If you follow me (@libbiesummers) on social media, you know I love video.
I recently spent an crazy fun few days in Charleston, SC at The Southern C Summit. I was asked to lead a workshop and share a presentation about how to tell a story through motion. In other words, how brands can use video to tell a story, not just sell a story.
I was flattered to receive great feedback from both the workshop and the presentation. Because of the great response, I wanted to share some quick tips for how to get started with video. The session at the summit was much more in depth and dare I say much funnier, but this will give you a little taste to get you started. Try it. Your brand will be glad you did.
Why Video? A Few Fast Facts:
•Viewers are spending more time watching digital video than ever before
•The average American spends 1 hour and 55 minutes watching digital video (per person, per day)
•Business leader Andrew Angust declares the play button “the most compelling call-to-action on the web.”
•Hubspot reports that using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by a staggering 19%.
•Out of all the video produced, only 8% is produced by small businesses. #missedopportunity
*USA stats as of January 2016
Why else do I need video? My still images are killer.
Videos tell a much more compelling story—a story through motion. It’s a way to bring your audience in, pull at their heart strings, make them laugh, inspire them. It offers connectivity.
How To Get Started
People have all kinds of hang-ups for why they aren’t using video. It’s time to throw those out the window and just start trying. You’ll get better and it will get easier. Get started quickly with these pointers:
•ALWAYS Make a story board—brainstorm your concept ahead of time. Come up with a compelling hook and do your best to tell a story, not sell a story. It’s as simple as drawing squares on a piece of paper and writing what you want to happen in each square/segment/take.
Here’s the simple “story board” for the video I produced for the new Le Creuset Hibiscus color of pots. To me the pot was ballet pink and my mind immediately went to a dancer…dancing through a kitchen preparing something tres French!
And Here’s the video: Does it sell Le Creuset? Absolutely it does but without being chock full of logos, marketing speak or facts.
Be organized & prep your shoot: Have your camera battery charged! Have all of your supplies on-hand. Being un prepared makes for a long day that is costly. As you can imagine, a lot of recipes were prepped for this Pappy & Co. video.
Producing Videos is easier than you think. Here are my favorite Tools of the Trade:
•If you’re a beginner, shoot and edit with the Videoshop App. I’m a big fan of starting with something like this. It’s intuitive and It’s idiot-proof!
•For Stop Motion and general fun: Party Party App. It helped me make this Instagram gem ages ago for a cookie I was calling Happy Baby Cookies. Cute right! Who doesn’t love a kewpie doll!
•For Intermediates: Edit in iMovie
•For Music Selections: freemusicarchive.org
Editing Tips
THIS IS A BIG DEAL…I’m sharing a step by step tutorial for editing in imovie!
Video Editing Tutorial for imovie
These tools should give you confidence to start using video. So go start—and tag @libbiesummers so I can see what you’re creating!
Le Creuset Video Credits:
Written, Directed and Produced by Libbie Summers
Camera and Editing: Candace Brower
Camera: Chia Chong
Pappy & Co Video Credits:
Written, Directed and Produced by Libbie Summers
Assisted by Candace Brower
Camera and Editing by Jade and Matthew Take Pictures