Promo film for my small, local videography business. Feedback please!

Lintel

Lintel

Active member
Hi, I've been teaching myself to shoot video for the last 18 months or so, shooting on the cheapest decent cameras and lenses I could find. I've recently decided to have a go at setting up a small, local videography business and have put together the following promo from things I've shot over the last year or so.
I'd really value your feedback on how effective you think it is (please be brutal! I need it!) so I can re-edit it if there is some consensus about it's weaknesses. I'm new here, so by way of offering something back to the community I've also tagged (with toggle-able subtitles) which camera and lens I used for each shot. You can turn them on and off with the "CC" button in the Vimeo play bar. I hope some people might find this useful.

Thanks very much :)

 
Hi Pal!

I'd recognise that BALTIC lift shot anywhere!!! In fact it featured in the very first piece of video work I ever did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGg3uodglBg

It's RUBBISH and prepare to turn down your speakers. I've come a long way since then. Compared to my latest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qKowB_yUrQ

Anyway, to your trailer! I can't really comment too much as I'm about to make my first promo too - but if I had to, I would say honestly, it's a little long and a little dull - I found myself skipping through to get to the end. The steady, slow paced, intro is good for a little while, but after that it kind of drags on a bit too long. I mean, that's just me. Perhaps try going for something a little punchier and snappier? :)
 
Thanks, Nathan, for the honest feedback - it's what I need. Yes I'm getting the same comments from others that it's too long, so I think you're probably right. I made a 2min draft a while ago and everyone said it was too short! I guess the next one will be 3 min :)

Because I'm just starting out, I don't have a lot of 'people' footage to use so a lot of it is dull scenic shots. I hope that if I cut it down they will seem less boring. It's hard to kill your babies though!

Are you based in Newcastle? I'm in Durham (Lanchester). I studied in Newcastle though so lived there for about 6-7 years. I miss it :(

Good luck with your own promo. I don't really know any other local filmmakers so it would be interesting to follow your progress. Do you have a website/FB/vimeo I can follow?

Cheers, Matt
 
Your images are good and in some cases excellent, the pacing is a bit slow or at least for a "Pitch Video" such that you are assuming people will devote the time to watch the whole thing. Others may have different opinions but I would be surprised if anyone I know would watch more than three to four minutes unless it was spectacular. So in short I would edit it down. I would also consult or work with someone on the audio mix, I found that when you used clips they jumped out at me rather than flowing.
But all of this to say well done, keep refining and all the best down the road.
Brian
 
Thanks Brian, really great feedback. I think you are right about the length and pace - I'm getting a lot of people say it's too long/slow. I'll have a go at finessing the audio mix myself a bit, I don't think I've paid enough attention to that side of things.

Thanks again, Matt
 
Lintel said:
Thanks, Nathan, for the honest feedback - it's what I need. Yes I'm getting the same comments from others that it's too long, so I think you're probably right. I made a 2min draft a while ago and everyone said it was too short! I guess the next one will be 3 min :)

Because I'm just starting out, I don't have a lot of 'people' footage to use so a lot of it is dull scenic shots. I hope that if I cut it down they will seem less boring. It's hard to kill your babies though!

Are you based in Newcastle? I'm in Durham (Lanchester). I studied in Newcastle though so lived there for about 6-7 years. I miss it :(

Good luck with your own promo. I don't really know any other local filmmakers so it would be interesting to follow your progress. Do you have a website/FB/vimeo I can follow?

Cheers, Matt
Click to expand...

Hi Matt,

Yes I am based in Newcastle! Great city and I'm right on the quayside so plenty to film! Although I'm originally from West Yorkshire. I just have that YouTube channel - but there are tons of videos on there that aren't actually done by me - I've just uploaded on other peoples behalf! I'm looking at turning freelance soon so I will start my own Vimeo at some juncture. I'll let you know!
 
You've been doing this for eighteen months, I've been doing this for nearly 30 years. My thoughts; good job. You've got a great eye. Your sound recording sucks, but I see talent.

My advice; cut it down to around three minutes, but keep the sense of space and emotion you've created. Just lose the shots you like the least and trim some of the others.
 
Ha ha thanks Liam. Great, concise, to-the-point feedback. And thanks for the compliments. I'm well chuffed.

Yeah I'm not too attentive when it comes to sound - I need to change that. I'd hugely appreciate it if you could say just a little more about what issues you hear with the sound? I'm aware of several, but it would be very useful to hear it from you I suspect. Obviously I'm not asking for a lesson - I just would like to know what really stood out as 'sucky' to you?! :)

Thanks again, Matt
 
Oh wow, I just had a look at your website and saw The Cure clip. I'd love to have seen them play back then (I was only 13 unfortunately, and probably listening to Bryan Adams). I'm a massive fan of Disintegration (I guess they were touring Wish by the time of your film?). Lucky you.
 
Liam Hall said:
You've been doing this for eighteen months, I've been doing this for nearly 30 years. My thoughts; good job. You've got a great eye. Your sound recording sucks, but I see talent.

My advice; cut it down to around three minutes, but keep the sense of space and emotion you've created. Just lose the shots you like the least and trim some of the others.
Click to expand...

See comments above (haven't got to grips with this forum yet sorry).
 
Lintel said:
Yeah I'm not too attentive when it comes to sound - I need to change that. I'd hugely appreciate it if you could say just a little more about what issues you hear with the sound? I'm aware of several, but it would be very useful to hear it from you I suspect. Obviously I'm not asking for a lesson - I just would like to know what really stood out as 'sucky' to you?! :)
Click to expand...

It sounds compressed, lacks depth and has background hiss. Maybe it needs knocking back in the mix a little.

Lintel said:
Oh wow, I just had a look at your website and saw The Cure clip. I'd love to have seen them play back then (I was only 13 unfortunately, and probably listening to Bryan Adams). I'm a massive fan of Disintegration (I guess they were touring Wish by the time of your film?). Lucky you.
Click to expand...

The Cure were cool - spent over a year working with them. Bryan Adams on the hand... ...I'd keep that to yourself:-)
 
I just had a look at your website and saw The Cure clip. I'd love to have seen them play back then
Click to expand...

Yeah, Liam, amazing that you put that video together for a phenomenal band. In a move, I recently found an old VHS copy of the Cure in Orange. Another great concert video.
 
Yes, the sound is sub par, buddy. But that's number one problem I face with beginning filmmakers, and I work with indie films quite a lot. You should always plan to record high quality sound on your set as that will make 50% of your film.
 
I think the audio is ok. I agree the sound has a good amount of compression/noise in it, it's not perfect, but honestly it doesn't bother me too much. If it wasn't close to the subject then that would be a red flag.

I think the font should be changed. I like the kerning, size and placement, just not the font itself.

I also agree what other have said. Make it shorter and while doing so you will edit out the shots that aren't amazing and make the entire promo a lot cleaner. (definitely get rid of noticeable warp stablized shots)
 
The music is not distracting, the sound is a bit variable, many of the clips are nice. Two to three mins max, in my opinion, would be the longest something like this should run.

As for the unifying theme, it seems you are presenting different dimensions of life and inviting people to perhaps build records of what they do.

But how do they make the connection that they should hire YOU to help them build these records as opposed to them going out with a point-and-shoot camera and making these records themselves?

In any case, I feel most folks would not want to spend the money to build up a personal timeline.

I don't think corporates would see anything in your video that would motivate them to hire you to do a corporate promo.

If you want to do weddings, you would similarly need to have some focus in your video on what you could do for a bride for their wedding.

I suggest you play the video and enhance it until you can objectively identify, standing in the shoes of a prospective client, something that would prompt the client to pick up the phone and say "I want a video that pitches ......... to ........".

I agree with jdohnddee that audio is worth at least 50%. I would add that in a promo, audio plus message content probably goes to 80%.
 
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kwkeirstead said:
The music is not distracting, the sound is a bit variable, many of the clips are nice. Two to three mins max, in my opinion, would be the longest something like this should run.

As for the unifying theme, it seems you are presenting different dimensions of life and inviting people to perhaps build records of what they do.

But how do they make the connection that they should hire YOU to help them build these records as opposed to them going out with a point-and-shoot camera and making these records themselves?

In any case, I feel most folks would not want to spend the money to build up a personal timeline.

I don't think corporates would see anything in your video that would motivate them to hire you to do a corporate promo.

If you want to do weddings, you would similarly need to have some focus in your video on what you could do for a bride for their wedding.

I suggest you play the video and enhance it until you can objectively identify, standing in the shoes of a prospective client, something that would prompt the client to pick up the phone and say "I want a video that pitches ......... to ........".

I agree with jdohnddee that audio is worth at least 50%. I would add that in a promo, audio plus message content probably goes to 80%.
Click to expand...

Great feedback, thanks.

Partly my problem is that currently I don't really have any other footage to use. I've just started my first big paid gig (on xmas eve!) which is more commercial, so I will add parts of that into my promo when it's finished. Hopefully that will help. I've also put a lot more effort into sound with this job.

Others have suggested that what I'm selling needs to be made explicit, so I need to put some time aside to think about that.

Thanks again for taking the time to watch and give feedback. :)
 
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