First Real Estate Video Tour - Feedback Wanted

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dust'n the callipygous

Well-known member
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I AGREE


This is my first attempt. I do real estate photography and I'm tired of those crappy photo slideshow tours. I think this is a much better alternative. The shoot took about 3 hours, for both video and the photos, which was okay for a 6800 square foot house. I used my Canon 7D with the tokina 11-16 and tamron 17-50. Stabilization was a mix of tripod, steadicam merlin (almost have it balanced now), glidetrack, and 8 foot jib. this was my first time using the glidetrack. i borrowed it from my friend, and i couldnt get great results because i didn't have a way to properly mount it to my tripod. It was loose the whole time, and caused some shakes and shifts in horizon when the weight of the camera crossed over the tripod head. This slowed me down a lot too.

I did this one for free (they didn't know they were getting a video) just to have something to show. Since it's such a big house, if I would have charged, it would have also included a voice over, and would have been right around the $1000 mark. I don't think i'll use the slider and jib on any lower-end houses. it's just too much work, since my pricing starts at $300.

What do you guys think? How's it look? What do I need to work on (other than the obvious dolly shake)? How's the pricing? All feedback/suggestions welcome
 
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Thanks for the fix!

I used a glidetrack for the dolly shots. All natural light. I just did minor color correction on a few shots with really bad color casts. These will start at $300 and include photos as well. I just came up with a formula that takes into account square footage and list price. I figured those are the two biggest factors to determine time and cost. Square footage obviously because more stuff to shoot and edit, and list price because I'll use different gear and techniques the higher-end a house is. That one I didn't charge for, but with a voice over it probably would have been around $1000. They don't have it officially on the market yet, so I can't factor in list price to say exactly how much. Oh, and it's all freelance. No particular group, just individual realtors.
 
Thanks for the fix!

I used a glidetrack for the dolly shots. All natural light. I just did minor color correction on a few shots with really bad color casts. These will start at $300 and include photos as well. I just came up with a formula that takes into account square footage and list price. I figured those are the two biggest factors to determine time and cost. Square footage obviously because more stuff to shoot and edit, and list price because I'll use different gear and techniques the higher-end a house is. That one I didn't charge for, but with a voice over it probably would have been around $1000. They don't have it officially on the market yet, so I can't factor in list price to say exactly how much. Oh, and it's all freelance. No particular group, just individual realtors.
 
feed me. need some feedback
Click to expand...
"Ask and ye shall receive!"

I hope this helps. If I would have shot this...it wouldn't look half as good. Having said that...I know what it's like to shoot something, edit it...and then NOT SEE ANYTHING. It's so much easier when it's NOT your video because the "finished version" is your FIRST look...and GOOD INSIGHT is READILY AVAILABLE. So here we go!

Summary
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This was a GREAT VIDEO. One of the BEST I've seen in real estate. Here are some points to improve upon:

1. SCOUT YOUR LOCATION/ONLY THE BEST: ALL of your shots should SELL THE HOME. This means know it's BEST FEATURES and HIGHLIGHTING THEM. Maybe even avoid it's WORST FEATURES...ie NOT INCLUDE THEM IN THE FINAL CUT. The BEST example of this in my humble opinion: THe shot at 4:03. From this shot, as a home buyer I see this INCREDIBLE BALCONY/PORCH. There aren't ANY shots of either! :( This MUST be one of the highlights of this house. So sad NOT to include it. (I saw 3:37, 3:41, but neither give ANY IDEA of where I am...spacial orientation...more on that later.) On the other hand: 2:20-2:24 - You might consider NOT including this in the final cut. (I don't THINK your objective is to show EVERY ROOM in the house?...just the best in their best light) So you should have a top 10 selling features of this house...and FOCUS ON THESE. No need to show THE ENTIRE HOUSE. Now maybe you have a video that is like a walk-through...OK...that seems different that this. This is like a SHOWREEL, a SHOWCASE, A BEST-OF.

2. Use SETUP SHOTS, then move the story forward: YOUR BEST usage of this is at: 1:53, 1:57. This was executed to perfection. Setup shot (panning..could be sliding...great) The viewer CAN'T HELP BUT NOTICE THAT CEILING in the backgound. BAM! Tilt (key selling point/visual point of interest) NICE! So that is what I'm saying right? Example of you NOT doing that at: 2:05, 2:12 - NOT SO PERFECT. I can see from the second shot that there is an EXCEPTIONAL bath...but the setup shot distracted from it. This bath...(key selling point on MOST homes)...wasn't highlighted either. But the point is...use set up shots like you did 1:53, then knockum dead with visual focal point like 1:57.

3. Spacial orientation: I don't remember the legendary director/producer, but one of them was talking about HOW IMPORTANT it is that the viewer UNDERSTAND VISUALLY WHERE THEY ARE SPACIALLY...With real estate...this is PARAMOUNT. Some of your best shots: 2:15...but it was RUSHED. These shots give a person's brain an understanding of a space SPACIALLY/3 dimesionally. This shot was great! The WORST shots: 2:38-3:00 - These 3 shots are confusing. My brain wasn't able to form an idea as to the shape of this room/space. I can see that it is an impressive space...but...your shots should help me UNDERSTAND what I'm looking at...they should ORIENT ME...(not like a blue print)...but I should get a "spacial" concept of where I am. Setup your shots...then provide the punch/detail.
Setup your shots FIRST. Orient the viewer (spacially) Then make sure the next shot DRAWS THEM INTO A KEY FEATURE (pref a selling feature, visual feature minimum).

That last shot from the back makes me say: WOW! Look at the balcony/porch! (I'm also spacially oriented) But...no shot really let me take a better look at it. No follow-up shot. :( Setup shot. Setup shot. POW! Look at this bathtub!! Setup shot. Setup shot. BAM! Look at the balcony! (I knew you wanted to see it because it's on of it's best features.) ETC. The setup shots MUST ALSO GIVE SPACIAL ORIENTATION.

4. Shot selection/execution: No closeups? No details? Every shot DOESN'T HAVE TO PAN OR TILT OR MOVE. I TOTALLY understand the need for such movement...but...maybe not QUITE so much. I LOVE your sweeping shots like: 0:09 and 1:40. Too much is...uh too much. This house MUST have some CU worthy shots. Setup with a wide shot that creates the interest (predict this), then SMACK'UM with a nice closeup. You don't HAVE ANY...so I can't site them here. It may be temping to call 0:26, 0:47, or some of the other slider shots "closeups", but if that's what you're going to do (use a slider for a close up) then you MUST DOLLY IN (straight forward) for effect. The movement is the focus...NOT the item CU.

5. Tell a story: easy to say...hard to do. They say that you should cook cookies in the kitchen before you show a home. Why? Because people will imagine themselves eating cookies in the kitchen after they buy it. By some MAGIC means...you need to tell a story. People are going to throw ROCKS at me for saying this for a real estate video...but I'll stick to my guns. For example: Maybe some of your closeups could be shots that a person would see if this were THEIR home.

Your opening shot...
->sweeping shot of the outside:
->Closeup shallow DOF...the morning newspaper on the porch.

Kitchen shot
->(wide setup shot)
->(close up shallow dof) Fruit or apple pie on the counter

Back of house
->(wide setup shot)
->(medium shot of the porch)
->(close up - food on the grill)

I KNOW...some of these aren't possible because of time. They're just examples...but you know what um' sayin'?? TELL A STORY. YOU ALMOST DID THIS IN THE GAME ROOM RIGHT? It just didn't FEEL deliberate. (wide of game room, cu - hey let play some pool)...almost telling a story....

This video rocked!! Good job. I couldn't do half as good. But I hope some of my feedback is helpful! Shoot um up!
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Play by play
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:00-:18. VERY NICE...great opening shot.

:20 THis shot is distracting for realestate...Good "cinema" shot...but MY EYE focused on the floor..yes...it's marble...I get it...but I don't think if HELPED SELL ME.

:39 - GREAT "sell the house shot"...nice ceiling....great windows, great room. (Good lighting too)

:45 - edit this shot out. It tells me nothing.

:51 - OK. Slider shot that tells me something about the house. OK.

:59 This Angle at made me slightly dizzy...not a good angle for that movement for that purpose...again...didn't help sell me.

1:03 This shot at has the right IDEA...this is a "sell the house" angle. Not good lighting...very short cut. But good "sell the house" shot.

1:14-1:34 - Good presentation of the kitchen. Nice combo of shots.

1:42 - GRRREAT shot here. Best shot so far...maybe a TINY BIT fast...but VERY nice.

1:53, 1:57 - PERFECT TWO SHOT "microscene". I was thinking..."nice ceiling there...I hope he does a close-up". AAAaaaahhhhh....followup shot finished me off! Do MORE of this. Setup with the jab...(setup shot, create curiosity...then RIGHT CROSS...BAM! MONEY SHOT.)

2:05, 2:12 - NOT SO PERFECT "microscene". This is the opposite. I can see from the second shot that there is an EXCEPTIONAL bath...but the intro to it wasn't very good.

2:15 - GREAT shot/angle...IMPORTANT...this shot REALLY give a "spacial concept of this space"...PROBLEM: What's the rush here? slow this one down.

2:20-2:24 - this is the house's fault. Make these look good and you've EARNED YOUR MONEY. You might consider NOT including it in the final cut however. (I don't THINK your objective is to show EVERY ROOM in the house?...just thetheeir best light)

2:33 - This room got "jipped" by you. CRAZY ceiling. Glad you showed it...but a setup shot could have helped...then we're off? That room got as much time as the prior "weak rooms"...it deserved more time...especially for a bedroom.

2:38-3:00 - These 3 shots are confusing. My brain wasn't able to form an idea as to the shape of this space. I can see that it is an impressive space...but...your shots should help me UNDERSTAND what I'm looking at...they should ORIENT ME...(not like a blue print)...but I should get a "spacial" concept of where I am. Setup your shots...then provide the punch/detail.

3:15 vs. 3:22 - the second shot tells me more...SELLS me more. 3:15 is a nice break, but...other than that...

3:35 - Why so short? It seems like the hierarchy of "What are the HIGHLIGHTS..THE BEST THIS HOUSE HAS TO OFFER" wasn't identified before the shoot? Meaning...maybe you're just showing EVERY ROOM IN THE HOUSE...which is fine...but...we all know they're NOT OF EQUAL VALUE..right...I'm not saying which ones are...but...the video SHOULD MANIPULATE ME...SELL ME ON IT's HIGHLIGHTS.

3:36 vs. 3:41 - You are framed too low on the first shot...same as earlier shot. Second shot is better "sell the house shot".

3:47 vs. 4:00 - These two shots are reversed? Setup shot (orient the viewer)...then build on that. I AGREE (I can hear you from here...) 4:00 is a GREAT closing shot...but....3:47 isn't very "informative"

OH YA...in case you missed it: MAD LOVE to DVXUsers everywhere!
 
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what a dump!!! I wouldn't be caught dead in a little **** hole of a house.( " any women from house wives of new jersey")

Naw, this was damn good. Nice shots, I felt the music to be a bit overwhelming, but thats about it. great work.
 
HHL, now that's the kind of feedback i like to see. you made some really good points. some things i was just doing subconsciously, like the shot you mentioned of the master bedroom shot leading to the sitting area. if I had that thinking in mind, i probably would have had a few more shots flow that well. some of the rooms probably could have been cut out. i think there was only one major room I didn't show in the final cut. I could definitely use some close-ups as well, since it's almost all wide, and i'll work on viewer orientation a little more too. some of the shots were cut short because i rushed them a little bit, and they got shaky at the end. won't do that again. anyway, thanks a bunch! i'll be taking all of that into consideration on my next one

on another note, what are some good places to go for music? i found this track on jamendo.com. finding something suiting is tough. i looked for a few hours and this was the best i could get.
 
HHL, now that's the kind of feedback i like to see. you made some really good points. some things i was just doing subconsciously, like the shot you mentioned of the master bedroom shot leading to the sitting area. if I had that thinking in mind, i probably would have had a few more shots flow that well. some of the rooms probably could have been cut out. i think there was only one major room I didn't show in the final cut. I could definitely use some close-ups as well, since it's almost all wide, and i'll work on viewer orientation a little more too. some of the shots were cut short because i rushed them a little bit, and they got shaky at the end. won't do that again. anyway, thanks a bunch! i'll be taking all of that into consideration on my next one
Click to expand...

I'm so glad it helped. I learned a lot from your shoot. Writing about it all was a pain...but I learned a lot too. I have a commercial to shoot for a school...and some of the shots are in around the building....I will be applying the same things that I advised you to do. :) Whether or not I EXECUTE that remains to be seen. I look forward to sharing it...and getting some great advise from you too. :)

Bottom line: I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

--------------

Music. Definitely a pain. Here's the last really good site I stumbled on (forever ago)

http://www.twistedtracks.com/

I hope you find something you like! :)

Good luck.
 
Well, you have a nice descriptive breakdown above...

My thoughts are more concise

1. You were too wide too often.

2. If you have a lens which distorts when wide, panning makes it look BAD. Don't pan with whatever wide lens you had on the camera.

3. Orient the user. Even if you use a PIP to tell the user where they are, help them.

4. Watch your lighting out the windows. You blew it out on several occasions. I know it's hard not to do this with these cameras.

5. The low slider stuff is ok, but there is way too much floor in foreground.

6. Set your height. There are times you want to show a room as you might be standing, and there are times you might want to show a room as you might be seated. This is not a feature film. We want to present a "pretty reality", not take the viewer totally into make-believe land.

7. Try to clean up your colors and saturation in post. This looked a bit pale and thin at times.

8. It was too long for my taste. I am not certain if this is supposed to be an exhaustive view of the house or a highlight video. But if it's highlights, I'd keep it to a minute to a minute and a half.

9. It might be nice to actually have some people in the shots. I don't know the practicality of that, but a home seems so much more "alive" when you see people milling about in the kitchen, enjoying the pool, washing the car in front of the house, putting new linen on the bed, etc.


If you want to learn to "sell" have a look at people who sell well. Watch some promo videos for top hotels.
 
also good tips. i was using the tokina 11-16 most of the time. it definitely distorts and stretches objects at the edges like any ultra-wide, which makes panning look kinda weird, especially when it changes on the vertical axis as well. i'll be using voice overs in most of the tours, so that may help with orientation, but i'd rather have it make sense just from a visual standpoint. lighting is tough. this was all natural light. all i had was the interior tungsten bulbs to compensate for the stuff outside. i'm going to try a few things out and see what i can do. are you just saying to keep the camera at the same level the whole time? i need to work on my CC skills. i'm not too great in that department. this tour was more of showing every room of the house. i think turning it into more of a highlight video is a better idea. some of those rooms don't help to sell the house, and 4 minutes can seem long when it's just shots of a house. since it was my first one, i didn't have a clear vision of what i wanted out of it. i'm getting some better ideas now with all the feedback
 
To much wide pans IMO

You might want to consider a shift lens to keep your verticals good

Also 50 with focus pulls would impress a client

This was my first house test last week - The thing about the opening shot is I didnt have to move the camera - just shot '5k' which allowed the move in post !

The other shots are on a blckbird - faster than a jib to set up by a mile - but you have to be very practiced to get nice building shots (Im not)

 
dust'n the callipygous,

How long did it take you to shoot and edit this house? How long do you spend shooting and editing a house when they pay you $300?
 
that took about 3 hours on location for photos and video. had to transcode the files but it only took about 2-3 hours to cut. at the $300 price point, i could probably do two in a day.

morgan, that looks good. the timelapse stuff might be good for upper end properties. you're better with that blackbird than i am with my steadicam. i'll keep practicing. i might rent a tilt shift lens to see how it works for me
 
morgan_moore said:
To much wide pans IMO

You might want to consider a shift lens to keep your verticals good

Also 50 with focus pulls would impress a client

This was my first house test last week - The thing about the opening shot is I didnt have to move the camera - just shot '5k' which allowed the move in post !

The other shots are on a blckbird - faster than a jib to set up by a mile - but you have to be very practiced to get nice building shots (Im not)

Click to expand...


I wanted too see more of this

I agrtee

Too many wides but really it was nice

You're onto something.
 
Wow that was great!! I love the wide shots as someone currently looking for a home, it helps give me a better prespective of layout.

One thing, use your steadicam to go through the hallway to the different rooms next time so we can get an idea of the room layout.
 
Holy crap. That's the most intense feedback I've ever seen.

I thought it was terrific and you're prices are very reasonable, particularly
if you're going for the multi-million dollar housing market.

If there's anything that detracts from the video is that it's too long in my opinion. I realize
in a house that size there's a lot to cover, but any more than 2 minutes and my eyes
begin to cross. Like HHL said above, choose only those shots that "sell" the house. Leave
the rest to still photos they can view on the website.

Again, terrific job.

P.
 
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