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What You’ll Learn
With her background as a television news journalist, Melissa Lanzourakis has a strong understanding of how to shoot good video. As online video trends continue to evolve, she shares new tips for shooting better video.
Guest Speaker
Melissa LanzourakisShow Notes
Transcripts have been lightly edited for clarity and readability.
Intro: A production of Pioneer Utility Resources. StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers.
Andy Johns: What are some things you can do to shoot better video? That’s what we’ll be talking about on this episode of The StoryConnect Podcast. My name is Andy Johns, your host with Pioneer, and I’m joined once again on this episode by Melissa Lanzourakis, who is the marketing manager at Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company. Melissa, thanks for joining me.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Absolutely, Andy. Thanks for having me.
Andy Johns: This is the second time on the podcast that we’ve had you on, maybe the third time.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Third.
Andy Johns: So I think you are officially a friend of the pod, not just a guest. So congratulations.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Thank you.
Andy Johns: We are here at the NTCA Sales and Marketing Conference. It is the epicenter of the broadband marketing universe this week. And glad for Melissa to stop by to be on an episode. So, Melissa, your life before coming over to the broadband world. You’ve got a lot of experience in television and video.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Yeah, I always tell people I’ve been editing video before you could do it on a computer, when it was tape to tape. So that tells you how long I’ve been editing video. And yes, I’m only 22, so it’s kind of weird.
Andy Johns: It is a very precocious, very precocious 2 or 3 year old.
Melissa Lanzourakis: (laughs) Yeah.
Andy Johns: Yeah, yeah.
Andy Johns: So what are some of the things, and we’ve got another episode that came out recently talking about some of the strategies for DIY video for folks to do, the technology is improving so much that the demand for video is up so much. As a communicator, it’s more important than ever to be able to shoot video.
Melissa Lanzourakis: It is. And what I would say ten years ago is different from what I’d say today. Because ten years ago, I would say make it look professional, but that has completely been turned upside down with social media. I mean, you can shoot something and as long as you’re in the frame, it could go viral. You just never know anymore with video and what it’s going to do. But in the telecom world, shooting video is very important. I shoot video quite a bit where I’m at now, and I’m always doing like a business spotlight. I do a lot of things like if there’s a scholarship winner, I interview them. When I think of video, I also think of audio because I think audio is just as important. But I know we’re all scrolling on our phones, watching video, so to bring it to the next level. Not only is audio important, but closed captioning is very important. Or telling the story visually, you know, just with key words and that sort of thing on the video.
Andy Johns: And it’s interesting even the rules have changed in the last couple of years because I know 2 or 3 years ago we would be at conferences and people would say, always turn your phone sideways to shoot video. But then with reels and TikTok and all that turning vertical is what a lot of folks are doing now.
Melissa Lanzourakis: As a former TV journalist, I would cringe when I would see vertical videos. I’m like, no, turn your phone. I can’t stand this. But now it’s like, I shoot vertically all the time now too. So video has just changed so much in the last just few years with the introduction of all these social media platforms that are doing these fun, silly, you know, videos and reels. It’s like, as long as you can think of an idea and be creative that’s eye catching – and it doesn’t even have to be creative anymore. It could just it can be stupid almost.
Andy Johns: Right.
Melissa Lanzourakis: And it could go viral. Do you want your telecom company to put out stupid video content? No.
Andy Johns: Probably not.
Melissa Lanzourakis: No. But you kind of get where I’m going. It’s like any idea could be a great idea. You just got to execute it well.
Andy Johns: Sure. So let’s talk about that executing. And it’s hard work to put a very concise, short message in there because we know attention spans are at a premium. Try to get that. So when you’re thinking I need to do a video, where do you start? Kind of what’s the process for you there in terms of, are you scripting everything? Are you do you know word-for-word how it’s going to go? How do you start when you’re working on a video project?
Melissa Lanzourakis: Well, when I do like a business spotlight, if I’m going to put a spotlight on one of our business customers with a fun video, I always go in, interview them at their business and have them –.
Andy Johns: In their environment.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Yep, in their environment. And I always have them tell me their story. And so I keep prodding with questions. And so I’m normally editing the video, so they’re the ones telling their whole story. Once in a while I have to do a voiceover with it just because I’m just not getting everything I want to get from the interviewee. But I really try to let our business clientele tell their own story.
Andy Johns: Perfect. And so you’re just kind of letting them talk. Let them be themselves, and then you capture that.
Melissa Lanzourakis: And editing it together to be engaging. And sometimes I edit the “ums” out quite a bit, just because, you know, if it’s painful for me to edit, I know it might be painful for people to watch. So, you know, if you’re editing together little clips of audio, then cover it with video. But make sure to have that closed captioning on too.
Andy Johns: That was an important point. I’m glad you brought that up because I was going to go there next. So you’ve got the A-roll or the main, when somebody is talking, but then there’s that other component, that B-roll, the video that goes over what somebody is talking about. So when you shoot that at the business where you’ve got them talking about what they do, then what’s the next step in going about getting that B-roll to go over top as the visual while they’re talking?
Melissa Lanzourakis: Yeah. So basically I just say, “Hey, can you do this for me that you just talked about this? Will you show me how you do?” I just did a feature on a bottled water company in one of our towns and had him, like, fill the bottles of water and go through that process so I could lay that video over him talking about it. And yeah, it’s just, and you can do B-roll editing, this kind of thing I’m talking about with very rudimentary editing software nowadays. I mean, I use Adobe Premiere Pro, but there’s much .
Andy Johns: A lot of options out there.
Melissa Lanzourakis: A lot of options, and a lot of them are free now. So it’s very easy. I think it’s a lot more user friendly than it used to be for sure.
Andy Johns: I think so. And in a couple years we may just have AI making videos for us anyway.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Don’t they already?
Andy Johns: Maybe. So while we’re talking about gear and software and all that, a lot of these are shot with your phone.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Some are. Yeah.
Andy Johns: So when is a time you may use your phone versus when would you use a different camera?
Melissa Lanzourakis: You know, if it’s a convenient factor, like if I end up somewhere where all of a sudden I’m like, “Oh, that would be a great feature.” I just start shooting with my phone and go with it. I mean, my phone takes just as good video as my camera does. The only downside with my phone is the audio aspect.
Andy Johns: Right.
Melissa Lanzourakis: And so honestly, though, if I’m just shooting B-roll or something, or if I’m in a quiet atmosphere, you can get by with the audio on your phone without a microphone.
Andy Johns: Not not like the atmosphere we’re in right now. That would be. Yeah.
Melissa Lanzourakis: That’s correct. That’s why we’re miked.
Andy Johns: Absolutely. So when we’re talking about video like this, have you seen any, you know, looking at what’s taken off, what’s been popular, what are some of the videos that you’ve done that have gotten more, you know, more interaction, more hits. Are there any themes? Is there something that you can look to and say videos performed better when X or, you know, certain things that you do get better traction because of something you figured out?
Melissa Lanzourakis: You know, just keeping that whole human spirit in mind. And what’s entertaining to you is probably entertaining to others. It’s kind of the reels and TikTok, Instagram phase. It’s like, if it’s eye catching or it’s something that people are interested in, then they’re going to watch. If it’s something they don’t care about, they’re going to go on to the next thing. And like you said earlier, it’s got to be eye-catching pretty much right off the bat.
Andy Johns: Yep, right off the top. Well, if there is somebody who’s thinking about, you know, I don’t do a lot of video, and we’ll wrap up with this one. But if there’s somebody who’s kind of just starting or they’re wanting to, what kind of advice do you have for somebody, maybe somebody without the history of doing it before, what advice would you have for them?
Melissa Lanzourakis: I would start with your family members. Go interview them for just 30s. Have a goal in mind with what you want the message to be, but just go up to them and say, “Hey, tell me about your dinner. Was it a good dinner? Tell me what was it?” You know, just try to become a good interviewer. That’s how you really get people to talk, and you’re able to showcase them.
Andy Johns: I love it. Pick which family member you’re interviewing carefully, though. You never know. You never know what family is going to say.
Melissa Lanzourakis: You might get your new next viral video. You never know.
Andy Johns: That’s true. Melissa, thanks so much for joining me.
Melissa Lanzourakis: Thank you, Andy.
Andy Johns: She is Melissa Lanzourakis. She is the marketing manager at Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company. I’m your host, Andy Johns. And until we talk again, keep telling your story.
Outro: StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a communications cooperative that is built to share your story. StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studio.