Video is one of the most dominant forms of media in advertising and digital communications today—and the moving image is not going anywhere anytime soon. While there are many technical details and specifications worth knowing as an advertising creative, today I’ll focus on some high-level terminology and language, emerging trends, and tools for 2025 that I find incredibly helpful!
VIDEO REFRESHER
What is video?
Video is a collection of moving images often paired with audio to create a multi-sensory media experience. When checking files or speaking about video specs, there are three essential things to consider: frame rate, format, and resolution.
Frame rate is the number of images shown in a video each second. If you ever made a picture flipbook as a kid, you can probably understand how many separate pictures can bring something to life. Twenty-four FPS (frames per second) is the digital standard across most film, television, and online videos, but other frame rates such as 12, 30, 60 (even 120!) also exist. These higher frame rates are often used to slow down footage to achieve a smooth, slow-motion effect.
Format is the type of extension associated with a video file. I like to think of video format as a candy bar: the codec—the internal data that makes up the video—is the candy bar itself, while the format—the file extension—is the wrapper. The two most common video formats are MP4 and MOV, both fairly standard for client and display usage. While many other formats exist, depending on what technology is used to film and export, sticking to MP4 and MOV is a great idea.
The resolution of a video is the size, shape, and number of individual pixels that make up the file itself. Many resolutions include 1920×1080, 3840×2160, and even vertical sizing like 1080×1920. The resolution depends on the intended display of a particular video, but for client work here at ANDERSON, we find that the standard is typically 1920×1080. It’s also important to remember that when speaking about or typing out resolution details, width always comes before height!
What is audio?
Audio formats come in even more variations than video and vary based on the technology and settings used to record, upload, and export. MP3 and WAV are typically the most commonly requested formats. Plenty of other formats exist (such as AIFF and M4A), but keeping audio files relatively standard to the two most common forms helps to increase and maintain audio quality across the board.
What is compression?
Compression refers to the loss of quality in video and audio files as sizing and bitrate decrease. This is one of the key differences between various file formats. For instance, MOV video and WAV audio are uncompressed, containing all the original pixel and bitrate data without any quality loss. MP4 and MP3, on the other hand, are compressed formats, meaning they have been exported down from a much higher quality version to meet specific file size specs of a certain client or display. An important thing to remember about compression is that you can never technically upscale a video or audio file; since that loss of quality already exists in a compressed format, there is no way to get any higher-quality information back unless you have the original, uncompressed files!
What are effects?
In video production, effects generally fall into three main categories:
VFX & CGI – These are digital effects used to enhance or create elements in a scene, but they work in slightly different ways. VFX (visual effects) are computer-generated enhancements added to existing footage, altering elements already present in the filmed world—like the blue skin of the Na’vi in Avatar. CGI (computer-generated imagery), on the other hand, involves creating entirely new digital models and placing them into a filmed scene—think the T-Rex in Jurassic Park.
Animation & Motion Graphics – This category includes 2D and 3D animated elements that bring movement to static images or enhance live footage. These effects help with transitions, add excitement to flat visuals, and create a multi-layered look. Often, animated elements are placed into live-action footage, appearing on top of, next to, or behind subjects—like the blend of animation and real actors in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Practical Effects – My personal favorite! These are physical effects created live on set, including puppets, animatronics, explosions, stunts, and even horror movie blood and gore. Because they’re done in-camera rather than added digitally in post-production, practical effects often require extensive planning but can deliver some of the most realistic and visually stunning results in film and TV.
2025 VIDEO TRENDS
Short-Form Social Content
To this day, short social video content is king. It continues to push the boundaries of how quickly and effectively information can be delivered to audiences with the touch of a finger. Animated content or motion graphics are always more engaging than static images that require swiping. In fact, studies show that motion design boosts social engagement 81% more than static content.
AR/Virtual Production
AR (Augmented Reality) and virtual production have increased in popularity over the past few years. They are becoming a much more viable option for filming otherworldly environments than a green screen. If you’re a fan of Disney’s The Mandalorian, you may have noticed the use of this technology! Specifically, how vibrant and immersive the extraterrestrial worlds look compared to the other films in the franchise. This studio is called The Volume and exists as a giant, wraparound LED screen that displays these worlds in which real-life people can film. This type of filming has proven to be more cost-effective than a green screen, as it can help avoid costly VFX and CGI budgets and generally looks a lot more convincing!
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Artificial intelligence continues to dominate the video market and is slowly but surely making its way into Hollywood, higher production houses, and beyond. We have all seen the unconvincing AI video clips of people with six fingers or faces morphing into something inhuman. However, the technology being developed and enhanced at companies such as OpenAI and Adobe continues to be more impressive day after day. 77% of companies and ad agencies are already using or exploring AI. Still, as of 2024, less than 3% of Hollywood film, TV, and video industry budgets are going toward AI development. Many tools are still in beta that will ethically use AI technology to assist in video editing (i.e., Adobe’s Generative Extend tool in Premiere Pro). But as of now, there are still clear tells of something utilizing AI that we in the video industry can notice almost immediately.
AI VIDEO TOOLS IN ADOBE
Enhance Audio Tool
The Enhance Audio tool in Premiere Pro is a feature that Adobe has been working on for years, but with the help of their AI algorithm Firefly, it has been made much more viable. This feature automatically detects the focal point of an audio clip (usually someone’s voice or sound effect). Then, it reduces all other distracting noise, like subtle droning, hissing, or pops, to give you a clean audio sample! This tool has proven immeasurably helpful when editing long-form audio projects like our podcast, ANDERSON Ad Break. It makes most audio files sound infinitely better with just the click of a button and a few minutes to render!
Remix Tool
The Remix tool in Premiere Pro is another audio tool that has proven incredibly beneficial when working with client projects set at a specific duration. This tool remixes the beats and lyrics of music to fit any desired length, a skill that takes much longer and might require a music producer or designer’s skill set. When editing music for client projects, it is such a time saver to have an edited music track ready to go almost immediately!
Generative Expand Tool
The Generative Expand tool in Photoshop helps to adjust the sizes of images purely based on the information already given. An important note about all of Adobe’s AI tools is that the algorithm only pulls references and information from content that Adobe owns; you permit it to draw from and from artists online who have also given Adobe their direct consent. Using a tool like Generative Expand makes resizing images for different displays, social media, and other formats incredibly efficient, saving an immense amount of time.
Generative Fill Tool
Photoshop’s other magic tool is the Generative Fill tool, which can add, subtract, or manipulate items from images based on text prompts. Photoshop can take the art style, lighting information, and anything else in an existing image and change things based on what you type into the text box. A tool like this is fantastic for receiving creative work from clients who already have things like text or watermarks baked in. With this tool, removing those pieces to make a clean image to animate or manipulate has become a breeze.
Retype Tool
The final tool I’ll discuss today is the Retype tool in Adobe Illustrator. This tool can match fonts and types from an existing piece of creative as closely as possible and is a miracle in terms of being able to emulate creative executions. Our creative team is often not given the information or font files to match something already existing. Still, with the Retype tool, Adobe can recognize type on any static image and present multiple options that match as closely as possible (and can be downloaded and used on every Adobe program)!
The Future of Video Advertising
Many of these tools and trends are here to stay. From the advancement of AI video to AR technology revolutionizing Hollywood, there’s no shortage of futuristic developments to keep the creative advertising industry on its toes!
