consumption.

Recently, PepsiCo engaged Cohn Creative Group to translate a security awareness video that we had previously produced for them into seven languages: Arabic, French, Hindi, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. There are three ways to approach a translation project like this. Subtitling is the least expensive. UN-style dubbing, so named because it’s how it’s done at the United Nations, features the original program audio followed a moment later by a voice translation. Then there’s lip sync dubbing, in which the dubbing is matched to the timing of the original program.

For the PepsiCo video, lip sync dubbing was the clear choice. Much of the humorous impact of the program depends on nuance and tone of voice, and to maintain this feel, it was essential to have actors deliver the translated lines in a similar style and with the same timing. Our experienced translators understood that a word for word translation doesn’t work for lip sync dubbing. Because it’s essential to match the original timing, a translation that captures the meaning of the script in the required time is what’s needed. And of course, our translators always looked out for possible problems like “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Dead.”

With the translation completed, our production team identified voice talents who could speak the necessary languages. These skilled professionals are experts at saying their lines in the designated time while also giving them the feel needed to convey the humor of the video. The result was seven translations that helped PepsiCo’s international audiences truly hear the important security message.

So the next time you need to adapt a project for international distribution, don’t get lost in translation. Give Cohn Creative Group a call. We promise we won’t bother your ancestors.

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