VIDEO MARKETING ON A BUDGET

Video Marketing. I don't know of a single individual who runs a business who does not see the cost-to-benefit in using video to advertise their brand.

As simple logic's go, the bigger the budget, the more you can do with your product. The higher the production value, the higher the cost.

Just because someone would love to have professional videos done to show their products and services, doesn't always mean that they have the funds to hire a professional who specializes in video production, such as myself.

This is where I work with budgets. This week I will be filming a short teaser video for a local association in the Western world, who is on a tight budget and next week I will be showing what I can do working with a super tight budget.

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SETTING THE SCENE IN MY BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEO

I feel that it's time to reveal one thing that very few people know about me. My background and experience is actually primarily in video work, not photography. The experience that I've had throughout my career in photography is minuscule compared to the video side. I've always considered videography to be my #1 talent and photography #2.

It's when I stepped into the Equestrian world is when I had to flip things around temporarily and focus much more on photos because I knew that's where the bigger market was.

However, I am continuously bringing in my video works to show the significant impact that video can have on anyone's business and why video is the number one form of media today and it will only get more substantial as time goes on. Big or small, any business in the Equestrian world - entrepreneurs, clinicians, trainers, farriers, barn owners, farmers, veterinarians, therapists, breeders, show venues, the list goes on and on - video benefits everyone.

This is perhaps my favorite picture from my behind the scenes video. I love them all but I used this specific image to set the scene, when going from reality from inside the barn to a memory. As soon as I stepped into this barn, I immediately knew that this was going to be a powerful moment in my video, because what I saw in this very moment looked like a painting.

Then at the very end of the video, I do the reverse, I go back in time to the very start of the session, except this time I go from a memory (and a slightly different one at that) back to reality. But this time, I get more creative by having that view outside the barn door turn into a mirror reflecting what I am doing (taking pictures), before the camera shuts off, the end.

It's these little bits of attention to detail that make videography so much fun and why I've always had such a deep passion for film making. Creating videos is essentially a series of moving images, which allows you to tell your stories on a much more intimate level than pictures.

GO BEHIND THE SCENES WITH ME - EQUINE PORTRAITURE

Here is my video piece that I've had on my list to do for several months, it was a big one but it sure feels wonderful to finally get it done.

Endings, oh yes endings, my favorite part of videos right next to the intro. If you don't quite understand the ending on this one, I will explain it but I feel that it's pretty easy to understand.

I wouldn't have been able to do this without the help from others.

Thanks to Bethany Van Hierden for filming it, you did a great job. I sat down with Bethany, told her exactly what I needed from her and my message that I wanted to say in the video.

Thank you to Taha Ahmad for filming my narrative, well done! Talented young man who I am really enjoying teaching and working with.

Thank you to Julie Bland for showing me this location.

And finally thank you to Kim Berti, her husband Ron and of course their star Whiddy for being in the video. Kim, you have such a photogenic boy.

I story boarded it, put it all together and edited it. Shooting video is fun and very detail orientated but the editing aspect is always the most challenging component of video creation.

Make sure your volume is up. Otherwise, enjoy!

You may also watch the video by clicking HERE.

ANIMATED INTRO THAT I COMPLETED

One of the many components that I can do in my Equine Videography service is quick intros, and I'm not talking about standard ones but animated ones, either as part of a promotional or documentary video or just standalone. Here is one that I did for Mill Iron Livestock for Jaguarr's dam who won at last year's NFR show.

Make sure to turn your volume up.

114TH MILLARVILLE RACES

Here are my efforts from this past Monday at the Millarville Races.

The thing with film making is that it's very easy to have all these extravagant ideas and rich visionaries running through your mind when story boarding your content, but it requires a perfect (or near perfect) scenario where all the pieces have to fall into place and more often than not, that will not happen. So adapting to what's presented to you in the moment and having the ability to make ultra quick adjustments on the fly, which includes brainstorming completely new shots as needed is a necessity.

I love this video as there is so much interpretation behind it, that I guarantee that you’ll have to watch it several times to pick up on all the little bits of attention to detail from start to finish.

I wasn’t able to get everything on my list and some things had to be done differently simply from certain cases being unavailable but I modified my story on the fly to shape the event. I wanted to put a strong emphasis on the kids and show how this type of event affects all generations.

Be sure to turn your sound up first and enjoy!

You may also click HERE to watch the video.

114TH MILLARVILLE RACES

For the Millarville Races on Canada Day (July 1st), I will no longer be photographing the event, instead I will be filming it.

And what I mean by filming is not a straight forward video of all the races from start to finish of me just panning the camera back and forth, but rather a short documentary shot in the format of what you would see in a movie trailer, just longer.

Movie trailers are so effective because they suck you in. They keep you on the edge of your seat, they get you excited - they immediately draw emotion. That is exactly what I have planned with this video. I will portray the intensity of horse racing, the emotions that it creates and the energy that an event like this provides. It's going to be moving, it's going to be full of emotion and it's going to draw you in. Even though I have yet to start, I already know how I want the finished product to look.

Why the switch? It's simple. You all have already seen what I am capable of in terms of photographing an event like this both on and off the track (example: Dubai World Cup) but nobody has seen what I can do on the video side at such an event and this is a core component of my business that I've been wanting to exploit. Pictures are great and all but video is something else, as it is far more engaging and more powerful.

I will still have one of my picture cameras with me to take a few pictures here and there, but there won't be many, as my primary focus will be video. I can't wait for this!

Cassidy Meston will be assisting me for the day as the extra set of hands will be much needed.

JONATHAN FIELD WORKING HIS MAGIC WITH ARMANDO

Here is Jonathan Field working his magic with his boy Armando from this past week. Make sure you turn your volume up. :)

What a sight and educational experience this was to take in. As you will see and hear in the video, it was outrageously windy out (easily a 100 km/h wind) which created challenges for the both of us.

Is this production perfect? No. The wind was so strong that it made panning of the camera extremely difficult, especially when simultaneously controlling boththe horizontal and vertical axis's. The wind also gave me a real scare because it initially killed the signal on our audio feed but after some troubleshooting I was able to quickly find a workaround to address it.

I will most definitely be having one of my assistants out with me next time to man a second camera. I was very much wanting to run my B-cam (second cam) for this video but time was a factor and I wanted to keep the set up time as minimal as possible, so I felt that I would do without it. Well, I deeply regret that decision - lesson learned. Yes I am extremely hard on myself but for good reason.

This is just the start of things to come from Jonathan and I.