Archive for the ‘production’ Category:
Good video marketing reads for the Halloween Weekend
There are three great papers that were published recently, all of them good reads for everyone who works in video marketing and or in online marketing. And the good news: apart from being really useful, all of them are available online for free.
If your weekend is busy and you only have time to read one of them then go for “Creating E-Commerce Videos that Sell” by Justin Foster, co-founder of Liveclicker and Founder of Video Commerce Consortium . It’s a great paper for everybody how wants to understand the potential of video content in e-commerce; especially interesting were the sections on “Understanding Motivation, Simplicity, and Triggers” and the “Product Video ROI Calculator”.
The second paper I recommend is part of a series of best practice papers published by Adobe Scene7 called “Experience: What’s Best, What’s Next - A Point of View on Building Rich Online Experiences”. The author is Doug Mack (Vice President & General Manager of Consumer & Hosted Solutions at Adobe). Believe me, I have no intention whatsoever to promote Adobe or its RM solution Scene7. But it’s simply interesting and everybody involved in the multidisciplinary art of video marketing can learn something useful from the 7 principles explained. Principle 2 “Movement has Meaning” explains why adding video, animation and voice is so important for a good user experience online, including real cases of videos displayed in fashion e-retailing sites that helped increase performance.
The third is actually a presentation and has no direct connection with video marketing but it dives deeply into the immediate future of the Internet, showing upcoming trends relevant to any Internet marketer. The Top 5 Internet Trends were published by Richard MacManus, Founder&Editor of ReadWriteWeb. You will find valuable information on Structured Data, The Real-Time Web, Personalization, Mobile Web & Augmented Reality and the Internet of Things.
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eCommerce Video Production Tips from the Pros: eBags
Note from VideoRetailer.org: Last fall, I asked Scott Roon and Jason Carncross to share a few video commerce production tips. This is the incredibly creative duo that’s behind eBags.com’s video product and delivery. Some of their most popular videos are the eBags MacroLoader demo, and most recently, the eBags Web Busters video.I put the camera on a tripod and left these guys present it, their way.
Scott Roon: Hey, what’s happening? I’m Scott, new Media Producer at Ebags.
Jason Carncross: I’m Jason. I’m a Senior Web Designer at Ebags.
Scott: He’s more qualified than I am. Anyway, web video is kind of new, right? I mean, I guess. We’re doing commerce web video, but it’s not what you think. Okay, it’s Ecommerce. Alright, and I guess we’re talking about kind of some of the easiest way to get started, I suppose. Basically, I’m just trying to teach them everything I learned in college. How much time do we got? [Scott looks at his watch] Okay. Sound, first and foremost. Right?
Jason: Yeah. You got to have sound.
Scott: Super important.
Jason: Sound, you can jitter video all you want. You can drop frames. You can have black and white, scratchy…whatever. As soon as you have bad audio, people leave. Kind of have to have great audio.
Scott: I think when we started doing video here, I was pretty adamant on trying to sell them on a thousand dollars worth of audio equipment. I could not stress enough how important it is. When you’re shooting video with someone and somebody’s talking, you don’t want it to sound like old Hamm radio. It’s the least engaging thing ever. People will turn it right away. I do that on Youtube when I’m watching. If you can tell just that the audio is not right, that’s sort of a subliminal thing. The thing that sucks about video and producing video, is that if you’re doing your job right, nobody notices because the end goal is to make it look seamless. And nobody knows. That’s why all video producers are people in LA. It’s because it’s a thankless, thankless job, but that’s the whole point. You know? It’s super smooth. And sound is–immediately, you will recognize bad sound. I mean, video you can…like you said, you can throw filters if you want. You can do whatever you want. You can fix video, but audio is…
Jason: Another thing that’s bad about audio is If you use the same public domain clip that everyone else is using, then you end up triggering mental relapse from the user about some other site they were just on ten minutes before yours, and that association is bad. If you can do original music at all, even if it’s loop based, but original in edit. That’s better than just pulling something off the shelf, and plugging it in and running with it. Most of the people out there are doing that. You’ll get caught. People will come up and say, “Hey, you know that track in your music, I heard that on TV or I heard that on a commercial. It’s like, “Oh man.”
Scott: I see some of the political ones now, and they use some of the same loops we have. But yeah, you start recognizing. Sound is such a subliminal thing. I mean it’s just..you can’t get away with a lot when it comes to sound. So, do not skimp on sound equipment, since we’re in a lesson here. Do not do that.
Jason: What camera do you use?
Scott: I use prosumer Panasonic DVX 100, for whatever that means to anybody out there. It’s the DVX 100B, which is the third generation of that one. But it was the first prosumer camera, which is half pro half consumer, around three grand, $3,000 that shot 24 frames per second which is a simulated film effect as you know. It simulates value. The eye can recognize the difference between 30 frames per second. If you get farther than 30 frames per second, your eye can’t physically tell. If you slow it down, It’s a trick it plays on the eye to give it more depth. That’s what we use. We haven’t found an HD yet.
Jason: Everything’s been small. We use a 320/240 resolution for all of our videos now. That might change in the future, but for right now that’s what we’re using. Tripod or handheld?
Scott: I love handheld. I’m old school. I came from a music background. It’s at your discretion. I’ve done a lot of behind the scenes tours of companies. It’s a more personal feel for me. Again, that’s if you’ve shot it right, and if you know the technique and all that. But first sit down interview. How about yourself? Do you use…?
Jason: I don’t have any preference. I like smooth dolly shots. I like big budget looking shots. Cranes. Throw a crane in there. It’s just that’s how I shoot. I like more high production look. The problem with shooting high production is if you want to maintain that. You can’t do halfway. You can do minimal cost minimal effort. As soon as you start to get used to high end production. You have to do it right, or someone will call you out. How come you shot it at night? So many elements that you have to control in that world. Unless you’re planning on a big budget, you want to try and make it feel as organic as possible.
Scott: There are certain things you can fake. There are certain things that are difficult to fake. That’s where the TV background is helping. Every corner that I can cut. Not to say that we’re skimping on everything but realistically, it’s a business like everything else. You got to know how to efficiently create something. On any given day, you shoot three things a week. It better not be super expensive. Especially, if you can’t really measure success. I mean you can…but…
Jason: What is your philosophy on edits? I know you have some interesting cut through shots.
Scott: I’m a little aggressive when it comes to edits. I hate dissolves. It’s just my personal thing. They are forced, cheesy, and contrived–Disney movie.
Jason: I agree.
Scott: I think the hardest part has been brevity. Creating rich content that moves–gets in, gets out shows people what you want. A lot of that comes from knowing your consumer. I directly take recommendations off of of our testimonials. I need to know the size of it. I get shots of the presentator relative to the size. I make sure I get good shots. A lot of it is listening to what people want.
Jason: I know the answer to this one, but I’m going to ask for their sake–single cam or multicam shoot?
Scott: In theory, what do I want? Or what do I do? I shoot single cam because it’s just me. It’s really hard to do this with two cameras and talk to someobody. I shoot single camera. I’ve found a couple tricks to get around it and to make it look a little better. Everytime, the first thing that I ask everybody is for lifestyle images, still images anything I can use to enrich a one camera shoot. I want two. It’d be nice. But then I need someone else. It becomes more production. That’s one of those corners, I want to try and cut. I hate using that term by the way. It seems so cheap, when I say “cut corners.” But “maximize efficiency.”
Jason: What about your b-roll, How do you keep track of the straps you have to pick up?
Scott: I do the interview first. Generally, time permitting. I shoot the interview first, and keep a mental note of where it is. That’s kind of the beauty of being the pre-production, the production, and the editer. At the end of the day, the one thing that’s terrible is, I have no else to blame. The one thing that’s good is that I know everything i need in order to create. After i do an interview, i know specifically, what shots I’m going to need when i get back to the editing room.
Jason: One more question.
Scott: I don’t know when this turned into a..
Jason: Because you are a better speaker than I am. Is there something that you would call the Ebags style? How do you come up with it? As far as the edit…can you look at two different videos that you shot and edited and say, “Yeah that was done by the same person?”
Scott: Wow, I really try not to though is the thing. Again, if I’m doing my job right it makes it look like we have 7 different producers and a bunch of different people doing this, different editors and different styles. I’m trying to take as diverse of a look as I can.
Jason: You don’t need a response. I don’t know. I just figured it was a good question.
Scott: I figured you were leading me into something where you were going to make fun of me for something.
Jason: If you’d like me to, I could…
Scott: I try and do it as professional looking as possible, but as engaging as possible. A lot of it comes from the Youtube. I surf Youtube not at work obviously, all the time. I’m always looking for the ways people portray just the stupid things that they do, and the products that they they love, and the things they love, and the the people they are. If i can pull all of that together into one cohesive style, then I have effectively escaped this question.
Jason: Ever think of running for office?
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8 great commerce video production tips
Holding the camera’s the easy part! Here are some tips to speed up the editing process and increase your video production productivity.
1. Buy a good camera
There are dozens of good cameras available on the market to create your videos. One thing to keep in mind if the fact that videos on your site will typically be 320×240 pixels, which do not require high-definition. However, we recommend buying good camera (HD typically) because they will give you more editing options. Also, try to get a camera with a hard-drive, as opposed to tapes.
2. Use a microphone
Sound is an important part of your videos. You need to use a mike at all times when recording your clips. Wireless or wired mikes typically run under $100. It’s an excellent investment.
3. Prepare what you’re going to say
It’s good to be spontaneous but your imagination and creativity will likely wear off after you have assembled a few videos for your site. Prepare your points ahead of time for each video, and try to be concise when delivering your message.
4. Limit to number of products or points per video
Your viewers have limited attachment span and in general, it’s best to limit sequences to 1 or 2 minutes when filming for eCommerce applications.
5. Starting and stopping the camera
If you are filming product video clips, start filming your anchor a few seconds before she starts talking, then stop a few seconds after she’s done. This will give you some additional editing flexibility down the road.
6. Single-sequence clips work well
When presenting a product you may decide to cut your video clip in two sequences (general frame then zoomed-in), sometimes even more. A highly effective approach that’s been successfully implemented with our clients is to shoot single-sequence clips instead. These are generally shorter, more focused - and it also greatly increases the number of videos you will be able to create a day.
7. Use noise reduction
Even with a good mike you will still need to do some noise reduction on your clips while editing. Adobe Premiere has an excellent Noise Cancelation feature that works perfectly for clearing out all the background noise.
8. Take lots of notes while filming
Another great productivity idea! Write down some basic information about any clip sequence you are filming. Simple notes such as “Keep”, “Delete”, “Not sure if this will work on the site” will save your editors tons of time since in a typical production day you’ll create hundreds of small clips.
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