SUMMARY
Episode 30
On this week’s episode of Video Marketing Unscripted, Matt from Oriental, NC wants to know: When capturing the video for live events, what’s the best way to ensure you capture the content you need?
Ben emphasizes the importance of planning before you start shooting any footage from an event. Whether you’re filming b-roll, keynote speakers, or interviews, you should have a deliberate purpose for the content you’re gathering. Ben also offers some important advice for you to consider before you shoot event interviews, and what you could do to make your video stand out from the typical event video.
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TRANSCRIPT
00:00 Ben: Chocolate Bean to Vanilla Nut, Chocolate Bean to Vanilla Nut. Come in.
00:05 Justin: Yeah, this is Vanilla Nut here.
[music]
00:14 Ben: Hi, I’m Ben, welcome to Video Marketing Unscripted, where I answer your video marketing questions completely unprompted. You heard about Pluto, right? That’s messed up. Anthony, what’s our question today?
00:22 Anthony: Well, Ben, today’s question is from Matt in Oriental, North Carolina. And he would like to know, when capturing video for live events, what’s the best way to ensure you capture the content you need?
00:33 Ben: Okay. Well, plan. That’s just plan, and then after that, plan. So, again, step one: Plan. Step two: Plan. Step three: Plan. Step four: Shoot. Step five: Go back to the plan, “What did I miss?” We’ve worked events before. We’ve worked with editing event videos that have been shot by other people, and I gotta tell you, either way, it doesn’t work if you don’t know exactly what you want to get out of the video before you go in. Whether you’re covering B-roll for speakers, you’re covering keynote addresses, you’re getting interviews from attendees, whatever you may be doing at that event, have a deliberate purpose for what kind of content you’re gonna need to put together the video or videos you’re intending to make, especially when it comes to interviews.
01:25 Ben: The worst thing you can do as an event videographer is have a nice set up, have the client want you to interview people, and then nobody knows what you want the people to say. Do you want ’em to be talking about the event specifically? Do you want ’em to be talking about the relationship with the company that’s hosting the event? What are you getting at, and script out all of those questions beforehand knowing what video you’re gonna make. B-roll, know what kinda shots you’re gonna need so that you’re not constantly running around between tables, up by the stage, whatever, all willy-nilly. Know exactly what your shot list is so you know how many audience shots you’re gonna get.
02:06 Ben: And another thing when you’re making your plan is to consider, how might I make an event video that’s different than any event video they’ve seen? One of my pet peeves about event videos is that it all kinda looks the same. So, where might it be an opportunity to have all those people together, to be in that venue, and to do something different? Might you wanna stage something? Might you wanna script something? Might you want to, again, have an idea for a very specific kind of video for next year’s event, maybe, to increase ticket sales, to promote it, whatever it is, have some kind of creative idea and use that venue that you probably otherwise wouldn’t have access to, and use those people who you may not otherwise have access to, and do something different, too. Build that into your plan, and then go back to your plan to make sure you get all that.
02:51 Ben: Now, the other big caveat about anything kind of documentary, period, small D documentary, is you’re capturing something that’s happening. And really, if it goes exactly according to your script, you’re doing something wrong. So, have a good plan so that you’ve got the flexibility to be open to just kinda capture things that might happen, that might be unexpected, ’cause those are the things that you’re really gonna wanna share.
03:14 Ben: Let me make sure I get this right. It’s plan, plan, plan, shoot, check the plan, and then maybe check the plan again. And then shoot anything that you missed because you checked your plan and you realized you didn’t get it. Basically, the point is: Plan. So, Matt, I hope that answers your question. If you’ve got a video marketing question that you’d like me to answer, put it in the comments below or fill out the form on our site. You’re welcome.