Making Pro and DIY Videos Remotely During Social Distancing

If you don’t know by now, branded video content is like having a cordless power tool in your marketing and communication toolbox—it does a lot of the heavy lifting. Video content, such as tv commercials, are visually engaging ways to talk directly to your customers, partners employees and anyone you want to pull into your circle, and it’s benefits are huge.

Team interviews, customer testimonials, product animations, video blogs and explainer videos — they are full of potential. Here’s some proof why, care of Biteable:

78% of consumers view videos online each week, and 55% watch them every day. (Hubspot)
Viewers retain 95% of messaging seen in video, compared to just 10% of text. (Insivia)
72% of customers prefer to learn about a product or service through video.
92% of people watching video on mobile devices will share it with others. (Wordstream)

The stats don’t lie. Every brand who’s any brand is leveraging the power of video, and you should be too. But what’s a brand to do when all the video pros are on lockdown?

Remote Video Options Abound

Under usual circumstances, brands and companies with decent marketing budgets want to work with the best of the best to help create their TV commercials, online videos, animations, and live action. It makes sense that if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right, and top video agencies give you access to leading creative, strategy, cinematography and editing. The production company you choose can help elevate the quality perception of your brand, product or service to the nth degree.

But in the current COVID-19 landscape where social distancing and stay-at-home orders are the new norm, many brands and marketing departments are forced to switch course and learn how to create content remotely. Thankfully, top video agencies like Sparkhouse are shifting their services to allow clients to get professional videos made remotely, from offering consulting on DIY video making to producing videos from start to finish from their home offices. Here we’ll cover several options for modifying your video approach and share some tips and tricks on how to get started, as well as resources you might need along the way.

Option 1: Self-Shot Interview/Talking Head — Pro or DIY

If the best person to talk about your brand or products is your founder, CEO, marketing director, designer, or customer service rep, talking head interviews are easy ways to capture that unique perspective. Using your own webcam or camera, you can create branded content or video updates for your team completely remotely—with or without the help of a video production team. If you prefer to leave it to the pros, Sparkhouse will set up a system where you can film content in your office or home, then send over the footage digitally for us to edit, add graphics and titles, clean up the color and sound, and ready it for an audience.

Check out the “Opportunities During Turmoil” video we finalized for Saphyre Social!

Get info out to your customers through a recorded video chat like Skype or Zoom, or record yourself live. Then it’s up to you if you want to put it all together, or hand over your footage and audio to the experts.

Equipment tips:

Standard Camera – Get out your digital camera or DSLR, as most of these have great video features that you probably never even knew about.
Cell Phone – With today’s phone technology, the camera in your pocket can capture some amazing content that looks professional.
Action Cams - Almost everyone now has a GoPro or similar action camera for trips and fun, but these are great tools for interviews as well!
Audio – Audio is super important when it comes to producing a video that people want to see, so make sure you get this step right. Turn your phones on silent and find a quiet place to record your video.
Headphones – Most headphones have a really good microphone attached; just make sure the resulting sound recording is clearly audible. If you are looking for something a bit more professional, you can also purchase a Zoom recorder and an external microphone.

Check out this popular remote “Diary of a Song” video from New York Times reporter Joe Cascarelli: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoDqdIBtOh0

Option 2: Remote Animated Videos — Pro or DIY

Animation is a great type of video to assemble remotely, while never leaving the comfort of your home. If you’ve never done animation before and it’s not something you want to attempt, a professional animation agency can help fulfill your vision with high-end 2D and 3D animation sequences. Here at Sparkhouse, we have helped brands like Entrepreneur Magazine, Square, Uber and others create powerful animations that help drive sales, with no need for on-location shoots, actors, or even in-person meetings. See what’s possible with Sparkhouse animation samples.

If you’d like to give animation a shot on your own, these animation steps and resources can assist you in producing simple animated videos with very little video training production or experience:

Option 3: Remote Stock Footage Videos — Pro or DIY

You can produce a video using 100% stock footage and add a professionally recorded voiceover without stepping outside your door. These stories are great for capturing people’s emotions and driving them to action. Assemble the stock footage and even outsource the voiceover online, or let Sparkhouse do it for you for expertly polished results:

Check out this “RealLaser” video Sparkhouse put together for Christie Digital, made completely using stock footage

Or this PSA entitled “Building Resiliency” we created for OC Health (The entire production process took less than a week!)

Want to give DIY a try? If you are interested in making your own stock footage video, the following sites feature some incredible stock footage you can use:

These websites will let you hire a professional voiceover artist to record your script remotely:

Go 100% Pro

And, of course, you always have the option to hire a video agency to handle every aspect of remote video creation. Sparkhouse has streamlined our at-home video making process to do fast turnaround videos that integrate creative ways to deliver branding videos that get results. For example, if you want to showcase a new product with a video for social media, you can simply mail the product to our team or reach to us on our social media video production page. and we’ll shoot it in our home studio.

If you have existing videos you’d like to repurpose, we can cut and edit the footage to create something entirely new—without the new price tag—to use on social media, video marketing campaign, or email marketing.
Send it our way and we can help you create more content out of it!

Peep this “Social Cut” video we did for Reolink Argus using footage they had in their video marketing service arsenal!

Remember, all video content is not created equally. If too many shortcuts are taken, a weak video can actually hurt your brand. If you have the time to do a DIY video right, go for it! Otherwise, defer to the experts. Let Sparkhouse share what we’ve learned to help you get the right content out there, right now.

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