They’re called intros and outros—short video bits that you can create once and attach to all your videos. If you’ll excuse the low-tech metaphor (we love low-tech), they’re kind of like book ends.
The book ends keep the books in between as tidy as possible. And in this case, the book ends give the whole shelf a message: READ/BOOK. The message is that the books aren’t there just to be looked upon and admired, but actually to be read. They’re not just colored objects; they’re repositories of knowledge that a person can easily access.
Intros typically place your video in a broader context, such as a project to document your organization’s impact through a series of videos focusing on beneficiaries. They usually include a logo. Outros typically emphasize branding; they’re often as simple as an animated logo.
We have a simple logo outro included in our client’s kind testimonial, which you can play here:
Some uses we can imagine for intros and outros include:
- Adding a professional touch to DIY video.
- Adding a unifying message to videos contributed by member organizations, chapters, or parts of an organizations.
- Transcending the limitations of short form video by marking videos as episodes.
- Ensuring unified branding across a range of videos including marketing videos, fundraising videos, and instructional videos.
Intro and outros add a professional touch when they’re done right. YouTube and Vimeo both make it easy to add intros and outros to your videos; other video platforms may have a similar feature.
They’re not unlike something we’ve established for our blog posts: virtually all of our blog posts open with a feature title, and close with an italicized reminder of how to reach us and how much we’d like to hear from you. We hope you’ve been enjoying these touches.
If MiniMatters can help you use this tip or serve your other video needs, we’d love to talk with you at 301-339-0339 or via email at videos@minimatters.com.
