Hi I', Steve from Mills Motion and today I want to share with you five tips for shooting
better product demo videos.
Just recently I had the opportunity to shoot a demo video for a client and there were a
few things that I discovered that I thought would be helpful for anyone wanting to create
their own product demo video.
So before we jump into the tips let's check out the finished product.
So what your saw just there was an except from a larger product demo video that I created
for a client.
But want I want to show you in this video is how you can shoot really nice shots for
your next product demo video or promotional video.
Here are my top 5 tips.
Tip #1 for making a product demo video.
Take some time thinking bout and setting up you shot.
In cinema talk there is a thing called "mis en scene"
Thats the concept of telling a story with what is in your shot, or in the frame of your
video.
We see this so often in advertising and anyone can use it.
Take this watch for example.
What we see inside this product shot not just a watch on a wrist.
There is actually a story being told.
So what does it make the viewer subconsciously think?
We can assume that it is a man's watch, that it is high quality and it is probably outside
of my budget...
All of this has been conveyed without even saying a word.
Now we can do the same thing wiht our promotional videos and our produce demo videos.
In my product demo video I was shooting a hot air plastic welder and therefore I wanted
to have a slightly grittier look and feel.
I didn't want it to be just stark white.
So I went and found a nice wood grain bench and a wood grain lazy suzan that would really
help me to get those nice spinning shots...
But more on that in a moment.
Its amazing the difference that taking a little bit of extra effort thinking about what goes
into your frame will have in the quality of your final video.
Maybe if you are filming a golf product why not head out to a golf course?
Or if you are selling a kitchen appliance, why not film in a kitchen.
Add some detail to your scene by
Take some time thinking about where to film and what that setting will say about your
product.
Step 2 filming a product demo video
Set up your camera correctly for your product shoot.
So for my product video I knew I wanted to slow down some of the shots in post production.
That meant I needed to set my frame rate as high as possible.
60 frames per second...
Next Set your white balance correctly...
This is a very easy thing to do but it will make a big difference to the quality of your
final shot.
Now your white balance determines how blue or orange your shot appears.
Setting it correctly white help make sure you have the correct colours coming across
in your final shot.
It will really help to make your product pop and the vividness of your colours really stand
out.
And finally try and keep the ISO on your camera as low as possible.
Although increasing your ISO can help brighten up your shot.
It can also introduce some really nasty grain into your shot.
I did this in my first shoot for this product demonstration video.
It wasn't until I got back to my computer that I realised that the footage was way to
grainy.
So I had to go back.
Low my ISO and film the product again.
ANDt he footage came up much better.
Tip 3 for filming a product demo video: Get creative with your lighting!
In general soft lighting will produce a much more attractive shot of your product.
I used twi big florescent light boxes with these really nice white covers to help soften
up and disperse the light my product demo video.
Now because I wanted to keep my ISO really low I brought in my lights as close as I could
to make sure I had plenty of light in my shot and that way I could keep my ISO on my camera
nice and low.
Now if you don't have a set of light boxes... thats OK
You can pick up a set of light boxes for a really good price off ebay.
LED lights are a really good option.
These days you can pick up a set for a good price.
Or your a are really in a pinch you can use some painters light with some baking paper
clipped over the top of them to help soften the light...
Play with your light and see what looks good for your video and for your product.
Because I was working with a hand tool I wanted to make my shot look a bit grittier so I wanted
so I was happy to let some shadows full around my product.
Maybe if you are shooting a beauty product you might want to introduce more light and
have a brighter cleaner product shot.
Thats up to you...
Play around with your light because light can make a big difference to the look and
feel of your final product video.
There is one thing to be cautious of and that is over exposing your product video.
Thats when you end up having product shot that is too bright and you start to loose
detail in your frame.
You can combat that by moving your lights or by changing the settings on your camera.
If your filming outside try filming in the shade on a nice sunny day or on an overcast
day.
This will help make sure you get that nice even soft light.
Set 4 for creating a product video: Filming your product video.
I really like to ad some movement to my product videos to help show of all the angles of my
product.
So I did this a couple of ways.
There first one was the lazy suzan.
I really like that shot and it was really easy to get.
I just put my product onto the lazy suzan turner pointed my camera at the product and
gave it a steady spin and we got that really nice spinning shot of our product.
Really easy to get.
Now for the up and down jib shot I used my camera slider like a mini Jib.
I just rotated the tripod side ways and moved the camera up and down on the slider rail
and that came up quite nice.
If you don't have a lazy suzan or a camera slider you can still get some nice rocking
in and out shots using just two leg of your tripod.
finally don't forget to show your product in action.
I almost forgot this part.
I had filmed all of the gorgeous product shots and when I got to the computer I thought way
they look great...
But at no point did I actually shot the product in action doing what our customers want it
to do!
So I went, set up my shots again cranked up the tool that I was demonstrating and actually
showed it in action doing what our customers wanted it to do!
Now once you are done filming it is time to get your footage onto your computer.
Personally I use Final Cut Pro x to import and edit all of my video footage of my product
demo video.
Once I found all the shots that I liked I cut them up and put them into a sequence.
I added some music and then some light leaks over the top just to jazz up the shots a little...
So there you have it!
Thats my five tips for shooting more professional looking product demo video.
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I'm steve from millsmotion...
Thank you so much for watching