Here is one of my latest video scribe animations for Wake2o, an intermediary in hedge fund secondaries. Wake2o enables investors to buy and sell interests of hedge fund units and this video scribe animation tells the story of its continuing class product launch on it’s Wake-X platform. You can also view my video scribe animation here on the Wake2o website main page.
This was a great video scribe animation to work on as I had to bring out the essence of the story using the right combination of pictures and words and all the time keep the visual focus on the important financial messages being talked about.
I recently created a video scribe animation for the National Union of Workers (NUW) on one of the most topical issues in Australia: job security and the casualisation of the workforce. According to the NUW, ‘it used to be that when you got a job, it was a job you could count on. Over the last 30 years, that’s been changing. More and more workers feel insecure in their job. The NUW’s campaign aims to reverse this trend’. The NUW speech gave me the opportunity to visualise and video scribe some really interesting thought leadership areas. For more information, go to the Jobs You Can Count On website.
Holding the highest wine qualification, John Downes is one of only 300 Masters of Wine in the world. With 20 years experience as a wine entertainer, broadcaster and journalist, this short video scribe animation I created tells you more about his mission to make wine simple and easy to enjoy. Yes, if you haven’t guessed it or made the connection yet, this was a Father & Son video scribing production! Lots of fun to create.
Video scribing tells the Milestones Early Learning Centre story from four points of view
This is one of my video scribing animations for Milestones Early Learning Centre, a provider of high quality early childhood education for children between 8 weeks and 5 years.
The video scribe animation on their website shares the Milestones story and value proposition through the eyes of four different people who are involved with the centre on a daily basis: the founder, a child, a parent and a teacher.
The Milestones team turned to video scribing as a simple, engaging and visual way to introduce the centre and the premium services that it provides for early childhood education, learning and school readiness.
The video scribing animation is being showcased on its website, in information packs and as a way of introducing the centre’s story in key business and stakeholder presentations.
Leading regional business accountancy firm uses visual communications to tell its story
Duncan Plante & Company is a leading and well-established business accountant and taxation consultant based in Tamworth NSW who recently turned to visual communications to engage clients and employees.
“Guy Downes has brought a new perspective to our business. His visual communication work has not only engaged our team, it has also provided our clients with a much clearer understanding of our role and of our commitment to them. Guy’s work has really let us ’see’ and focus on our business priorities”.
Duncan Plante, Partner & Founder, Duncan Plante & Company
Opportunity:
Duncan Plante & Company wanted to shine the light on how they deliver value to their clients thanks to their higher quality service and quality assured work. At the same time, they were also looking for ways to keep employees actively engaged in the company strategy, their mission, the firm’s best practices and where they were headed together as an organisation.
Insight:
People process visuals 60,000 times faster than text (3M)
Challenge:
Set against the backdrop of a fast-paced work environment for employees and a client base dealing with increasing levels of information during their working day, the challenge was to find effective communication techniques that could quickly engage, educate, align (and entertain) employees as well as clients.
Solution:
With many people’s preference for visual learning, visual communication was at the heart of a layered campaign to gradually build visual assets that could overcome the challenges and issues the company faced.
What did we do? The levels of the layered campaign were as follows:
1. Company strategy workshop: using graphic facilitation techniques and posters, we drew out the company thinking on current direction, successes, challenges and key priorities for the future.
Using graphic facilitation posters for the team report back
2. Messaging session: using the strategy workshop as springboard, we defined the language that quickly and easily describes the company, how it is different and how it benefits its customers (think: ‘Elevator pitch’)
3. Defining the company story: combining ideas, insights and information gathered from the strategy workshop and messaging session, we developed a unique story on ‘why we (Duncan Plante & Co) exist, what we do and how we do it’ to help people understand the value the firm brings and to give the team a unique way to remember and retell it.
4. Company Journey Map: we used the most important elements from the workshop, messaging and company story as the foundation for developing a Journey Map, which uses a themed picture (full of visual language, metaphors and images) to highlight the direction, priorities, best practice, values and vision of the company in a quick, engaging and compelling manner.
Duncan Plante & Co Journey Map: engage, inform and align using a picture
5. Refreshing the company logo and website: with all the momentum and information from phases 1-4, there was an opportunity to renew the company website and refresh the company logo so that it truly reflected the leading edge and dynamic work the company was doing and the strides the team was making. We engaged Alison Quodling, graphic designer, to rework the logo and visual identity and we brought in Acclipse to build an eye-catching, professional and effective website.
The new home page with refreshed logo and design
6. Video scribing – bringing to life the Duncan Plante & Co story using animation: Video scribing is the art of translating audio content, such as a speech or presentation, into a hand drawn video animation. In this case, we wrote, recorded and cartooned a speech by Duncan Plante about Duncan Plante & Co. All in all, the icing on the visual communication cake! To watch the video, go to the company homepage.
Recording the audio for the video scribe animation
Filming the video scribe animation - lights, camera, draw!
The Nous Group’s mantra is bold ideas, engaging people and influential and enduring solutions. They recently approached me to help deliver on this mantra by creating a video scribing animation for one of their key clients.
Video scribing is the art of translating audio content, such as a speech or presentation, into a hand drawn video animation. In this case, I visually translated and interpreted a 6 minute speech from one of their client’s most senior executives into a cartoon.
Lights, camera, draw! Video scribing in action
Working closely with The Nous Group and a film director/editor, we spent a couple of days pulling this together. The animation is drawn by hand (my role), filmed and then the film is edited and sped up to match the pace of the audio. The final video is a great way of sharing thought leadership content online or at an event or conference.
The final video was recently shown at the client’s strategy and planning conference to help educate and inform employees about a new approach the company would be taking. The feedback was very positive with many comments about how this fresh, creative and compelling medium was a great way to tell a story or share a crucial company message. The original cartoon poster (all 5-6 metres of it) was also on display at the conference, acting as a communication tool and a unique piece of corporate artwork.
(As the content is internal, the video is still under wraps but when I can show it, I will definitely post it up).
My storyboard frames: each A4 page represents one paragraph of the speech
Pre-filming preparations: discussion over coffee
Editing the filmed cartoon to match the speed of the speech audio
The completed video scribe cartoon (approx 5-6m): a good day's work and a lot of fun.
Conference delegates watch the finished article: my hand is in shot!
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