Ok so first thing, apologies to ladies, I couldn’t make this pun work with the words ‘Camera people.’

I was watching Andy Marr’s interview with President Barack Obama and I couldn’t help looking at how beautifully it was shot (mostly). These are high pressure circumstances I’ve no idea how long they had to set up or rehearse but I do know that they had a fixed 18 mins to do the interview. When Marr’s earpiece went down during the interview he overran his alotted time and lost the promised opportunity to do a corridor walk and talk with Obama. This would have been a golden shot as a lead in for a voiceover but that’s secondary to the main event.

You’ve got one shot at this type of interview with a huge weight of expectation back at base so ZERO margins for screw ups! Below are 3 stills I’ve grabbed and what you can learn from them. There were 3 cameras for the interview, probably a fourth to shoot the Presidents’ arrival in the room for B-Roll (In this case footage to use over voiceover / cutaways to build to the scene).

This is the money shot, you simple can’t fluff this one as it will be on screen the longest. See how the background is thrown out of focus (long lens, wide aperture, distance from subject) so the focus is all on the face and the busy background doesn’t distract. The dedo rail is dealt with by positioning top of the shoulders, not cutting through the ears. The flags and painting all give a sense of the American people and history. Soft lighting on the face and a hint of backlight separates Obama from the background.

Andy Marr, the second most important shot. Same thing with the picture frame, it’s positioned so it doesn’t cut through his head or distract. Nice backlight separates him from the background. Notice the incidental lighting (the table light) is left on. Easy to forget this, It adds warmth (it’s tungsten balanced), makes the room feel real and adds depth to the shot. If it was switched off it would just look flat and odd.

Not to be picky but this is where it falls down a bit. It’s a nice wide shot which gives you a visual map of where they are sitting. Again the room lighting switched on gives depth. My main gripe is the messy cables, of course as mentioned at the top they were short of time and lucky to get the interview so may have not had a chance for a final, final tweak.

It’s always worth a detailed microscopic check of all the shots before you shoot, not just looking at your subjects but all the props and details around them.

When I watched the interview it became obvious the Director noticed the cables were in shot during the recording and started to get the Wide camera person to crop them out by zooming in. So the tip is if you notice something wrong don’t just let it go but adjust and take action.

I suggest you have a look at Brendon Burchard’s video sales funnel for his forthcoming training course ‘Total Product Blueprint‘. These videos often get taken down after the course goes live so do it now. I’m pointing them out because they demonstrate how, if you can get a nice space to film your sales videos in, and you are clever with props you don’t have to go anywhere near Camtasia or Screenflow.

Let’s face it making sales videos using screen capture is a lot of work, especially to make them look really good. To make a great one you might need to hire in graphics people and a pro-editor to give them a kick. Also used alone with no real world footage of you on camera, screen capture videos can get really samey. They also make it harder to really connect with your prospects.

Brendon manages to captivate and deliver his message being on screen from top to tail with just a set of artists easels, notepads, stickies and whiteboards! Yes of course he’s a captivating speaker but I still reckon you can make an effective video like this with a little on camera practice and coaching.

You’ll notice the nice spacious room with the ‘high key’ lighting. My hunch is you probably know someone who has a spacious apartment or house that could fit the bill. It doesn’t have to be modern, as long as it fits the your product and is either easy to light or has loads of soft natural light.

When you watch the videos you might be daunted and think he’s been word perfect for the entire duration (some go to 40 minutes in length) but realise every cutaway of the hands or the boards is a point he could have broken off and picked up again where he left off. These are ‘edit points’.

There’s also a priceless video in the sequence where Brendon shows you step by step what message to include in your sales videos. Plus, he asks the viewers to create a sales video that follows his principles and share the link from YouTube in a facebook comment to win a $1200 prize (US only).

This is another great marketing tactic to utilise user generated video to spread buzz about his course via YouTube and facebook.

Go check the videos out while you can. You need to opt-in on the page to see the videos I’m talking about.

Ps. I’ve watched all the videos so far and the course he’s going to offer looks amazing. If you want to create information products, from e-books, to membership sites, DVD’s to live seminars this training will guide you along the way.

I just tested the Traffic Player plugin and really liked it. It’s handy because you can get a sales/squeeze video up on your WordPress site without eating your bandwidth or having to set up hosting.

The video looks like it’s professionally hosted as you can configure it to be without the YouTube logo, playbar and title line which can make you look like a cheapskate and removing the links stops people leaving your site.

If you set it to autoplay you’ll also build viewcount back on YouTube which helps the video rank higher.

If you make videos for clients and they use WordPress they could invest in the plug-in and have some nice looking skins on their site without visitors realising they are hosting on YouTube.

One downside I just noticed is the YouTube logo still appears when I view the video on my iphone. But that’s not a deal breaker.

See more skins and all the details here.

You can also see the page I used for my test in the video above here.

Warning: This video is a little racy so don’t watch if you are underage, at work, in an Islamic country, or in a marital crisis.

Australian realtors Adrian Jenkins and Ian Adams have clocked up 650,000 views for this video promoting 15 Queen Anne Court in Queensland. It’s definitely a twist on conventional Property tour Videos. Ok so it’s nothing new that sex sells and this is blatant in the promo. But let’s strip it down further so to speak.

The video uses a mini-narrative weaved into the glossy shots of the property. You could create a narrative that doesn’t involve girls in their underwear to use in your promo.

The first 10 seconds grab you by the short and curlies. There’s so much pace and drama you’ve got to keep watching. You need to do this in your videos.

The video parodies bad action movies or commercials so as a viewer you have a reference point of familiarity. You know it’s not going to be too hard to watch. Can you parody something that would fit your video marketing strategy?

Like this post? Please sign up to the newsletter (right hand column) to keep in touch.

Ok so here’s a little rant. Unlike me I know ! I’ve decided (for this week at least) I hate kit, in fact I declare myself a kit minamilist. But why?

1. Because it’s way too expensive and messy. Yes you can pick up a mid-priced DSLR that shoots awesome footage that could be on HBO but by the time you’ve added on all those other bits of nonsense it racks up a hefty bill, and you’ve got to pull in some serious work to pay for it all. Plus it clutters your house.
2. Because as a freelance Videomaker/Video Coach I have to really choose carefully and agonise over every decision I make, but that amateur guy, you know the Plastic Surgeon with the fat six figure salary can just swan right into the camera store in front of me and buy a 5dmk2 and a couple of lenses to use on his Sunday walk in the woods and I can’t ! In other words – kit makes me jealous!
3. Because all those endless blogs that talk about kit, and rumours about kit and which kit to buy, and look at this shiny bit of kit and blah blah blah are so dull. They don’t have soul.
4. Because so many people with a tonne of kit don’t make good Videos, they need to meditate more or something and get in touch with their inner Videomaker. They are so lost in a world of frame rates and codecs and nonsense they can’t move forward creatively.
5. Because kit gets outdated so fast and you can easily put off making Videos until you have the next  bit of kit, otherwise you are utterly convinced your Videos will be rubbish so why bother!

That’s it, rant over, now I need to order that new lens I’ve been lusting over.

I think people are falling into a trap thinking Video Marketing is just sitting in their office and talking about their product or somebody elses product. A single shot, no movement, low energy, get it done quick and move on.

That’s one form of Video Marketing for sure. But don’t just stop there.

People will soon tire of seeing endless Experts, Marketers and the like doing exactly the same thing. Everything just looks the same. The more people watch Video the more they will come to expect. Standards are already climbing, just like in the evolution of Television and lazy Videos won’t make the grade. Even now the top YouTubers are crushing it with the quality of their homemade Vlogs, many are better than some of the tatty efforts I’ve seen from so-called Business Videomakers.

If you are going to talk to camera how about putting a twist on it. Watch the Video above (by Paid to Play), it stands out a mile. Now the style is clearly not for everyone, but what kind of style can you develop? How can you make your pitches to camera different? How can you style your background or your editing so your Videos jump out and leave all those other drab Videos behind?

Now you may not have a studio space but do you need to be stuck in the office, could you be in a more interesting location, on a boat, by a river, walking and talking, as long as it fits your message. Could you film something that symbolises what you are trying to convey rather than just talk about it?

Next think out of the box, if you are going to push your Videos to the next level how can you creatively illustrate the product you are talking about, or show the benefits of using the product to break up the visuals and keep people watching?

How will you take your Videos to the next level?

I’ve been following the launch of Ryan Lee’s new Webinar product Presentation Domination. The Video’s have been made by The Video Boss himself Andy Jenkins. I’m liking the slick use of greenscreen with the cityscape behind.

My Save the Flip site has created a buzz across the Web, I set it up in 30 mins a few days ago but it’s not just about the flip brand. It’s about a big Corp buying a great but smaller brand, then trashing it. The flip is a simple to use camera treasured in African Villages, in Junior schools, by people who can’t afford a contract on a smartphone. Or course it’s also been an iconic brand amongst Mums and Dads, Grandparents, Vloggers, Journalists and in the business community. You can argue it’s not the BEST Pocket camera but it could have easily been the best, had the new innovations that were planned not be now locked up in a warehouse somewhere!

I have had many comments and people signing up at Save The Flip all expressing their shock and dismay that Cisco could bury the flip without finding a buyer to take it over. At least Cisco should have the heart to ensure the flip continues to be a powerful video communication tool long into the future. To not to do so is simply greedy.

Instead of handing the brand over to be revived for future generations they think only of their own tax write off.

This flip debacle is also about how the big Corps entice their fans to join their social media groups and be their so called ‘friends’ until the crunch. The word ‘friend’ has never been thinner or social media so lacking in substance. Flip Brand haven’t even updated their main facebook fan page (345,000 plus fans) since news broke 3 days ago! Even when you break-up you owe an explanation, an apology even and a way forward. They must be in a bunker somewhere plotting their escape.

This is about a small camera, a big corp and the little people! Save the Flip!

I am posting this Video for a few reasons. It’s not the greatest Video, but I saw it played on a giant screen at a ‘Traffic Attraction’ seminar and it certainly did the trick in terms of converting the audience into buyers. If you go to Internet Marketing seminars you’ll see how many top speakers now use Video on screen to show real people giving testimonials and to keep peoples attention using mixed-media.

My Point: If you do live presentations, learn to shoot Video or pay someone else to make you some Videos you can use both at the event and on your site. Think how your Videos could work in multiple ways when you come up with the concept.

Secondly, the company 123 Employee is one of many offering outsourced workers in the Phillipines. Now some people have issues about the whole concept of using cheap labour overseas, but putting that aside, outsourcers like these are trained to make Videos. Send them a list and they will create Videos, market the Videos and in some cases they can even edit the footage you Dropbox them.

My Point: If you shoot but have no time to edit, think about outsourcing. If you need a lot of Video to push out on all the platforms, outsource and use your time to do the things you do the best and are most valuable for your business.

This trailer (Directed by Adam Patch) is one of the reasons Tim Ferris’s latest book ‘The 4 Hour Body‘ jumped up the Amazon charts and made him a mint. (There you go, I just linked to the book on Amazon!)

If you want to get your book launch seen and shared you really need a Video to create a buzz on YouTube, blogs and social networks. A still of a book cover just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Think about it from a Blog or Website Editors’ POV, they might have a nice text interview with you or a press release but they need to add a splash of colour on the page and embedding a cool trailer makes their life much easier. (There you go, I just embedded it!)

If you need a trailer made in the UK then I’m interested in doing one for you. Get in touch on the About Me page. If you want to make a trailer yourself (which will be way better than having no Video) check out my training course.

To find out how the trailer made there is an excellent post over at the Four Hour Work week blog. (But do come back soon). See the post.