Why capture an event on video? Three compelling reasons...

To some, it seems obvious: You're producing an event, you should produce a video of the event. Some folk love having a record of the event for posterity, reference, or just to 'have on hand' down the road. For those 'crazy' folks among us who have to actual 'reasons' to spend the time and money to videotape the proceedings, here are the three most common reasons we get when we ask our clients why they hired us...

Reason #1 - To promote a future event.


Events are often yearly, quarterly, monthly, or cyclical in some nature, and the forward-thinking promoter is always looking to the next event to increase attendance and sponsorship. One great tool to have when promoting an event is 'look at how great the last event was'. Yes, you can show attendance numbers, comment cards, and the like, but nothing shows off the form and function of an event like a video, which of course, has been tactfully crafted to highlight the best moments from said event. Talk to the exhibitors, talk to the attendees, talk to the sponsors, show off the sessions, and then distill that down to a slick, quick, 2-4 minute promotional piece. It's a great way to attract more attention next time from both repeat clients and new business.

Reason #2 - Generate revenue from the video.


If you're capturing snippets from an event to use for a promotional piece, it might also make sense to capture the full content of some of the featured speakers or panels. These can then be edited to include their PowerPoint (or other visual media), and formatted for Internet or DVD delivery. The finished product is worth a lot to people who either missed the event, weren't able to attend, or would like to review the material at a later date. We've had clients who charged $299 to attend an event, or $399 with a DVD package that included all the keynote addresses on video. While not everyone paid for the more expensive package, enough did to more than cover the costs of the production and thereby increased the total revenue for the show promoter. The video can also be sold after the fact on DVD, or Internet download, from an e-commerce website. Offering a $29.95 video package after the event to people who couldn't attend can be a very lucrative product, and will get your message out to a second, previously unadressed audience.

Reason #3 - Generate leads and prospects.


While many events are educational in nature, they can also be used to generate leads and prospects for your sales staff, even when the event is long past. An event video can easily be turned into an 'online webinar' on your website that is placed behind a registration page. The video is free to watch, but to access it, a prospect must 'register' by providing their name, email, phone, and other demographic information. While many visitors to your website may not feel comfortable just offering up their email address for nothing, the educational value of a webinar video is perceived as more than a fair trade for this coveted contact information, and with separate links to different videos, you can even divine exactly what a given prospect is interested in when they sign up.

Of course, there are more reasons than just these, but the great thing about video is that with just one up-front investment to capture the event, there are many ways to repurpose the content to suit your current needs now, and in the future. Content is a wonderful thing in that you only pay for it once, but it works for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in a diverse and broad range of possible venues.

PrimeImage Media can help you plan, capture, edit, and distribute your event video, and help with the creation of webinar pages and registration forms for your website. We'd love to help you get the most out of your future events. Drop us a line at 480.240.9270, or visit us at www.PrimeImageMedia.com.

Is getting professional photography for your listing really worth it?

That's probably one of the hardest questions to answer because what constitutes 'good' photography can be different amongst various observers. Back in the 80s, Apple came out with with the first easy-to-use desktop publishing system. The next day, everyone decided they were going to forgo expensive designers and produce their own business cards.

Of course, owning a copy of "PageMaker" didn't make you designer, and just because high-quality digital cameras can now be had for under $500, it doesn't make you a photographer.

The other side of the argument is that, for many people, digital 'snapshots' may be good enough, and are actually far higher quality than what may have been available even professionally 10 or 20 years ago. So, is it worth spending the money on photos that are marginally better than what you could take yourself?

Our answer is 'no'. It's not worth spending money on professional photos unless they are noticeably, significantly better than the photos you could get on your own... and to us, better means not that they are more pleasing to the eye or that they are artistically composed, but rather that they will attract more attention and generate more calls to you, the agent who hired us.

The photos in this post are all from a recent shoot for JP King Auctions of a condo complex located in Austin, Texas. We're located in Phoenix, so JP King not only has to pay for our photography services, but also our travel costs. Why would they go to that expense? Several reasons...

1) Several condos are for sale in this development, so the cost of hiring us can be amortized over multiple units.

2) The photos we take will be suitable for their website, brochures, and print-media advertising (newspapers and billboards). Repurposing the photos in more than one media also distributes the cost.

3) ...and finally, our pictures are different. They stand out. They look strange...some even say 'surreal'. We use a system called "Enhanced Lighting Compression" photography that combines high dynamic range, sharpening, and level compression to create photos that leap off the page. It's something that catches the eye as it drifts through a magazine or drives down the road. And eyeballs on ads is what good commercial photography is all about.

Of course, traveling to texas to take photos requires a project that can support our travel fees, so if you'd like us to come out to where you are, it most likey needs to be a large estate, or multiple units that can be aggregated together.

On the other hand, if you're located in Phoenix, ELC photography can be extremely reasonable, and saves you the time of taking the photos yourself. Drop me a line at 480-619-8164 if you have a listing in town or a project across the USA that you'd like us to quote.

There are many more examples of our ELC Photography, Aerial Photography, and incredible videos on our website at www.PrimeImageMedia.com


-Ben Freedman, Owner/Producer

Creating a video for radio

This morning saw us shooting a video for Career Launch Radio, a new radio show featuring career consultants Jane and Al Andersen. The video will be a promotional piece to be used on their website...

Their radio show can be found here: Career Launch Radio. Jane and Al are fiercely committed to helping folks who are looking to change career or find a new job, which of course can be extremely tough in the current economic climate. If you've followed our productions, you'll probably recognize Jane and Al from their 'Pinked-In' parties, where they organize networking events that bring employers together with potential employees: Pinked-In Party Video.

Recording a radio show is challenging because of the close quarters. Being in such a tight space and the constraints of this particular project's budget means that we're limited to a single camera for the shoot. The goal for PrimeImage, however, is to make something that looks like it cost a lot, even thought the budget is small.

The show runs for an hour, but the promo will only be 1-2 minutes long, so the best practice for video is to capture enough of the conversation to ensure you have some interesting footage...

...and the capture some 'b-roll' clips to spice up the visuals (after all, this is radio, so there's not a lot of 'action' to capture). We recorded about 30-minutes of the 1-hour show, and then spent the 2nd half capturing close-ups and reaction shots, which we'll use to cover cuts in the promo and make our 1-camera production look like we had a whole crew.

Capturing shots of the guests and hosts nodding and looking 'thoughtful' is vitally important. Even though these were captured later, we'll use them in the video as 'reactions' to what the speaker is saying. It's a nice trick that creates a compelling video.

If you have an upcoming event, discussion, or meeting that you'd like captured, drop us a line at 480-240-9270, and let's see how we can produce a high-quality web-video that you can use to promote your services and marketed your company.