I was recently contacted to build a short promotional video for an upcoming event. This blog is intended to help those who are ready to get their feet wet in this world of media creation. Here are some key pointers to getting started to avoid some very costly & timely mistakes later...
Understand the Depth of Your Project
*Greg Hastings, paintball video game entrepreneur, is running a display booth featuring his video game franchise at *PAX South on January 27/28/29 2017 in San Antonio TX. There will be 5 other paintball superstar personalities in addition to himself as well as LIVE Broadcast event coverage from **Behind the Bunker, a live stream weekly show covering anything Paintball. In addition to the superstar lineup, Greg has brought on board several great sponsors to support this event and add in some great prize give aways. And if that's not enough, Greg will be hosting a tournament live at the event, winners receiving prizes. As well as declaring the Grande Prize Winner from his franchises weekly competition, Friday Night Fights. If you're saying to yourself "Wow, that's a lot of things to highlight" you are right.
Questions to Ask
Your client may or may not know precisely what they want. This is where collaboration comes in. You need to ask some key questions like:
Who is your target audience?
How long are you envisioning the length of the project?
What is the overall message you want the viewer to walk away with?
Will all media/content be provided?
What is the deadline?
Some people will have a very specific vision in their head and others will leave that up to you. But by asking the right questions you have already begun creating a storyboard in your head. Find what is missing in your story board so you can figure out how much to allot for filming and/or editing. In this case, Greg was extremely specific as far as the information that MUST be delivered. The message? Come Meet Your Paintball Hero at PAX South in San Antonio TX January 27-29, Presented by Ultimate Paintball.
Don't Be Afraid to Say What You Expect/Need
You are the video expert. You are the one who needs to inform your client what YOU need to make their dream a reality. They are the expert in what they do which is why the two of you must fully understand each other in order to provide you with what you will need to make this happen for them. Things you may need are:
Is there power on location?
Is the location Indoor or outdoor?
Forecast; rain/wind/sun/clouds etc?
Internet access?
If interviewing people, have your client contact the camera personalities ahead of time to prepare them on their subject matters. That eliminates a lot of "uh's and um's" during the shoot.
Make sure when working with logos that they are provided to you. Googling leaves room for a lot of guess work. As well as low resolution issues. Having to re-finalize and upload a project is both time consuming and a pain. So get these nails hammered down the first time through.
Every video is different. All of the above mentioned play a factor depending on you, your abilities and your equipment. Don't be intimidated to speak up for both suggestions AND limitations. In my experience a client usually perceives the direction as professionalism. In this case there was no need for filming, just editing.
Organization is EVERYTHING
Greg reached out to all of his partners and collected all of the promotional material for me. Each superstar sent me photos of themselves. Greg sent me logos from the sponsors as well as his own. It is imperative that as the content comes in you file it immediately. There can be many hands in the media pot and things can get "lost" very easily. Creating a pyramid of organized folders is a great way to keep things easy to reference.
Now Roll Up Your Sleeves
Time to put on your thinking cap and get your hands dirty. At this point you should have everything you need to create something great. Whether it be filming, editing or both, this is your starting point. Ready. Set. Go!
- Anthony Bove III
Have you seen our STORE??? Decorate your house or office with everything ABIII
*Greg Hastings: www.GregRedHastings.com
**PAX South: http://south.paxsite.com
***Behing the Bunker: http://behindthebunker.com
