Lucas Cheong, D.O.P filming in Toronto. (Photograph by Alex Chui)
Today, I’ll show you my top 5 tips on creating an amazing promotional video. I’ve been editing videos and films for over a decade. My projects have been featured at several film festivals in North America including my colleagues’ TYS. I’ve also work with organizations such as the CRA Canada, OPSEU, Sick Kids, and private companies like Baskin Robins and LEGO. You can see some of the reviews about us from our clients here.
I recently did some editing on a promotional video. The goal was to combine several still images and random vacation videos together to create a 1 minute entertaining video. In order to make this video exciting and memorable for the audience to watch online, I used several techniques I thought have worked best over the years.
1) Keep it Short Stupid! Unfortunately in today’s society, people have an even smaller attention span than a generation ago. If you want to increase your chances of people staying focused and sharing your video, be precise and get straight to the point! In a web video, that’s exactly what you want to do. I’ve found that generally people don’t want to invest time watching a 1 hour video that they just stumbled upon. Make a short video that will capture their attention first, and filter out the ones that are not interested in it. Then, at the end of the video, create a button that they can click to take them to a longer video. You won’t waste their time and you’ll get audiences that are more devoted to watching your content. Think how Hollywood advertises their films, they create a trailer first. It gives the audience a chance to decide if they want to invest their time in watching the actual film. So keep your promotional videos short, stupid!
Recording audio for Elizabeth Laframbois, Toronto massage therapist.
2) Audio is King: Okay, now that you’ve decided on length, it’s time to find a piece of music to match your promotional video. In general, when your video is short, your music will be the main driving force behind your video. There are several websites out there where you can purchase great music. One in particular that I like is Audio Jungle. I also like Jamendo.com. (Note: I’m not getting endorsed by mentioning them.) Once you have decided on the music, you will need to edit it. There are many novice editors that will just simply leave the track as is once they have placed it into the timeline under the video, but this can make your video seem amateur or unpolished. I cannot stress the importance of editing your music. Check out my previous blog on how to edit your music score here. During the editing of the score, you may want to consider using a technique where the beginning of the music’s volume is set lower than the latter part of the promo video. For example, from 1 second to 30 seconds, the highest audible sound will be at -12dB. Then after the “drop” (the climax of your video) or after 30 seconds, audible sound will be closer to -6dB. The increased volume towards the end can help your promotional video captivate your audience’s attention more. An example of this may be found in Paper Towns. In this trailer the audio has been increased after the 2 minute mark.
3) Footage is Secondary? That’s right, I believe that sound and music is so important that picture can come second. Try to imagine watching a movie trailer with the sound turned off. Now listen to the same trailer with the sound turned on and the screen off. Which one will draws your attention more? Most people will be more drawn to the version with the sound on and here’s why.
However, once you’ve dialed in the sound, you now also need to have professional looking images. If you only have poor quality footage to work with, the best way to make these shots better looking is perhaps to cut faster, add a filter or do some colour grading (your creativity is endless). You can also consider the output format that it is going to, as most older footage is set to 4X3 and today, it is set to the 16X9 aspect ratio. 16X9 tends to make footage look more professional and modern. You can view my blog on how to create professional looking productions with small budgets here.
4) Text Layout and Animation: Believe it or not, having the proper text layout and animation can make a promotional video look like it has a large budget. I believe keeping it simple, and easy to read beats them all, like in this example filmed by Chapman from “Supercell“. All it takes is one word in the opening of the video to make it look professional. The texts are evenly spaced out; simple, and effective. However, if you want to have something fancy, you can create your own or use templates. There are a few good websites that you can download text templates to use. By doing a quick Google search I’ve found free ones like the ones here.
After Effects template from HDW
5) Using Templates: Using templates is also a good tip to use when creating promo videos. I normally use a portion of a template and modify it. At pond5 you can find a few After Effects templates that you can implement in your projects. A template that is pretty much already set up for you can look like this sample here. I’m not a huge fan of this technique because you know that you’re not the only video out there with this layout, and therefore your video won’t be original. However, if you see a few seconds that you see fit to use in your project, it’s great to take advantage of that.
Creating a video a lot like painting art. There is no right or wrong way of doing things. You can create it anyway you like, over or under expose it. The only thing that matters is that you or your client are happy with the end result. The above are only suggestions, you may have different ways of doing things that works for you. Feel free to share your ideas by commenting below! If you have any questions in regards to editing and video production in Toronto feel free to contact us. And like always, happy editing!