We’ve all heard of feature films, short films, TV production, but have you heard of corporate film?
Corporate film is often described as the hidden sector of the film industry. Unhelpfully it has a few different names, including ‘Brand Film’ and ‘Video Content’.
According to Wikipedia, corporate film refers to any type of non-advertisement based film content created for and commissioned by a business, company, corporation, or organization, including charities. The audience for corporate film output is very large and includes consumers, investors and the workforce. Anyone who has watched a company film on, for example, strategy, workplace wellbeing, product launches, health and safety or brand values, has watched corporate film content.
The type of businesses that invest in corporate film include recruitment, human resources, investor relations, brand identity, and learning and education. So you could be working on films that tackle racism internally, films that are used to train people in dangerous workplaces, films that are used to raise awareness of mental health issues, and so much more.
Why corporate film?
There’s plenty of reasons why the corporate film sector is a great place to work, but here’s a few to start you off:
- You can work across a huge range of films, with different companies, challenging briefs and a range of subject matters. Creativity is heavily encouraged!
- Reliability – hours are far more regular than other areas of the film sector, and jobs are more reliable.
- Companies want you! Video content is the name of the game at the moment, and companies are always looking for creative and skilled filmmakers to support their brand and organisation.
- Corporate budgets. Whilst feature filmmaking works on huge budgets, short films and indie films often have to make things work on a shoe-string budget. Working with corporate clients means you’ll have enough money to realise your vision for the project.
A few examples:
Check out some of these examples of award-winning, beautiful corporate films. Would you like to make films like this? Then this sector might be for you!
If you’re interested in sustainability, you could make films like this:
You could promote equality around disability like this film does:
Or encourage Covid-19 vaccinations like the following film:
And even produce powerful documentary pieces:
These are just a handful of examples of some of the amazing work being made in this sector!
Did you know?
Corporate Film, also known as Brand Film is a far bigger sector than many realise:
- At least 1,000 companies were trading in the brand film production sector in January 2020.
- Average annual turnover for a production company is £2.03m. The market has a handful of bigger players and a long tail of small businesses.
- The sector has revenues substantially in excess of £1bn.
- The average budget per film project is £19,682, while live events that integrate film have become an attractive alternative to producers.
- 82% of production companies are exporters, earning one-third of their revenue from overseas. Europe and North America are the most important markets. That means lots of travel opportunities!
- Brand film production companies have an average 11.6 employees and change staffing levels frequently in response to business conditions.
- 83% of brand film producers are located in London and the South East
Source of facts: Brand Film Industry Report 2020. Revealing the Hidden Sector. Author: Steve Garvey, Moving Image