Video Structure Question...

[AirBoudreauX]

I've got a question regarding the actual structuring of a "media/ marketing" video. I've got a client that I'm in the middle of a construction progress shoot with that has asked me to quote out another project. This client runs the museum district downtown and they want me to put together a 6-8 minute video of 4 different historical locations. They plan on using this on the websites or in a presentation about the facilities and creation of the museum district. These locations are all within 500 yards of one another. My plan is to do an opening shot where I get all of the locations in a single "flyby" shot. My question is in your experiences, which way might work better. Doing about a minute and a half on each subject and go from one to the next (keeping them separate) or just kind of bounce around between locations? Im pretty OCD so I like the organized a little better but I'm not the one paying for it!

Just curious as to what sort of feedback some of you may have received from clients or what your thoughts are!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Alex Lynch]

It depends on the audience and presentation method. Will there be voice over? If so, then the video should be edited to fit the audio track. If not, 6-8 minutes of flyover can get very dull,
very fast. Either way, they need an outline, or script, of what they are trying to convey.

 

[Ajkm]

You need to start with a storyboard - an outline of the story you’re going to tell, and Then work out the graphics from that. If there’s going to be a script, that is the starting point. Shots should rarely be longer than 5-6 seconds before cutting to the next shot.

 

[Dan Powers]

If I had this job, I see the intro is critical. First, of course, get all your footage. For the opening, split your screen 4 ways, each showing the most representative footage of each of the four buildings, Have text or voice over explaining what the video is about, Show the client's logo, any other graphics, Then go into detail of each building, one by one, Or, if all the building have a common characteristic - say an architectural style or instance, - show that one by one. "The four building all use reclaimed bricks" for example, and then show the bricks. good luck

 

[cneedelman]

I would open the video with a short montage with music of all the locations, leading into a VO of the intent of the video and possibly a bit of history of each building and what Dan Powers suggested. 6-8 minutes is pretty long for a video just showing exteriors.