How to do Your First Video of a Listing - a.k.a. Using your new Christmas cam

So, How many of you got video cameras for Christmas?

If you got one - Congratulations! So what now? Sure,... you've taken it out of the box, charged the battery and taken some footage of the family, right? But now you're thinking.....can I use this for my business?

The answer is yes. Do it! Get out there and shoot some video of one of your listings. But first..... practice. Then practice some more, then some more. Then do a video of your own home, when no one is home to bother you. Watch it alone, ...Cringe a little .... Learn a little .... Then go do it again. Repeat as necessary. You will find that the more you practice and watch your footage, the more you will pick apart what you don't like, correct it, and churn out better footage.

Now what? Contact one of your sellers that you have a good working relationship with. Let them know you are always considering new innovative ways to market their home, and that you would like to try using their home as a test subject for a possible full motion video virtual tour. Don't over sell it, or make a big deal about it because you run the risk of it being bad and you don't want them waiting with bated breath for the results. Under sell and over deliver is a good sales technique here.

Pick a house that you know shows well. Homes that are pet free, tastefully furnished, clean, light, bright, and uncluttered, work best. Give yourself a couple of hours at the house and make sure you have plenty of tape and a fully charged battery for the job. Set it up as a showing appointment and make sure the owners are not home.

The Shoot

When you get there, turn on all the lights and develop a plan for shooting. The benefit of video is that it helps show the viewer continuity of the rooms throughout the home so don't shoot the kitchen, then a bedroom, then the breakfast room, then a bedroom, family room, etc. Try to shoot in a logical order - the order you would take while showing the home.

Here's how to separate yourself from the other first timers out there. First, lay off the zoom button. Needless zooming will make your viewers queasy. Shoot as wide angle as you can. Also, don't pan too fast - another contributor to sour stomachs. Gentle and steady. Next, don't worry about talking during the filming. Nothing sounds more amateurish then you talking while walking through the house. You can lay down a "vocal track" in post production. You will need to buy a microphone for this, but it will be well worth it.

If you are feeling overzealous, shoot the entrance to the community, and any community features as well. When you are done, pat yourself on the back, take a rest - and get ready for post production.

Getting it to your computer

If you have a digital video (DV) camera, you'll need either an IEEE 1394 card or an analog video capture card. IEEE 1394 is recommended for the best quality results. Many new computers come with an IEEE 1394 card already installed. If not, there are a number of manufacturers that make a card that will work with your computer.

Now how about post production? That is - putting it all together. If you have Windows XP with Service Pack 2, you probably have Windows Movie Maker installed. If not, you can download it here.

Although somewhat limited in features, Movie Maker will give you a feel for how post production editing software works. Movie Maker will let you edit your footage, make some basic video effects, and some basic video transitions. It will also allow you to lay down a narrated track to coincide with your video.

But Movie Maker has its limitations (remember - it was free!) In order to truly have a presentation worthy of your client, I believe that it is necessary to have not only the vocal track done on a separate track, but also to have professional royalty free music on a third track. There really is no way around this. A video home tour without the vocal "tour" and the right music will be a flop. No one will want to watch it.

The good news is that when you are ready to take the next step and purchase some post production editing software, there are dozens of options in a wide price range (a topic for another blog post). A rather complex (but free) workaround in Movie Maker can be found here.

Now it is time to finalize your video and get it ready for the web. Movie Maker makes it easy for you, just follow the directions. (Encoding video is complicated and a topic for another blog post).

Share your video with family and friends and ask them for honest constructive criticism. Tell them you would rather have them hurt your feelings than a client, and tell them you want the truth, no matter how brutal.

Don't consider every little nit-pick, but if you hear the same comment over and over again, you know a change should be made. Once you pass the F&F (friends and family) litmus test and make the recommended changes - you should be able to watch your video without cringing, and with a certain sense of pride.

Only after going through all this work is it appropriate to share it with the seller. After they approve, it's time for marketing city! You can upload your video to over 10 video hosting sites. You can also blog about it. You can get it in your local MLS. You can post it to Realtor.com. You can encourage your seller to email it to their friends and family. This will not only (hopefully) help to sell the house, but help you to pick up A NEW listing by someone who is impressed with your work!

Here's the icing on the cake. For the uploads, you get to designate the "tags", description, and keywords of the video, and can tailor these to market your primary website, or your blog, or to get your clients listing to pop up on search engine results for relevant keywords for "home for sale" in "your home town".

Is this post long? Yeah!

Could it be longer? Oh -yeah! It could be several hundred pages long.

Did I gloss over some stuff? Yeah! .... Why? So the post would not be several hundred pages.

My point - to show you that video, though hard and time consuming, IS WORTH IT, The ability to market yourself as an agent who is willing to do what the other 99% are not willing to do is going to get you more listings. The fact that there are tremendous SEO benefits of posting your video to the internet is just pure icing on the cake.

Good luck - have fun, and remember that you are NOT going to get it right the first (or second) time. Practice, practice, practice..... And if you just don't have the technical stomach or the patience for it all, hire a professional full motion video virtual tour company to do it for you. Cheers!

*This post is a general guideline only. It is not intended to be an all inclusive how to on video production.