How to create a promotional video for a company
I was able to intern for Perfect Light Camera & Supply in Idaho Falls for 4 months. One of my responsibilities was to create a promotional video for their company in advertising their annual Yellowstone Symposium photography workshop. The workshop lasts for a week in one of the most famous national parks in the world: Yellowstone! They have workshops, hands-on experiences, park tours, and many more fun activities for all types of photographers from all levels of learning. To end the week, a famous keynote speaker comes to help motivate and inspire all photographers to reach their dreams and make a mark on the world. This past workshop, Canon’s Explorer of Light, Chaz Glatzer, came and left the audience with a newfound passion for photography and capturing emotion.
Here are a few tips from what I learned from how to create a promotional video for a company:
Understand the vision for the company– I met with the marketing director to discuss what the Yellowstone Symposium was all about, what to expect, how many people would be in attendance, where it would be, etc. Once I understood what the event was I was better able to understand their vision of creating a promotional video to showcase on their website and social media so more people can learn about the event and participate with people who have the same passion. Create a storyboard of that vision and what parts of the workshop they want to be captured into the promotional video. Know how long they expect the video to be and if they want one long video and a few smaller cuts to focus on various areas of the event. Remember most effective videos are around 90 seconds long. In this case, they wanted a longer informational video for people to understand the context of the whole event. I created shorter versions for other social media promotions.
Be intentional when you talk to people– Let the workshop speakers know who you are and what you’re doing. Ask them what the climax of their presentation will be, if they will be interacting with the audience, any surprises, etc. You need to know what’s happening before it happens to make sure you’re in the right place at the right time to capture everything that is going on through the week. Introduce yourself to those who are in attendance and develop relationships. When people know who you are they are more likely to act natural and be willing to work with you to get certain shots.
Take a look at the video below and let me know what you think!
If you would like some additional tips on how to create a promotional video for a company check out this great article!
You can also check out my post that includes some landscape and animal shots that I got while exploring Yellowstone National Park!