Earlier this week eZanga released an introduction to our Video Marketing Strategy Series which highlighted why video should be your competitive edge in 2012. The first part of the series discusses the production quality of your videos. But first you must ask yourself, is this something you should do in house or outsource?
If you want to outsource these efforts, the average rate for a corporate video usually runs about $1000 per finished minute. If you want to test drive the positive effect video has on your business model first, this may be the route to go. However, if you decide video works, I suggest you hire someone (or a team depending on your company size) in house to implement a successful video marketing strategy. Not only will they have the advantage of knowing the business model, product/services, but they will always be on site to create each video as needed.
That being said, our very own Video Marketing Specialist, Mike Pfeifer, will be co-authoring our Video Marketing Strategy series. Here’s a list of equipment Mike put together for the beginners who are ready to get their video marketing efforts up and running:
Camera- Duh! But choosing the right camera for your needs is very important in video production. If you’re not totally vested in the video marketing idea, it’s always safe to start basic. Mike suggests anything that can shoot HD. In short Mike says, “If you pump enough lighting into it, the footage will look good.” The budget range for a good camera is usually anywhere between 600-1300 dollars.
Mike uses a DSLR style camera. In the past three years this type of camera has become a pretty common buzzword. Independent filmmakers are using DSLR cameras, which are capable of shooting video along with still images. If you check out eZanga’s more recent promotional videos on our YouTube channel, you can see the difference in quality with the DSLR. For some pointers, Mike suggests Philip Bloom’s tutorial with DLSR cameras.
Audio- 50% of your video relies on the quality of sound. Although audio is recorded on your camera device the quality is no where near as good as if you used an audio recorder. Here is a perfect example of the difference. Mike’s recommends the Zoom H1 which is about $99, which we use in house.
Lighting- This probably is the most overlooked and underrated ingredient to video quality. Light is everything. Let’s put it this way, if you had the absolute best camera in the world with poor lighting, the video would look… :/ Yea, that about sums it up. Here’s another great tutorial from Philip Bloom’s website where Eve Hazelton with Underwater Realm discusses the basic techniques of lighting a subject.
Editing- The software for video editing is pretty important as well, since it pulls everything together. Mike says if the budget is there, you should spring for the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 Production Premium, which runs at about $1699. It may seem a bit pricey, but it’s at the professional level (with a steep learning curve). If you’re looking for a more basic software go for Apple’s Final Cut Pro X which is relatively cheaper coming it at $299.99. This software is very user friendly and has a smaller learning curve.
There you have it, production in a nut shell. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments section and Mike will answer them.
Other blogs in this series:
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Tags: digital video, video marketing
