All, please Wellcome Fred Light to our blog. This is probably the most legitimate “how to” guide on real estate video that we’ve seen yet. After reading this, you might just say something along the lines of, “man…if I want to do more of what I do (sell/rent properties), I should hire a videographer.” If so, our hats are off to you. If you are a hands on marketing guru with a lot of patience, don’t dive in without reading this:
How to shoot a real estate video - Part 1
I am contacted almost every day by email or phone from someone asking how to create a real estate video or what equipment I am using, etc. So, I thought I’d just throw it all out here!
Although I clearly don’t know it all, I have been doing real estate videos online for about 16 months - longer than pretty much anyone. Through a great deal of trial and error and a LOT of time (oh, and a LOT of money!), I’ve finally found a few things that do seem to work.
Video is definitely not for the faint of heart. To do it correctly involves an expense, and more importantly, a lot of time in filming, editing and compression. It takes some major computer power and some pretty hefty storage as well. I do all my videos in high definition (more on that another time), but that takes everything to an entirely different level (for example, every running minute of hi def video is a bit over one gigabyte in size - you do the math!).
How to actually shoot a real estate video
1. Be sure to purchase and use a wide angle lens. Otherwise you will have the same problem as you do with a camera without a wide angle lens - lots of corners, walls and windows.
2. Prepare a checklist for your client of how to prepare their home. It should be prepared as if for an open house - or better yet, a party! All lights on, fans on low, fresh flowers, maybe lit candles…. it’s video. Motion. Obviously (or should be anyway)… remove pets, children’s toys, clutter on countertops, refrigerator ’scrapbooks’, etc. The more like a model home, the better it will show!
3. Light is your best friend and worst enemy with video. I try and shoot in the mornings or later in the afternoon to avoid that harsh mid-day sun. Depending on the property, I may come back at another time to photograph part of the exterior if the sun was too bright (it usually is… SOMEWHERE…!). Where sunlight is coming in directly through the windows, I usually close the blinds and aim them up to avoid the wash out glare from the direct sunlight. Be sure to have plenty of lights on and a camera that does well in low light. Grey skies outside make taping inside very easy - no glare. But the outside is then very ugly. You can’t win. Sometimes I’ll do the inside on an ugly day and go back and do the outside when there’s a nice blue sky to show off the property.
4. Forget about two things….. your zoom lens and special editing effects. This is the first sign of an amateur, and the first thing that makes people nauseous. If you look at any TV show or movie, you will rarely see anyone zooming (with a zoom lens) and the most often used special effect is a cut or a dissolve. People get nutty with using one of every special effect and zooming in and out and in and out. Every editing program offers dozens of transitions. Using more than one will detract interest from the property. Pick one or two at most. You know how bad home movies can be to watch? You don’t want your video to be viewed in the same breath as uncle John’s Hawaii trip, do you? REFRAIN. I know it’s hard. Some of the transitions are cool… but control yourself…..
Zoom in to your subject…. film….. stop. Then zoom out to another subject….frame it…. film. Use the zoom to frame your subject, not to ‘move’ the view. If you want to zoom, move your camera in, not the lens. (see #5)
5. Get thee a tripod. Period. No ifs ands or butts. Nobody will watch your video if you hand hold the camera. It looks horrible. Always. If you’re ready to go to the next level, invest in a steadicam. I’ve purchased a few of the cheapies… they don’t work. I finally sprung for the Steadicam Merlin. It’s not cheap - $800, but it’s awesome. However, no matter what you read, there is a learning curve. A BIG learning curve. If you think you will take that cute little thing out of the box and make smooth videos, think again. It takes a LOT of practice. (I’m still practicing 150 videos later!).
6. If you pan from one side to another, make it S-L-O-W. Again, you don’t want to make a bad ‘home video’.
7. Remember what you’re filming - PROPERTY. Make sure you show what a customer will be wanting to see…. special features (wainscotting, custom cabinets, high ceilings, ceiling fans, palladium windows, custom flooring, etc). Even though it feels like you’re making a very short video clip, you’ll find it will go very quickly when you start editing it. More is always better. You can always cut it, but you can’t add to it if you didn’t film it!
8. Plan your shots. Decide which features are most important and worth highlighting. If you need to, be sure to write down notes about the property if you will be adding narration or titles later.
9. Take some establishing shots of the area nearby - for example the downtown, shopping districts, schools, the town centre, welcome to “town” sign, etc.
10. Take lots of video. Lots. I generally take the video of the entire house three times. I go to each room and do a pan of the room from right to left, then left to right (and up and down if there are cathedral ceilings). Then I do a walkthrough - walking through the home from the front door in a logical manner, to give the viewer an idea of the space and relationship between rooms. Thirdly, I use a SkyPod, which is a telescoping monopod that allows me to take video from up to 10′ high (17′ if mounted on my truck roof!). This gives some very dramatic shots from up high. It creates a lot of drama, and works very well in video taping (or photographing) small rooms, such as a bathroom. If you want your photography to stand out from everyone, get one of these puppies! I
Again, if you shoot a lot of video (more than you need), when you go to edit, you will have many choices. Lighting may be better in one than another, angles may be better, etc. Better to have too much than not enough!
11. I generally try and keep videos to 4-7 minutes in length. Smaller properties and condos I can usually do in 3-4 minutes, but a 6,000 sq ft house is usually up to 7 minutes. You need to keep them under that time or people will not sit and watch and the files get too large to conveniently play online. You need to balance quality against download time when compressing your video, so size definitely matters. Generally, video tours are used in conjunction with photographs, so people will most likely ONLY view the video if they are truly interested, therefore they WILL watch a video that is 5-7 minutes long due to that reason.
12. Be sure to make your most compelling photos early on in the video. Especially for longer videos, I sometimes do some really short clips/ slides of highlights of the home at the beginning to pique interest, THEN go into the video. If you keep the juicy stuff until the end, people may not be interested to stay and watch.
13. Your narration needs to tell a story, whether its an audio narration or title slides. Guess what… “kitchen”, “living room” is silly. I would be willing to bet that everyone viewing your video will be able to tell that this particular room with a refrigerator and oven is a KITCHEN. Don’t state the obvious. Don’t insult the viewer. Tell a story. Paint a word picture. Be expressive in your narration. Speak about certain features and elements of the property that aren’t easily visualized, but also be sure to create some emotion - some excitement. People buy homes based on emotion. This is a perfect time to ‘create’ that for a buyer. You don’t need to get all flowery either - but don’t just state the obvious.
13. Speak slowly. Speak clearly. Use a good microphone, or no matter how good your video is, the overall effect will be lost. I use the Blue Snowball USB mic - which plugs right in to my USB port. It’s great, and it’s reasonably priced.
Next: Cameras, Lenses, Accessories
Then: Computer hardware, software, compression software, music
Popularity: 13% [?]
