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Corporate Video Production

How to get hired at a London Video Production Company

By Corporate Video Production

Why some video production graduates have more success than others

With every passing year it seems we get inundated with more emails from new video production graduates wanting to work with us than we did the previous year, and this appears to be a trend around the country. Some get hired, and some don’t – so what’s the big secret? 

Video Production Company London

If you’ve ever watched the credits of a big Hollywood blockbuster, you’ll see that the number of people it took to create the film from start to finish can be in the hundreds – this includes everyone from writers and producers to the set designers and post-production teams. Each person has a specific job and a role to play in making the film. The problem is that very often even a London video production company may be working with more limited resources, and companies and clients will want to get as much bang for their buck as possible. Since the biggest cost to a production is often the crew, this means cutting it down and hiring a small number of multi-skilled individuals.

Being multi skilled and having knowledge that goes beyond a single ‘flagship skill’ is an excellent way of keeping yourself in demand in the industry, and as a new recruit, that’s incredibly important to getting your foot in the door. Camera operators who know how to light a scene, directors who can produce, or editors who can create even basic motion graphics are much more useful to a production company in terms of reliability and cost. If you have a camera operator who can handle lighting equipment, take on the post-production side of the project and do their share of producing, then one person has done the job that might otherwise have taken four people on a much larger budget.

Video Production Company London

To be a multi-skilled crew member requires a lot of enthusiasm and hard work, as all the various disciplines involved are a often more complex than they appear. But as you gain experience and branch out to widen your skill base, that varied experience will make you stand out amongst the other CVs. Getting more experience might seem like an obvious tip, but it wasn’t so long ago that people did specialise in just one area of production, and that’s all changing now. Even the seasoned pros are starting to crow about how knowledgeable they are in all aspects of video work, and you’d be amazed how many people don’t get hired because they haven’t got the right skills.

So to recap – widen your skill base as far as you can, and make it clear on your CV.

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

Why Does Production Quality Matter in Company Videos?

By Corporate Video Production, Video Production Explained

A Guide To Good Production Quality

Well production quality is important as it will influence that instant snap judgment that viewers make about a brand the second they start watching their company videos. When it comes to video marketing it’s essential that you cut straight to the chase in effectively representing your brand values right from the first few seconds of any video you produce.

Like it or not, we all form instant judgements about brands the second we encounter them and these opinions can be so strong that if we make a negative assumption it’s a very difficult task to change our mind. Such is the power of video.

However, get this right and you can gain the trust and enthusiasm of potential new customers right from their very first encounter with your brand.

Below is an example of various interview shots that we’ve produced over the years. The difference in what they communicate about the quality of the brands they represent is instantly apparent.

high-vs-low-production

Many of the elements that boost the production quality of a promotional video are relatively unseen. Your viewers will probably not exclaim “that’s a beautiful dolly shot!” or “this interview has been wonderfully lit”.

However all these elements will be subconsciously perceived within the viewing experience, and will be key to what our general opinion of the brand represented is. It’s these subtleties that provoke an emotional response from the audience and therefore they are powerful factors on creating that all important first impression.

Remember that if you are maximising your reach with a promotional video then you’ll probably be uploading it to YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter etc. When a viewer watches your video on these channels they will more than likely experience your brand with none of the other quality marketing collateral that would surround it on your own company website.

All the time and effort put into making your website a truly wonderful experience and brand ambassador is great for adding extra firepower to marketing items placed solely on your website, but lost when embracing the power of social media channels as these video sites won’t mirror the branding, messaging and design of your own site. Effectively your video has to be strong enough to be seen as a standalone element that can deliver your message isolation.

So making sure that your promotional video or corporate film champions your brand values and ideals is essential in allowing you the option of spreading its footprint as far as the web will allow.

Ensuring you produce a film with the highest production quality isn’t always directly related to video production costs. However budget does go a long way in providing the equipment and experience that this sometimes requires. There’s a common saying in the production industry that goes – You can produce video that’s good, fast or cheap but not all 3. This is mostly true but there are some ways to increase the quality of your company videos without needing a mortgage to pay for it.

company videos

So here’s some areas where companies can enhance the way they present their brand by maximising the production quality of the company videos they produce;

Crew

Finding a good Producer/Director is one of the most essential elements in realising great visuals and high quality production while keeping a lid on the budget. There’s no substitute for experience and a good pro will know exactly how to squeeze every penny’s worth of video production quality out of your budget.

Camera

Unfortunately this element comes down to cost. Using a higher end camera for your video marketing has obvious benefits and will create an instant impact on the visuals you distribute.

Lights

It shouldn’t cost the earth to make sure that any interview content you include in your video is nicely lit. You don’t need additional crew for this as any good cameraman should be able to light a simple talking head shot effectively themselves.

company videos

Sound

DO NOT cut corners on sound recording. This is the one aspect above everything else that if done badly can undo every other element within your video. What we hear when watching video content automatically over rides what we see so capturing beautiful images is pointless if your interviews sound like they’ve been recorded in a toilet!

Grip (moving camera shots)

This is one of the key factors in increasing the perceived production quality of your company videos. Using shots that gently track, jib or dolly is one of the most effective ways to elevate the general overall feel of a video to new heights and give it that Hollywood feel. Again it doesn’t cost the earth and many of the available options don’t require extra crew.

There will also be producers/directors out there who suggest that they can add the “wow factor” in post with some funky editing and graphics. However a general golden rule is that if you haven’t capture quality in camera (ie whilst on the shoot) then no amount of digital alchemy is going to lift the video further.

So our advice is always aim high, because if the quality of your company videos doesn’t match that of your customer’s expectations you may be doing your brand more damage than good.

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

SEO So What? What Are The Real Costs On Video Marketing?

By Corporate Video Production, Digital Marketing

How To Balance Message With Production Quality

Ok, so lets talk money. When it comes to producing video your budget is going to be the key factor in how good the final product is. Yes, there are fairy stories about films produced by companies shot on a mobile phone going “viral” and getting millions of views. And you may also be told that it’s all about being creative on limited budgets. But lets be honest, how many videos went viral this year? Can you name them? The truth is that only a handful (and we’re talking single figures here) of videos “go viral” so if that is part of your video marketing plan then you should be realistic about what you will actually achieve.

Search Engines Love SEO

There is also a school of thought that says “any video marketing content is good for your business” and that by simply having any video content on your site is a positive force due to its effect on SEO (search engine optimisation). If you’re not too familiar with this then let me break it down a little. Search engines LOVE video. There’s a much better chance of your company getting to the top of the search pages if you have video content on your website and on your social media pages (Youtube etc). This led to many SEO experts advising that “even video shot on your mobile phone” would have a positive effect on your business.

You’ve probably seen “video blogs” or “company welcome” videos on corporate websites that companies have shot with low production values in the hope that just having “any video content” would be a step in the right direction.

The approach assumes that viewers don’t expect high production quality from some corporate video and that the low budget “blog” type films are actually an endearing and honest way to engage them.

real-costs-of-video1

How Important is Production?

The idea being that as long as there is actual content being delivered (eg, advice, tips, news) then the picture, sound and production quality is not important. This is plain wrong and makes a dangerous assumption about what customers expect and demand from a business or organisation.

Let me give you an example. This was a real conversation that actually happened.

Business – “We’ve shot a 30 minute intro film for our business to help us increase SEO. Our internet marketing advisor said that having a long film on our site would be great for helping search engines find us and new customers engage with our brand. We were advised that quality wasn’t important as a search engine couldn’t distinguish between a professionally produced film and one we shot ourselves”

I need to re-iterate that this was actually a real conversation! A company actually did this! Yes, really. I’m guessing that no one (apart form the business owners) ever watched the whole thing.

There are many things wrong with this approach.

First Brand Experience

One of the most important things to remember when producing online video is that it will most probably be viewed be someone experiencing your brand for the first time. That’s a good thing. New customers are what this is all about.

But the power of online video is such that it’s not a static element. If you’ve marketed the video well then you’ll have probably placed a copy on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and twitter etc to maximise it’s distribution.

This means that your new customer may only ever experience and view your film out of the context of your website. It may be embedded in a Youtube share, or linked to on twitter. Therefore it wont be surrounded by the rest of your website as backup to its own presentation strengths and branding quality.

So if you’ve intended to create content with low production quality in the hope that the surrounding website will add the extra polish that you’d normally associate with your brand then you may have made a mistake.

real-costs-of-video2

All the Viewer Will See Is The Video

When the content is embedded, shared, or linked to by social media in many cases all that the viewer will see is the video itself. Every initial impression, assumption and conclusion they have about you will be developed from viewing the video alone. That’s why every element of the video you produce should have the polish and quality you expect from all the other elements in your marketing toolbox.

Lets imagine that you’ve produced a film that doesn’t really capture your usual quality or brand ethos but you decide to put it online anyway to help drive those all important search stats. If this works then your company may rise up the search pages and generate more visits. Great. But the top hit I the search traffic may be this video so all the new customers generated will all land on your less than ideal video. If the video then creates the impression that your brand values aren’t that high then the net result of the whole exercise will be making a negative impression on more people!

To argue that it’s all about delivering content NOT production quality is counterproductive. If I need to give a potential customer my business address then the quality of information I am about to give them relies on me accurately passing them my address. However I don’t hand write my business cards in the belief that as long as the information or content is correct (ie my address is spelt correctly) then the quality of the delivery mechanism (ie – a hand written business card) is not important. We all know the truth here.

Communicate Strength of Brand

As businesses we spend time and money ensuring that our marketing communicates the strength of our brand and the quality we deliver. Every aspect of the way in which we present ourselves will add to the way in which new customers perceive our business and the trust they have in what we offer.

If you really think that you can output low quality marketing items in the belief that “its better than having none at all” then take a look at some of the most successful companies in the world today – Apple, Samsung, VW. Everything you expect from these companies products can be seen in the way they present their online video. But, hey! I hear you say, “these companies have millions to spend on production and my company doesn’t!”. Well yes, you’re right. These companies will spend serious amounts of cash in order to present high quality video production values. But here’s an example of SME client that we recently produced video for who had a modest budget but a clear understanding of the quality they required and the importance of presenting every aspect of their brand in the best possible way to new customers.

If you would like to read more about how to boost your production quality, read our article about grip. If you’d like some quality SEO advice for your business then we’d recommend our own guru Mr Ben Read.

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

How do I write a brief for a Corporate film?

By Corporate Video Production, Video Production Explained

Corporate film

Whether you are producing your promotional or corporate film in house or using an external production agency, a key part of the corporate video production process is starting with a detailed and considered brief. A good production company will ask the required questions to establish most of your needs but if your staring at a blank page scratching your headand not knowing where to start then hopefully the guide below should be of use.

We put together an overview of some of the key factors and information that need to be agreed, established and communicated within your video brief.

Audience

Before you start the brief for you corporate film you need to ensure you know who your audience are. Who are you communicating to? How do they like to talk? What sort of tone and style of presentation is the most suitable for the audience to convey your message effectively.

So here are a few questions that should form the base point of any video production brief:

What is the desired response to the video?

ie – What do you want to achieve? Does it need to drive sales? (probably), deliver messaging or enhance your brand.

 

Corporate Video Production

What is the one key message that you want people to take away from watching the film?

A common mistake made in the corporate film production process is to try to load your video with too many messages. Ultimately this will bombard the viewer and result in not one single message being conveyed effectively.

Once these parts of the brief are agreed they will form anchors for the entire project and should influence many of the other elements that will follow within your brief. Your desired viewer response and the emotional reaction you’re aiming for will play important roles in answering all the other questions within your final brief.

Next up you need to think about the actual content and look of the video. The things you should consider are as follows:

People & Voices

Do you want to use talking heads, Voiceovers, interview testimony or actors within your video?

Tone

Professional, friendly, light etc

Production Values

What sort of screen and picture quality are you looking for? Everything is shot in HD these days but the type of camera you use, lighting and crew can dramatically whether the images look high end or more user generated.

 

Corporate Video Production

Feel of Vocal Content

We’d always suggest producing some sort of script even if the entire video is to be made up of interviews material. Producing a script with your desired interview quotes or “perfect world” soundbites will allow the director to develop interview questions that are “leading” and designed to elicit the responses that you noted in your script.

So now your brief should be starting to flesh out and give you a clear picture of what you want to produce. The next step is to consider and agree the presentation approach. There are a few common routes (as well as some other creative angles) that work well for promotional and corporate film. So selecting from one of the methods below assures you that you are using a tried and tested approach:

Company Figure

Delivering most of your corporate film’s vocal message and script from a key/senior company staff member gives the film authority and personalises the brand. The delivery can be either scripted (but beware that this doesn’t feel too cold) or taken from an interview situation (this is a good approach as the script will feel natural even).  You can prime the subject before hand so that they know roughly how the replies need to sound. Here’s an example of this approach.

Corporate Video Production

Customer Testimonial Film

By using you customers to tell the story you instantly get a film that feels honest and is something that viewers should empathise with. Scripting is rarely used in this approach as you’ll want your customers to come across as 100% authentic. Here’s an example of this style of video.

Voiceover

By using a voiceover that delivers the messaging over your action footage your video should instantly take on an increased production value. The strength of this approach is that you can carefully plan the script to exactly cover every single message you want to include. Additionally, as the voiceover recording is usually done after the filming has taken place you have the opportunity to tweak or amend the script in accordance with the actual film material you have captured.

 

Mixed Approach

By combining some of the approaches above you can present a balanced corporate film that has the ability to juxtapose your corporate messaging with real customer testimony and re-enforced by your key personnel. This is a strong combination but you need to be careful that the finished video doesn’t become overlong and boring due to trying to cram too much in. Here’s  project we recently produced using this approach.

So many of the factors we’ve covered above form elements that need to be considered in the corporate film production process from pre-production and even whilst physically shooting the project. However your brief should also include detailed descriptions of items that will be produced after the main filming has been done and the video is being edited. These elements are:

Corporate Video Production

Graphics

Do you want to use logo animation and illustrations? If so agree how any brand guidelines will be delivered to the editor.

Soundtrack

Do you want to use a musical soundtrack to form a soundbed that runs underneath your vocals?

And there you pretty much have it. There are other items that you may wish to include but the above gives you a blueprint of all the essentials of the corporate film production process and we do hope you find it useful.

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

Marketing Videos – How to get them right

By Corporate Video Production, Video Production Explained

Marketing videos and budgeting

A cold hard truth is that your corporate video or video marketing tends to look as good as its budget. There’s a direct correlation between how much budget you allocate to your marketing videos and the production quality of the final video that you will produce. However the way your final film looks is not always the most important factor when producing promotional video (good video marketing should always be wary of “style over substance”) and there are of course exceptions so here’s a few thoughts that may be useful when budgeting for your next corporate video production.

Find an Agency That Understands

It’s usually true that you very much get what you pay for when it comes to marketing videos. Creativity, knowledge and skill level should be a given from any good quality, experienced production company and many of the associated costs will be pretty much industry standard costs. So finding a video production agency that understands your product and your customers should take priority over finding the cheapest.

Making a huge saving on your video production wont really seem that exciting if your final video marketing doesn’t effectively engage your customers.

Of course there are cost effective options such as sourcing a resourceful self-shooting director/producer (or one man band) for your film but generally if you’re looking for high impact and high quality on screen then you should budget accordingly.

marketing videos

Your video should reflect the values of your product

To identify where you need to be budget wise it’s useful to look at your product or service and its perceived category. If you are selling within a luxury sector or using factors such as “high quality”, “reliability”, or “forefront of technologically” within your sales offering then any marketing videos you produce should directly reflect these values.

Customers’ perception of promotional video and its production quality is a subtle and often subconscious area that should not be overlooked. Viewers will make a firm judgement call on you and your brand within the first few seconds of your video so matching their expectations with your video’s quality is vital.

Consider the Retail Price Point

Equally the retail price point of your product or service should also be considered when developing budgets for marketing videos. If your product or service has a relatively high purchase price, then the value adding factors which make the purchase worthwhile should be clearly visible within your video. The quality of your video should reflect the price paid by your customers for your product or service.

This should also apply to any post purchase video material such as user guides or user training. If you purchase a brand new quality car then you wouldn’t expect the user manual to be supplied as photocopied paper. So if your producing video marketing to add value post sale then it still needs to reflect cost to the customer.

Research Your Competitors

It’s also important to look at your competitors to assess what level of production they have gone for and how effective their marketing videos are. High budgets will certainly give you higher production value but it doesn’t always follow that they deliver the your message in the most powerful way.

Alternatively if the values you trade on are quirkiness, creativity or fun then there’s more scope to present your video marketing using these traits and focus on originality rather than high quality/high cost. In fact sometimes lower production values can offer charm, earthiness and create engaging video marketing that really hits the spot.

Reflect Your Product

Its very much a case of ensuring that your video output accurately reflects not only your product (and its value) but also the value and importance of the purchase to the customer. Your video should match their expectations of not only the product, but also the purchase experience and user experience.

So rather than starting with a figure when planning your video production budget, start with a goal. Let your customers, your product and your brand be the measure of the level of production your marketing videos need and you’ll emerge with a much more suitable and effective asset for your marketing.

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

Video Production Costs

By Corporate Video Production, Video Production Explained

A guide to video production costs

Its rare to see a price list on a video production company’s website and to be honest you should be wary of any company offering “off the shelf” prices and packages for video production. Every brief is different and the type of production required (and therefore budget) can vary widely. However to provide some transparency and insight into budgeting for your promotional video here are some common video production costs.

Not all the items below are required on every project and some of them have wider cost ranges than others depending on what your requirements are.

You can also pay a lot more or a lot less for most of the crew and personal costs shown here. This is usually based upon the experience that the brief demands for each crew member.

So here’s some common elements that you may require in your production and a guide on costs. These are based on a very common brief that we often get for producing a corporate video which requires location filming of simple action or actuality footage, some talking head interview shots and possibly a voiceover and/or model requirement.

Pre-Production Costs

This includes the services of your producer in providing project management, scripting, project logistics and scheduling. This particular element does differ but as a rule budget allow roughly 10% of the overall production costs for Pre-production

Cast

Good models, actors and voiceover talent will cost between £150 – £300 per day including usage buyout. You can certainly pay more (depending on talent required and their current demand) but if you’re paying less there’s usually a trade off in terms of talent and commitment.

Video Production Costs

Crew Per 10 Hour Shoot Day

Director – £400 per day and upwards depending on experience.

Camera Operator/DOP/Sound engineer- £350 per day and upwards depending on experience.

Equipment

Camera Kit per shoot day (this kit should include camera, tripod, lens, monitor and cables etc)

£250-£350 per day for a camera kit that will give you a basic corporate look (such as a Canon C300)

£750 – £900 per day for a camera that will give you a stunning cinematic look (such as a RED Epic)

Sound

Radio microphones £50 per day

Video Production Costs

Lights

Basic interview lighting kit including 3 x heads with stands (1x 150w, 2x 300w) £40-£70 per day

Location

Studio hire (small studio – talking heads size) £500 per day

Location agency (real location/set hired through location agency for special requirements) £1000 per day and upwards

Post Production Costs– Editing, Animation, Mastering etc

The amount of time you need to edit your project depends on the amount of material shot and the complexity of the requirements but as a guide editing should come in at £350-£400 per day (this should include editor and edit suite but not Director who can sometimes be required to sit in the edit).

So there you have it. Depending on your project you may need some (or many) other elements or you may only require a couple of the items in this list.

Hopefully this gives you some advance steer on where you Video Production Costs may need to be to achieve the type of video production you require.

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

Make Great Corporate Videos – How to Write a Promotional Video Script

By Corporate Video Production, Video Production Advice

Making great corporate videos or video marketing assets can be a challenge. But getting your script right before you shoot goes a long way to helping produce the best video for your brand or organisation. Here are a few tips.

If you’re producing a film for your business or organization then developing some sort of script will probably be a key part of the process. You may need a full on shot by shot scripted breakdown of the film, a simple voiceover script or a script for the people appearing in your film. Scripting can be a daunting task and when initially faced with that blank page, so having a basic structure in place for writing your script will give you some useful support in getting the script to first draft stage.

Finding Your Message

Before you start a script for a promotional or corporate video we suggest bullet pointing a few things and asking some important questions. You’ll probably have a list of objectives and messages that you need to convey in the film but it’s quite useful to prioritise these and above all DO NOT TRY TO SAY TOO MUCH!!!

Keeping your message simple will also keep it audible is is key to making great corporate videos. In other words the viewer will absorb more information when you deliver short simple messages than they will when you bombard them with facts.

great corporate videos

Set the Tone

At this stage of the script ask your self this question:

“What’s the first thing I want the viewer to think/say when they’ve watched the video?”

The answer to this question should dictate the direction and feel on the entire script. Next ask yourself the following question:

“How does your company speak to its customers?”

This will help you establish tone and style. Every company has a way a speaking that’s unique and individual to them. They will have a vocabulary that uses words that tell us not just about their product and service but also about their beliefs and values. It’s important that you tap into this vocabulary when developing a script to ensure that the film feels part of the companies overall comms output and reflects their personality. A good idea is to review as much existing output as possible such as website and printed materials, then note down key words/phrases that crop up often within the text.

Once you’ve established the tone and style you’ll need to deal with the elements you want to convey. All great corporate videos will start life as a list of points, facts or messages that are part of the brief. Firstly we’d suggest prioritising these elements and don’t be afraid to discuss dropping a few if you feel at this stage that the final film could be overlong or too dense.

Warm It Up

The nature of briefs also means that at this stage these key points may simple be a bullet point list and not something that instantly jumps into a spoken script. One of the biggest mistakes at this point is to assume that copy developed for a brochure or website will read well when spoken aloud. More often than not if you read aloud the text from any website or brochure it will feel cold and lifeless. What works well in print doesn’t always translate into natural flowing spoken dialogue.

So a good tip here is to bring each point of the brief into the real world and add some warmth and context. For example, if the product you are working on is a car one it’s features could be:

“a Hi Tech comfort designed steering wheel”

But simply stating that will often result in a big fat “so what” from the viewer.

Adding some warmth and context to each point as you go will help you develop a script that works much harder. For example:

“Cornering is effortless and driving comfortable due to the Hi Tech comfort designed steering wheel”.

This is old news to most marketing professionals but its easy to lose sight of these basics when developing scripts so warming up your initial bullet points before you start the draft is very useful.

Once the key points have all been warmed up a little it becomes easy to start to join them up into a draft script. Be careful at this stage not to get too repetitive and constantly read aloud the script to check the work as you go.

great corporate videos

Time Can Tell

Once you feel that you have the bare bones of the first draft we then suggest something quite radical (and this may only be possible if your deadline and schedule allows). So here’s probably the most important tip for any script development.

When you’ve finished the first draft do the following:

Save.

Close the document.

Don’t open it again for at least 3 days.

As mentioned this may seem a little odd and will only work if your timescales allow but I guarantee that you will end up with a better script because of it. Putting some distance between you and the first draft is essential. It will allow you to re-read the draft with fresh eyes and there will be a strong chance that when you do, you’ll find something that clearly doesn’t work or sounds wrong. When developing a script it’s easy to become snow blind as there’s usually a lot to consider. Reading over a draft straight after writing makes it hard to be objective about it and spot the weak areas.

At all stages of the script development read it aloud as much as possible (ideally using a stopwatch). As mentioned what’s written doesn’t always flow when spoken so be aware of this throughout the process.

Finally don’t get too attached to each draft. Remember the first draft is exactly that, a first draft. Most first drafts are nowhere near the finished article so don’t expect to ace it off the bat and produce further drafts until you’re happy with the result. When it’s ready to go you’ll know as soon as you read it aloud as hopefully it will flow and feel natural.

Hopefully these tips will help you get your script off the blocks and on its way to help you produce great corporate videos that are engaging and effective.

To find out more about us and our services, please click here.

Video production advice – How To Look Your Best On Camera

By Corporate Video Production

Your guide to appearing on camera.

When producing video marketing or promotional video for your company there will be strong chance that you personally, or one of your colleagues may be stepping in front of the camera for the first time. You may be delivering some lines to camera or demonstrating your product and service, or you may appear as a talking head in an interview format. We understand that you won’t want to appear vain however we also understand that you will want to ook your best as you’ll be representing your company. So here’s some useful video production advice for looking your best in front of the camera.

What to wear?

It’s important that you wear something that makes you feel comfy in front of camera. They’ll be other factors you may find a little daunting about appearing on film so if you can start by being comfortable in your outfit then its one less thing to worry about.

From a technical aspect there are a few things that you’ll also want to consider. Don’t wear anything that’s too busy, striped or patterned. This can cause a technical issue which will result in the footage looking flickery. Also be aware of the background you are being filmed against. For example if you’re being shot against a black backdrop don’t wear a black shirt/dress as you could end up looking like a floating head!

Avoid anything that’s very loose fitting or baggy as it can sometimes make odd and unflattering shapes when on film.

video production advice

Dark clothes on a dark background can look strange, whereas lighter clothes will make you stand out.

Hair

Being able to see your face and eyes is important so if you have long hair try to avoid having it falling down over your face. You may want to use some product to keep your hair in place but be careful about using too much as it can pick up a lot of bounce from lights and make your hair look un-naturally greasy.

Makeup

If you’re doing your own makeup then a golden rule of thumb is to apply a bit more than you usually would. You also want to minimize shadows around the eyes so we suggest a lighter shade of concealer and avoid harsh lines around the eyes. Lips can always benefit from a bit of extra definition to help them pop out so go for a darker shade than you normally would. Finally use translucent powder to help reduce shine.

Camera Angle

Don’t be afraid to ask the camera operator to show you a preview of the shot and if you’re not happy say so. If you are shooting with a professional crew they will understand and expect that you will want to look your best so working with them to perfect the shot is by no means unusual. Check that the camera angle is not too low, shooting most people from an angle below their eyes usually results in a less than flattering shot so if you’re not happy with the preview shot you’ve been shown ask for the camera to be raised slightly.

video production advice

Make up touching up for promotional video shoot

Lights

One of the most important pieces of video production advice we can give is to get involved in the lighting. If the preview shot shown to you doesn’t feel right there may be a chance that the lighting is too harsh. This causes faces to become too angular and casts hard shadows. Ideally for most people to look their best on camera a big soft source of lighting will be the best approach. So again, don’t be afraid to ask the crew to soften the lights a little if you feel they are not showing you at your best.

Above all you want to be proud of your video marketing output so taking that little bit of extra time to get the look right will give you a final product that you’ll be eager to show off.

 

We hope that this video production advice is useful but by all means drop us a line on the link below if yo;d like to know more.

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