Ok, it's true - I'm a typical guy and I only use "the directions" as a last result. When I first noticed the "Watch in High Quality" links on YouTube I was excited. Prior to this point, the only reason to upload to YouTube was for SEO, not quality video.
So about a month ago, I tried uploading a high quality "test" video and saw that it did not have the "Watch in High Quality" link. So I thought, "no big deal, maybe it takes a while". Then I forgot about it for a few hours. When I went back and checked my video. Still no "Watch in High Quality" link. So I got mad and actually went to YouTube's help files and searched. At that time I found nothing on how to get that magical "Watch in High Quality" link. I probably overlooked it, but none the less, the story continues.....
Recently, I went through the whole drill again. BUT, this time, YouTube (as of mid December) has data on how to get your videos to have that "Watch in High Quality" link.
Here's the encoding low-down in a super short list taken from HERE:
•· MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format
•· Video resolution: 480x360 or higher
•· Frame Rate: 24fps or higher
I dug a little further and found a few newsgroups discussing this very topic and the general consensus was to also be using a bit rate around 1000Kbps.
Where was I missing the boat? I had it all pretty much right, but I render all of my video for widescreen at 480x270, so I was missing the minimum screen resolution for the "Watch in High Quality" link.
A lot has been written about how to Embed High Quality Video hosted on YouTube, (adding &fmt=18, etc) but I hope you found this info on Uploading for High Quality helpful. If "&fmt=18" is foreign to you, it simply means that you can embed "High Quality" video from YouTube on your website, blog article, etc., and force the "High Quality" by adding the "&fmt=18" at the end of the "embed code". This assumes that the person who uploaded the video followed the procedure listed above.
So that's it. Pretty simple, but as I found out, missing the smallest detail will just get you regular old poor YouTube videos.
I am actually looking forward to uploading videos for my clients to YouTube now. At least I won't have to hear, "how come it looks so bad on YouTube" anymore!
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Amazing Video Tours offers photography and full motion video marketing solutions to Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent. A departure from the old fashion 360 Virtual Tour, Amazing Video Tours takes online property marketing to the next level.
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©2008 - AmazingVideoTours.com - All Rights Reserved. Any use of this photo, including reproduction, modification, distribution or republication, without the prior written consent of Amazing Video Tours, is strictly prohibited. Amazing Video Tours offers photography and full motion video marketing solutions to Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent. A departure from the old fashion 360 Virtual Tour, Amazing Video Tours takes online property marketing to the next level.
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©2008 - AmazingVideoTours.com - All Rights Reserved. Any use of this photo, including reproduction, modification, distribution or republication, without the prior written consent of Amazing Video Tours, is strictly prohibited. This photo does not depict homes for sale. Amazing Video Tours offers photography and full motion video marketing solutions to Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent. A departure from the old fashion 360 Virtual Tour, Amazing Video Tours takes online property marketing to the next level.
©2008 - AmazingVideoTours.com - All Rights Reserved. Any use of this photo, including reproduction, modification, distribution or republication, without the prior written consent of Amazing Video Tours, is strictly prohibited. Amazing Video Tours offers photography and full motion video marketing solutions to Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent. A departure from the old fashion 360 Virtual Tour, Amazing Video Tours takes online property marketing to the next level.
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.
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Amazing Video Tours offers full motion video marketing solutions to Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent.
Amazing Video Tours offers full motion video marketing solutions to Realtors, and other individuals with property to sell, lease, or rent. A departure from the old fashion 360 Virtual Tour, Amazing Video Tours takes online property marketing to the next level.
Amazing Video Tours is based out of Fort Mill, SC but we serve Tega Cay, Lake Wylie, Charlotte, Lake Norman, The Ballantyne Area, Myers Park, Weddington, Waxhaw, Rock Hill, Clover, and many other areas in and around Charlotte.
The most important reason is to make you, and the property being marketed, stand out above all the competition. The ability to tell your clients that you utilize a cutting edge marketing technology that 99% of agents have not embraced yet is going to elevate you to the top of their list. They'll be blown away when they see their home in an Amazing Video Tour with ...YOUR Name, YOUR Brand, YOUR Company Logo, YOUR Contact Info, and YOUR Website are all advertised on our "Branded" player. We do all the work, you take all the credit (and the leads)!
The bottom line is - the more buzz there is about your listings, the more attention they'll get, the more showings you'll get, the quicker they'll sell, and the more money you'll have in your pocket. Don't forget that excitement about your listings will also lead to MORE LISTINGS!
Why use us over anyone else, or trying to do it yourself???That's the easiest decision of all. Just check out the videos on our blog. We believe our work speaks for itself. But if you need more reasons, here are a few:
1. Our Videographer/Photographer is a licensed Realtor in both NC and SC with Supra ekey access. As a licensed Realtor, he can call CSS to make the appointment and let himself in the home to do all the work. Think of what a huge time saver that will be for you. You don't have to take time out of your busy schedule to drive to the listing and let him in and wait impatiently for him to get the job done. It takes 2-3 hours (at the house) to do all the video and photography. Not only do you not have to show up when we do the video/photo shoot, you can be out doing what you do best - Selling Real Estate! Even better, take the afternoon off! So, how much is your time worth? We can actually save you money!
2. Our Equipment - Our Photographer uses only high quality Nikon DSLR equipment, Nikkor lenses, and Adobe professional post production software. Our Videographer uses a Professional Grade 1080i (High Definition) 3CCD Camcorder and Adobe professional post production software. No point and shoot camera or ANY consumer video camera on the market can compare! None of this means a thing unless it streams (that is, works) for the end user. Our videos are all hosted on a ultra fast dedicated server. The server is maintained 24/7/365 by professional staff. Oh yeah, and that's expensive too! Yet another thing YOU don't have to worry about!
3. Our Commitment - We are so sure you and your clients are going to love your Amazing Video Tour so much that if you are not satisfied, the next Amazing Video Tour is on us!
4. Video is HARD! - If you've ever tried to make a video, you know how aggravating it can be. Difficult lighting situations, a shaky camera, and needless zooming all can make for unsettled viewers. Marketing a property utilizing video is equally challenging. Light (or lack of it) is the camera operators worst enemy and if you don't get it under control, you end up producing a video that does more harm then good in marketing the home. At Amazing Video Tours, we've mastered the art of using video to market homes.
At Amazing Video Tours, we take our photography and video very seriously. We realize that only the best production possible will satisfy our clients (Realtors, Builders, and home sellers). That's why we work so hard to produce only top quality HD video, use Royalty Free Music, and have professional voiceovers. The three elements combine for a...... well, ..... Amazing production.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
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