Video Backgrounds (Part 1)

Synopsis

Breathe new life into your presentations with the variety of our Video Backgrounds (Part 1). Interactive video backgrounds are especially great for discussing concepts that are not easy to visualize. So work smarter, not harder to communicate your big ideas in a captivating way and keep your audience entertained and engaged.

Slide highlights

A slide with a video background makes a perfect opening. Include it in your presentation to surprise your audience, catch and retain their full attention in the first seconds and set the right mood for your story.

A video background-supported slide is also a clever way to entertain stakeholders during breaks. Calming, meditational video backgrounds with beautiful imagery of nature, for example, will help everybody to "recharge their batteries" and prepare for the rest of the meeting or event.

The closing slide brings your message to the forefront and aligns it with your main idea. Animated slides are ideal for a call to action or a big reveal at the end of a presentation. Your audience is likely to remember the information later if they have something to hold on to.

Overview

Performative presentations shape our thinking, according to Art in America magazine.

"Today, pitch decks filled with emotive stock photography and bold, sans-serif declarations – including Fyre Festival's promise to 'traverse the globe to find untouched lands, and convert them into unparalleled experiences' – are often all that stand between a team of ambitious, inexperienced entrepreneurs and millions of dollars in venture capital funding. One-page bullet-pointed security briefings are the sole means (or pretense) of orienting the US commander in chief, " the editors write.

And continue: "Recognizing the ubiquity and epistemic imperialism of the slide deck, many artists – including David Byrne, Tan Lin, Daniel Eatock, Timothy Evans, Michael Riedel, Linda Dong, Simon Denny, and Tony Cokes – have taken up the medium, adapting its modes of address to comment on contemporary managerialism, information labor, and media culture." This means that adding video backgrounds to your presentations will greatly enhance your influencing the audience's perception of your message.

Advantages

There are many reasons to use video backgrounds in your presentations, but here are a few basic ones:

Storytelling

Video backgrounds help to provide a more immersive experience for the viewer. When both sound and vision are at work, people connect to content better, which allows you to tell a more enthralling, memorable story.

Setting the mood

With motion backgrounds, you can make your presentation more dramatic and deep. However, it is important to choose backgrounds that don't overpower text and other elements.

Appeal to emotion

According to studies, customers respond more positively to video content, compared to print. Thus, by using video backgrounds, you will be more successful in evoking certain emotions and increasing purchase intent, in case you are presenting to prospective clients.

Application

Shutterstock, a provider of stock photography, footage, stock and editing tools, offers simple rules to remember for choosing visually-pleasing backgrounds:

• Text + background color combos to use or avoid
• Keep it simple: the goal is to support the information, not distract
• Beautiful is better than representational

Watch the video tutorial below and create killer presentations with looping video backgrounds.