by Tim Gander

Sound Advice

Another from my occasional series offering hints, tips and advice on video.

Sound vs Vision

Do you have any idea how important sound is to a successful video?

It’s one thing to have great visuals and a compelling storyline, but the one thing that will push your audience away is poor sound.

Ask any decent videographer and they’ll tell you this. More important than picture quality, is the quality of sound.

Now I’m no sound engineer, but I have built up enough basic understanding to know how to organise a video shoot to get the sound quality my clients need. That’s even when they don’t know what they need. Mainly that involves not allowing interviews to happen right next to a road drill. It means knowing when to use a boom mic, when to use a lav mic etc.

One of the first things I learned was to get the mic as close as possible to the sound source. That means those little shotgun mics you see mounted on cameras, well they’ll do an ok job. But if you really want to hold audience attention, nothing beats a close mic on the speaker.

Sound Analogy

In this way, I find it easier to think of sound and microphones in the same way I think about light and studio flash. By placing a flash close to the subject I can more easily control the balance between flash and ambient light (that is, daylight or room light).

Similarly, bringing the mic closer to the subject captures more of the speaker’s voice, less of the background noise. With sound it’s then easier to mix in ambient sound from a separate recording of the space if needed. It’s not a perfect analogy, but it helps.

Terminology

I don’t wish to bog you down in the complexities of sound capture, but it’s worth understanding a couple of basics. Why, as a client, would you need to know this stuff? Well it’s so when I talk to you about where best to shoot an interview, you have an understanding of what I’m thinking about and why certain options might be ruled in or out.

Depending on the space and its ambient noise, there are some basic choices to start with. First will be location. Of course this might be dictated by what the visuals demand, but wise choice of microphone will help eliminate the issues a particular location might have.

There are a few different types of mic, and the below are the ones I use:

Close-up photo of a SE Electronics pencil condenser mic clipped to the end of a stand against a white background.

A pencil condenser mic will give the best result for indoor interviews

Lav mic. For outdoors, lav mics work pretty well. A lav (aka lavalier, or lapel microphone) clips to the lapel. They’re designed to pick up as much voice as possible, ignoring background noise, but they’re not perfect. I have a couple of lav mics for when I need two people on sound.

Boom mic. A boom mic is a long, slim microphone that sits on the end of a boom arm. Sometimes shielded in a blimp (one of those Zeppelin-looking things, sometimes covered in fur), a boom mic is designed to pick up sound from a very specific angle and is best for outdoors use when conditions permit. It’s a bit like how a telephoto lens is designed to narrow-in on a scene. I have one for when the need arises. In fact it was the first mic I used regularly because they can be picked up quite cheap.

Pencil Condenser mic. My personal favourites. These look like stubby boom mics (see photo). They can have a variety of ‘fields of view’ depending on their internal design. For reasons of sound physics (ie something I don’t understand well enough to explain), they work better indoors than boom mics. I have two of these as I prefer them to lav mics and they’re great for two-person interviews.

A Trunk Full of Sound

Now a proper sound engineer will have a suitcase full of microphones. Many of each variety, more than I’ve mentioned above, and duplicates of each in case of technical failure. They’ll have mics which will have cost £thousands because they need the best quality and longevity. Consequently, for the services of a sound engineer, expect to pay a hefty price. It’s not unjustified, but it’s more like Hollywood budget than SME marketing funds. By contrast, I have more than my average client needs, but nothing like the quantity or quality of a full-on sound engineer.

My aim with sound is to make sure my clients get better than they thought they needed because THAT is what will hold audience through their video. And if getting people to watch your video to the end isn’t your goal, what is?

Real World Example

As a real example of the challenges faced by the videographer tackling sound, the video below was recorded in a very echoey space with noisy engineering works going on next door. Setting the mic as close as possible to the sitter helped with the worst of it, but now I have better mics and more experience, I’d do an even better job today!

For more examples, see my Video page. Or just to have a chat about whether I can help with your next video project, drop me a line.

 

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 by Tim Gander

Video Budget Breakdown

Ok, so you’ve read my previous articles and decided your business absolutely NEEDS video. What next?

Let’s just assume you’ve mapped out the whys, whats and wherefores of jumping into video. What you need to do next is start thinking about budget.

Originally I’d drafted a long-winded post about the various options and costs associated with video, from the DIY approach to the full production company treatment, but a) it was turning into a novel and b) there are too many variables to do the entire subject justice.

Instead I’ll concentrate on how you should think about budget when working with me. I hope that’s more useful!

A Breakdown of Costs

Of course every project will be different and require its own considerations of cost, but as a rule I generally work to my standard photography rates when it comes to planning and shooting video. Where stills and video diverge in terms of cost is when it comes to editing and delivery.

As many of you know, my standard stills packages include some pre-planning, the shoot rate, post-production and delivery as well as the end-user’s licence to use the images. Video works a little differently.

In the case of stills I have a fair idea how many shots can be realistically achieved in a half-day or a day, and from this I know how much post-production time is required. With video, the post-production is by far the longer process. If I spend a day shooting video, depending on the end requirements it could take a full week to finalise an edit. As with all things, there are many variables along the way such as whether I’m generating titles and graphics from scratch, researching music soundtracks and liaising with the client on those, or having to make multiple re-edits according to the client’s wishes before delivery. For this reason, video editing fees are set outside of the shoot fee.

To keep those fees sensible, I offer an hour or two pre-planning time with the client to work out the storyboard and logistics. At this stage I’ll also be putting together a plan for graphics, titles, music etc so that once I have the footage, I can get straight on with the edit. This way, before I even start shooting, you’ll already have a good idea of the scale of costs.

See the Video link above for examples of my work

Real-World Examples

I can offer a recent case study where I’ve shot a 15-second reel for the client to use across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and so on.

After initial consultation time and hammering out the brief, it took me a couple of hours to capture enough variety of content to make a mini narrative work in such a short clip (it always takes longer than you think!)

I then spent time editing, liaising with the client on pacing, researching a suitable sound clip, bouncing edits between myself and the client before they were 100% happy, then delivered the clip in upright format. I then re-edited to square format and delivered again.

The total edit time for that clip was three hours. Sometimes the edit will go quicker, sometimes slower – it’s all down to the client’s requirements.

The fee came to £450.00 for the video, though this was discounted from a standard half-day fee because I was shooting stills at the same time, for which I charged a half-day.

As you can see, all kinds of factors can swing the fee up or down. Had the above example been a half-day of video only, the fee could have been more like £900.00 for the same end result. Here the stills fee, which was £590.00, meant I could reign in the video costs a fair bit.

Bear in mind when combining stills and video shoots in a single session, this will often limit how much attention to detail can be paid to either. As a rule, I prefer to separate the two.

Typically a full-day video-only shoot with pre-planning, research, editing resulting in two or three different edits can easily top £1,600.00, so hopefully these figures help when planning a budget for video.

Crucial Element to Budget Planning

This part’s easy. Talk to me. Tell me what you want to do and how you see it working. We can discuss content, logistics, timings and more. From that I can work out an outline estimate. If fees look as though they may have to rise, I’ll always flag this at the earliest possible stage.

Unless you want to go the DIY route, you’ll need to be realistic about the cost of video. I cannot stress enough how important it is to know what you want your video to do before committing the cost to making it happen. A good video should at least pay for itself, either in terms of direct sales, or in terms of brand enhancement and of course the time you’ve saved by getting me in to do it for you.

So drop me a line and let’s get the ball rolling on your video journey!

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 by Tim Gander

Is Video The Answer?

Is video the answer? Well that depends on the question. This is the second in a short series of articles discussing the various pros, cons and considerations needed to get the most out of video. You can read the first in this series here.

The Fundamental Question

So I’m starting with the fundamental question you should ask yourself, “does my business need video?”

Certainly it’s hard to avoid these days; from YouTube to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and frankly any platform you care to name, video has become a solid part of any social media activity, but that doesn’t necessarily mean your business has to jump in to keep up.

If you want to jump to the spoiler, just scroll to the bullets at the end of this post. If you want more in-depth reasoning, read on.

The first factor to consider is whether your clients/prospective clients would learn anything from the addition of video to your communications. If you just want a ‘vanity video’ that’s fine, but be aware it might not appeal to those outside your organisation.

So flip your perspective and start from the client point of view. Ask whether you think they would sit through a 60-second clip that showcases your product or service. If your video doesn’t say something fresh and doesn’t get to the point quickly, you could be wasting your resources.

You might at this stage consider whether stills and text might not serve you better. Plus if you haven’t got those nailed down on your website, are you sure you’re ready to jump into video?

It’s all too easy to get bedazzled by stats that tell you there are a billion videos uploaded to the internet every 15 seconds, but that doesn’t mean anything. If what you upload doesn’t serve your cause, it isn’t doing its job.

What’s Your Story?

This isn’t to say you should avoid using video at all costs. In fact there are many businesses missing a trick by avoiding the fundamental question altogether.

The reason will often be that they don’t believe their product is worth a video, or that it wouldn’t work because it’s a ‘boring’ product or service. But most businesses have a core story to tell. It could be about their product/service, or it could be about their capability. At the absolute basic level, it might not be about what they sell so much as about the team that makes it all happen; their people.

The people that make up an organisation are often their greatest asset and as humans we like to connect with the experiences of others. So why not bring out the human side of your business? Showcase who you are, not necessarily what you do. Short colleague interviews could be one idea to consider.

A composite of stills from a recent Instagram video for Calvin Klein store opening at Clarks Village in Street, Somerset

Flip It Again

This option can be more complicated, but consider asking your clients what they think about working with you, and commit their views to video. Testimonials are a powerful tool, but with video testimonials remember to keep asking the question, ‘if I wasn’t me, would I watch this?’ They need to be concise. They also need to avoid being self-indulgent (ie too long!)

Time Is Money

Yes, the longer your video is, the more expensive it’ll be to produce. Longer videos require more footage and more editing, and editing costs really can spiral quickly. Think about your own attention span and ask how long you’re happy to sit and watch a product/service video. I bet it’s not much more than 60 seconds, 90 tops.

So you could spend £thousands on all the footage and editing, only to have no one watch the result beyond the first 30 seconds. I’ll wager there are plenty of people who pre-check the length of a video before they’ll even click on it. If they see it’s two, three or more minutes long, they might not click Play at all!

Takeaways (things to ask yourself)

  • Is your product or service suited to video explanation/promotion?
  • Who is your audience and what do you want them to take from it?
  • How short (not how long!) does your message need to be?
  • Would you be better off with a series of short clips?
  • How will you promote the video (and where will you host it) once it’s made?
  • Are there other areas of your website and marketing which need attention first?

That’s a Wrap!

I’ll keep returning to this subject because there are as many angles to cover as there are kinds of businesses in the world, so no single article can cover every scenario. However I hope this has got you thinking about the basics before launching into something that requires time and commitment (and not inconsiderable funds).

In the meantime, if you’re considering dipping your toes into video and would like some personal advice, feel free to drop me a line.

Thanks for reading!

Tim Gander is a freelance photographer and videographer based in Somerset. He covers all aspects of corporate communications, serving clients in the South West, centring on Bristol and Bath. You can see examples of Tim’s video work here.

in Advice / Case Studies / Video 0 comments
 by Tim Gander

Buckle Up! It’s going to get rough (again)

The previous 15 years has been a tough time for many, myself included, so what will this coming recession mean and what can I do to help your business?

The short answer to either of those questions could be ‘not a lot’, but I think there are ways we can coordinate our approach and help each other. Here’s a broad outline of my plans as we head into choppy waters.

In the wake of the pandemic, I set up a Startups Exclusive package. Aimed at those starting up new businesses, perhaps as a result of being made redundant or deciding on a career change after being furloughed, this is my most competitive package and is a gesture to help individuals or teams of up to three to get their branding images in the bag. It is limited to genuine startups though, so please don’t try to book this if you’re an established business 🙂

Since the fallout of the pandemic is still with us, compounded by Putin’s nasty little war, it seems fair to keep this package going for the foreseeable future.

The other way I can help your business communicate with your audience is through video work.

Now I’m not going to pretend video is cheap. Cheap video is cheap, but that doesn’t work for most professional businesses. Even the YouTube and Instagram influencer crowd has had to up their game, but good quality video, the kind you’d want representing your brand, has become far more accessible than it used to be.

With sensible pre-production planning, a day’s video shoot can often be edited a number of ways to suit different platforms and target specific audiences. It requires close collaboration and good communication to get the most out of a video session, but the results achievable with relatively modest outlay can be far better polished than anything a solo photographer could offer just a few years ago.

Check out the Video link on my website for examples of my work

To help clients save valuable marketing budget, I’m very open with clients about what I can do for them in terms of video. Before there’s any commitment between us, I’m happy to discuss an outline brief with you. If your project requires a crew or production company, I’ll tell you I’m not the solution you need. You’ll either have to increase your budget and find the right supplier, or trim your expectations to match your available budget.

If what you want is office B roll (a flavour of your team, culture and working environment, for example), that I can do. I can undertake interview projects, short promo videos – it basically comes down to what you require and what resources will be needed to achieve that.

Ultimately, where this helps businesses is they can now access a quality of video they simply couldn’t raise budget for previously, and video has definitely become more important in corporate communications than ever it was previously.

Underpinning the services I offer, I’ve always believed that communication, coordination and flexibility are the best routes to success. I’ve been freelance for almost 25 years now, and in that time I’ve seen clients flourish and I’ve seen clients fail.

Thankfully far more have flourished than have failed, but I can honestly say that the failures were always the ones least open to communication with me, least willing to take advice on how best to make a project work and a realistic view of the resources required. I was simply a tool for the task, rather than a collaborator in their project.

It will have been a wider, embedded corporate culture which lead to this failure for sure, but if you’re open to communicating, being realistic about what it costs to achieve your goals and can be flexible to adapt to changing needs, we can help each other.

The one thing to keep in mind is that I want you and your business to succeed, even through the toughest times. If we can achieve that, just think what we can achieve in calmer waters!

If any of this chimes with you, why not drop me a line? It’d be great to hear from you.

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 by Tim Gander

No One’s Bursting My Bubble

I’m not sure “busy” quite describes the intensity of my work recently. The fact is, since April I’ve been busier than at any other time in my 23-year freelance career.

This is a post-covid bubble for sure. Pent-up plans, postponed events and long-neglected websites have suddenly become the focus of many corporate marketing teams, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with many to shoot the stills, and now video, they need to bring those plans to fruition.

Biggest Project to Date

One project in particular has dominated my diary. I suspect this won’t be the only blog post I reference to it either, and that has been the stills and video content for Shaw & Co’s new website.

The Shaw & Co website homepage.
The new Shaw & Co website.

Shaw & Co has been a long-standing client of mine. In fact I first photographed company founder Jim Shaw way back in 2010 when he was at a different, now defunct firm in Bath. But my work with the Bristol-based corporate finance firm came about by a chance google search for a photographer which has kept me going back ever since 2017.

And so for the past 5 years I’ve been taking Shaw & Co’s team shots, head shots and office stock images. But then during 2020 their Chief Marketing Officer Paul Mills brought me into the picture about their plans for a re-brand. This was going to be a bit more than the usual photo session.

This time there would be video alongside stills on the website, so I started to look into whether I could deliver that for them. My cameras were video-enabled, but I knew enough about video to understand you don’t simply switch from stills to video mode and wave the camera about a bit. At least not if you want anything vaguely usable.

Lockdown Learning

Lockdown proved a useful breathing space for me to research and learn the very basics, but there’s nothing quite like having an actual commission on the books to focus the mind. In fact it was essential for me to have a goal to work towards. Video is a huge discipline and you can stray off in all directions if there’s no end-goal. You can also spend your way to bankruptcy if you’re not careful. Knowing what the requirements were for what I needed to deliver allowed me to focus on the kit and the skills I needed to develop as priority.

Being Part of the Process

Perhaps what has been most unusual about this project is just how deeply embedded I’ve been with its development – seeing the brand graphics as they evolved, liaising with the design agency Design By Structure at various stages and even finding my own suggestions being incorporated where appropriate. With some projects I feel I could be a robot with a camera, told to “stand there, shoot that,” but not on this occasion; I was definitely part of the team here.

The website launched this week and given the time period over which it has been developed and implemented, it really is an astonishing achievement. I’ve known much smaller projects to take far longer, which is testament to Paul’s enthusiasm and drive and his ability to enthuse all those around him.

Having Faith Helps

It’s also fair to say that the confidence Paul (and Jim) placed in me has sometimes outstripped my own self-belief, but I’m incredibly proud of the speed of my development and more importantly of the work I’ve turned in.

You can now see the stills and video clips over at Shaw & Co’s new website and even if their work isn’t an area you’re familiar with, I’d love to know your thoughts here.

Is That It Then?

Now I know I said this was a post-lockdown bubble, and things have quietened off a little as we get into August, but I’m still busy with new work and projects which were delayed by covid.

I also know that whatever happens next, I’ve gained valuable skills I can offer new and existing clients. I also know Shaw & Co are keen to build upon what we’ve started, so bubble or not, I’m confident there’s more to come.

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 by Tim Gander

IT’S BACK!

After all the grief and uncertainty of the past 15 months, it was a genuine pleasure to be back photographing the SOE Skills Challenge at S&B Automotive Academy in Bristol last week.

There were all manner of Covid securities in place, including testing of all participants and support colleagues (myself included), mask-wearing, cleaning and social distancing.

My Role

Regular readers will have seen me write about this before, but of course last year’s event was cancelled. This year was my 6th Skills Challenge and while it’s become familiar photographic territory for me, each year I try to bring something new to the coverage.

One of my tasks during testing week is to supply “rush” images for the PR team to use for social media posts and updates during the event. I’ll usually choose a selection of the morning’s images and supply these ready-formatted for easy upload to Twitter, Facebook and so on.

Bringing Something New

This year, in addition to those rushes, I decided to deploy my 360 camera so people could get a better sense of the environment and context of the event even while it was happening.

As a result of the interactive 360 panoramas, SOE’s Facebook posts achieved far greater engagement than had been seen previously. For Twitter, the regular still images were perfect (Twitter can’t display 360s properly unless there’s something I’ve missed!)

I don’t have access to SOE’s social media statistics, but my contact was astonished to see how much more widely the posts were liked, shared and commented on compared with previous years. Much of this will have been down to the more immersive 360 images like this one:

As I say, I also supplied regular stills to support the social media posts and of course I’ve since edited and supplied the high-resolution files for SOE’s web and print publications. The images will also be used at the awards ceremony in September, which I’m looking forward to covering too.

Akeem McMurray of Metroline diagnoses an electrical fault under pressure of time.
Chris Little, National Express, checks the quality of his bodywork repair.
George Wilkins of Brighton & Hove - Metrobus checks a schematic.
22/06/2019 IRTE Skills Challenge 2021 held at S&B Automotive Academy Limited, Will Dodd of Arriva on a challenge in the Mechanical category.

Shining A Light on Vital Workers

What I love about this event is how it brings a focus to skilled technicians whose work is vital, yet rarely seen or acknowledged. Next time you’re on a bus or coach, or see one going about its duties on Britain’s roads, you know it’s there and working because of the skills and dedication of engineers, many of whom work unsociable hours to keep our public transport running smoothly.

Next Year?

So now I have a little under 12 months to think about what I will bring next year to keep my coverage fresh and evolving. It might be a change of approach or technique, but I already have a couple of ideas. I guess you’ll just have to watch this space to find out!

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 by Tim Gander

Film to Film

One week I’m banging on about the joys of shooting old-school (skool) film, this week I’m talking about this frightfully modern video fandango.

In November 2020 I blogged about my video progress and things have, well, progressed! I now have a couple of small projects under my belt, one delivered and one still ongoing, and more in the pipeline. It’s been a massive learning curve, but I’m enjoying the challenge and the new creative direction.

The Backstory

For many years I held off getting into video because I had no personal need for it and enquiries from clients asking if I did it numbered single digits per year.

Then towards the end of 2019 enquiries seemed to grow. Mostly from clients who were already working with me for their stills as they wanted to add video to their marketing toolkit.

Lockdown

And then 2020 happened, and we all know what that meant. So during the first lockdown I investigated, cogitated and decided to learn the basics and see where it took me.

Of course as a stills photographer I already had many of the basics, but video is obviously a lot more than just pictures which move, and I’m not just talking about the addition of sound here either.

A New Energy

I’m glad I got the ball rolling because as we’ve emerged from the latest lockdown, client work has really sprung back to life and it’s including a lot of video.

While I’m keeping it fairly simple at this stage (sit-down interviews, testimonials and informational clips), as my abilities and capabilities grow I’ll be able to cover a wider variety of briefs.

In the meantime I’m cramming to learn editing as I know that will make me a better camera operator, just as learning to picture edit made me a better photographer when I was starting out in stills.

As ever, keep watching this space for further updates on this new direction and if you’re a business looking to step up from iPad videos to something more polished, drop me a line and let’s talk.

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 by Tim Gander

Bits ‘n’ pieces.

Yes it’s still quiet on the whole, but business is definitely happening.

My Salisbury Plain project has been keeping me busy, and now with film stock secured for the next several months thanks to the generosity of those who support my work, I’ll be able to carry that on for quite some time to come.

Portrait of a male business man looking to camera with the strong horizontal lines of an office block blurred behind him.
Business portrait, Bristol.
Cover of Business Air News magazine.
Editorial business shot, Bristol.
Moody black and white landscape of a chalk track leading to the near horizon on Salisbury Plain
Salisbury Plain landscape.

In the meantime, I’ve continued updating and tweaking my website with new Testimonials and portraits being the main focus.

On top of all this, work has been coming in. Not thick and fast just yet, but there are promising signs of new clients contacting me as well as old ones getting back in touch.

I’m actually really looking forward to encouraging clients to be more adventurous in the style of business shots I take for them. I have the kit, the skills and the imagination. Now all I need is the right client and the right opportunity.

So if you’re a business looking to get your marketing back up to speed, drop me a line and let’s get the ball rolling.

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 by Tim Gander

First Shoots of Recovery?

“Ok, here’s the future – everything is going to be fantastic. Business will pick up again” is what I wrote only last week.

Now I don’t wish to jinx what is clearly a very tentative, timid signal, but I am starting to get more bookings again, which is just fantastic!

Of course it’s early days and there will be tough times ahead. I think things will continue to be difficult and unpredictable for at least the next 12 months. I also think that the businesses which want to survive and thrive will keep on top of their marketing and this will involve fresh photography.

That businesses are starting to re-focus on the future is particularly encouraging, so let’s keep this week’s post brief and positive.

If you’re thinking in terms of getting your website bang-up-to-date or looking for an opportunity to get some PR going, drop me a line.

We can do this together.

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 by Tim Gander

I’ll Make These b****y Pictures Move!

There is a vague recollection in the furthest reaches of my mind of my dad making a joke about “moving pictures” while shaking a photo up and down in his hand. It involved the “b” word and was very funny. You had to be there.

Which brings me in the clunkiest way possible to the announcement that I have added moving pictures to my suite of client services. They’ll even have sound! And they’ll be in glorious colour (actually, black and white is also an option, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves).

Yes, lockdown has given me the opportunity to learn a huge amount about shooting video, recording sound and using editing software to bring it all together. I’m not going to pretend I’m the next Martin Scorsese, I still have much to learn, but I’ve used the time to get the basics nailed down.

My focus will be on corporate testimonials, talking heads and interview pieces, giving businesses the material they need to keep putting fresh material out on social media. I think video is well suited to this kind of use and will help my clients communicate more effectively than they might with just a text-based blog.

To give myself material with which to practice camera settings, focus, exposure, colour balance, sound recording, editing, and so on, I shot a short film at home using the best model I could find in my house (my wife). She did a fantastic job, and while the result is probably not what you would call corporate style, it demonstrates much of what I’ve learned in this exercise. You can see the film here.

The result is just over 4 minutes long and it’s entitled A SHEDx Talk with Dr Helen Roberts. I hope you get a few minutes to watch it, because the feedback I’ve had so far has been that it is calming, soothing and inspiring!

Dr Helen Roberts delivers her SHEDx talk.

 

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