..or How not to go over the cliff trying to shoot a property Video tour!
After reading quite a few posts on how Real estate Agents ( at least the serious ones) are very keen on enhancing their offerings to clients, via the addition of Virtual tours and video, I decided to write a (short?) post on my experiences in producing a typical video tour of a House or Property.
From the onset let me say that as a Real Estate Agent you don't have to be intimidated with producing a video tour.
Don't let the Pros tell you any differently. Why am I saying that? because even though I don't actually sit behind a camera, i have been doing video for over 10 years - producing multimedia and web video, when web video was really postage stamped sized. So even though producing a property tour is part of my business/hobby, I would never tell a client they "need" me. Isn't this counter intuitive to my business? hmmm... yes it probably is, but I'm a technology lover before a business person, so well... that's my downfall.
Actually I firmly believe, Technology is slowly closing the gap, and making everyone self sufficient, you MAKE money by capitalizing on people's laziness!
Now back to the post...
Objective: To produce a short video tour of a home to show to potential buyers, either locally, or Half way around the world if need be. Why?
answer: to give them a "feeling" of the property before they visit - or to induce them to actually visit the property!
Equipment:
A decent videocamera. Prices are falling by the day, and even if they are not, buy on installments, but get a reasonably decent video camcorder. Consumer HD is a great way to start, but of course MiniDV will be ok, if you want to start off basic and upgrade later.
However, try to get a cam corder with as much "mega pixels for still shots" as you can get. This way you can also take snapshots when you are video shooting
Tripod! - Very important. If theres one piece of equipment I harp on, at least for creating a property video - It's a tripod. I mean you are'nt out to shoot the Blair Witch Realty Project are you?
The Art:
Why do I keep saying dont let the Pros tell you its hard to shoot property Video? Well have you really dissected a property video? I mean take a look at a video of a home tour. Its so flippin (no pun) easy, it makes me laugh a little.
All you see is slow pans of the camera on a tripod, horizontally and then vertically. You rarely see the professionals attempting a real "walk thru" from room to room.
As you get more experienced with doing tripod mounted / panning videos, you can later get adventurous and use all sorts of tricks; shortening the tripod down and placing it on a chair with wheels and slowly going from room to room etc :-)
Remember - You aren't producing a hollywood blockbuster here, and it's rare that a person just buys a project after watching a video tour ( though thats very debatable in Dubai! )
So, as long as you do a decent job of not shaking the camera ( tripod!) and you do s-l-o-o-o-w pans with the tripod handle you should be just fine!
Getting camera stuff right:It's not rocket science anymore to focus and white balance a camera. Hit Auto!
if you do want to get just that wee bit involved, spending a day with the camcorder manual and the internet wont kill anyone to learn just the basics of things like focus and white balance.
THE BIG QUESTION: WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS YOURSELF?
Well that is because YOU are passionate about selling that property! So you are the Director telling the story of that particular house, and why its a good deal/buy.
The more you are behind the camera, the more cues and highlights you will discover when pitching the sale to a client!
Editing the video: It's not that hard really... If your doing things like calculations and mortgages and analysis, this is really only as hard as using a computer mouse. In fact if you have Windows XP you already have the software built in to grab video from your camcorder and edit it. go to Start--->Programs---->Accessories--->WindowsMovieMaker to get started.
Or see my outside blog post I did earlier on just about 'the easiest' video and DVD creation package out there. It's really click and Burn.
Voice over and Music: Voice over is simple, grab a decent mic, and close the bedroom door. or if you are like me with an accent, just use subtitles and music!
Free music? search google for Creative Commons music licenses. As long as you are actually not selling your walk-thru, you can use any of the music under the creative commons license as long as you give a credit line in the video.
Showing off your Work: With the click and burn package above you can make a DVD complete with your own logo and chapter menu - No technical knowhow needed.
You can also save a copy as mpeg / quicktime or Windows media etc for playback on your laptop.
Then of course there is the excellent platform for hosting Real Estate Videos online .. and starting off free too! at Vidlisting.com
(the blog post that inspired me to write this in the first place)
So there you have it!. It's a fun hobby,
But remember, if you are really that busy to DIY, just call in the professionals, that's what they're there for!
Regards,
More technology for real estate on my outside blog
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