How to Produce a Promotional Video

Here is a very simple article designed to be a starting point.

Making a Professional Promotional Video
Don't start until you have figured out your promotion or you will never get anyone to see you masterpiece!
 * 1) Brief - what do we want to communicate, why, and who for?
 * 2) Budget - how much can we afford?
 * 3) Script - writing out what you want to say and how you will say it.
 * 4) pre-production (preparing for the shoot)
 * 5) production (shooting the video)
 * 6) post-production (editing and preparing the final touches)
 * 7) promotion

When you get very good you will be able to produce this:

For other examples, see Excellently produced shortmovies.

Doing it on the Cheap
Basically, the most important skills are being able to write and plan!

Pre-Production

 * Plan out what you want to say first.
 * Write the script
 * Think of interesting ways to make your point: Background shots, setting the scene, interviews, music etc.
 * Get a friend or two to help you
 * Beg, borrow or steal a camera. Get a camera (almost any digital vcd thing)
 * GET A TRIPOD! this will make it look more professional than anything - if your video does not jiggle around. Tripods are much cheaper than an expensive, but wobbly camera.

Production

 * Take lots of footage. You will know what to shoot because you have a script!
 * Make sure the light is good. Dark video is rubbish.
 * Make sure you have good sound. Microphones built in to cameras can be poor and tend to pick up any sound. If the camera has a socket to accept an external mic then use it.
 * If the sound is poor take a tape recorder and record at the same time or a laptop. Take care on this point - sound is very important to a video.

Post-Production
This is the process of cutting together what needed when needed. Takes A LOT of time. (Take a week off to do a 10-Minute film.)
 * Software: Adobe Premier Elements 3.0 is cheap <50$, excellent but needs a modern PC. to run. It is dead easy though.
 * At a pinch you can use the Mac and Windows video editing programs.
 * If you like to add subtitles, there are specific programs that makes it easier (e.g. Subtitle Editor).
 * Avidemux can apply effects on the rendered video (e.g. incrust the created subtitles into the images)

Distribution

 * Making a DVD or loading to youtube.com is easy.

Tell About it

 * Link it to YWAMKB, for example at My YWAM Base Videos. Help page

Errrm that's about it. But the most important thing is planning.

More Reading

 * YWAM Communication Ressources
 * Video Intro
 * Pre-Production
 * Production
 * Post-Production
 * Examples
 * Vimeo Video school
 * Basics

Examples

 * See what we did: http://www.ywambrussels.be
 * I produced this video for the church plant I am helping with. I followed the instructions above. The sole cost was for a video tape! I borrowed a camera and tripod, we already had some video editing software. It could have been improved with better sound recording (noisy background) and better light (I had a strict deadline and the only time to shoot footage was early evening in winter).
 * See also Excellently produced shortmovies