Q&A with Brad Williams – Digital Production Manager

What is your role at OnTrack International and what do you do?

My formal title is Digital Production Manager but I’m essentially the Head of Film Production, and my team are OnTrack’s very own creative studio. We help develop visual learning and development (L&D) content that is both engaging and purposeful. We manage everything from creative pitch and conception, all the way through to production and post-production

Why does OnTrack need a film producer?

Film is a hugely powerful medium and it’s become an important tool for OnTrack. We help our clients tell stories and engage their employees by using the same techniques you’d see at the cinema or watching your favourite Netflix documentary.

“I’m impressed by the video; it’s a piece of art. Honestly, it’s a beautiful video. Great job!”

A delighted recipient.

Admittedly it’s a little unusual for an L&D business to have an in-house creative studio, but OnTrack has always been quite experimental in looking to provide a broader range of capabilities than other providers. This means we’re better equipped to create and deliver optimum learning experiences that produce powerful results.

At the same time, there’s a huge demand for video, and it’s growing. It’s the preferred language of the times, and an integral part of how we consume content and information in the modern world. It’s predominantly the reason why video reportedly accounts for 65% of all internet traffic!

Even throughout the pandemic when there was a huge amount of demand and interest in visual content, given the fact that in-person training wasn’t possible. We were one of the few services that could still operate.

What sort of problems do clients come to you with?

It’s so broad and that’s what I love about it. One week we might be supporting an organisation looking to instil cultural change, the next we’ll be training a sales team or helping to communicate the benefits of a merger. And then there’s the comms and the informal marketing bits.

That’s the stuff that really get me excited!

How have social media and video platforms such as TikTok and Instagram impacted your work?

It’s all about memes and iPhone content!

Broadly, it’s really positive. To some extent, everyone is a filmmaker now. The appreciation of video content has grown and it’s exciting that more people are interested in film and have access to the tools to make visual content easily. But there is an important distinction between making something because you can and making something the way it should be done. It’s kind of like when they say, “everyone’s a critic.” Having an opinion isn’t quite the same as articulating it if you know what I mean. That’s why we make it our place to try and guide a lot of that enthusiasm and creative thought into something purposeful. Having a client with excitement and vision is a blessing.

What’s your process?

If I was to sum it up with one word it would be “collaborative”. We like to kick off the process with a Think Tank session where we get into a room with clients. We start by getting to know the businesses, markets and people we work with to understand their challenges and objectives.

One of the big challenges with film is that not everyone necessarily uses the same language when trying to convey an idea. A key part of our process – and this is true across the board at OnTrack – is asking questions. Finding a common frame of reference, and a universal focal point; probing and prompting conversation to get to the nub of an issue.

How do you create compelling L&D content?

It must be engaging and entertaining. If you intend to hold someone’s attention for longer than a few minutes, you are going to need to reward them with something worth their while.

There are many aspects to this but the key one for me is narrative structure. Stories give our messages context. They give us something to invest in.

What’s your one piece of advice to clients considering video?

Be aware of the media that you consume. Ask yourself: what excites me?  What makes me cry? What makes me laugh? Why did that thing have that effect on me? By being conscious of this, and understanding your own emotional reaction to film, you start to build a greater sense of what you like. In turn, it will give you a deeper sense of what makes other people tick, and then you can start thinking in terms of, how can I harness that when sharing a message, or building a solution.