What if you have a really interesting environmental or geotechnical story to tell to the world, but you are not really wanting to make a commercial, marketing style video and/or don’t have a budget for it? Perhaps you are doing research on an innovative solution? These stories deserved to be celebrated and released into the world too. We’ll explore a few options in this article.
Documentary Style Videos
Perhaps a short format, marketing style video isn’t what you are looking for. Maybe the details are worth going into, or you have a number of key project stakeholders who want to be involved. This is where a short documentary format could make sense. These videos are often up to 15 minutes long and aim to tell a more complete story.
The goal of a science documentary is to make complex scientific issues accessible and entertaining so that audiences can discuss them without extensive research.” – Google Generative AI
Documentary videos can be uploaded to YouTube to share broadly with the world but are also great entries for film festivals that focus on documentaries or scientific content.
Funding Models
You may be asking yourself, “We are now going to move from a short marketing video to a short documentary, and I don’t have a budget. How is this feasible?”. Well that my friend requires some creative thinking and I’ve done some brainstorming.
#1 – Film Grants
Within Canada (and likely other jurisdictions as well), organizations such as the National Film Board of Canada, Creative BC and Telus Storyhive have grants available to fund projects which fit current focus topics they are looking for. If you are interested in this, I can help lead our submission.
#2 – Crowdfunding
You may thinking of crowdfunding for getting a new technology into market, or fundraising for someone going through a tough life event, but creative projects such as videos are also commonly funded through crowdfunding. By searching through Kickstarter or any other of the numerous crowd funding websites, you’ll see examples of this.
#3 – Sponsorship within Industry
Another option to fund a project is to reach out to industry contacts – private companies – who may be interested in sponsoring a video about innovative solutions/research and thereby getting some publicity for their firm in doing so. Think about companies who like to drive innovation, have close ties with your organization and would deem the video’s subject highly relevant to them.
This may sound daunting but it’s not something to fear. I would be happy to lead these efforts so that we can work towards bringing your story to light.
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