Promotional Video for My Local Bike Shop

[iChimpp]

Hi guys,

This is the first time I've used the chit chat sides of the forum, I've created a promotional video for my local bike shop (Mud Sweat and Gears). I study web design, graphic design and game design at college so making a video for a client is a fairly new experience although I do like to get out the camera every now and again and film! This WAS for a college project, named "working to a clients brief" and they asked for a video... So could I have some feedback please?? Please don't be too harsh , although sometimes harsher the better :wink2: I hope you like!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjGoTgQw85I&feature=youtu.be

[shercofray]

The first 5 minutes were quite pointless and I fast forward through most of it as they were just reviews of the specific bikes. So if say the shop has a fb page it may be better launching them separately as 'bike review' videos. A promo vid needs to be a lot shorted I would say to keep your attention. As soon as I saw it was 7 minutes immediately put me off watching any of it. The last minute showing what shoe range etc was more on the money; I would say the whole video needs to be more generic. As in these are the ranges of bikes we offer, accessories then workshop facilities providing after purchase care etc. The intro needs to be better, like a quick shot of the outside so people know what it looks like, one of the logo, more of a history 'we've been running X years' etc. Hope that helps!

[ooo]

What he said^

Also in the beginning the light from the window is annoying me on the tripod shot (why do people always shoot at windows!!!). And the framing just seems weird, sometimes the guys head is so cut off that its getting almost touching the eyes.

having a key light or some soft boxes to illuminate the presenter may have helped in some of the shots.

When filming in an interview people are often told to set the camera at a normal eye height so it looks natural. But if the intervier or camera man is not at the same height the interviewee is looking at the wrong angle, and their eyes switch between the camera height and camera man's face height. In films normally crew look away so they cant make eye contact.

The shakey cam is also annoying me, and the focussing is annoying. Use a lens with more depth of field if you are struggling. I know shallow looks nice.

Also white balance / colour correct in shoot and in post.

But its pretty cool, the sound is pretty good, and its normally terrible. Overall its still pretty good. I'd just say always go the extra mile to lug lights around and retake shots, scout out your location first and look for problems like windows, annoying noises etc..

[iChimpp]

The first 5 minutes were quite pointless and I fast forward through most of it as they were just reviews of the specific bikes. So if say the shop has a fb page it may be better launching them separately as 'bike review' videos. A promo vid needs to be a lot shorted I would say to keep your attention. As soon as I saw it was 7 minutes immediately put me off watching any of it. The last minute showing what shoe range etc was more on the money; I would say the whole video needs to be more generic. As in these are the ranges of bikes we offer, accessories then workshop facilities providing after purchase care etc. The intro needs to be better, like a quick shot of the outside so people know what it looks like, one of the logo, more of a history 'we've been running X years' etc. Hope that helps!

What he said^

Also in the beginning the light from the window is annoying me on the tripod shot (why do people always shoot at windows!!!). And the framing just seems weird, sometimes the guys head is so cut off that its getting almost touching the eyes.

having a key light or some soft boxes to illuminate the presenter may have helped in some of the shots.

When filming in an interview people are often told to set the camera at a normal eye height so it looks natural. But if the intervier or camera man is not at the same height the interviewee is looking at the wrong angle, and their eyes switch between the camera height and camera man's face height. In films normally crew look away so they cant make eye contact.

The shakey cam is also annoying me, and the focussing is annoying. Use a lens with more depth of field if you are struggling. I know shallow looks nice.

Also white balance / colour correct in shoot and in post.

But its pretty cool, the sound is pretty good, and its normally terrible. Overall its still pretty good. I'd just say always go the extra mile to lug lights around and retake shots, scout out your location first and look for problems like windows, annoying noises etc..

Thanks so much guys, thats all great feedback! I'll take all that into account when making anymore videos, clearly there are still things to be learnt! I take it you guys have studied video production of some sort? Sadly I've never been taught anything and thats showed through, still I'll learn!

[ooo]

I learnt from working free on projects with people much better than me, now I work on and supervise projects with young people.

[iChimpp]

I learnt from working free on projects with people much better than me, now I work on and supervise projects with young people.

Oh thats pretty cool then, and youre from dorset, uncanny!

[shercofray]

I haven't done any production of the sort; basically a consumer saying what I would expect from a promo video Looking forward to what you come up with taking feedback into consideration.