Four new videos for Scanpan

This January I've been working on four new videos for Scanpan. This videos were suposed to be using old footage we already shot in 2012, but I asked to be back in Denmark because I came up with some new ideas that could make them better. I had a positive answer and we took advantadge to shoot new machinery at the factory.
As I was going back, they planned a shooting day at Hotel d'Anglaterre, as its restaurant hosts one of the best danish cookers, Ronny Emborg. I was amazed with his work and being able to shoot with him and his team was a great honor.

What we shot at hotel d'Anglaterre illustrates part of the brand video:



The other three videos feature product lines and were mainly shot at the studio. I've tried to approach them differently both visually and with the music.

New video recipe series for Code Sucré

I'm glad to announce a new collaboration for the pastry blog Code Sucré, in which we will be publishing sweet video recipes, trying to be faithful to the blog's entertaining style. We've started with a drink: hot chocolate with pepper. It's a quite simple and affordable recipe to warm up engines, and soon you can expect more. Don't hesitate to join Code Sucré's youtube channel to be aware of the upcoming videos!

Shooting Testimonials - Part 2/3 - Visuals

Let's follow with the three-part post series on shooting testimonials. When we are sure of having control on the human factor discussed in the first part, it's time to think about getting great visuals and use the available tools to film a good video.


1. Which lenses are better 

As much as I can, I use Canon EF f/1.8 50 mm for testimonials. This lens is very popular for its very affordable price (around 100-120 €) and outstanding performance. Its aperture ensures very luminous images combined with a short deft of field that blurs the background, giving the testimony all the prominence.

- Canon EF f/1.8 50 mm
- Nikkor f/1.8D 50 mm (Nikon equivalent)

Shot taken with the Canon EF/1.8 50 mm 

Sometimes the environment is important and you want to see it as well. Don't hesitate to use other lenses if the story you're telling demands it. For instance, when I shoot tourism videos, I usually like to see the testimony in a wide shot while showcasing the location.

Shot taken the Canon EF/5.6 17-55 mm

2. Camera at the height of the eyes

Unless justified by storytelling, camera should always be at the height of the testimony eyes. If it's upper, we give the subject a connotation of inferiority. If it's lower, sometimes it can work to connote power, but we get to see the nostrils which can be very annoying, anti-aesthetic and definitely not fetching.

3. Looking at the camera or not? 

The feeling of someone looking directly into the camera is different than when the eye-line is slightly off. Therefore, it's not just an aesthetic decision, but also depends on the purpose of the video. I would let testimonies look into the camera when their speech is a call to action, as it's much more direct and seductive. If you decide to use both options in the same video, have in mind the power of looking into the camera: it can work as a good engaging conclusion. In the other hand, starting by looking into the camera and follow with the eyes off can lead viewers to disconnection.

Looking to the camera is more direct and seductive

4. Camera moving? 

Camera movement can give visual dynamism, but while doing it, filmmakers should think as editors to decide if that's interesting or not for the video they're shooting. I think soft and slow movements can work well in many cases. DSLR sliders are a good choice to perform discreet movement in your shot. You can find plenty of this gadgets at the "camera movement" product section of cinevate.com

Atlas FLT Camera Slider from cinevate.com

5. Lighting 

It's important to ensure a minimum of lighting on testimonial shootings. Sometimes you can be creative with the sources you get on set (when shooting in real locations). For instance, factories usually have halogen lights you can ask to use. Nonetheless traveling to locations with a minimum of lighting is a good idea. Led lighting for DSLR is a useful option: I highly recommend the HDV Z96 for three reasons: 1. It has a dimmer that allows you to control the quantity of light 2. The produced light looks very natural in comparison to others 3. (VERY IMPORTANT!) It doesn't produce flickering issues.

The HDV Z96 Light kit.

6. Using B-roll shots to enrich the testimonial 

Again, it's nice when thinking as editors. Shots of the hands or close-ups of the eyes can bring some freshness. I think it loses elegance when, for instance, we cut from a static shot to a handheld shaking image, or from a color shot to a black & white one. Yes, it can be "cool", but it distracts the viewer as form tramples on content.

A b-roll shot of hands.

 7. Make up 

If your budget affords it, make up can solve lots of visual headaches during the shooting, and will give security to some testimonies who, for example, tend to sweat (almost everyone when using lighting), have an injure on the face, etc. The shiny skin of someone sweating can ruin any other aesthetic effort.

8. Lower Thirds 

Back to pre-production, asking what's going to be the lower-third style (or creating it in advance, if you're going to design it) is mandatory. In another way we risk to be forced to use a lower-third style that ruins the shot. There are brands who align lower-thirds just in the left, so it's nice to set your testimony in the other side so that the composition stays balanced. You can't have a white background (or burned lights) behind the subject if the titling is going to be white and without any shadow or stroke effect.

I wish this notes have been useful. Again, don't hesitate to share additional ones. Stay tunned for the third and latest part of the series!

Shooting Testimonials - Part 1/3 - The Human Factor

As video marketing grows and companies struggle to fulfill the level of proximity that nowadays connected world demands, video testimonials are part of both online and offline communication strategies.

Testimonials are even more valuable for its power of seduction and proximity than for the transmitted message itself. That's what makes the difference with text content or still images.

In these three-part post series about video testimonials, I think it's important to start by the human factor, because it doesn't matter how great are the camera, the lenses, the lighting, the make up, the sound quality or the location: Everything is ruined if the testimony is not comfortable.
Talking in front of a camera is frightening for most of the people not used to it, even for people who is used to talk in front of an audience, and this fear can manifest in different ways, like talking too fast or with low voice, or exaggerated gesticulation.

However, they're ways to prevent or decrease the insecurities of a testimony, and the work of the filmmaker may include the competences to do so. Here are some strategies that have been useful for me.

1. Cast who talks

Sometimes the testimony is imposed by the client for different reasons, but certain times it's possible to be involved on choosing who's going to talk. This is a step to take in serious consideration. If you can meet the candidates in person, try to chat with them while observing how they sound. If there's no opportunity to meet in person or watch a video casting, try at least to make the client consider the importance of choosing someone who is secure and communicative.

2. Meet the testimony in advance

Specially if you couldn't meet the person during the casting, it's very important it happens at best the day before shooting, and if not, an hour or so before, maybe by having a coffee together while talking about the content of the speech in a relaxed way. The idea is to prepare the testimony so that he/she feels confident and with an ally.

3. Stuff scares

Generally, the amount of human and technical stuff in testimonial shootings is proportional to the pressure the subject feels. The more flamboyant the ambiance is, the more overwhelming is the experience for the testimony.
DSLR cameras are great for this kind of shootings for two reasons: They're small and its photo camera shape is easily more familiar to the subject.
If the shooting happens in a room, invite some people to go out before start to record. Only essential people should remind when the interview starts.

4. Testimonials are conversations

"Everyone is ready? OK. Camera Shooting? Okay, so, question 1...". It shouldn't be like that. The relationship established by meeting the testimony in advance must continue on set. Try to minimize conversations with other people during the shooting unless they're truly necessary, and focus strictly on the subject. When shooting starts, make the questions flow as part of the conversation, don't say "question number...".

5. "Let's make a test"

It works so well. The word test makes the subject feel the decisive moment hasn't arrived, the pressure is not at its top. You record the test and sometimes it becomes good footage to be used.

6. Forbid reading!

The main insecurity of testimonies is to think that they're not going to remember what they have to say, and they will ask you if someone can hold papers with the printed speech (sometimes they have already printed the text with a big-sized font). While it's comprehensive that they come up with this idea in order to solve their insecurity, it never works. The reason is very simple: If talking in front of a camera is already uncomfortable and unnatural for them, reading while trying to look like they don't do it is worse.

7. Forbid reciting!

Reciting a memorized text is also a bad option as it doesn't sound natural at all and makes the testimonial be more aware of concrete words than the content itself. Encourage testimonies to talk with they own words. If they have been chosen to talk means that they are qualified to do so. I've seen cases where the interviewer recites sentence over sentence so that the testimonial repeats it. The result is a kind of mass that the editor is supposed to edit by cutting the parts of the interviewer. It's bad for the image, because it forces you to cut the interview in little pieces, limiting the edition, and it's also bad for the content as the testimonial doesn't sound like talking about a topic, but just like reciting a list of sentences.

7. Just one interviewer, please

If there's an agency, a marketing director or whoever involved in the content of the interview on set, supervise the questions and the points that should be answered in advance and come to an agreement on who's going to be the interviewer. It really confuses the testimony to have two voices talking, and the ambiance we've tried to create in order to have a relaxed conversation becomes a chaotic interrogatory.

9. Low voice? Move away

If the person is shy and doesn't project its voice, place yourself farther away and be sure that the subject talks for you. Generally the person will be forced to talk louder, improving the projection.

10. Too much gesticulation? Move the camera away

A certain level of gesticulation can be bothering in close shots. If the testimony gesticulates too much or just too fast, open the shot.

11. When the interview is finished, start it again

And finally, by the end of the interview, the level of the testimony's pressure generally decreases. If time is in your favour, ask the testimonial to repeat the first questions now that the situation is settled.
Also, if you couldn't avoid the testimony to recite or to read, invite him / her to answer again with its own words.

Those are just some ideas that worked for me. Do you have others in addition? Don't hesitate to share them!

Hotel video: Storytelling matters

Technology has changed traveler behavior. The web 2.0 has a huge impact on hotel business as there's nothing more relevant than the opinion of other customers to book a room, but it's not easy to control what users say specially because in many cases those are comments or punctuations published on third-party webs like tripadvisor or booking.com.

As a consequence, firms can not avoid social media. The solution seems to be the presence of the hotels themselves on social networks. On the playground of this powerful way of engagement, video becomes a relevant tool.

While photos are a good introduction to hotels, videos give the opportunity to dive into them. Hotels from four to five stars invest time on having their own personality. Besides, it's increasing the idea that people finds the experience more valuable than the amenities, and that's something that video can empower very well, as it allows marketers to explain a story through it. When talking about a story I'm not necessary talking about fiction and drama (although they're really good branded shorts out there), but to use the storytelling tools that video provide to tell the customer what he needs to know.

As discussed in the previous post, price is an advantage for video marketing. You don't need to be a huge hotel firm with dozens of hotels spread all over the world to afford something else than a photo slide show aired in the local TV that no tourist watches. Not just the production is largely less expensive nowadays, but also the channels where the content is published worldwide (the most relevant are literally free).

But can video be useless or counterproductive?  For sure! Useless if there's no effort to position it. They're outstanding hotel videos around the web with less than 200 views. There are hotels that have a video in YouTube, with no description or keywords, and it's not displayed anywhere else (neither in their website). There's no excuse when embedding video from YouTube is so easy. Video needs to melt with each marketing strategy.

And what can make video counterproductive? A bad one.

I've stolen this descriptive photo from Patrick Shaver's blog lonelymarketer.com 

 

Saying that video is much more affordable than before is a reality, but basing the choice of a professional or film company just by the price is a big mistake. The low-cost has its limits and best price should be an option only when the offers to consider ensure the following elements:

- Visuals: No matter how round-about is the story told in a hotel video, one of each objectives (in many cases the single one) is to showcase the hotel and / or its surroundings. If there's no notion of composition, lighting, camera movement or color correction, the cheapest can cost you very expensive.

- Storytelling: The challenge doesn't end when the user clicks play. We want the viewer to watch until the last second of the video and to bring its interest beyond. A sequence of random shots won't fulfill it. Whatever the video explains must be previously defined, and every single element (script, camera, sound, editing...) must lead to that objective.

- Sound design: I'm wondered how sound is underrated sometimes. There's no better complement to image than sound to explain the dimension and feeling of space, and even the choice of the music can give different senses to that. The best sound mix is unperceived by the viewer, but makes the video much better and three dimensional.

In conclusion, video worth as a marketing complement because storytelling matters, but price can't be the only factor to consider if visuals, storytelling and sound design are not guaranteed.

The rise of tourism video marketing

According to Google: 68% of business travelers watch travel-related videos, up from 56% two years ago.

Video has become a great tool for tourism marketing, mainly for two reasons:

1. More and more, image prevails over text in Internet, and tourism marketing highly needs visuals to seduce.

2. The increasing quality of the current camcorders, combined with its fair cost, and having no need of hard equipment to produce astonishing images, allows tourism marketing to showcase locations as we have never seen before.

These two reasons make video an essential tool for tourism marketing. Nowadays, companies are not limited by TV slots anymore, so they can produce longer pieces featuring content of interest that immerse the customers.

Almost everything we do offline can now be done faster and cheaper online. For its price, Tourism firms has now the opportunity to create numerous videos and distribute them over different channels. YouTube is the most used site for travel videos, with 81% looking there for business travel and 79% for personal travel.
Video marketing is known to increase conversions. It's 30% better than any other promotional item without video.

Putting up a video with relevant keyword in a description is known to provide better SEO to your website. Videos posted in social networks lead to customer's interaction through comments, likes and shares, and they drive the audiences to the firm's website. Besides, videos hosted or embedded into the websites themselves, make audiences stay longer, which is perfect for positioning.

Hyper Smash

A video for Jordan Sights Travel and Tourism

Once the shooting for InterContinental is finished in Amman, I get in touch with someone indirectly related to the project, Mr. Adnan, who's the managing director of the agency that has driven us all around the city during these days.
We meet in InterContinental's lobby, and explains me he wants to do a commercial to show the team in the agency, in order to showcase it at the Jordan Sights' website. No need to add monuments or touristic attractions in the video, as that's what all the website is about; he wants to center on the workers and the vehicles they have for their services.
I've just got one day more in Amman, I'm leaving tomorrow, Friday, at 3h after midnight. We talk about that, this could be a hasty decision, not just because of the few time we got, but also because Friday is weekend in Jordan, so he has to convince his people to come and use a free day for work. He starts calling people, some of them are far from the city and can't be back, but others would definitely be there.
He tells me that, for him, investing on this commercial is investing on the future, as the Arab Spring is damaging the tourism all around the region, and Syria is in its boiling point.
We close the deal, we schedule the shooting, and I spend my last day in Amman filming the commercial for Jordan Sights!

Shooting tourism video in Amman for InterContinental

December 5th, 2011 I travel to Amman, the capital of Jordan, to shoot a concierge video for InterContinental Hotels & Resorts. The video is a new episode of a series of touristic guides that the brand have of the most important cities where they own hotels. I already worked in one of them in Madrid, but this is a completely new experience, as I'm traveling to a country I've never visited, and in a moment where the region lives a complicated situation.

Avoiding the tripod

I'm flying with turkish airlines, and the communication with the airline has been frankly difficult. After a long conversation where they tried to make me understand I couldn't bring any big object because of its weight (they wouldn't have an answer to "what's more heavy, A kilo of paper or a kilo of lead?"), I decided to just leave the tripod and shoot the video without any stabilization.

The Turkish hologram

To fly to Amman from Paris, I change plane in Istanbul Ataturk Airport, and there I'm very surprised to find out that turkish have got the hologram! Of course is a trick, but for the few seconds you don't realize it, it's awesome!

• Watch a little video of the turkish hologram

Arriving to Amman

Latest weeks the arab spring has been constantly mentioned in newspaper and tv. The Spanish ministry of home affairs website targets Jordan as a country with not known problems, but it also says that risk to travel to the region is high and that any precaution taken was good, which actually I don't know how to interpret.
I arrive to Queen Alia's airport, where a guy called Ali receives me, and tells me that everything is arranged. With a smile to every controller, the security measures pass very fast, and in five minutes I've got my visa and we're out of the Airport, where InterContinental's concierge Anas is waiting for me with another guy from the hotel and Mansur, the man who's going to drive us all around Amman city for the video shooting, with his characteristic kufiyya.
After the warm welcome, Mansur drives us to Amman, 40 km. from the Airport. I can't avoid to connect the road crossing the desert, the sand-coloured houses, the driver and the sound of everybody's accents with those images I had seen all the previous days on the tv, It's like being inside the tv-news. I ask them about the arab spring, they say these days they're receiving refugees from Syria, but that Jordan still lives a calmed situation. They seem to be more interested on talking about Barça v.s. Madrid match that takes places next weekend, like Al-Jazeera is discussing at the moment I get my room in the hotel and I turn on the TV. Maybe it's football the nowadays opium of the masses!

The shooting

It takes three days to shoot the video, and I'm taking some additional shots on Friday morning. Among the greatest locations:

The Royal Automobile Museum: A wide collection of cars and auto-motives from King Hussein of Jordan, from old cars to a new Lamborghini.

Wild Jordan: A complex devoted to preserve natural heritage in the country.

Restaurant Abou el Abed: Which name's identity comes from the Lebanese comedian character who holds credit for most of the arabbian jokes.