What Kind of Video Do You Actually Need?
Different Types of Video Explained
One of the most common inquiries we get starts something like this: “We need a video. How much does that cost?”
And my first question is usually: "What kind of video?"
That's when things sometimes get a little quiet. That's completely understandable. If you don't make videos for a living, you probably don't spend much time thinking about the differences between an interview video, an explainer, a testimonial or simple b-roll. You just know you need a video. So let's start there.
Before worrying about cameras, locations, scripts or how long the finished video should be, ask yourself one question: "What do you need this video to do?"
The answer will usually point us toward the kind of video you actually need.
“I need people to understand what we do.”
You're probably looking for an explainer video.
Explainers are useful when your business, organization, service or program takes more than a sentence to understand.
These can take several forms. You might speak directly to the camera using a teleprompter. We might build the story around an interview. We might combine narration with footage showing what you do.
The important part isn't the format. It's the job.
Someone starts the video not quite understanding something and finishes it understanding it better.
“I need people to trust us.”
Consider a testimonial video.
Instead of you telling everyone how wonderful you are, we let your clients, customers or community members talk about their experience.
A good testimonial usually isn't someone staring into a camera saying, “QuickFlip Media is great. Five stars.”
We interview the person and get them talking naturally about the problem they had, their experience and what changed as a result. Then we build the story from what they actually said. Testimonials work particularly well on websites, social media, sales pages and anywhere someone may be deciding whether they trust you enough to take the next step.
“I need to tell our story.”
This may be a company profile or brand story. This is where we get into who you are, why you exist, what you do and what makes the organization what it is.
These videos tend to be more story-driven. They might include interviews with founders, employees or customers along with b-roll showing the organization at work.
They're particularly useful for About pages, presentations, recruiting, fundraising and introducing an organization to people who don't already know it.
“I need to show people how something works.”
You're probably looking for a demonstration or how-to video.
Show the process. That might mean demonstrating a product, walking someone through a service, explaining a procedure or showing customers what they can expect when they arrive. These videos can save your staff from answering the same question 400 times. Which is a perfectly good reason to make one.
“I need footage we can use for lots of things.”
Now we're talking about b-roll. B-roll isn't necessarily a finished video. It's a library of professionally shot footage showing your people, your space, your products, your work and whatever else visually represents your organization.
That footage can then be used across multiple projects. We might use it behind an interview. Your marketing team might use it in social videos. It can go into presentations, website backgrounds, ads or future videos.
For organizations producing content regularly, building a good b-roll library can be one of the most useful investments you make.
“I need content for social media.”
You may actually need short-form video content, and probably more than one video.
This is where it's especially important not to think of every piece of video as an individual production. Sometimes it makes much more sense to plan one recording session and create several pieces of content from it. We might record a series of short educational videos, FAQs, tips or commentary in one session and then edit those into individual pieces you can release over time.
One shoot. A whole lot of content.
Pro Tip: You can book a half-day in our studio and utilize all of our equipment for your social media content day.
“We have an event and want to capture it.”
This one needs another question: "What do you want to do with it afterward?"
Event video can mean very different things.
You might want a short highlight video for social media that captures the energy of the event.
You might want full recordings of speakers and presentations that you can use to further promote the event for this year and next.
You might want interviews with attendees as proof of performance.
You might want footage that can be turned into social content throughout the year.
Or you might want all of those things.
The important part is figuring that out before the event because it changes how we need to shoot it.
“I just need someone to talk to the camera.”
Great. Sometimes video really can be that simple.
A direct-to-camera video can be a great option for announcements, educational content, leadership messages, FAQs and social media.
You might use a teleprompter. You might work from talking points. You might just know what you want to say. Not every video needs to become a miniature documentary. Sometimes the simplest format is the right one.
“Actually...we need several of these.”
That's normal.
Most businesses don't need one kind of video. You might need an explainer for your homepage, testimonials for your sales process, b-roll for your marketing team and short videos for social media.
That doesn't necessarily mean four completely separate productions. This is where planning matters.
If we know everything you need before we start shooting, we can often capture material for several different uses during the same production.
That's a much better conversation than finishing one video and realizing, “Oh. We should have gotten that while you were here.”
How quickly do you need it?
There's one more question we need to ask before deciding what kind of production makes sense: When do you need the finished video? Turnaround time matters.
A simple direct-to-camera video might be ready relatively quickly. A company profile built from multiple interviews, b-roll, graphics and music is a very different editing job.
As a general planning guide, here are reasonable turnaround ranges for common projects:
Direct-to-camera videos: about 3–5 business days
Short-form social videos: about 3–7 business days, depending on how many we're producing
B-roll footage: about 3–5 business days if we're simply organizing and delivering the footage
Simple demonstrations or how-to videos: about 5–7 business days
Testimonial videos: about 7–10 business days
Explainer videos: about 1–2 weeks
Event highlight videos: about 1–2 weeks
Full event recordings: about 1–2 weeks, depending on the number and length of sessions
Company profiles and brand stories: about 2–3 weeks
Those aren't hard rules. A 60-second explainer with one speaker is very different from a three-minute explainer involving multiple locations, interviews, graphics and animation.
Revisions matter too. If several people within your organization need to approve the video, build that time into your schedule.
And if you have a firm deadline, tell us at the beginning.
If the video is for an event happening three weeks from now, we need to know that before we start planning the production, not after the first edit is delivered.
Sometimes faster turnaround is possible. But faster usually means we need to simplify the production, rearrange our editing schedule or treat the project as a rush job.
The earlier we know, the more options we have.
Start with the problem, not the video
You don't need to know all the production terminology before you call us. You don't even need to know exactly what the finished video should look like. But it helps tremendously if you can tell us what problem you're trying to solve.
Who needs to see it?
What do they need to understand, feel or do afterward?
Where are you planning to use it?
When do you need it?
And how long do you want this content to remain useful?
Give us those answers and we can start figuring out the format. Because “we need a video” isn't really a video idea yet. It's the beginning of a conversation.
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