The Respower trade show video had a hard challenge to meet. Based on information presented in their promotional film, they are the largest 3D video and film production installation serving the video and film industry. . Their list of clients, including such television and film greats as Star Trek, is impressive. At the same time, the company, which services predominantly professional videographers and filmmakers, is almost unknown to the public.

In an industry, such as 3D production, it is not enough to produce a trade show video which describes what the company does, it has to show what the company does. As is apparent from the video, this company also felt the need to describe its accomplishments in words, so parts of the video were full of captions.

How does a trade show video accomplish all these goals? Respower opted for a collage style video. The two minute video presents segments of the company’s most successful 3D imagery coming on and off the screen in a temporal and artistic collage. In the second half of the video, captions present names of famous clients the company has worked for, as well as other pertinent facts about the company, such as their computer set-up, which is the largest in the industry.

If I was asked to judge this video, I would have to opt out, as I have different opinions about different segments. Certain scenes are very effective, others are, in my opinion, a bit busy, especially when you have a list of famous clients competing with as many as four simultaneous segments of famous 3D effects the company has produced for television, video and the theatre.

Impressive scenes, include the start, a traditional 10, 9, 8, second countdown, scene frequently seen in the theatre. This style tells us immediately that the company is active in big Hollywood style movie productions. Other impressive scenes include a rocket taking off from a boat, a dinosaur peddling a bicycle, a plane stuck in a storm. In the middle of the video the company presents a rapid sequence of multi-video collage, which in my opinion was too short and too busy to follow. Subsequently, the video presented a captivating 3D scene of a fantasy stairway entrance to a magical wizard’s palace. However, the powerful scene was now competing with a wealth of captions as the company attempted to present names of its famous clients.

The video closes with an effective, extended motion graphic. A caption tells us that the company has the largest battery of computers of any 3D lab. Simultaneously, the screen displays 100 computers lining up in a formation that appears to float on a watery surface. The scene gives a sense of the power of the company’s technological capabilities.

I can feel for the frustration of this company, which while one of the greats in the 3D industry, is virtually unknown to the public. It wants, therefore, to present a comprehensive albeit abbreviated display of its great accomplishments and famous clients. The result, in my opinion does injustice to the individual 3D segments within the video.

That’s not to say, in any way it’s a bad trade show video. The power of the individual segments, set against action film type background music, makes a powerful effect. But I believe, that other viewers, like myself are a bit frustrated by some of the interesting scenes that came and went too quickly, or else we were distracted a bit by competing scenes.

On a spectrum between documentary and branding, this is certainly a branding video. It’s goal, which it accomplishes, is to leave the viewer with images of the impressive powerful ability of this company to create 3D imagery. However, branding videos have no need to present all the information or all the imagery about the company. In fact, by leaving out some images and lingering longer on others a branding video is bound to make an even greater impression.

I also concluded that it might have been more effective to vary the pace of the video. Both the music and the pace run from start to finish. But life isn’t like that. Having a slower segment in the middle might have added temporal texture to the video, and made it more believable.