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Sean interviews award-winning filmmaker Adrian Halter on the power of video to help your business stand out.

Learn more about Adrian’s company Halter Media: https://haltermedia.com/

Click above to listen to the 20 min audio.

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Sean Corbett:
To open today. I’d just like to tell you a really quick story that relates to this month’s guest. So I was doing marketing and consulting for a small Alberta company in the past. They had really cutting edge tech in the oil and gas space. They were somewhat known in their industry. They were a small family business, and they really wanted to get their technology out into the wider world, which frankly was going to be better for everybody. So they needed a better way of telling their story and demonstrating it. One of the things we advised them in that consulting session was to make a short video, which to be frank with you, most people totally ignore that advice all the time. Well, they went ahead with the video actually, and I came back a bit later to do more work for them. I was amazed at how well it turned out. We ended up using that video to help them get new clients through social media ads. They used it to reconnect with past clients, past accounts.

Sean Corbett:
Basically, they used it on all their marketing material. And it not only bumped up their prestige, but it went a long way to creating an impact on potential customers that a phone call or email or photo just could not. So the man who produced that video is our guests today. I wanted to get him to chat with you guys about ways you could use video in your business. Say hello to Adrian Halter. He’s an award winning filmmaker based in Regina. His projects have screened around the world. They’ve aired on networks like City TV, AMI, TSN, CBC, and the Discovery Channel. Adrian, thanks for being here.

Adrian Halter:
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me, Sean.

Sean Corbett:
So I was hoping you could start by just telling us a little bit about your background and expertise.

Adrian Halter:
Yeah, for sure. So I’ve been in the video production scene for over a decade now. And when I first started, it was interesting what the space was like, because a lot of people were excited about video, they were excited about using video to help market them. But, YouTube was still relatively new, and there wasn’t as many avenues as there are today, but things were a lot different back then in terms of just access to various equipment and what people’s expectations were. And over the last 10 years, that’s really changed. I think companies really understand the value of video now, more so than they did back then. And if you get the chance to work with the right company, or work with a company who’s fortunate enough to have good consultants advising them, they really have high expectations of the quality.

Adrian Halter:
And the quality only gets you so far. You need to be able to tell a good story. And so over the last 10 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with nonprofits, for profit, international organizations, national Canadian organizations, and really, the heart of everything comes down to the story. And as my experience has grown, my business has grown, we’re very fortunate to have a reputation for telling stories and being able to work with clients to gain their trust in a way that allows us to tell a story that achieves their goals, but also also achieves our goals of trying to be a leading edge, creative video production company.

Sean Corbett:
For sure. And I think that’s a good point to make, is that even for a small business, without a story, to the market, you’re just another commodity, essentially.

Adrian Halter:
Yeah, that’s right. And lots of people… Many businesses have a great story. They’re just… Oftentimes, they’re a little nervous to put themselves out there, but I think that authenticity is what customers really thrive on, what they react to. If you can see a video and get to know the people at the company a little bit before actually meeting them, it already helps to bridge some of those gaps in terms of working together.

Sean Corbett:
Nice. And I know, obviously we talked before, before the program here, and you’re working on documentaries. You’re not just doing commercial work for businesses. But to take that portion of the topic for a second, what do you think is the biggest misconception small businesses have as relates to doing video for their business?

Adrian Halter:
I think the biggest thing is that, because everyone has access to a pretty good camera in their pocket, I think the biggest misconception is you can do a lot of this yourself. I’m sure you can. And I’m sure you can create something that may work for you, but it’s like any other trade or any other service. You want to work with the professionals. And I think when it comes to marketing, you want to get advice or you want to work with people that understand marketing, that understand what platform is working best for you, that understand how it’s going to live on your website and benefit your SEO. But also when it comes to the video side of things, you want to work with a company that understands how to tell a story. I’ve seen lots of videos that, they have a really good beginning, maybe a really good middle, but that’s kind of it, and they just fall flat. And so-

Sean Corbett:
Yeah.

Adrian Halter:
Biased, for sure, on this one, but I think it’s best to work with professionals, especially if you’re going to put a little bit of money into it. If a company has a marketing budget in mind, go out and spend the money, but spend it in the areas that are going to matter for you as a business.

Sean Corbett:
And I think the big thing to highlight here too is that it’s not really… You’re not producing a video. You’re producing a marketing asset that they can redeploy over and over again. So it’s not really a one off thing. It can be reused. The biggest thing that struck me when I saw your work is, and I’m speaking about a very specific client, but I think this applies to a lot of people who would get video done, is if they did it themselves, they would be very self-conscious. But there’s something about… When we looked at the footage, at least of what you did, all the principles in the company were very at ease. They were being themselves. They were…

Sean Corbett:
And again, I don’t know how many hundreds of takes or what kind of coaching you had to do to get that, but they were really being forthright and engaging and explaining things in a way that… Frankly, Adrian, I had spent months trying to talk to these people and get that stuff out of them, and you got it out of them in a day of shooting. So that was really impressive. And I think people overlook that fact that when there’s a pro kind of orchestrating the whole thing, they maybe are even a more engaging version of themselves.

Adrian Halter:
Yeah, no, thank you for that. And it’s something that I’ve noticed all the time, right? You can be standing there having a conversation with someone, and they’re engaging funny, informative as they’re speaking to you. And then as soon as they step in front of a camera, they clam up, right? And that’s a natural human reaction. And so I really pride myself on being able to make a connection with someone that I’ve just met very quickly, explaining the process to them, what we’re looking for. And I think if that’s clear, then people are comfortable doing a second take or a third take, or kind of letting down their guard and just having that conversation. And I mentioned the word authenticity. That’s so key, I think. And you can’t get that if people feel uncomfortable on camera.

Adrian Halter:
So if we’re doing interviews with people, it’s good to put them in their space that they’re used to, right? And I always say, if we’re doing a promotional video for a company, this is the stuff you know, this is the stuff you deal with every single day. We just want you to tell us about that. And I think when we approach it that way, it helps people feel more comfortable and get some of those answers that you mentioned, that you were kind of impressed with when you saw the work that we did.

Sean Corbett:
Yeah, for sure. And that dovetails into my next question actually, which is, I was hoping you could kind of reach into your bag of tricks and tell the listeners maybe a few easy wins somebody could use to just make a few quick improvements to video content that they do for their business.

Adrian Halter:
Well, I think we’re so used to consuming video, whether it’s watching Netflix or Disney plus, or any of the streaming services at home, or YouTube or Insta stories. There’s video all around us, so we’ve become very accustomed to it. And I think where people… They might understand that they need the story part, but they also kind of… Then they kind of miss the mark on all the other things that we’re able to provide, right? Background, that’s huge element of it, right? Where are we filming this? Lighting, for us, plays a really big factor. It doesn’t have to be complicated lighting. It can be simplistic, but that adds to the element of the video. And then audio. Audio’s the biggest key. People are used to watching all sorts of videos online on their phone. And maybe it’s not the nicest, visually, quality of video, but if you can’t understand what people are are saying, that’s a big no-no. So keep your backs to the wind and the microphone is close to your mouth.

Sean Corbett:
Yeah, that’s a great point. And tying into the authenticity thing, whether this is a good thing or not, what people could be aware of is that sometimes the crappy looking videos… The best example I like to use is that old Blair Witch Project movie that was really popular. It was the worst looking thing ever. And people thought, “Oh, that’s so authentic, because it looks like kind of a poorly filmed folks running through the woods.” But what people didn’t realize is the sound mix cost a ton, probably more money than the entire rest of the movie. Because if you don’t have really crisp sound, it’s actually extremely psychologically fatiguing, right? And the last thing that you want, if you’re trying to pitch your company to somebody, is for them to be straining to hear you, and then basically just have that idea in the back of their head, “I kind of hate those people, and I don’t know why.”

Adrian Halter:
Yeah, I think that is key, right? Especially if you’re putting some money into marketing and you’re getting your videos out there, and every time someone sees them, they struggle to hear it, yeah, it does create that connection in the back of their mind that this might not be someone we want to work with. But, we talk about that all the time with audio, because you could pass off any type of visual as a stylistic choice, but there’s no stylistic choice when it comes to not being able to hear what people are saying. And you look at a lot of the people online-

Sean Corbett:
Unless you’re Robert Altman, but that’s just an inside movie joke for people who are in the know.

Adrian Halter:
That’s right. But you look at a lot of content online now, and the people that are doing it that where maybe the video doesn’t look like it’s the highest quality, they’re putting a lot of effort into it, right? You look at some of the, just the cell phone rigs that people have, or they’ll have microphones plugged into their phone, they’ll have all these different things, because they understand the importance of that. And yeah, I can’t stress audio quality enough. That’s just absolutely so important.

Sean Corbett:
Nice. So I was going to ask you… You can talk a little bit… I know you got some big and exciting projects on the go. We can definitely chat about those, but I was hoping you could tell us a story about maybe just going in and how you helped a small business and what you helped them tackle, and how it all turned out with video in the end.

Adrian Halter:
Yeah. I think the process all begins with just that initial conversation as to what the goals are, because every organization has different goals. And if they’ve never done video before, oftentimes, it’s kind of what we just call the about us video. It’s like, okay, we just need to get the word out. Who are you? What do you do? And kind of how do you separate yourself? And so it starts with those initial conversations and just setting expectations, understanding… We’re pretty flexible when it comes to budgets, so we can give you package A, we can give you package B or C. And all those things end up being different, but it allows businesses who’ve never done video before to get into it and to hire someone without having a huge cost right away, because it can be… If you’re looking to work with an experienced professional company, it can be expensive, and just understanding that.

Adrian Halter:
But then, what I always aim to do is… I want a little bit of creative freedom with it, but the only way I think I can have that and do a good job at telling their story is just really understanding the business. And so that takes time. That takes some phone calls, some emails, some conversations. Ideally, we’re doing a site visit before, beforehand, before we film to understand what some of the logistics are, right? If you’re a shop that’s running 18 hours a day, it’s going to be tough to shut down, to film an interview inside that shop, right? So just kind of figuring out all those logistics first. All that work that happens in pre-production, that kind of sets the stage for the production.

Adrian Halter:
And lots of our corporate marketing videos that are around the two minute mark, we’re filming those in a day and a half, two days most. So there’s not actually a lot… It’s a day and a half of work, but it’s all that work that you do beforehand to kind of set the stage. And then the editing process, it can take a little while, but it can be shorter and go a lot smoother if you have that good solid plan in place, you’ve set expectations. And all that comes down to communication. Like anything in business, any industry, the communication between the client and the service provider is key.

Sean Corbett:
Right. So yeah, people have to understand that even if it’s a day shooting, there’s going to be some ramp up time, and obviously then the post time to edit.

Adrian Halter:
Mm-hmm.

Sean Corbett:
So just to slightly go off topic for a sec, you were telling me about a couple interesting things you have on the go that are beyond the corporate video space, and I wanted to give you some time just to chat about them.

Adrian Halter:
Yeah, for sure. So over the years, our corporate [inaudible], we do all sorts of things. We do some live streaming. We do some event work, but the majority of our projects are marketing videos that are interview based. And after doing that for several years, that’s kind of started expanding into some more documentary work. And we actually… Now, we’re about 50/50, I think. So we’re doing about 50% documentary projects and 50% marketing projects, which is really exciting because we really get to sink our teeth into the long form documentary storytelling. But then in between those projects, we get to stay busy and work with a lot of exciting private sector businesses and nonprofits that are doing things that not only keep us sharp with our skills, but also kind of provide a bit of reprieve from the long form projects, because the short form projects, they are what they are. They’re short. They come and go a little bit quicker. But yeah, our most current documentary project is a documentary series called Flat Out Food, and that is a Saskatchewan based documentary series that…

Adrian Halter:
Each episode explores one ingredient from the field to the plate. So we’re meeting with farmers and producers and food artisans and chefs, and kind of exploring the food story of Saskatchewan and highlighting a lot of the producers here. We kind of get overlooked as a province when it comes to the food scene. I think people expect to hear stories about wheat and barley and canola here, but there’s a lot of other really interesting food stories, and we’re really happy to be able to share that in our series. And we’ve done two seasons, and gearing up for filming a third season this summer. So it’s an exciting project that I’m really proud of. And yeah, it’s nice to highlight some really interesting people in our province.

Sean Corbett:
That’s awesome. And where can folks check that out?

Adrian Halter:
That’s available on City TV. Yeah.

Sean Corbett:
And then is there a way to check out some clips or something via your website?

Adrian Halter:
Yeah, we have some of the trailers and some other clips on our website and on our social media channel. So yeah, if you wanted to learn more about Flat Out Food, you can definitely go to haltermedia.com or check out the Facebook page for Flat Out Food Series as well.

Sean Corbett:
Okay. That’s great. I’ll put a link in the show description too. So let’s say you and I have made a compelling case to some listeners and they understand that they could use video in their business and the impact that it would have. What’s the process like to get in touch with you and start, and what’s the best way to do that?

Adrian Halter:
Yeah. I think if someone’s looking to work with us… Obviously we’re based in Regina, Saskatchewan, but we work with clients not quite across Canada, but we do work in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario as well. And the first step is just go to our website, haltermedia.com, and there’s a contact form on that page, but you get also get a little taste of some of the projects we’re doing. And I always tell clients… When they’re initially looking, we get a lot of replies to our question, “What’s your budget?” The reply we often get is, “We don’t have one.” And I always think it’s good to just have a ballpark number in your mind. And maybe they do and they’re just not sharing it. The next step is finding some videos, not just one. I think it’s good to have two or three video examples of things that you really like and what you want your video to kind of emulate.

Adrian Halter:
It’s one thing… I don’t know if you remember the first old spice commercial where the guy’s on the horse and everything’s changing in the backdrops behind him. That was a very big set and very expensive project, but we had a client send that and like, “We want to do something like this.” And it’s like, “Well, the budget to do. That’s going to be quite large. Do you have anything else that you liked?” And so that’s why I say you should always have a few video examples of things that you like that you might want to incorporate into your project. And yeah, I guess that’s a long winded way of saying go to our website.

Sean Corbett:
No, that’s great. Well, last word goes to you, Adrian. Any final thoughts on video for marketing or video for small businesses?

Adrian Halter:
Obviously, I’ve made my living doing this. I think video’s incredibly important, but I think it’s important because ultimately, it’s the easiest way for people to see your face and hear your voice, and see the faces and hear the voices of your staff. And I think that’s just so crucial to making connections. As our world continually moves more digital, people always fall back on recognizing people’s faces and voices. So I think that’s the easiest way for people to get their story out there.

Sean Corbett:
Super powerful. Yep. Adrian, I really appreciate your time. Thanks for being here today.

Adrian Halter:
Yeah. Thanks so much for having me, Sean.

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