I’ve recently worked on a series of sketches to highlight the 17 villages that comprise the Canal Lirou – a lesser-known but stunning area of Languedoc between the Canal du Midi at Capestang and Saint Chinian, mostly known for its wines. The sketches are all on display and for sale from 1 July. It was an interesting, and fairly time-consuming process putting the exhibition together.

For the publicity, it was all a little 11th hour. The exhibition was due to start in April, but of course cancelled due to lockdown: I assumed (never assume!) it wouldn’t happen at all. Once things in France started to re-open, a last-minute date was rescheduled so it was a fairly hectic week to get the publicity in place for the opening.

In addition to producing the usual social media graphics and fliers, I decided to create a video for Instagram and Facebook, to give a flavour of the sketches and how they were drawn. Video compilation has been a new departure for me in the past couple of years. As an Adobe user I have access to all the products in Creative Suite and I’ve been using After Effects more and more. The 17 villages video has been extremely well received, and has been playing on a loop in both tourist offices and on social media throughout the summer.

To extend your business reach, video is certainly something to think about for every event, and every story, you want to share. It is an investment, for sure, but the video size, length and format can be different every time, to suit whatever platform you’re using.

A single video project can go a very long way, far far beyond 17 Villages…