Communication is an essential ingredient in the sustenance of moern corporate structure and vital social functioning.. A modern component of corporate communication is visual media including corporate videos.
Modern corporations make use of several types of rites to knit together the vital functioning of the corproate body. . Scholars note four types of important rites in corporate activity, the rite of passage, the rite of integration, the rite of enhancement and the rite of renewal
What are the four rites? Social scientists find plentiful examples of the rite of integration in modern corporate life. Examples of this type of ritual include the bestowing of badges, titles, passwords, and other itmes to new employees, which make them asn active member ofthe corproation. . Rites of passage include rituals associated with various stages of life, or changes of status in life. The ritual includes dissociation from the previous stage of life, the transition stage and the subsequent assumption of the new identity and resumption of life. Rites of integration include company picnics, baseball games, etc., activities where company employees participate as equals. Rites of enhancement include specific means by which corporations recognize and encourage excellence in employees; this can include bequeathing annual awards or certificates for excellence in various areas of corporate life. Rites of renewal include corporate activates designed to enhance social structures within the corporation. These may include corporate retreats and corporate team building.
corporate members. Such a video event is part of the rite of enhancement. Training videos and videos designed to teach new members of the company are part of the rite of passage into the company. Branding videos, while serving to advertise to corporate to outsiders can also, in some instances serve as accoutrements to the ritual of renewal.
The RBN corporate video, on the website of Winmax Video, a professional video production company , documents a corporate event in a ways that interweaves a rite of passage, a rite of integration and a rite of enhancement. The video is set to background music which tells the story of a campus senior leaving the sheltered Ivy League environment and going into the world of business, this is a rite of passage theme. The video documents corporate employees at an RBN business retreat. For participants, the retreat is a renewal of their commitment to corporate life. At the retreat, all members of the corporate participate as equals, so the retreat is, in that regards, a rite of integration
While the actual retreat is mostly a rite of integration and renewal, the video itself adds the rite of passage by the addition of the background musical story contrasted to the current state of the employees as members of the corporate world. So in that regard, the RBN corporate video , itself, actually documents the important rite of passage into the corporate world, which would otherwise be merely an assumption of current status.
