How to explain a complex technology product on video

Start with the problem, not the technology

The usual mistake tech companies make is opening the video by explaining how their technology works. To a non-specialist that means nothing yet. It works far better to start with the problem: what could not be done, what was slow, expensive or impossible, and who it affects. Once the viewer understands the problem, the solution is interesting on its own. Then you explain the technology just enough to make the solution credible, and end with what changes because of it. It is the structure a good science communicator would use, applied to a company.

Show what is real: people, lab, product

Complex technology is often invisible: code, calculations, processes inside a machine. That is why showing what can be seen matters so much. The lab, the facilities, the team at work, the physical product, the real screens. That conveys there is something tangible behind it and builds trust, especially with investors and future employees. People are key: an engineer explaining in their own words why their work matters persuades more than any voice-over. Preparing them well helps them come across naturally, as we explain in how to speak naturally on camera.

Animation where the camera cannot go

Some things cannot be filmed: what happens inside a chip, how data travels, a molecule, a process lasting milliseconds or years. That is where animation comes in: graphics, moving diagrams, 3D renders of the product. Used well, it clarifies in ten seconds what would take a minute to explain. Used badly, it turns the video into a slide deck. The rule is that animation should help understanding, not decorate, and keep the same look as the rest of the piece. We cover this in what motion graphics are and when your video needs them.

One version for each audience

A technology company talks to very different audiences: investors, industrial clients, press, public bodies and people it wants to hire. Each needs something different. Investors want ambition, team and market; clients, what it solves and how it integrates; talent, what working there is like. The efficient approach is to shoot with all of them in mind and cut several versions. With Qilimanjaro, a European quantum computing company we have worked with as video partner, we have produced presentation videos, event coverage, lab photography and pieces for funding rounds with that approach, always with accuracy checked by their scientific team.

Accuracy without losing the viewer

The hard balance is saying nothing false while not losing non-experts. What works best is writing the script together: the production company proposes how to tell it and a technical person at the company checks every claim. A good technology video does not simplify to the point of being wrong; it chooses what to tell and what to leave out. At Bostak Films we produce corporate video for technology and industrial companies in Barcelona and across Europe, including product videos for B2B catalogues like those we made for Audiovisuales Data. If your technology is hard to explain, tell us about it and we will find a way to show it.

FAQ

Got a project in mind?

We tell stories in video end to end — production, filming and post-production.

Keep reading