Video Production: Low Cost Alternatives to Expensive Location Shoots

By 2012-08-24Featured

The consensus is in – video is a powerful and essential tool for any effective social media campaign. According to a July 2011 Content Marketing Institute study, marketers are spending on average 27% of their budgets on content creation that includes video production and distribution. Those companies that are in the game know that interactive media coupled with text is a proven and engaging approach to raise awareness of their brand. The problem lies in the sticker shock associated with getting video content produced. Video Production: Affordable Alternatives to Costly Location Shoots from E.H. Anderson Public Relations on Vimeo. There was a time when the production of a video required location shoots that included travel and hotel accommodations for the crew. Expensive rates added up quickly especially for multi-day shoots and did not include editing and post production costs. CEOs and marketing directors would often balk over return on investment concerns. Fortunately, times have changed. Today, more affordable video production alternatives exist thanks to innovative technology and the Internet. These methods make it possible for companies to effectively leverage video while avoiding the time and expense associated with complex location shoots. In this post, we will explore these alternatives. Skype it. Skype is a hybrid peer-to-peer and client server system developed in 2003 that allows users to communicate by voice, video and instant messaging over the Internet.  Over the years Skype’s video capabilities have grown to include a call recording feature that allows for the capture of video chats. These movie files can then be exported for use in video editing software platforms like Final Cut. Skype’s use as a low cost video delivery system has been adopted by network and local television outlets across the country. By hooking up with a Skype enabled producer, CEOs can spread their brand’s message from the comfort of their own office using their webcam enabled computer. The downside to Skype is that the video quality is limited to the quality of the webcam that is being used. Lighting may also be a concern depending on the office setting. Still it is much more cost effective to rent a light locally versus the cost of a booking a flight. The lighting equipment should not exceed 250 watts to avoid blowing out the webcam and causing excessive glare. Using Existing Materials Breathe life into your existing marketing collateral by sending static PDF files or JPGs to a producer that knows what to do with them. With photoshop and a feature rich editing program a producer can quickly create a cost effective video to add to your quiver of content. Basically with a little creativity, any marketing piece can become more engaging by using the content as the voice-over script, adding a little music and making the media move. Demo it. Do you have a feature rich app or website that you want to put through its paces and show off to the world? A producer can download a mobile app and use mirroring software to record the action from a device. Programs like Reflections for the iPhone or iPad export quicktime movies for use in editing software.  Screen capture programs like Camtasia and Screenflow are feature-rich programs that allow you to do the same with any website. With some direction from you, multiple videos can be quickly produced that showcase your product or service. Stream it. Ustream was established in 2007 as a means for deployed troops in Iraq to communicate with their families back home. Since then the video streaming service has gone mainstream and has developed inexpensive software programs that enhance coverage of live events. Now a single producer armed with a laptop, a consumer grade video camera, an Internet connection and Ustream’s Producer Pro software can deliver quality “live” programming to an audience. Planning is essential to a successful Ustream broadcast. Presenters at a conference should supply the producer with slides from their presentation beforehand so that they can be incorporated into the “switched” broadcast. The rest is easy. Simply follow along with the speaker and switch from camera to slide and back at the appropriate times. Ustream Producer is also facebook and twitter enabled allowing for social networking chats to take place during the broadcast. The broadcasts are also archived for later viewing and can be automatically linked to YouTube to boost SEO. As a cost-effective turnkey solution, Ustream should be considered for any live event video campaign. Content, Content, Content. In a world of short attention spans and using video to boost awareness of your brand, content is king. It is all about exposure, so it is better to have five 2 minute videos that are posted and optimized for SEO on a particular topic than to have one all encompassing 10 minute video. Now there are alternative ways to inexpensively and quickly produce multiple videos to fill your content needs.