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With an increasing number of people adding video cassette players, DVD players, and digital video capabilities to their home entertainment systems, the market potential for video services continues to grow. More and more people prefer to record important family events using the expert services of a professional. Baby showers, weddings, baby showers, school events and club meeting provide ample opportunities for you to show off your talents and make money with your video camera.
Moreover, starting your video business does not require huge financial or material investments. It is not mandatory for you to go out and buy the most expensive video camera, neither do you need to purchase tons of high priced equipment or attachments. All you need to be successful in a video business is a flair for showmanship, more than a little imagination and a little bit of salesmanship. Of course, you'll need to buy a portable video recorder or a camcorder if you don't already have one. Video recorders are available in a wide range of prices and features. While you do not have to buy one with the most state-of-the-art features there are some features that can enhance the quality of the outcome tremendously. Reading as much as you can about te features of different video cameras and visiting several stores will help you determine what features are absolutely necessary and which ones are not.
An input jack that can be added to external microphones will be of immense help if you intend taping extended vocal renditions such as concerts, speeches or weddings. Look for a video camera that will allow you to dub vocals or audio onto the tape without adversely affecting the quality of the original picture. Auto-character generation is great for adding captions and titles. A tripod is a handy piece of equipment especially in certain situations and may be worth investing in.
Video Taping Weddings
While recording some situations are a snap, you need to tread slowly and cautiously when venturing into recording weddings, no matter how experienced you may be at video recording. Wedding videos are a unique genre. The recording environment is less than conducive, the schedules are tight and the locations, usually not very camera-friendly. Moreover, most clients have very high and mostly unrealistic expectations, which you will be expected to deliver no matter what. Video taping weddings can fetch you a fairly large amount of money; but make no mistake about it- you will have to work hard to earn a good reputation.
Here are a few things you may want to think about if you intend starting your own wedding video taping business:
Competition- Appraise your competition and check out the quality of work that they produce, what are their hiring charges and if you can, fine how busy they are.
Promotion- You may need to spend some money on advertising and marketing your services initially, but if you are good, word-of-mouth referrals will bring in plenty of work and help you reduce your advertising budget. Well-made, professional-looking brochures with all the relevant information included are a good way of promoting your services.
Networking- Develop good working relationships with other assorted wedding professionals including wedding planners and studio photographers who would happily recommend you to potential clients.
I'm often asked, "I have no video training but I want to put video on my website to help promote my products and services what can I do?" Well the answer is simple. If you can shoot a home movie you can put a video clip on your website. Now the first thing is to not be scared of the camera. A good sales person needs to be able to speak clearly and present their product in a manner that everyone can understand and enjoy. So with that in mind turn on your camera, cell phone, or whatever video capturing tool you have and begin shooting. But here are a few tips for making your shoot successful and getting it up on your website.
1. Speak clearly, and so that everyone watching can understand what your saying and what your product is about.
2. Make sure you have enough light so that you and your product can be seen. But be aware that you can also have to much light. So the best thing to do is to test your video and the area your going to be shot in. Make sure you look natural.
3. A microphone is important and you need to be heard. If your using a mini-dv camera you can easily get a microphone that can attach from the camera to your clothing. Use make sure you can't see the wire that connects the mic and the camera during your video.
4. Have FUN! No one wants to see a sour face on camera. So make sure you are having fun and that you SMILE. The better you come across on camera the more people would want to buy your product or services.
5. Don't use big words in your video presentation. Keep it short sweet and simple.
6. Once you've finished your recording, watch it. Make sure it's what you want and something that you'll feel proud to have on your website.
7. Now get the clip to your computer. Your camera will have instructions on how to upload the footage. Now you can get fancy and use one of the high end video editing products. But those take a long time to learn. So if your on a PC use Windows MovieMaker and if your on a Mac use IMove and edit your clip to your licking. Don't use to make crazy effects keep it about you and your product.
8. Now once your clip is edited you need to output it to a web file. If your on a PC then output the file to a WMV. And if your on a MAC then output your clip to a .MOV file.
9. Upload it! If you don't have server space then use http://Video.Google.com or http://Youtube.com. You can easily upload your video to these services. Not only will you have the code to embed the file to your website but you will also allow others to see your video and your product who haven't been to your site yet. It will be as easy as CUT and PASTE to an HTML page.
10. Promote your video clip. Include links to your clip in your weekly newsletters. Send your clip to your friends, family, and business associates. Let them see the work you've done and ask them to pass it on to other friends. Son you'll notice that you have a ton of visitors watching your video and more traffic to your website.