Before we pick up a camera, we pick up a pen—and start listening. At Barking Squirrel Media, our Video Discovery Workshop is the foundation of every emotionally compelling and strategically effective video we produce. This is where we uncover the true heartbeat of your brand and build the roadmap that guides every creative decision from pre-production through post.
We don’t just produce videos. We craft strategic stories that move people. And that starts with Video Discovery—understanding what makes your organization stand out, what emotional triggers your audience responds to, and what story will drive them to act.
What Is a Video Discovery Workshop?
A Video Discovery Workshop is a collaborative deep-dive session that uncovers your brand’s emotional core and translates it into a video strategy built to perform. Through structured conversations, story mining, and goal alignment, we capture the essence of your message before we ever capture footage.
During this process, we work together to:
- Clarify your video’s purpose and goals
- Explore your brand’s identity and values
- Understand your audience’s motivations
- Identify emotional and authentic stories to feature
- Align your brand strategy with storytelling techniques
Think of Video Discovery as the script before the script—a strategic blueprint that drives the entire project forward.
Why Discovery is Essential for Effective Video Storytelling
Too many companies skip straight to production—hiring a crew, planning shots, writing copy—without truly understanding what their video needs to say or who it’s for. The result is often a polished video that lacks connection, clarity, or strategic direction.
Video Discovery fixes that. It ensures that the final product:
- Speaks to the right audience
- Expresses the right message
- Evokes the right emotion
- Inspires the right action
A strong story starts with truth, not trends. The Video Discovery Workshop uncovers those truths by asking smart, strategic questions that get to the core of your mission.
What Happens During a Video Discovery Workshop?
While every Video Discovery Workshop is customized, most include the following phases:
Video Discovery Through Stakeholder Interviews
We begin with in-depth conversations with key team members: executives, team leaders, marketing staff, and customer-facing roles. These interviews are where the real gold lies. Through guided discussion, we extract narratives that show the human side of your organization.
We ask:
- What makes your organization truly different?
- What challenges has your team overcome?
- Who are the lives you’ve impacted, and how?
- What future do you want to build?
- How do you define success?
These interviews are recorded and transcribed to ensure we capture every insight as part of your Discovery profile.
Video Discovery and Audience Persona Development
Identifying your audience is more than listing age and job title. During the Video Discovery Workshop, we build robust audience personas by diving into:
- Demographics (age, location, profession, etc.)
- Psychographics (goals, fears, values)
- Behavioral data (platform usage, watch habits, preferred tone)
Our guiding question is: “What does your audience care about—and how do we meet them there through story?”
Effective videos begin with empathy. Video Discovery lets us walk in your audience’s shoes before we ever storyboard a scene.
Brand Discovery and Narrative Mining
This is where your brand’s unique stories are uncovered. We comb through interviews and company history for moments of transformation—stories with emotion, obstacles, and resolution. These form the backbone of effective brand storytelling.
In our Video Discovery Workshops, we identify multiple potential arcs and assess them based on:
- Audience relatability
- Strategic message alignment
- Emotional weight
- Visual viability
You’d be amazed how many powerful stories are hiding in plain sight—until our discovery process brings them into focus.
Strategic Messaging Alignment Through Video Discovery
What is the ONE thing you want your audience to remember after watching your video? We use Video Discovery to answer that question with confidence.
Once the story options and audience insights are defined, we work together to determine:
- The core message your video must deliver
- Supporting messages or proof points
- Brand tone and voice
- Emotional anchors and calls to action
This messaging framework, uncovered during Video Discovery, ensures your video hits the right note—every time.
Defining Visual Style with Discovery Insights
Cinematic or clean? Stylized or documentary-style? The Video Discovery Workshop includes discussions about your brand’s visual identity and how it should translate to film.
This phase includes:
- Reviewing brand guidelines
- Discussing tone and pacing preferences
- Reviewing comparable video styles you admire
- Determining how visuals can reflect your brand values
This ensures your video not only sounds like you—it looks like you too.
Deliverable Planning and Goal Setting in Video Discovery
Not all content is created equal. Are you creating a short social ad, a long-form mini-doc, or a testimonial series?
Our Video Discovery Workshop ends with clearly defined deliverables:
- Video formats and lengths
- Suggested channels (YouTube, social, internal, etc.)
- Production timeline
- CTAs and conversion goals
You’ll leave the Video Discovery phase knowing exactly what will be produced, why, and how it will help you reach your goals.
What You’ll Receive After a Film Discovery Workshop
After your session, we create a Video Discovery Summary—a detailed strategic roadmap that becomes the foundation for scripting, shooting, and editing. This includes:
- Key themes and emotional story arcs
- Target audience personas
- Primary and secondary messaging
- Recommended visual tone and production style
- Deliverable strategy
The Video Discovery Summary is reviewed and approved by your team before production begins, ensuring alignment and buy-in from all stakeholders.
Who Needs a Discovery Workshop?
A Video Discovery Workshop is ideal for:
- Brands launching new campaigns or products
- Companies with complex services that need clarification
- Nonprofits needing emotional connection for fundraising
- Organizations undergoing rebranding or repositioning
- Marketing teams seeking internal alignment before producing content
From scrappy startups to legacy manufacturers, Brand Discovery is the common thread behind our most successful work.
Real Success Stories from Video Discovery
A manufacturing client once came to us wanting to create a video about their technical capabilities. Through the Video Discovery Workshop, we uncovered a story about a long-time employee whose career growth reflected the company’s culture. That human-centered narrative became the emotional core of a video that outperformed every other marketing initiative they had.
In another instance, a nonprofit needed help raising awareness for their education program. TheDiscovery process led us to tell the story of a student whose life trajectory was transformed. That video became the emotional centerpiece of their annual giving campaign—and drove record donations.
Why Barking Squirrel Media Leads with Discovery
Our goal isn’t to produce “nice” videos. It’s to produce transformational ones—videos that align with your strategy, stir emotion, and inspire action. Our Video Discovery Workshops ensure every story we tell is deeply rooted in what makes your brand meaningful.
Clients frequently say theDiscovery Workshop gave them more clarity than months of internal meetings. It’s not just about the video—it’s about aligning teams, discovering truths, and unlocking the emotional power of your brand.
Start Your Discovery Journey Today
If you’re ready to create a video that makes people feel, think, and act, it starts here—with a Video Discovery Workshop.
At Barking Squirrel Media, we don’t just shoot film. We discover stories. We craft strategy. We create impact.
Let’s discover yours.
