Wedding Videos

Wedding videos is the industry I started in. I can't believe that up to now, weddings are still a big business. Just look for a niche that you can work in and you'll still make a good sum of money with all the competition.

But in producing a wedding video, there are some things you might consider in the post production. And these things will differentiate you from other video production because most of them are really not into making a well-thought-of but just making money. Most clients, especially in the wedding industry, would want to have a very personal touch in their wedding video.

First and foremost, never make it too long. When the client wants the full clip, let them watch the raw footage! Imagine the couple when one of their friends brings someone for lunch and suddenly the wife asks "have you watched our wedding video?" And their friends suddenly makes a face! Your clients would not want that, and especially you because the value of your work would just plummet! When editing the video, make sure it's just long enough to hold their attention while they are reminiscing. Nothing could be more painful than watching a two-hour video fast forwarding until you get to the parts you want to watch in a wedding video.

Secondly, make sure to get the memorable parts. Not just the common important parts of the scene like vows, and the ring in a wedding video. I recommend looking for candid shots as well like playing kids and smiling parents, these shots melts their hearts every time they see it... and yes you have to watch the whole thing for you to catch those scenes.

Thirdly, try to connect the scenes. Transitioning from one clip to another is not that simple, it takes some skills in noticing which goes after which. The basic and most used way is chronological, easiest to understand. Other methods might require you to transition elements like fading from a flower embroidery to the flower decoration in the church. Use your imagination. Editing is like story telling, once your videos tell the story well, it's easier for the audience to stay and watch up to the end of a wedding video.

Fourth and lastly, pick a song that the couple likes, not what you like. Often I'll see some videos where it's too mushy or cheesy for the couple. Sometimes, it's too classy. But to be sure, just ask them their selection of songs that they want in their wedding video. From their you could even tell what type of video or storyboard they would like.

Using the above suggestions, make sure that your primary purpose is to let the couple enjoy watching their wedding when their in their 50's. When they are old and trying to look back at their happy memories. You don't want them saying to themselves "I hate that video editor". But it's really hard to understand a concept without seeing any example, so here's one of the wedding videos I did where all the ideas above have been covered. Enjoy!

Motion Graphics Designers

Here is a list of my favorite motion graphics designers. Starting with the guys who did Colo-Cola's Happiness Factory.



Psyops never ceases to amaze me whenever they do a spot commercial. As motion graphics designers, they make the message simple combined with a very detailed computer graphics, creates a very stunning commercial. The Coca-cola spot was much talked about in the motion graphics community that they produced a "behind the scenes" which was funny thinking that these were actually 3D characters.



Second on my list of motion graphics designers is Jakob Trollback of Trollback & Co. His idea in this video is to take out the artist in displaying their personality in the video and let the music take over the graphics. Known most of the time for the deep concepts in his video, Jakob is now guesting in TED to share the world his ideas.



Jakob is a self-taught artist who started out as a club DJ that's why his love for music is always showing in his works. Here is another from MK12.



MK12 is known for compositing and mixing film and motion graphics. This video is an introduction sequence for the movie Stranger Than Fiction. Simple as it is, the idea was to show the character's boring life as an IRS agent. The sequence has successfully shown the idea artistically and subtley. It was so effective, the style has been replicated in some local commercial, mostly used the wrong way though.

Music Video Production

Music Video Production is easiest to understand in its basic sense. Widely used by bands and music artists to promote their songs, it's basically a combination of visuals and a single song played to its full length. Its first concept can take us as far as 1910, back then was known as musical short films, featuring bands, vocalists, and dancers. Later on followed by animated shorts, music videos where beginning to emerge as a new type of entertainment.

But what do you need in order to produce a music video? For me it'll be a camera, some editing skills, and a concept. Though most music video production concentrate on just displaying the artists nowadays, I still firmly believe that the video still has to communicate. A media that fails to communicate will hardly be recognized at all and will simply be a waste of time. Watch one of my music videos done for a client who has a fairly simple message. Lets see if I was successful in delivering the message or not.



Did you get the message? My client, then turning 18, was telling the audience how it is hard for her to express herself to other people when norms of the society or their family traditions tend to suppress her. She basically wants to be the little girl who enjoys life the way she wanted, not what others wanted for her.

With that music video production, I only had a concept, actors, and a video cam to work with. Of course, the quality has to suffer a bit, but with the purpose of the video, I think quality is not of priority but the message. She thanked me for it and we all had so much fun producing it.

Promotional Video Production

Promotional Video Production is one way of introducing a product to the market. This helps the audience with their buying decision. But of course, there is more room to influence the audience.

A well produced promotional video production starts of with a good storyboard. Without a well planned storyboard, production will go out of bound most of the time in terms of budgets, schedules, and concept. There is nothing worst than ending up with a video that didn't come out how you actually expected it.

Casting calls are important as the concept will be well supported by competent actors and actresses. It is also important in promotional video production to find a convincing actor to play the role. This requires a keen sense to the details as to how the actor will look on screen. Some actors look older than their age, some look more intelligent than they are, some are more suitable for kiddie roles even if they are old. Things like these should be put into consideration when choosing your cast.

Location is one of the most over looked by amateurs. Concentrating more on the concept and actors, they often take the background for granted which is a very subtle error that audience don't really take notice but is perceived as "amateurish." It is important to take note in a promotional video production that location supports the scene in a lot of ways.

Directing is one of the hardest part in a promotional video production. Here is where all the concept, casting, and storyboard will merge into one scene that the director must control. How the overall theme is being perceived is the responsibility of the director and therefore a critical part of the whole production.

I recently joined a contest from Universal Robina Corporation with their Cream-O product. This entry placed 2nd and won my daughter a digital camera. I learned from this promotional video production that there are certain things in life that you cannot control, one of them would be your 4-year old daughter, your big dog, and the weather. Enjoy watching the clip.

Multimedia Presentations

Multimedia Presentations are more effective than ordinary presentations. A lecture, for example, is quite boring for somebody who uses his creative side of the brain. Facts and words are not that appealing to them, thus, the presentation will fail its purpose. Moreover, kids would also find it difficult to understand lectures because they are naturally susceptible to visual inputs. This is where multimedia presentation comes in.

Option to display words, pictures, and use sounds gives multimedia presentations an edge when it comes to putting your message across because it is better understood. Unlike lectures, words are subject to ambiguity and misinterpretation depending on the context it is used, if it is understood at all. Using pictures and sounds gives supports the message of the whole subject eliminating the risk of misinterpretation.





The multimedia presentation above is a perfect example of how words, pictures, and sounds combine together to form a very different learning experience. You will also notice redundancy which may or may not help depending on how you use it. But generally, redundancy keeps the message reinforced. Also you will notice that it was presented in a very personalized manner. The artist's visual style and color used give the presentation a personality, which is equivalent to the presenter's way of delivering the message. However, you presenters are not consistent with how they deliver. There are factors like self-esteem, motivation, and confidence that affects how the message is delivered. Unlike multimedia presentation, it is consistent in every way.

Although there are still disadvantages using multimedia presentations, the benefits still outweighs it. Given its consistency and ability to deliver message quite well, consider this as your first choice when presenting.

Infomercial

Infomercial came from "information" and "commercial". It has been typically used in television to advertise a product. It lasts from as short as one minute to as long as a whole program with the intention of persuading the viewer into something. Lately, the idea has been used to replace "sign-off" in off peak hours of television (2am-6am) keep viewers who can't sleep at night. Here is an example of infomercial.



Infomercial is a form of advertisement. Some advertisers might downplay it a bit by introducing the product through a talk show style, an interview, revolving around a story, but it is still advertising, nonetheless.

One of the most salient points in an infomercial is its purpose to persuade into an action. It might be to buy the product or believe into a concept, but regardless of its purpose, it is the response of the audience that measures its effectiveness. Thus it is also considered as a form of "direct response marketing".

Because of its nature, it employs tools such as catchy phrases, repetition of words and ideas, incorporating celebrities, scientist and public well-known figures to gather positive response from the audience.

Video Marketing

Since the explosion of online videos, video marketing has been used as a tool in sales. YouTube has been very good at this. With millions of viewers and subscribers, it is now the best way to market your product through videos. Just upload your video and in minutes, you are live and available for the world to see!

However, uploaded videos sometimes don't get the effects they need. Thus video marketing fails. The best way, I think, to influence your audience is to attack them indirectly with your product. watch how the following video.



See how effective that was? In less than a minute, he puts his message across and you will want to buy the product.

Other times, the more subtle it is, the more effective. Watch this following video and get hooked with the beat.


It was a video marketing tool by www.parrygripp.com who created the music. Now it is not directly implied in the video, unlike most video marketing strategies, that you should go and check out their website. However, the subtlety of the style, in one way or another, will tempt you to go to their website and check out other stuffs that they have.

When you get the idea and start driving traffic, then your video marketing has been effective. But regardless of the results and with the internet revolution still going stronger, video marketing will be the tool of tomorrow.