In A World Of Deep Fake Videos, Show That You're The Real Deal

If you haven’t yet been fooled by a deep fake video, perhaps you have and just didn’t realize it.

The truth is that artificial intelligence has come a long way in the world of content creation. New publicly available technology such as Chat GPT and Bard have begun creating both written and visual content with little human interaction involved in the process (and yes, a human wrote this article). Today, copy and visuals written by robots are attempting to slide in seamlessly alongside work done by artists.

In the world of video, those with highly technical skills have begun to do much the same sort of work. They’re now creating video clips - of celebrities, athletes, and politicians just to name a few - that look and sound like the person in question.

Except they’re not real. It’s modern day magic, the equivalent of smoke and mirrors. It’s the digital equivalent of someone putting words in your mouth, and not words that accurately reflect what you want to say, or the stories that you want to tell about your business.

For smaller businesses though, the issue isn’t often AI fake videos (those can cost a small fortune to do well), but real ones that are problematic for entirely different reason. In untrained and often unsteady hands, a digital or smartphone camera can quickly go from being a tremendous asset to a troublesome tool.

When small businesses start on a shoestring marketing budget, they’re often led into believing that it’s easy enough to shoot their own video. How hard could it really be? They’ve held up a cell phone to film a family birthday party, or grab a few short clips of a performer they really like onstage. It’s basically the same thing, right?

The results, though, are anything but helpful to your business. Even with a tripod and a ring light, most of these videos are badly lit, have issues with sound quality, and are poorly edited if edited at all. They end up as short clips that may work well for a quick hit on social media, but that respectfully don’t deserve to live long term on your website.

While you’re trying to use those video pieces to promote and boost your business, if they live long term they’re ultimately liable to bring your image down. When you’ve spent an incredible amount of time and energy getting your business off the ground and fostering its growth, putting out an amateur product will go against most everything that you stand for.

Take the analogy of more traditional marketing materials, like business cards and brochures (both of which still have their place in 2023). If you’re invited to an important meeting at the last minute and have run out of cards, you might buy some card stock and run a few off of your home printer as a stopgap to avoid showing up empty handed.

Yet you remain keenly aware that your homemade effort is just that - a stopgap. Whatever you produce isn’t intended to have any long term longevity. If you have to dash off a brochure quickly and haven’t had time to proofread it or fine tune the lines and margins, you’ll likely only print a few, not 1,000.

Video works much the same way. If you need to do something quickly with your own two hands for social media, your own efforts will do in a pinch. For that professional quality though, there’s simply no replacement for hiring an expert. Video production experts are storytellers - they’ll first work to understand the story that you want to tell, and then help put it together through words, video, and audio so that it has the impact that you’re looking for.

Looking for a professional storyteller? We can help. Those AI deep fakes may look and sound like you for an exorbitant price tag, but they just don’t have your soul. That handheld selfie video may work for quick social posts, but they’re not the main story that you want your business to put out into the world.

At North Brothers, we’re here to help tell that story - one frame at a time. Contact us today to get the ball rolling.