First Impressions Video

If anyone thinks seniors aren’t tuned into the digital revolution, think again! Americans over 50 have long since embraced all manner of online media, and a majority of Baby Boomers note that viewing video online is a daily activity. Gavin O’Malley wrote a comprehensive article in Online Media Daily about this subject that you can read in its entirety here, but here are a few highlights:

“Older consumers are fully invested in digital media,” per Mark Bradbury from AARP.
75% of Boomers and 68% of seniors take some kind of action after viewing a video. From a simple comment to actually purchasing something, they don’t just watch and leave.
Over half (57%) were inspired to visit a retailer and 37% called a business or organization after watching a particular video.
YouTube is the preferred video source among Boomers and seniors
Search is one of the top two online activities, and a whopping 97% of both cite Facebook as their #1 most-used social networking site.

The takeaway: Video is a viable tool to get your business found and every demographic uses it to find products and services!

Any questions?

First Impressions Video is now listed on Wedding.com! Click the link to go there.

For those of us old enough to remember Frank Sinatra, one of the most classic phrases in his signature song, “My Way,” is: “Regrets…I’ve had a few….” Despite all best intentions, no wedding is absolutely perfect. When newlyweds and…the less-newly-wed were asked to share their biggest wedding day anguishes, a few common threads started to emerge. Here are some highlights of their feedback:

1. Get It On Film (or tape, or chip…but record it somewhere!)
So many brides told us they wished they’d sprung for a videographer, or given their wedding photographer more specific directions. Your wedding will be FULL of special moments – make sure you capture as many as possible! I reported about this in an earlier post, but more recent surveys suggest that this is a biggie!

2. Beauty Accidents Happen

Wind, rain, and acts of God can seriously undo your hairdo. When you’re thinking about your wedding hairstyle, consider the locale, temperature, and time of year. Also, the week of/day of your wedding is not an optimum time to try exciting new beauty treatments.

The same goes for the right manner of dress. Do you really want to wear that long flowing gown for a destination wedding on the beach in, say, Hawaii or Jamaica? And this isn’t gender specific. The groom, while nattily attired, should be equally comfortable and dressed appropriate to the location. What no one wants to have happen is to see hair, makeup and clothing turn into a sweaty mess over the course of the ceremony. Once it starts, you’ll have to see it through to the end!

What’s your ‘Plan B?’

Whether you use the services of a wedding planner or not (especially if you don’t) it’s wise to think about a backup plan for things that can go sideways. A few years ago, I shot a wedding in a beautiful amphitheater that, unfortunately, sat immediately adjacent to Cal State Fullerton’s baseball field, where a game was in full progress. Imagine trying to conduct a wedding and right at a pivotal part of the ceremony, have it abruptly interrupted by the ‘clink’ of an aluminum bat followed by loud boisterous cheering! OOPS!!

Or…you might think you’ve timed it right to have your wedding outdoors, taking into account weather patterns, temperature and humidity for the time of year. But what you didn’t think about was that enormous swarm of bees that were migrating right over the wedding venue!! OUCH!!

The point here is obvious: be sure to at least give thought to a backup plan…just in case….!

3. Budget Your Time
Three words, ladies: hair and makeup. Too many wedding timelines get derailed when brides don’t budget enough time for wedding prep. Don’t let the primping get the best of your special day! See #2.

Oh, and grooms, this pertains to you, too. I recall a story told by a videographer friend who was shooting groom prep. The groom and his groomsmen all got dressed and after doing so decided that there was time to take another dip in the pool (at the private home where they were getting dressed)! After spending more time in the pool than they probably should have, there was then a mad scramble to get re-dressed and off to the church on time!

4. Don’t Succumb To Peer Pressure
So many brides felt their wedding suffered because they’d been prodded into letting friends handle important wedding services. “Friendors” can be fab—if that’s what they do for a living…but if not, they can also be a big flop, and remember what I said in an earlier blog post about having friends shoot the wedding video. Do you really want to put a friend under that kind of pressure?

So there you have it brides – wedding wisdom from real brides who have been to the altar and are now off on their journey as a new couple. If you’ve recently wed, tell us – what would you have tweaked about your wedding?

Editor’s note: Steve Cooper is a friend and former colleague when we both worked at Entrepreneur. Steve went on to launch Hitched Media, which includes a nationally acclaimed online magazine, hitchedmag.com. His articles are now also regularly published on Forbes.com, as well. His last article was dead-on-point when it comes to interviewing skills, so I asked Steve if he would allow me to publish his article here. He consented, and I am delighted to present it to you—to read and put into practice. Whether you’re doing a video interview or not, there’s plenty to glean from Steve’s piece…take it away, Steve!

Let’s face it, all business owners want a little more press—preferably the good kind. Over the weekend I was asked to do an interview for a newspaper and I went through my usual ritual and thought I’d share these five simple tips to help when journalists start ringing your phone.

Be available. As a journalist myself, I can tell you that when I’m on a deadline sometimes the first person I want to interview is not always the one who makes the final story—it’s often the person I’m able to get a hold of. This weekend was a holiday, but I made sure I was able to carve out a little time to be available. When opportunity comes calling, be sure you are there to pick up the phone.

Do your homework. Most of the time you should have a pretty good idea of what you’re being interviewed about. Even if you feel you know what’s coming at you, be sure to brush up on your own facts, industry numbers and whatever else you think they might ask you. Being prepared will also boost your confidence, which can be heard in your voice and it will make the entire interview easier. If they mention something that isn’t true be sure to correct them. If they ask you a question and you’re unsure, tell them you’ll look up the information and will follow-up via e-mail.

Be yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spoken with someone and I could tell they were trying to put on a facade to make themselves sound, I’m assuming, how they thought I wanted them to sound. Just be yourself. Nobody knows how to be you better than you! Also, when you take away the pressure of trying to be someone else, you’ll be able to spend more time preparing and listening to the questions being asked. Be proud of who you are and let them hear it.

Get your plugs in. In the end you don’t have any control over what winds up in the final article—on occasion the journalist writing the piece doesn’t either. Regardless, whether the journalist is putting together a profile of your business or they are interviewing you for your expertise, make sure to mention your brand, the product or message that’s important to you. Remember that you are your company’s best ambassador, the one who can most effectively articulate and define your story. If you don’t explicitly state your perspective, it’s left to the journalist to fill in the gaps, which may or may not make you happy.

Ask your own questions. Find out when the piece will be published and where it will be published (i.e., what section, print, online, etc.). Also, since just about everything winds up online (even stuff in print) ask the journalist to send you a link to the final piece once it’s available. When you do get the link, be sure to share it on your social networks and add it to your website’s press page—if you have one. This will help extend the reach and give the piece a little longer life. In many cases an interview in one publication can turn into several published interviews and mentions.

Bonus Tip: Lastly, with the added attention some publicity can steer toward your website, make sure it’s up to date, your contact information is easy to find and the site, overall, is working properly.

Thank you, Steve, for your timely commentary!

~TRW

It goes without saying that your business website(s) should include video, but you may be stuck on what kind of video to produce. Here are some “thought starters.”

Step #1: Who is your target audience?

You don’t write your website content for everyone – you write for a specific, targeted audience. In the same way, you don’t want to make video for everyone. Start by defining the specific audience you need your video to connect with.

Step #2: What’s your message?

Each of your videos should have a single message. On the pages your visitors land on first, you may need a video that outlines ‘what the product or service is,’ or ‘we are experts at what we do’ or ‘three ways our product/service saves you money.’ On pages people land on next, you might want to establish credibility. Testimonial case studies are ideal for creating credibility because they let your prospects look at your product through the eyes of a satisfied customer.

Another way to create credibility is to videotape a seminar or presentation, and then break it up into short chunks that demonstrate your expertise. In most cases you won’t want to post the whole seminar, because your website visitors expect short, pertinent videos.

Is it important for your website visitors to understand that your company is passionate about excellent customer service? A video featuring the people who will provide that service can do that for you. Are product details important? Create brief product demo videos.

Step #3: Where is your target audience?

Video is sticky – it keeps people on your website when they otherwise might “bounce” before they have a chance to understand if you’re a good match for them. It’s a very good idea to use video where people first enter your site, to keep them engaged.

It’s also important NOT to tuck the rest of your videos out of the way, where they’ll be difficult to find. Place them on the pages that are most visited, or relevant to the content of a specific page, to give the largest number of visitors the opportunity to watch them.

Step #4 Spread Your Videos Around

Even though you may be creating videos specifically for your website, you’ll be missing a big opportunity if you ONLY use them on your website.

Consider placing them on YouTube, Vimeo, or one of the up and coming video sharing sites and properly optimizing them to make them easy to find on search engines. Arguably, YouTube is the second largest search engine on the planet – but Google also loves YouTube videos and will routinely place them on the first page of a Google search. Google ranks YouTube video 53 times higher than a similar text page, according to a Forrester research study. Full disclosure: Google owns YouTube, so it’s in their interest to keep optimization consistent between the two properties.
LinkedIn is HUGE: Be sure to put a link to your videos on key employee’s profiles and post regular updates pointing to your videos—wherever they reside.
Have a Twitter account? Tweet about them to get people to go to your site and watch them.
On Facebook? Put them there as well.
Send links to specific prospects and customers. Give them to your sales people to use in their sales presentations

Video is the most effective tool you have for engaging your prospects and customers. These steps should get you thinking about how your company can leverage video to engage your prospects and customers on your website, and elsewhere on the web.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the privilege of being asked to videotape two memorial services. I’m honored that people would entrust to me an event that by its nature is full of emotion, and it got me to thinking about the power of “life story” videos.

Every person or family has a story to tell and there’s no better time like the present to tell it. Tomorrow isn’t promised to any of us and I would encourage anyone who wants to tell his or her story to “just do it.” This could be a session as short as an hour, or could be a multi-session heritage documentary, but if you have a story to be told, please allow us to help you bring it to life!

One question might be: “I wouldn’t know where to start….” Here is a list of thought starters that might help.

What was the happiest moment of your life? The saddest?
Who was the most important person in your life? Can you tell me about him or her?
Who has been the biggest influence on your life? What lessons did that person teach you?
Who has been the kindest to you in your life?
What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in life?
Are there any words of wisdom you’d like to pass along?
What are you proudest of in your life?
When in life have you felt most alone?
How has your life been different than what you’d imagined?
How would you like to be remembered?
Do you have any regrets?
What does your future hold?
Is there something that you’ve always wanted to know but never asked?

These are just a few questions to get going…from here, the conversation could go anywhere. And one of the cool things is that the interview style used is designed to get the subject comfortable with the camera, because they’re not looking at it! This is a casual style and when done properly, the interviewee can actually lose awareness that the camera is there. Yes, there will probably be lights and a microphone setup, but it’s usually the camera that makes a subject nervous.

Arguably, one of the best life stories I’ve ever read is Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie, which was adapted into a motion picture with the same name. “Morrie” was played by the incomparable Jack Lemmon, and was a riveting story about one of Mitch’s college professors. Morrie had a profound impact on Mitch’s life and when the time comes to tell your story, we’d love to help you tell it with the same degree of dignity and respect as Mitch did for Morrie!

I have read reports that suggest that about 70 percent of brides-to-be have decided to not have a video produced for their weddings. My advice: you will regret it! In my March 27 post, I cited several reasons why brides (and grooms)-to-be should use a professional videographer rather than a friend or relative. But what I want to say today to the fairly large numbers of you out there who may think it’s OK not to have your wedding videotaped at all, there are so many things that you are about to miss…

tears streaming down the faces of loved ones in the audience
the walk down the aisle
the exchange of rings
a sudden eruption of laughter during the ceremony
actions of the flower girl/ring bearer that are often funny (we edit out things that aren’t amusing or may be inappropriate)
expressions are not static! You want to see that emerging smile on your (and the groom’s) face
toasts, dances, cake cutting, bouquet and garter tosses
and lots of other actions!
sounds and music
the ability to share the event with people that weren’t able to attend

My wife, a writer, occasionally edits my blog posts for me and when we discussed the value of having a video of the wedding, she put it succinctly, “That whole day was a blur! With so much going on, I remembered very little of what was said, who was there, what we did (other than get married!), and without a video, I wouldn’t have remembered half of what took place that day!”

Now, let’s address the “gorilla in the room,” the price. My “deliverables” can be tailored to meet virtually any budget, so don’t let your wedding video get away for the wrong reason! Hint: this is why I avoid “package” rates…I’d much rather build a rate around exactly what you need. And as for that 70% I mentioned at the beginning of this post: most of them said—afterwards—that it was a bad decision not to include a video!

Don’t let that be you. 98% of newlyweds recommend that couples have their weddings videotaped, which means there are a lot people who wished they’d decided otherwise. Give a call and let’s see how we can make it happen for you—and add to the memories of this special day!

Sources: The Knot, WEVA International, MSN

Health alert today…make sure your dentist sees this story and takes action!

Posted by Terry Wall on March 30, 2013

Posted in: Corporate Videography, Video for Health & Wellness, Videography. Tagged: corporate videography, video, Video for Dentistry, Video for Health & Wellness, video production, videography. 1 Comment

While watching Good Morning America today, they presented a very alarming story about a dentist in Oklahoma accused of exposing thousands of patients to hepatitis B and C, and even HIV. Unfortunately, this could trigger an unnecessary backlash towards all dentists, the wide majority of whom employ sound best practices in maintaining a safe, clean environment for their patients. For any dentist that wants to be pro-active and get out in front of this news, I would highly recommend a short (2 to 3 minutes) video to describe the active and passive steps you take to ensure the highest standards of equipment sterilization, to put your patients’ concerns to rest–before they even arise.

Call me! We can turn a project like this around in about 72 hours. And whether you use our services or not, do let your patients and your broader audience know that you operate your practice under the highest standards of cleanliness. To the degree that this is being carried by the national media–and all its extensions–it should not be ignored.

OMG!! The proposal just happened, and you are to be congratulated on the wonderful event that will now take place in the not-too-distant future, as you express your mutual desires to spend the rest of your lives together! Now the work begins in earnest planning the wedding day. It may be a short engagement or a longer one, but you’ve probably envisioned it many times. Invitations must now be sent out and you’ll invite as many friends and family members as your budget will permit. Despite the fact that you may select a wedding planner, you will immediately start getting input from everyone regarding every (and I mean, every!) aspect of this special day. Flowers, music, food, location and so many others, you’ll get opinions that reflect age, backgrounds, experience, musical tastes…you name it.

Sooner or later, the question will arise regarding how you will remember the day. For sure, you will have beautiful photographic representation of the wedding, but what about motion? Voices? Music? So much of this can be faithfully captured in video, and cannot in still photography. Consider the walk down the aisle…the exchange of vows…the first and last dance…the best man’s/maid of honor’s toasts, and so many more nuances of your wedding, that just can’t be captured in a photograph. Full disclosure: This is not a “dis” to photographers! I work with them and hold their skills in the highest regard, but it would be wrong to ignore the true value of video as an essential part of the “memories stash.”

Just as important: while it might be tempting to simply have a friend shoot some of the more relevant parts of your wedding to save money, beware! These are lifetime memories being captured and do you really want to put that kind of pressure on a friend who is there to enjoy the event? What if, because they are having a little too much fun with other guests, they miss a crucial part of the ceremony or reception? For the same reason that you entrust lifelong memories to a still photographer, you should be equally willing to commit that same trust to a videographer.

A professional videographer is there to not only record the events of the day; he or she is also charged with editing all the footage together into a well-constructed “movie,” so that years later, watching the video will bring back all the cherished memories, laughs, tears and emotions of your celebration. To enable this, the professional will have top level cameras, tripods, audio equipment, lighting (where appropriate) and computers for compiling and editing the raw footage and sound.

Think back to a special time that you had in the past and ask yourself if you wish you’d had a video to help re-live it. This is one time you can plan on future memories, for one of the most important occasions in the life of the couple-to-be. Keep professional video in your wedding day plans, and enjoy those beautiful memories…forever!

Thanks for the memories!

Posted by Terry Wall on March 3, 2013

Posted in: Videography. Tagged: biographical video, biographical videography, event videography, family video, family videography, funeral video, funeral videography, heritage video, heritage videography, videography. 1 Comment

As a videographer, it is my job to help create long lasting memories.

These memories are represented by the life experiences of those I capture on film*. This enables the subject to have a “living” record that can be handed down to future generations. It’s also helpful to understand why it is important to record those stories and how video effectively allows us to do that.

Video captures the facts of the story, as well as the person, allowing us to witness a firsthand account, including emotions, laughter, tears, expressions, and all those other elements that make us unique individuals. Through video, we’re able to transcend time and space and have a direct impact on future generations by sharing our stories, our values, and our life lessons.

A few years ago I discovered the value and importance of video, when asked to capture a memorial on film.

A young Lance Corporal in the Marines was killed in the line of duty in Iraq. His father came to me with a request that we (team of 3 videographers and myself as director) videotape his son’s memorial service. This was personally difficult for me as I am a former Marine. Challenged by the need to shoot both indoors and outdoors, we had to set up and strike (take down) our gear to be in both locations. The service went off smoothly, although I had to push back tears—especially when “Taps” was played by the bugler. I knew we had done something special, but didn’t know how much until I saw the father’s reaction to the finished product, which included “Amazing Grace” played by what sounded like a thousand bagpipes! Props to my friend John for his wonderful contribution to the final edit.

Subsequently, I had the pleasure of capturing my dear Aunt Irene’s 90^th birthday celebration. This was a wonderful event and about 100 family members and friends were in attendance. One of my cousins presented a magnificent family tree scroll to Aunt Irene—and then copies were given to each family member! My brother transferred dozens of print photos and slides into images that could be projected onto a screen, while another cousin shot a beautiful group photo of everyone in attendance! The finished video was well received by all, and several DVDs were given to family members.

The one thing all biographical and memorial shoots have in common: They increase in value and importance over the years as memories fade. With today’s digital video technology, future generations will be able to study history, and, our culture, in a way impossible before the advent of video. And here’s an important conclusion: The generations that will benefit the most are those whose parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, had enough foresight to capture their stories for future generations to benefit from their life journey.

First Impressions Video looks forward to the privilege of creating these lasting memories for you!

*These days, “film” is a generic term that refers to the captured image. Actual film is seldom used, and even video tape is giving way to moving images recorded on digital media. But I still love to be referred to as a film maker…videographer is OK, as well!

First Impressions Video

"…because you never get a second chance…"

Video — not just for the kids!

Wedding.com

Wedding regrets…don’t have a few!

How To Give A Great Interview — Special Guest Blogger

What Type of Website Video Should Your Company Present?

Memorial vs. “Life Story” Projects

A message to brides who have elected NOT to include video in their wedding plans

Health alert today…make sure your dentist sees this story and takes action!

Why You Should Hire a Professional Wedding Videographer (Instead of Asking a Guest to Tape Your Wedding)

Thanks for the memories!

Search

Logo

Society of Camera Operators

Thumbtack FOUR-Time Award Recipient

Archives

Categories

Meta

Search

Archives

Categories

Meta

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Search

Logo

Society of Camera Operators

Thumbtack FOUR-Time Award Recipient

Archives

Categories

Meta

Search

Archives

Categories

Meta