Behind the scenes of a Honda spot

Not all EPKs or Behind the Scenes videos are done for films. They are also done by corporations to highlight a new ad campaign or to present an inside look at the making of a unique spot.

I found one blog article by Brad Schwarzenbach titled, “A Making-Of Video that Doesn’t Quite Make It” about the making of the behind the scenes of the Honda spot “Let it Shine” for the Insight Hybrid. Which brings to mind a quote from Samuel Smiles, a Scottish author who said “We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success.”

I found this article interesting because it described how even a well planned behind the scenes can miss the target audience. This is even more important when doing a film for a brand than for a film. Mr. Schwarzenbach states “It’s the right idea but a terrible execution. It doesn’t try to engage the Vimeo audience and focuses too much on marketing lingo.” This BTS should take a page out of the filmmakers’ handbook. The key to the story is to get the viewer involved. Show the drama, the humor, the unguarded look into the subject’s real personality. The blog goes on to state, “Outtakes! That’s what people want to see: people acting like people….Was there some friction on the set? Did things not work as planned? These are the questions an effective behind-the-scenes video answers.”

As opposed to most behind the scenes produced for film, when producing EPKs for corporate clients, there is always an attempt to market, to influence, to motivate the viewer to act. But there are different ways to present the material depending on the venue. The Honda video did convey a good message, but may have chosen the wrong channel from which to deliver it.

I started with one quote, so to end with another. “Do not learn from your mistakes, learn from the mistakes of others so that you do not make any.” Sean Karsten

The most exciting part of producing EPKs for me is getting the stories that occur Behind the Scenes of film and music. Sometimes people interchange the terms Behind the Scenes and EPK, but actually the BTS and the “Making of” is just one part of the kit. The Electronic Press Kit for a film can also contain the trailer, video clips of scenes from the film, interviews with key cast and crew, a synopsis of the film, a list of credits and publicity contact info.

More and more EPKs are going online. Independent filmmakers and recording artist are using social networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook and MySpace to promote themselves. This not only cuts down costs such as DVD production and duplication, but it also provides a “green” method of distribution. Provided of course that they used “recycled bits”.

It is also important that the EPKs are produced, shot and edited by skilled personnel. In some cases, the film producer or director will assign the job of shooting the behind the scenes to a production assistant or an intern on the set who has little or no knowledge of how a video camera works or who don’t understand how to find and construct a story.

This blog will share not only my experiences as an EPK Producer, but also include insight from other professionals who are producing, shooting, editing and appearing in EPKs.

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