Last week on LinkedIn, I got two seconds of fame: I posted a BTS (behind-the-scenes) video of my friend and collaborator Mike Curry talking about why we shoot on high-quality cinema equipment instead of iPhones.
“I mean, Apple commercials are shot on iPhone, right?”
Well… kiiinda. Not really. It’s mostly a marketing half-truth. eh…just go watch our video, that’s the myth we unpack.
But that’s not the point. The point is that the video struck a chord. In just two days, it racked up nearly 50k organic impressions and around 20k views, without spending a dime.
Granted. These are not huge numbers compared to the millions of views garnered by many of the campaigns we work on with our incredible partners (including many of you reading this). But there is a key difference: Those videos often have 5-6 figure investments, paid promotions, and months of work and strategy poured into them.
In contrast, this was a video that took 15 minutes to film, 20 minutes to finesse the AI-generated captions, and 5 minutes to upload to LinkedIn. And in LinkedIn terms, I’m told that’s semi-viral. (Look, Mom, I’ve made it!).
The point is, people cared. About 80% of the comments, reactions, and shares strongly agreed with the premise: Your tools should be chosen based on what you want to accomplish as a brand. Whether it’s film equipment, a web platform, or an email marketing service, the right tool depends on the goal.
The other 20%? Outraged. (I was told to use a $5 word in this newsletter, so: aghast.) How dare we suggest you can’t create cinematic, beautiful content on an iPhone? “Steven Soderbergh shoots feature films on iPhones!” “My cousin Joe thinks iPhones are the future of filmmaking!” etc., etc.
Well, with all due respect to Soderbergh and Cousin Joe (and putting aside my opinions on whether anything shot on an iPhone can actually look good without doctoring the process so much that it’s not really an iPhone shoot anymore), this debate isn’t actually the point of this email.
The real point is why the video struck a chord. Why? People were invested because they themselves had wrestled with the question before they watched our video.
After all, in the age of endless content, almost everyone has asked, “How do I create something that stands out?”
Even more practically: “What tools do I need to stand out?”
And our little behind-the-scenes video met audiences in their worries and in their questioning. In a broad sense, that’s what successful storytelling, film, video, and content creation shoulddo. It should ask the fundamental questions your audience is already asking, wrestling with, and worrying about.
The biggest irony? The video about why Distant Moon uses high-end cinema gear was shot on an iPhone.
Which only proves my point: there’s a time and place for high-end cinema equipment if you’re building a brand reputation, making a bold statement about quality, timelessness, and excellence. That’s why we’ve invested a half-million dollars into the highest end equipment and pour months of our teams lives into projects like our documentary online course on Communism with our partners at Hillsdale College or years into projects like The Moment with our friends at Prolific (more on that in coming emails).
But there’s also a time and place for quick, raw, “shot on iPhone” BTS videos that tackle real, human questions in a candid way.
Anyone who tells you there’s no place for iPhone videos is lying. Anyone who tells you there’s no need for high-end cinema equipment is also lying.
Our job is to determine the answers to two questions:
1. What does the audience need in this moment?
2. How do we serve them, challenge them, inspire them, and move them?
After 20 years of making films and video content, I’m more convinced than ever that the best strategy is a well-developed plan. A strategic mix of what I call industry-defining films (the ones that blow audiences’ minds with storytelling and production value) and UGC/found footage content (the stuff that feels less produced and more accessible right now).
SO HERE’S THE TLDR:
1. Know and define your audience.
2. Ask yourself (or them) what they deeply feel that they need (rather than what you need from them), and. . .
3. Craft a content strategy that includes the two extremes of video: Highly produced, brand prestige content (these are vital for establishing your brand’s authority, institutional excellence, and capabilities) AND Simply produced, inexpensive and high-regularity content that meets the viewer where they’re at emotionally and intellectually in a down-to-earth way.
The brands, nonprofits and thought leaders who do this, will always lead their industries, because they will be the ones creating true value for their audience and humanity in general.
And that’s why we got into this in the first place, right?
Here’s to human flourishing,
-Ian