As part of our Marketing in May webinar series, the Marketing department here at CompanyCam is contributing some fresh material to help guide you in your marketing efforts!
So you want to make a video. Or maybe you want to make a lot of videos. I’ve got some tools for you to get started with whatever you have to work with. Don’t have a 6k BlackMagic Pocket Cinema camera? No problem. Don’t have a full lighting rig and a sound engineer? No big deal. Do you have a phone? Perfect.
At CompanyCam, 50% of our videos we shoot are using an iPhone. Most modern phones have a spectacular camera on them, well suited for shooting videos for the Internet. With a few tools, you can turn your phone into a badass operator. You can pick up a small tripod for your phone on the internet for cheap. For under $150 you can get a “Gimbal” Stabilizer for your phone which allows you to have smooth shots. You can also get a app like Filmic Pro to get the most out of your phone’s hardware, allowing you to control your exposure and focus and other important settings hidden in your phone’s normal camera app. Armed with a phone and maybe some other accessories, and you’re good to go to start making videos.
The most important thing in video production is telling a proper story. Your video should be a journey, telling a story from Point A to Point B. So what’s your story? Are you the most trusted contractor in your area? Maybe you pride yourself on doing clean and quick work, or maybe you have a team that is worth showing off. Nail down your story, and then fill it with as much information as you can. Your pricing, your materials used, your work ethic, your history, anything that can bolster someone’s opinion of your company.
Now that you’ve got your story, your details, and your people lined up to shoot a video, its time to get down to business. An important rule to keep in mind is the Rule of Thirds.
With this little guide, you can set up any shot you want to take. Keeping your subject along the lines as shown above. This creates a pleasing shot that focuses the viewer on what you want to see. Lining things up dead center all the time gets trying on the eyes, but can be used for effect when you want to make a more declarative point. Set up your shots, alternating each side of the rule of thirds for each subject. Make sure they don’t have a heavy backlight that is blowing out the shot, and that their face is well lit, and they aren’t wearing a hat or something that may darken their face.
Now to the second most important part of making a video, the B‑Roll. B‑Roll are the shots that you use in between shots of the subject talking. These shots can be of your crews working in the field, in the office, glamour shots of trucks pulling in and being unloaded, anything that can signify the work that your business does. Place these clips over and in between your subjects clips (or A‑Roll) to spice things up, or to hide any edits you may have made.
Speaking of edits, if you have an Apple computer, you already have iMovie installed. If you have a Windows computer, there are many programs to choose from that just take a simple internet search to find. Some phones even have editors built into them, such as iMovie on the iPhone. You can use just about anything to put a video together, but the more well-planned your shots are, the less editing you will have to do, so keep that in mind while shooting. Add music, and titles, and graphics such as your logo, and soon enough you’ll have a video worth using for Facebook or Youtube ads, or to send out to clients, all without the need to hire a videographer.
