Why the 30-Sec Video Should Be King

When it comes to branded content, everyone gets excited about the big “hero film.” The cinematic one. All resources from our team and the client are pulled into this “masterpiece.” 

But here’s the truth I think nobody really wants to say out loud - It’s the 30-second version that does most of the work!

(Oh yes I did) 

That short cutdown is usually the video that gets pushed across social media and actually watched by the majority of people. It’s the one that gets all the impressions, the clicks and the engagement. It’s the one that quietly faces the most pressure to perform, more than the hero film ever does. BUT it’s the one often treated as an after-thought; a stripped down version of the main video, hence the name ‘cutdown.’

So why are we not treating it like the real star?

There’s a discipline to making something meaningful in half a minute. You can’t hide behind slower build-ups or long explanations. Every second counts. Every cut, every word, every frame has to serve a purpose. You’re forced to give context and get to the heart of the story extremely fast. And that’s kind of the beauty of it.

I’ll admit that it took me time to get round to the idea, but now I see that we’ve been looking at it from the wrong angle all along. We should be treating the 30-second video as a separate deliverable… as its own video in its own right.

I’ve seen it time and again on projects. The “quick edit” that gets squeezed in the timelines ends up being the one that people remember. It’s the one that keeps getting shared, replayed, quoted and reused. The truest social short video of the pack.

Ironically, the shorter the video, the harder it is to make! To create impact in under 30 seconds requires real craft. You have to distil an idea until only the essential truth remains and that’s when the magic happens. 

I’ll always love our hero films and I’m hopeful that there will always be a place for them. But if I’m being honest, it’s the humble 30-second video that wears the crown. 

When you can make viewers feel something in half a minute, that’s not a compromise in the editing room, that’s mastery! As a producer, I put just as much heart and craft into the short pieces as I do for the longer formats. I’ve even got a cheesy line for this…. the shorter stories can still make the biggest impact :) 

Check out our Social Shorts to see how we help companies show up regularly with 30 second video content.