Promotional video suggestions

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[MattMiddleton]

Hi all! I'm going to be gathering some stock footage at my dojo in the near future, with a goal of putting together a short promotional video to put up on YouTube. With that in mind, I've got a couple of questions that I'd like to pose to the community:


Any suggestions on where to find japanese flute music that is creative commons/free to use?
Thoughts on the length of the video?
Any techniquest in particular you think make for a good promotional video?
Any other advice (especially if you've done a promo video before)?


Our dojo, like many, is a not-for-profit, and we've had to move a couple of times. We're hoping to stay put, and not have to increase our fees too much, but the rent at our new location isn't cheap. We're hoping that a bit of recruitment will help ease the pressure a little.

Thanks in advance!! :)

[lars beyer]

Hi all! I'm going to be gathering some stock footage at my dojo in the near future, with a goal of putting together a short promotional video to put up on YouTube. With that in mind, I've got a couple of questions that I'd like to pose to the community:


Any suggestions on where to find japanese flute music that is creative commons/free to use?
Thoughts on the length of the video?
Any techniquest in particular you think make for a good promotional video?
Any other advice (especially if you've done a promo video before)?


Our dojo, like many, is a not-for-profit, and we've had to move a couple of times. We're hoping to stay put, and not have to increase our fees too much, but the rent at our new location isn't cheap. We're hoping that a bit of recruitment will help ease the pressure a little.

Thanks in advance!! :)

Hi Walther
It´s complex to go through all the different steps of making a promotional video so I´ll give you the short version based on half a lifetime working with the moving image as well as the still image:

1. make a synopsis, one page describing your video project. It should include why (you want to make it), how (you want to make it, what it looks like, how youre telling your story), who (youre talking to) and how you want to reach them (your audience)

2. Make a budget and see how that fit´s with your ideas and dreams.

3. Find qualified people to execute the video in it´s various aspects, image, sound, light, editing, logistics etc. and find out when and how much they will charge or what the possible expenses will be.
Divide artistic concerns and logistical concerns and don´t think you can master all of them one person.

4. Write a script that gives an in depth description of the things you want to do taking into consideration the budget.

5. Have some qualified people review your synopsis, script, budget, shooting plan.

6. Adjust

7. Plan

8. Execute

Thats basically it even this is a very short explanation not describing the different processes individually.

Have fun !

Best
Lars

[lars beyer]

Hi Walther
It´s complex to go through all the different steps of making a promotional video so I´ll give you the short version based on half a lifetime working with the moving image as well as the still image:

1. make a synopsis, one page describing your video project. It should include why (you want to make it), how (you want to make it, what it looks like, how youre telling your story), who (youre talking to) and how you want to reach them (your audience)

2. Make a budget and see how that fit´s with your ideas and dreams.

3. Find qualified people to execute the video in it´s various aspects, image, sound, light, editing, logistics etc. and find out when and how much they will charge or what the possible expenses will be.
Divide artistic concerns and logistical concerns and don´t think you can master all of them one person.

4. Write a script that gives an in depth description of the things you want to do taking into consideration the budget.

5. Have some qualified people review your synopsis, script, budget, shooting plan.

6. Adjust

7. Plan

8. Execute

Thats basically it even this is a very short explanation not describing the different processes individually.

Have fun !

Best
Lars

Mathew, I called you name Walther- I apologise ! Must be friday evening syndrome !
:-)

[lbb]

I do some promotional videos for work, so I'll take a shot.


Music: can't help you specifically (but try searching on "shakuhachi", that's the name of the instrument). However, before you spend any real time on this search, make sure it's the right type of music for the video you want to make. In your place, I'd rummage through my music library and take some shakuhachi music of the "serene" school, some taiko music of the "fairly loud and dynamic" school, some taiko music of the slower-paced variety, perhaps some western classical music, some acoustic instrumental music, maybe a Steve Vai tune...you get the idea. The reason why is that I've had many times when my initial guess about the type of music ended up being completely wrong - so I've learned to first do this very quick exercise (it's easy to swap different music tracks in and out) to find the general type before I invest the time to find the track I want.
Length: short. There are places for longer videos, but this one should be short. It's like the "elevator speech" that they tell you about in business school: you've got the length of an elevator ride to tell your story and capture someone's interest, enough for them to seek out more information. Shoot for a one-minute commercial, then cut down from there. Actually, the format of the 30-second commercial is worth looking at: I have some friends who are filmmakers and who have entries in the Doritos Super Bowl contest, and I really have to shake my head in admiration for their work. It is amazing how much of a story you can tell in 30 seconds if your storytelling is tight. I'll send you a link if you want to a good example of this.
Techniques: largely irrelevant, but for a promotional video, I would 1)not show too many (two or three at most), 2)not show any technique in its entirety, from the start of the attack to the end (it's just too long) and 3)not show any technique that takes up too much space and that has to be shot from a distance. I would focus on a part of a technique where I could have a tight focus (down even to just showing a part of the participants' bodies), that was dynamic but where things are moving slowly enough that it's not all just a blur.


Other advice: write a storyboard/script, then do a very rough shot, stick it together and see what you've got. Chances are you'll have gone far beyond your "very short" limit, so now it's time to revise the storyboard. You don't want to waste time making everything production quality only to find you're not even in the ballpark. Get in the ballpark first.

On a closely related topic, in writing your script, think hard about what you want your central message to be. It's got to be pretty simple, and you'll need to say most of it non-verbally. In the timeframe of your video, you're not going to be able to express more than just a few related points -- if you try, it'll just be "death by PowerPoint".

[philipsmith]

Here's one we made about a year ago feel free to steal any ideas as you wish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_1F8Rrx4Gs

[MattMiddleton]

Thanks everyone for the fantastic advice! Really appreciate the help :)

[MattMiddleton]

Mathew, I called you name Walther- I apologise ! Must be friday evening syndrome !
:-)

No worries Lars! :)

[MattMiddleton]

It is amazing how much of a story you can tell in 30 seconds if your storytelling is tight. I'll send you a link if you want to a good example of this.

That would be very helpful!

[Walter Martindale]

Depends on the message and the type of dojo you're in.

Great advice from the previous posters - but there's so much shakuhachi music in other aikido videos that I'd keep the flute at very low levels in the background, if at all, or very short bits of it at the start and end of the promo.

If I were doing it, I'd stick to stuff like "aikido started in the early 20th century in Japan and has circled the world." "Aikido is considered a 'modern' martial art, and there are several styles - our style emphasizes……." "benefits of training in aikido at our (school, dojo, club?) include friends, physical fitness, continuous learning, and increased abilities in self-defense" with little video clips of people having fun, working out really hard and raining sweat, instruction, and some tanto-dori, self-defense type stuff.

But that works for me - maybe not your aims…

[Richard Stevens]

Bring the thunder. A video like this makes me want to do Aikido:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWyLtZPH1H8&feature=share&list=PLA8CDCCFCA7BC8BFC&index=14