Howdy from North Carolina! Let’s talk a little bit about audio.
We all know how crucial it is to get GREAT audio from multiple sources to keep viewers of your wedding films involved in your clips. And we can all sympathize with how hard we truly have to work in run-and gun-situations when you have a scripture reader on stage left, the officiant dead center, a string quartet tucked away in a corner, and a sniffling bride and groom moving from place to place.
For us at Life Stage Videography, the Zoom H2 Field Recorder is the solution. Check out the little video above and see some real examples of how this gadget can make your productions more powerful.
(Ed. note, before you buy the Zoom H2, wait for Ryan Koral’s review on its big brother, the Zoom H4n)
Matt,
The comparisons of the different recording qualities were great! Could you give us an idea of the settings you use on the Zoom H2 for the different recording situations? For example, the toast coming from the speaker is not going to be nearly as loud as the full band playing. How do you compensate?
Thanks for your time and effort.
Kevn
In starting or reinventing your business, one of your first steps will be to decide who makes up your “fan base”
When I say “fan base,” I do not speak figuratively. You don’t just want clients – you want a rabid screaming legion of cheerleaders for you and the service you provide.
Think of the size of the average wedding party. Chances are that the bride and groom will show pieces (if not all) of their wedding video to the them. On average a couple will have a best man, a maid of honor, 4 bridesmaids and 4 groomsmen. They’re all talking about you on and after the wedding day – don’t be paranoid, it just happens…but most of all, you have the power to determine what strong opinions they will be forming about you!
This series of entires on becoming memorable will get you thinking about the many ways you influence the people you serve! Branding involves everything you do, so this series will make branding more practical to you – real world actions to get more clients in your door and on your books!
Trailers need to be short.They need to deliver a punch.Whet the brides appetite and leave her wanting more.You’ll want to pick shots from the most exciting and noteworthy moments of the day but without giving away ALL the goods - this is key.
Trailers are a great way to get your brides excited and talking about YOU! But just doing trailers isn’t enough; you have to make this memorable to the bride. We have our trailers completed and online within 24 hours of the wedding. Now that’s memorable!!! Editing a trailer within 24 hours of a wedding is not that much of a time commitment on our part, but to a bride…it’s magic!
Edit the shots out of chronological order and it will keep her from feeling like she saw all that she needs to see. This avoids taking away some of the excitement about her full length edit late which comes later.
We usually limit our trailers to around 1 minute.Hollywood trailer limits are 2 ½ minutes.Personally I think that’s too long for a wedding trailer.
Make the trailer your own. This might sound odd and un-businesslike, but follow me here.
One of the things that Liz and I decided early on was that trailers are for us, not the bride.The bride doesn’t pay for them so that freed us up to use some non-traditional music and do some creative stuff with the edit.It really became less of a chore and more something we looked forward to doing. And if it puts the couple in a light that they don’t normally see themselves, all the better!!! It’s memorable!!!
So what do you do once you’ve edited this magical trailer?
·Post your trailer to a good quality video hosting site like Vimeo or Blip (youtube is the most known, but the quality is poo poo)!
·Email the bride the link to the trailer.An even better option is to embed it into an email newsletter, more about that later…
·Offer her an incentive to forward the email by offering $100 off her balance for every referral (that books) that she brings in from that trailer email
·Send the trailer to EVERYONE in your business contacts list.“Look what we shot this weekend!” Stay in front of your vendor friends – stay memorable, and thus, referrable!
·For the vendors with whom you worked at the wedding, send a link and a personal note.Venues, Photog, DJ, Caterer, etc.If you worked with them they should see this trailer!
·Post the trailer on your blog (of course!!!)
With web video, you only have a few seconds to grab and hold a viewer’s interest – and most viewers don’t watch more than a minute anyway! Having short trailers is a fast, compact way to ensure that people are viewing and enjoying your work. And that’s what it’s all about, right?
Well, I must also admit that it’s good for the ego when all those raving cheerleader e-mails start filling the inbox.
Come back to see the next installment of this series about becoming more memorable, when we talk about “Image.” This is not Instant Gratification 101, folks, but if you put in the work, you WILL reap the rewards.
Get IN[TENSE] Tour Dates
August 17th – Chicago – IVA
September 9th – Houston – HPVA
October 1st – Dallas – DFWPVA
October 13th – Long Island w/StillMotion – LIVA
October 14th – New Jersey w/StillMotion – NJVA
October 19th – Boston – NPVA
November 4th – Salt Lake City – UPVA
February 3rd – Michigan – MIVA
Recently, I had the opportunity to kick off the IN[FOCUS] tour in Kansas City with my GET IN[TENSE] seminar, teaching studios how to get delivery time reduced SIGNIFICANTLY.
I’ve already helped one producer cut her wedding editing time in half and another to reduce the editing on a recurring corporate gig by more than half.
If you and members of your PVA are looking to chuck the backlog-monkey and spend more time with family and friends, then have me out to your meetings from now until the end of the year.
Click here to e-mail me and let me know when you would like me to visit.
I can fill up your regularly scheduled slot as well as conduct an all-day intensive seminar
Topics that can be covered include:
Making Parkinson’s Law work for you.
Identifying your top time wasters, and learning how to kill them.
Getting 8 years worth of referrals in one year’s time.
Developing a teachable workflow for additional editors.
Solutions to reduce backlog even if you can’t afford an editor.
With an indepth editing seminar, I can also touch on:
Selling yourself as a storyteller.
Creating an intro versus a highlight film for immediate buzz.
Upselling your edits after the wedding shoot is done.
Using soundbytes, from selection to placement.
Using cutaways the most useful shot in your repertoire.
Raising your prices of other services thru offering short-form edits.
This is not theory – this is how I run my studio – and I create very nice storytelling edits in under 25 hours for big $$$$.
(ed. note – Casey was last seen Monday in Maui, Hawaii sleeping in the back of an SUV in a Wal-Mart parking lot due to the roads and businesses being closed down on account of massive brushfires.
While we know that he is in the safe company of Patrick Moreau, along with their new Cinevate 135mm fire-hydrant adapters, we can only assume that our heroes will charge/glide into the action head-on, saving untold women, children, their feats beautifully documented in cinemascope.
Due to the priority of rescuing faunae and florae alike, Casey’s posts for Wednesday and Thursday might be pushed back until after he briefs the island about the prudence of each returning to his or her home. In the meantime, stay tuned to the IN[FOCUS] blog for more quality entries this week from the rest of our team and for updates to Casey and Patrick’s adventures in the land of volcanoes.
And now, on to Casey…)
When I think back…way back, and reach deep down into my recesses of my subconscious, I can dig up my earliest memories of life.
Although most of what I can recall is in faded bits and pieces, a couple things come alive in vivid color (with surround sound, 1080p resolution, and 12+ stops of dynamic range). These recollections are of me with a pen, pencil and a piece of paper.
Drawing. Sketching. Doodling. Story-boarding.
This is what I did for days on end, until my fingers ached.
I was constantly trying to take what existed in my imagination and give it life on paper.
This paradigm still continues today; however, the medium has changed – from spiral bound notebooks to a format that is much more representative of my imagination – the motion picture.
In my mind I am still constantly sketching out the ideas and stories of the people whom I encounter. My goal with wedding cinema it to take the lives and experiences of couples and piece them together in a narrative that unfolds in an evocative, emotional, and creative way that is true to the narrative of the ones it represents.
I look forward to sharing some of what goes on in my Mind and in my Castle and trust that it will help you in your journey of becoming a better storyteller as well.
Local Austin Photographers drool over some Jones & Joe Simon-y goodness!!!
When it comes to marketing one’s self within the wedding industry, the more touches you can make with those that refer you, the better. And if you can put your work in front of those same people, even better!!! And if you can communicate to them how your services add value/sell what they do, well, that’s the BEST!!!
Most wedding vendors have local gatherings in which they socialize and educate, much like videographers do with their PVA’s. These groups are always on the lookout for fresh content to fill their meeting times, and YOU are just the person to give it to ‘em!
Talk to vendors in your area about their local groups, find out who is in charge, then shoot them an e-mail volunteering to present at an upcoming monthly meeting. It’s that simple! They will probably gobble you up fast!
For most groups, you should avoid developing a presentation laced with industry jargon or explaining the latest technologies – only photographers will be able to fully appreciate (and somewhat understand) that side of your brain!
Instead, communicate the emotion of what you do, and how that emotion can be ascribed to their product when your videos are placed on their sites
For your presentation
Start by showing your best highlights clip.
Introduce yourself and tell about your journey into the industry.
Tell and show them how your work benefits them! Get them thinking about how every time they refer you, you are building their stock library for promo videos and blog content.
Show a vendor promo – if you don’t have an official one, you can cut one together from some of your past wedding shoots. Nothing will make them want to use you more than to see a competitor with a snappy commercial!
Take Q&A throughout – the photographer groups will certainly have a lot to ask.
Emphasize that the best way for them to get a promo done is to refer you for their gigs!
Pass out your business cards and collect the cards of those in attendance to write follow up e-mails and place them on your newsletter list (even if you don’t have a newsletter, yet). Do this the next day while the presentation is still hot on their minds!
Who to pursue first?
I recommend getting your feet wet with a local photographers group (pictured above). Not only are they the ones who can ‘get you’ the easiest, they can also provide great promotional photos (like the ones you see in this post). With those photos, create your own blog post about your “fantastic presentation,” and as you approach other groups, direct them to your blog entry! This will give you an added dose of legitimacy and authority and make the other groups want you more (Thanks to Eric Hegwar for these shots).
Pictage User Groups (PUG’s) meet in several major cities nationwide. Find the city closest to you, click on the city, and get the contact info of the person in charge. I even approve you to show them Eric’s full blog entry about our presentation to their group in Austin to show them that a precedent has been set and that it is content of value to them.
While most of us are pinching our pennies during uncertain economic times, it becomes even more critical to market our businesses consistently. What better way to do so with old fashioned pressing-the-flesh. It costs you little to nothing, and even in these days of social networking and web 2.0, I still believe it to be the most effective way of promoting your studio.
Matt,
The comparisons of the different recording qualities were great! Could you give us an idea of the settings you use on the Zoom H2 for the different recording situations? For example, the toast coming from the speaker is not going to be nearly as loud as the full band playing. How do you compensate?
Thanks for your time and effort.
Kevn
Great examples!! I would love to see what your setup looked like. Especially how you gaffed it to the speakers.