You’ve grown up with it. You see it everyday. And it still catches your eye every time. Film is a very powerful communication medium. Yet many people overlook its potential and it’s surprising how little it’s used in today’s businesses.

Wired to Watch
Any teacher will tell you that if you pop in a video in an unruly class, you’ll immediately have the students’ undivided attention. We’re wired to watch film. The human eye instinctually moves to bright and moving objects. Combine that with sound and music and you’ve got a communication medium that’s much more appealing than print, which is static and easily trashed.

Film is also more effective for retaining information. According to learning studies, film can be up to four times more effective than speech and print.^[1] That means it's ideal for any situation that involves influencing others. Some unconventional ideas are online product showcases, in-store video displays, recruitment promos, pitch videos, keynote presentations, or company-wide memos to employees. Whether you’re marketing, teaching, entertaining, or inspiring, film should be a key tool for doing your job better.

Storytelling Isn’t Just for Bedtime
However, you can’t hold an audience’s attention with just light, motion, and sound. Film is a time-based medium, which means that one must dedicate a fixed amount of time to view it in its entirety. How do you ensure that someone will pay attention to the whole thing?

Once you’ve grabbed their attention, you must hold it through good storytelling. Now, that doesn’t mean you always have to tell a story. It means that you must know how to pique interest and cause the viewer to want to watch the film through until the end.

In one word, that can be described as “tension.” This can come in many forms, but in the most basic sense, it is this: Someone wants something very badly and is having a hard time getting it. That could be a character in the film or that could be your viewer. For non-fiction films and advertising, it will most likely be the latter.

To connect with the audience, you must allow them to become invested in the problem and want a solution. That’s tension. A good story, whether it’s a movie or a 30-second commercial, will do this effectively.

"With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility"
But from the wise words of Spiderman’s uncle, we know that something as powerful as film won’t be easy to understand and control. In the wrong hands, it can do a great deal of damage—ask anyone who has sat through a boring film or a stale presentation. That’s one of the hesitations that most people have with implementing film in their work: Will it be worth the time and trouble?

Films are not easy to make, despite what your teenage kid may say. Anyone can stick a bunch of video clips together, especially with the technology these days, but not everyone knows how to use film in a manner that will impact. In other words, few people know how to harness the Power of Film. If you know the potential of film and how much energy it takes to make it good, you want it done right.

The Pathlight Advantage
Pathlight understands this medium inside and out. We’re trained storytellers, not just makers of video. Many production companies can make something flashy and pretty but few truly understand how to make compelling content. While people are easily swayed by the superficial, you know that you want to communicate more than just image. Pathlight is a production partner that understands that.