2022 saw weddings return with a boom – so our wedding videographers have compiled a list of the best wedding venues off 2022! The perfect wedding venue is the cornerstone to these happy days: the backdrop to your beautiful wedding photos, a place for you to gather with your loved ones, and somewhere you can go back to again in order to relive those wonderful memories. Whether you’re looking for a barn venue or not, there’s plenty of gorgeous wedding inspiration to find in this list.
The wedding videographers and wedding filmmakers at our wedding cinematography company have revealed the best wedding venues of 2022…
10 Most Popular Venues on Hitched 2022
1. Brinsop Court Manor House and Barn – Hereford, Herefordshire
Couples who’d like somewhere unique should look towards Brinsop Court Manor House and Barn. This historic estate features a 12th century moated manor house, with over 800 acres of ancient woodland, and a new, modern event barn. Inside the manor are three ceremony rooms, bursting with both character and history. The Banqueting Hall has a vaulted ceiling, oak floor as well as a large fireplace filled with candles to serve as the focal point for your ceremony. The Elizabethan Library is a room with a rich history for a heartfelt vow exchange, and the elegant Queen Anne Dining Room offers picturesque views across the Wordsworth lawn. During the day this venue can accommodate up to 180 guests, and at night this number increases to 250 for dancing and fun. If any guests have a little too much fun, the venue boasts some onsite glamping accommodation.
Their spectacular Atrium leads into the airy, 1920s Orangery – the absolute perfect place to exchange your vows. Then it’s time to wine, dine and dance in the rustic Oak Barn, an atmospheric oak-timbered barn with panoramic views over the gorgeous grounds and even beyond to the Malverns. You can reportedly see for up to 12 miles! This magical venue is made for year-round weddings, with the gardens and terraces and ideal spot for al-fresco drinks in summer, and the cosy Atrium and Orangery welcoming you in on those chillier days. Perfect for intimate weddings of up to 40 to grand celebrations of 180, this both friendly and enchanting barn venue is a wonderful spot for weddings. There’s on-site accommodation so you can even continue celebrations the next morning!
3. Dodford Manor Barn Wedding Venue – Northampton, Northamptonshire
You’ll find Dodford Manor’s lovingly restored collection of country house barns among 20 acres of beautiful, rolling Northamptonshire countryside. If you’re searching for the perfect mix of a historic setting with bags of ambience and contemporary style and facilities, this is a wonderful choice. Your day will begin by getting ready in the Grain Store, their luxurious preparation room with large mirrors everywhere for you to get ready with your entourage. The historic Mortain Barn is the idyllic setting for your civil ceremony: a flagstone floored barn with soaring rustic wooden beams and flooded with natural light. They can change up the configuration for the room easily so it’s perfect for small weddings of approximately 30 to large parties of up to 170.
The wedding videographers and wedding filmmakers at our wedding cinematography company have revealed the best wedding venues of 2022…
4. Farnham Castle – Farnham, Surrey
With five acres of stunning architecture and gorgeous gardens, Farnham Castle is definitely Surrey’s all-day celebration hotspot. Start off in The Gatehouse or The Pembroke where the wedding party can enjoy the luxury of a private preparation space. The dreamy castle boasts unique locations to say I do – choose between the charming Lantern Room, Winchester Suite, Library, Great Hall, or the luscious gardens – as well as two on-site chapels for couples intending to hold a religious ceremony. The beautiful castle grounds are the perfect backdrop for your romantic wedding photos, before getting the party started in the Great Hall, which is ideal for 200 seated or 300 standing guests, or the Lantern Hall. The luxurious Honeymoon Suite is the cherry on top of a jam-packed wonderful day at this venue.
5. The Ashes Barns and Country House – Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire
Exclusive hire of a 50 acre estate means that you and your guests will be the absolute focus of everyone’s attention. Personalisation is key here – you’ll have the chance to decorate the venue in your own personal style, with the help of the attentive Estates Team and Event Manager, as well as tailor the menu to the desired tastes of you and your guests. Everything, from the beautiful grounds to the rustic exposed brick venue to the cosy accommodation to the inventive food bursting with flavour is tailor-made for the most perfect wedding ceremony you could imagine.
The wedding videographers and wedding filmmakers at our wedding cinematography company have revealed the best wedding venues of 2022…
6. The Mill Barns – Bridgnorth, Shropshire
Brought to you by the award-winning teams behind Staffordshire venues Pendrell Hall and The Ashes Barns, this stunning waterfront venue is formed of three magnificent oak-framed wedding barns. You’ll have exclusive use of all the barns and eight acres of gardens, giving you and your guests plenty of space to explore as well as celebrate. Licensed for up to 170 guests, you’ll begin your day in the ceremony barn, before moving outside or further inside for both drinks and photos. The day then flows onto the stunning wedding breakfast barn and then through to the evening entertainment area. Every detail has been thought through with great care.
Have you ever wanted to create a promotional videos for business, company video or a creative video production? Video content, after all, can be used in so many ways, from social media posts and advertisements to emails and marketing sites. But how do you go from “wanting to create a video” to actually scripting and producing one? Seems complicated, right? It’s actually pretty simple!
Now, I’ve written million-dollar commercials for big clients like Samsung and Visa, and I’ve written scrappy videos for SaaS companies like StartupThreads and Amino.
And no matter the company, budget, or reason for the video, there’s a pretty basic format every video follows, from first idea to final cut.
Below I’ve outlined the 8 steps, which I hope will help to get your video idea out of your head and onto your audience’s screens!
Step 1: Identify your goal
Before you sit down to script out your video, you’ll want to take a step back and consider why you want to create a video in the first place.
Videos can be expensive to produce, so it’s important to get crystal clear on your goals before you start writing dialogue.
For example: perhaps you’re a new company and you want a video that introduces your brand/mission to web visitors. Or perhaps you have a new product line that needs further explanation to prospective buyers. Maybe you’re just running a sale and need a video that pushes people to take action.
Here are some common reasons many companies create promotional videos:
Brand awareness
Drive sales
Drive traffic
Increase customer engagement
Educate customers
One thing to note: if you have multiple goals, you may want to consider creating multiple videos. The more goals (or ideas) you try to cram into one video (especially a short one) the more likely you’ll complicate the script and confuse your audience.
If you have multiple goals, you may want to consider creating multiple videos for business.
Once you’ve identified why you want to create a video, it’s time to start looking at potential directions for how you could bring your video to life.
Step 2: Choose a direction
Now that you have your “why,” it should be a little bit easier to determine what makes sense in terms of direction.
For example, let’s say you’re a new company who wants to create an intro video for the homepage hero on your site; the goal of the video is to introduce the brand and get people to sign up.
In this case, you would likely go with a company video that’s more along the lines of “introductory” or “explanatory” in nature. You may even find that a combination of several directions makes sense.
For example, maybe you’re a new company, but you’re up against a lot of competition. Perhaps an “introductory” style video with a “problem/solution” angle would be ideal (showing the “old way” as the problem and the “new way” [meaning your company] as the solution).
To give you some ideas, here’s a list of possible directions you could go in:
Introductory: tell your audience who you are, explain your mission, etc.
Explanatory: explain how something works (like your product or a specific feature)
Problem/solution: show the old way/new way and how your product is the solution
Narrative: use story elements (like plot, conflict, resolution, etc) to subtly introduce or explain something
Drive action: get the audience to do something (i.e. — shop now)
Product-focused: introduce or showcase a specific product or feature
Testimonial: interviews, quotes, soundbytes, etc, with customers around a specific topic or theme
Endorsement: use of celebrity or influencer approval / likeness
Informative: educate your audience about something specific, tutorial-style, etc.
Entertainment: delight or inspire your audience using story, humor, etc.
Once you have your goal and direction finalized, it’s time to further refine your approach by setting the tone for your company videos for business.
Step 3: Set the tone
Tone is defined as “the general character or attitude” of something. But to make it simple, you can just think of it as how your video is going to make your audience feel.
For example, do you want to make your audience laugh or do you want them to be moved? Do you want them to feel informed, or do you want to tell them a story?
Keep in mind, the creative direction (chosen in Step 2) should play well with whatever tone you decide to go with. For example, if you decide to create an “introductory” style video for your homepage hero, it probably doesn’t make sense to use an “urgent” tone, as that’s best for things like a sale.
(Of course, pairing a particular creative direction with an unexpected tone isn’t necessarily a bad thing —
Step 4: Decide on duration
Will this be a 30-second video? 60-second? A minute plus? 5 minutes?
You may be thinking: “how can I know the length of the video until I script it out?”
And trust me, I hear ya! But the reality is, without using some type of time parameters, your video will likely end up too long and potentially unfocused.
Without using some type of time parameters, your video will likely end up too long and potentially unfocused.
Remember, your idea should only be as big as the time it has to unfold, so putting restrictions on your concept will only help to make it stronger and more effective.
This will also help you avoid frustrating situations, like forcing yourself to cut a two-minute script down to 30 seconds (which is like torture, btw).
Step 5: Choose a video style
By this point, you should have your goal, direction, tone, and duration figured out.
The next thing to consider will be the visual style of the video, meaning what it will look like.
The visual style of your video can come to life in many different ways, but here are some general ideas for how it can be done:
Animated — illustrated (or “cartoon-like”) in style and brought to life through animation (2D, 3D, etc).
Real people — as in actors who play out the characters you’ve created; this may or may not include dialogue (depends on your script).
B-roll —supplemental or alternative footage typically used in between “main shots” or used as background, action, or flashback-style scenes.
Stock — stock video you can purchase to create your story (usually used sparingly, versus the entire video being stock).
Live action — combining real-life footage with elements of animation or special effects.
Screencast — a digital recording of a computer screen often containing movement, audio, or some type of demonstration.
Whiteboard — this is similar to a screencast, except imagine a hand holding a marker as it writes on a whiteboard (it can be any type of writing instrument / writing medium). This is usually used to write out a message (leading the story with visual text), create drawings, etc.
Phone/tablet/app — again, this is sort of similar to screencast, but you’re showing something specific on the device (like a scrolling website, an action like clicking an icon, etc).
Many videos are a combination of some (or all) of these visual styles. For example, human actors who talk to animated characters (live action) or narrative-style videos that use a combination of main shots and b-roll footage.
The combinations are endless, really.
To decide what makes sense for your company video, think back to Steps 1–4 (your goal, creative direction, tone, and duration) as all of these factors should ultimately influence the visual style you go with.
Alright, at this point you’ve done a lot of the pre-planning work that will hopefully set you up for success. It’s now finally time to start mapping out your idea!
Step 6: Outline the idea
Assuming you have a loose idea for your video, it’s now time to start fleshing out the details.
To do it, I would suggest you start at a high level, then work backward from there.
For example, before I start laying out a script and all of the details, I usually write out a paragraph that essentially summarizes the idea from a high-level perspective. This paragraph should focus on the concept itself, so you always have something to refer back to when you begin building out the ideas (and the script inevitably gets a little murky).
To show you what I mean, I’m going to share with you an example of a fakescript I always wanted to write for the running app, RunKeeper (the concept would be “Running ties us together”:
From the beginning of time to the last New York Marathon, running has always been a part of who we are. While many see running as “just a hobby” we at Runkeeper know it’s so much more than that: it’s an insatiable urge, a primordial desire, an indescribable drive. Running is and always has been, necessary to life itself. Across the world, through the depths of the deepest forests, to the highest mountain peaks, and through the dustiest of trails, running runs through our veins. And like our DNA itself, running is the what ties us together, from ancient beast to modern man.
Now this “overview” is not perfect or complete, but it’s just there to make sure you (as in the person either writing the script or in charge of producing the video or videos for business), has a clear picture of what this video is all about (of course, if you could see the script unfolding in my head, this example write-up would make more sense, but oh well).
Now that you’ve got your high-level overview, it’s time to start thinking about the details of the story. For example:
Scenes
How many different scenes will there be? How many locations will be needed?
Characters
How many characters? Who are they? What is their storyline? What do they look like?
Audio / Voice over / text overlay
Will the video be set to the sound of someone’s voice? Can there be background music? Will any text need to appear on screen in order to get the message across?
Product
How does the product fit into the story? How many times will the product appear and when/how?
Props
Any major props needed to make your story work (i.e. — iPhone, car, bridge, elephant, etc)?
Final CTA
What’s the last message we leave the audience with? What do we want them to feel / do?
There’s really an endless number of details to consider here, and every answer you come up with will likely lead to another question.
The idea is to try and figure out as many details as you can, so when you go to write your script, all the pieces will start to fit together.
Speaking of which, it’s time to get out your pen and pencil — it’s script time, baby!
Step 7: Write the script
Every writer, creative director, director, etc, likely has their own way of writing scripts. There are also countless “script templates” for how to lay everything out (while these may seem pretentious, they actually are pretty helpful).
Regardless of what it looks like, the main things you want to make sure you have in your layout are:
The scene number (1st, 2nd, 3rd scene, etc)
The time stamp (down to the second, when is this moment happening?)
The audio, dialogue, or Voice Over (aka: what are we hearing in this moment?)
A description of the scene, list of characters, location, special props, expressions or movements, or any other details that’s needed for that particular moment
If nothing else, laying out your script will force you to put your idea into an executable format, which is kind of necessary when you’re involving other people (actors / directions), equipment (lighting, props), locations, etc.
It will also help you to cut anything that’s unnecessary and will hopefully act as a “safeguard” for making sure you’re getting whatever product shots, CTAs, etc in there without forgetting (because trust me, when you’re on set filming at 4AM because you have a “daybreak” scene, it’s easy to forget a lot of things).
Step 8: Storyboard
Okay, so you’ve written your script, you’re done now, right? Not exactly.
It’s now time to work with an artist, illustrator, or designer to create visuals that go with your script.
The idea is to work with a visual artist to help bring your script and ideas to life, making sure whatever you’re about to shoot is going to look good (and make sense) on film.
The type of artist you work with will depend on the medium you’re shooting within— for example, if you’re creating an animated video, you’ll probably want to work with an illustrator/animator (preferably the one who will create your final video) to put together the storyboard.
A storyboard is not only important for you and your team, but it’s also super important for the artists, actors, and directors, so they can get a good sense of the visuals they’re supposed to recreate. No one is saying the storyboard has to perfectly match what happens in the scene, but it should act as a guide.
Alright — you’ve got your script and your storyboard done. As you were wondering what the 8 steps to making promotional videos for business, company videoor a creative video production, well now you know.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
The better you understand your target market, the more you’ll be able to focus your ads and reach the audience most likely to convert into customers.
Your target market sets the tone for your entire marketing strategy — from how you develop and name your products or services right through to the marketing channels you use to promote them.
Here’s a hint before we dig in: Your target market is not “everyone” (unless you’re Google). Your task in defining your target market is to identify and understand a smaller, relevant niche so you can dominate it. It’s all about narrowing your focus while expanding your reach.
In this guide, we’ll help you learn who’s already interacting with your business and your competitors, then use that information to develop a clear target market as you build your brand.
What is a target market?
A target market is the specific group of people you want to reach with your marketing message. They are the people who are most likely to buy your products or services, and they are united by some common characteristics, like demographics and behaviors.
The more clearly you define your target market, the better you can understand how and where to reach your ideal potential customers. You can start with broad categories like millennials or single dads, but you need to get much more detailed than that to achieve the best possible conversion rates.
Don’t be afraid to get highly specific. This is all about targeting your marketing efforts effectively, not stopping people from buying your product.
People who are not included in your targeted marketing can still buy from you—they’re just not your top focus when crafting your marketing strategy. You can’t target everyone, but you can sell to everyone.
Your target market should be based on research, not a gut feeling. You need to go after the people who really want to buy from you, even if they’re not the customers you originally set out to reach.
What is target market segmentation?
Target market segmentation is the process of dividing your target market into smaller, more specific groups. It allows you to create a more relevant marketing message for each group.
Remember — you can’t be all things to all people. But you can be different things to different groups of people.
For example, as a vegetarian, I’ve eaten plenty of Impossible Burgers. I’m definitely a target customer. But vegetarians are a surprisingly small target market segment for Impossible Foods: only 10% of their customer base.
That’s why Impossible Foods’ first national advertising campaign was definitely not targeted at me:
The target market segment for this ad campaign was “meat eaters who haven’t yet tried Impossible products.”
Vegetarians and meat eaters have different reasons for eating plant-based burgers and want different things from the experience. Target market segmentation ensures the company reaches the right audience with the right message.
How to define your target market
Step 1. Compile data on your current customers
A great first step in figuring out who most wants to buy from you is to identify who is already using your products or services. Once you understand the defining characteristics of your existing customer base, you can go after more people like that.
Depending on how someone connects with your business, you might have only a little information about them, or a lot.
This doesn’t mean you should add a lot of questions to your order or opt-in process just for audience research purposes — this can annoy customers and result in abandoned shopping carts.
But do be sure to use the information you naturally acquire to understand trends and averages.
Your CRM is a goldmine here. UTM parameters combined with Google Analytics can also provide useful information about your customers.
Some data points you might want to consider are:
Location (and time zone): Where in the world do your existing customers live? In addition to understanding which geographic areas to target, this helps you figure out what hours are most important for your customer service and sales reps to be online, and what time you should schedule your social ads and posts to ensure best visibility.
Language: Don’t assume your customers speak the same language you do. And don’t assume they speak the dominant language of their (or your) current physical location.
Spending power and patterns: How much money do your current customers have to spend? How do they approach purchases in your price category?
Interests: What do your customers like to do, besides using your products or services? What TV shows do they watch? What other businesses do they interact with?
Challenges: What pain points are your customers facing? Do you understand how your product or service helps them address those challenges?
Step 2. Incorporate social data
Social media analytics can be a great way of filling out the picture of your target market. They help you understand who’s interacting with your social accounts, even if those people are not yet customers.
These people are interested in your brand. Social analytics can provide a lot of information that might help you understand why. You’ll also learn about potential market segments you may not have thought to target before.
You can also use social listening to help identify the people who are talking about you and your product on social media, even if they don’t follow you.
If you want to reach your target market with social ads, lookalike audiences are an easy way to reach more people who share characteristics with your best customers.
Step 3. Check out the competition
Now that you know who’s already interacting with your business and buying your products or services, it’s time to see who’s engaging with the competition.
Knowing what your competitors are up to can help you answer some key questions:
Are your competitors going after the same target market segments as you are?
Are they reaching segments you hadn’t thought to consider?
How are they positioning themselves?
Our guide on how to do competitor research on social media walks you through the best ways to use social tools to gather competitor insights.
You won’t be able to get detailed audience information about the people interacting with your competitors, but you’ll be able to get a general sense of the approach they’re taking and whether it’s allowing them to create engagement online.
This analysis will help you understand which markets competitors are targeting and whether their efforts appear to be effective for those segments.
Step 4. Clarify the value of your product or service
This comes down to the key distinction all marketers must understand between features and benefits. You can list the features of your product all day long, but no one will be convinced to buy from you unless you can explain the benefits.
Features are what your product is or does. The benefits are the results. How does your product make someone’s life easier, or better, or just more interesting?
If you don’t already have a clear list of the benefits of your product, it’s time to start brainstorming now. As you create your benefit statements, you’ll also by default be stating some basic information about your target audience.
For example, if your service helps people find someone to look after their pets while they’re away, you can be pretty confident that your market will have two main segments: (1) pet owners and (2) existing or potential pet-sitters.
If you’re not sure exactly how customers benefit from using your products, why not ask them in a survey, or even a social media poll?
You might find that people use your products or services for purposes you haven’t even thought of. That might, in turn, change how you perceive your target market for future sales.
Step 5. Create a target market statement
Now it’s time to boil everything you’ve discovered so far into one simple statement that defines your target market. This is actually the first step in creating a brand positioning statement, but that’s a project for another day. For now, let’s stick to creating a statement that clearly defines your target market.
For example, here’s Zipcar’s brand positioning statement, as cited in the classic marketing text Kellogg on Marketing. We’re interested in the first part of the statement, which defines the target market:
“To urban-dwelling, educated, techno-savvy consumers who worry about the environment that future generations will inherit, Zipcar is the car-sharing service that lets you save money and reduce your carbon footprint, making you feel you’ve made a smart, responsible choice that demonstrates your commitment to protecting the environment.”
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
LinkedIn is no longer optional for growing and managing your network effectively. In fact, we’re to the point where it’s hard to separate someone’s network and their Linkedln connections. For most, it’s one in the same.
That’s why it’s important to constantly grow and nurture our network, especially using the access that Linkedln gives us. When it comes to connecting, I’ll always choose quality over quantity. Fortunately, LinkedIn’s technology has allowed us to have both: We can make meaningful connections and do it quickly and efficiently.
These are the nine most effective ways I’ve found to grow your Linkedln network. I’ve also included a few tips on what to do once you connect.
How to Make More Connections on LinkedIn
Start with the address book import to see who you already know on LinkedIn, but STOP before sending a mass invite! Instead, use the list to write down the people you want to connect with and send them each a personal message.
Check out the “people you may know” box for possible connections each time you login to LinkedIn. Also, don’t forget to check the suggestions LinkedIn gives you after you connect with someone new.
Search for old acquaintances and people you may have lost touch with. Start by looking for previous connections from schools, locations, churches, clubs, groups, industries, previous companies, etc.
Don’t bother sending invites to people who aren’t on LinkedIn. It’s not worth your time and it’s annoying to the recipient. LinkedIn is just using you as a way to advertise to them.
Put your public LinkedIn URL where people can find it. Add it to your email signature, your website’s about section, business cards, stationery, and Facebook page.
After meeting a new business contact, always follow up with them on LinkedIn in addition to email. You can even let them know in your follow up email you’ll be connecting with them on Linkedln to stay in touch.
Connect with peers and prospects through LinkedIn Groups. You can browse to meet new people or search groups for specific members by clicking “Members” → “Search.” Most people don’t know you can also message anyone in the same group for free. It doesn’t require inMail and it doesn’t matter if they’re a first, second or 50th degree connection!
Connect with people who view your profile. This is a great excuse to connect with someone who might be a prospect checking you out. Send them an invitation or message letting them know you’d like to connect as well.
Connect with people who comment and like your LinkedIn posts. I started publishing on Linkedln exactly a year ago and it’s been an incredible way to connect with people who read my content and reach out to me or like my posts. If you aren’t publishing on Linkedln, I strongly suggest it for boosting thought leadership and lead generation.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
Video marketing agency Kent, Film production company.
The five key benefits of Instagram advertising that make it a lucrative channel for many businesses are as follows:
Ever-increasing opportunities.
Build a following for your brand.
Easily create ads.
Showcase your brand through Stories.
Leverage higher engagement rates.
1. Ever-increasing opportunities
Sure, there are many people on Instagram as we aforementioned, but what can we expect for actual growth? Let’s take the United States as an example. 140 million users in the United States, Instagram saw an 8% increase in users in one quarter. Advertising in Western Europe? That region’s usage grew 17% in 2020. It’s consistently growing and it’s safe to say that Instagram has a ways to go before getting saturated or outdated. There is plenty of opportunities left for businesses to get in front of their target audience, to expand their visibility.
2. Build a following for your brand
While people go to social networks to connect with their family, friends, or to see what their favourite celebrities’ are up to. Millions of people check out what brands are sharing. It’s not every platform that users actively do that. In fact, 200 million Instagram users visit at least one business profile each day. 81% of Instagram users also use the platform to research products and services. In addition, now that Instagram recently made shopping more prominent on the platform. 130 million users tap on shopping posts every month.
This is your cue to step in and show off what you’re offering in a captivating, visual manner. If done right, brands can build a significant following and drive business from the platform, so don’t hold back. Develop a strategy for the platform on its own but also consider how it will play in your holistic marketing and advertising strategy. Develop and use visually appealing and compelling content. Then see how Instagram fairs for your brand and the products or services you provide.
3. Easily create ads
If you’ve used Facebook for your business’s organic and paid growth through ads. Then it’s easy to further expand your reach and efforts to their sister platform. As they are connected through Facebook Ads Manager. With Instagram Ads being integrated with Facebook Ads Manager. You can now reap the rewards of most campaign objectives, optimisation selections, and targeting options. Simply connect your Instagram account in your Facebook Business Manager business settings, then in Ads Manager, add Instagram to your ad placement targeting at the ad set level, if you haven’t done so yet and see how Instagram’s three ad placements—Feed, Stories, and Explore tab—can work for you. While IGTV doesn’t have ad placements on it, I believe we can expect to see one becoming available in the near future – so keep an eye out for that. Facebook has stretched into a variety of placements across its ecosystem from within itself to Messenger, Audience Network, and Instagram.
This might be your first foray into Instagram Ads, you can easily use creatives that work on Facebook, however, be mindful of specs so that you can make your ads look native to the platform and fit within certain video length limits, as they do vary across platforms and placements. If you don’t yet have images or videos that may be more Stories-centric, in that they are vertical and take up the full screen, you can edit your creatives in the ad level and crop them to fit the various placements until you do have more sizes of images and videos.
If you don’t yet have video ads but want to make a more significant impact by capturing the attention of your target audience on Instagram, take advantage of the free built-in tools that Facebook has to offer. In the ad level, upload or select your still image and then use the Video Creation Kit for templates, special effects, and overlay text to give your images an edge by adding some motion to them. Most features available within Facebook Ads Manager work on Instagram ad placements, too.
4. Showcase your brand through Stories
Snapchat may have been the first with ephemeral content, but it’s not the last. Instagram developed its own version after Snapchat declined Facebook’s acquisition offer and quickly surpassed Snapchat’s userbase. While Instagram Stories isn’t new, more brands continue getting into this popular placement and seeing great success. Currently, a half billion people are watching Stories every day, thus further emphasizing why it’s important to add Stories into your organic and paid advertising strategy. While it’s true across Facebook’s advertising ecosystem, it carries over into Instagram as well, that you can easily connect with target audiences that may not know you exist and that you could add value into their lives. By showing up in front of them, you can quickly captivate using Stories given the brevity of the content and then get people into your funnel. With more than half of users saying they become more interested in a product or service after they see it in Stories, you might as well bet on yourself and see what kind of results Instagram Ads can bring you and your business.
5. Leverage higher engagement rates
From what we’ve seen in our client accounts and from what we’ve heard around the industry grapevine, engagement rates are typically higher than on other social platforms. While that is the case, make sure your product images and videos are visually engaging and on-brand so they can help drive more purchases. One social media team reported that engagement rates are highest for photo posts, followed by carousels, then videos—which of course, will vary by the content promoted, your industry, and audience targeting.
Ecommerce marketing platform Yotpo reported that people are 58 times more likely to engage with branded content on Instagram than on Facebook and 120 times more likely than Twitter. While engagement rates have changed since Yotpo reported those Instagram statistics in 2018, we have seen them slightly decrease over the years as more people join and upload content. Even if that may be the case for others, user engagement rates on Instagram posts and ads are still exceptionally high compared to other platforms.
To begin with strong engagement rates or to boost your existing efforts, leverage user-generated content, or UGC. Ask questions in your posts and then put some advertising budget behind them to expand their visibility to new audiences. Reach out to smaller influencers and develop a partnership program. Once you have UGC content, reshare it on your account, whether it is someone wearing or using a product of yours, a review or testimonial, or anything else that people might share that relates to your brand. While the possibilities are endless, showcase your product or service in use so that prospective customers and avid fans can better have their expectations managed, as well as be more likely to convert for the first time or again.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
Why Should Instagram Live Be Part of Your Strategy?
Going live is one of the best ways to connect with your followers in a direct, transparent, and authentic way. Unlike pre-recorded Stories, Instagram Live is a totally unedited stream for your followers to tune into and engage with — which can be a great way of showcasing the more human side of your business for your audience to connect with.
And that’s not all. Instagram Live allows your audience to submit their comments and questions in real-time, making it one of Instagram’s most interactive video platforms.
This can be a hugely beneficial tool for building a stronger connection between your brand and potential customers, allowing you to gain valuable feedback and insight — straight from the people that matter most!
Hosting an Instagram Live can also help boost your discoverability on Instagram. For example, every time you go live on Instagram your followers will receive an in-app notification, and your Live will be bumped to the front of their Instagram Stories feed.
With all this in mind, Instagram Live is an awesome tool to promote your products, engage with potential customers, and increase your reach.
TIP: Give your Instagram Live a boost by promoting them on Instagram Stories in advance! Storyboard and schedule your Instagram Stories with Later today, available on all paid plans.
Schedule Instagram Stories!
How to Go Live on Instagram: A Step-by-step Guide
Instagram Live is an incredibly easy tool to use! But before you start broadcasting, there are a few administrative items to take care of.
Step 1: Adjust Your Instagram Live Settings
Before you jump into your Instagram Live, it’s a good idea to check your camera settings.
To do so, open the Instagram Live mode view. Then, tap the wheel icon in the top right-hand corner to open your controls.
From here, you can select if you’d like to hide your Live from specific people, along with other tools like which side of the screen you want your camera toolbar to be on.
You can also select one of the icons on the left-hand sidebar to add the title of your Instagram Live, set the audience (either Public or Practice mode), or schedule it for a future time and date.
TIP: Practice mode is a great way to alleviate any technical difficulties or pre-show nerves before you go live (more on that later!).
Step 2: Filter Out Offensive Comments
If you’d rather not see inappropriate words in the comments on your Instagram Live, you can automatically hide offensive comments, and manually filter comments that contain specific words or phrases.
Open your Instagram settings, scroll down to “Privacy,” select “Hidden Words,” and then toggle “Hide comments” from “Off” to “On.”
You can even take it a step further by using the “Advanced comment filtering” option, or manually adding words, phrases, and emojis that you don’t want to see to a list.
And even better, with Instagram’s new “Live Moderator” feature, you can appoint someone to be a moderator during the livestream.
Your moderator will have the power to report comments, remove viewers from the Instagram Live, and turn off comments for a viewer — making one less thing for you to worry about.
Step 3: Check Your Live Stream in Practice Mode
With Instagram’s “Practice Mode” tool you can test out your Live setup in advance.
Before you go live, select the eye icon on the left-hand corner of the screen. Toggle from “Public” to “Practice.” That’s it!
This feature is perfect for ironing out any kinks before you go live to the masses.
Step 4: Go Live
Once you’re happy with your practice session and ready to go live, it’s quite simple.
Tap the “Live” icon at the bottom of your screen to start your broadcast, and get ready for your close up!
Step 5: Use Instagram Live’s Interactive Features
Once your live is underway, you can choose from a number of features to make your broadcast more engaging:
Share questions from your viewers to the screen by tapping the question mark-speech bubble icon at the bottom of the screen. You can only share a question once a viewer has submitted it during the broadcast.
Send a Direct Message to someone about your Instagram Live by tapping the paper plane icon at the bottom of the screen.
Invite someone to co-host your Instagram Live by tapping the person icon at the bottom of the screen.
Apply an Instagram Stories filter to your broadcast by tapping the filter icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
Tap “Comment” to add a comment to the live stream. You can also pin a comment to the top of the feed by tapping and holding it.
Disable your video feed by tapping the camera icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
You can also share an image or video to your broadcast screen.
First, tap the picture icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen:
Then, choose an image or video from your photo library:
TIP: Use this feature to share educational content like an infographic or a collection of recent photos. Think of it as giving a mini live presentation!
Step 6: End the Live Broadcast
Once your Live is over, tap “End” in the top right corner and then “End Now” to confirm.
From here, you can tap the save icon in the top left to save it to your camera roll to re-use elsewhere. You can choose a cover, write a caption, add a location, and tag other users.
We love repurposed content.
How to Host a Great Instagram Live
Now that you know how to go live, we can dig into what makes for a really great strategy!
Here are our top 6 tips for hosting next-level Instagram Lives that drive real value for your brand:
Tip 1: Hype Up Your Instagram Live in Advance
Regularly and strategically promoting an upcoming Instagram Live can make all of the difference when it comes to securing those all important views!
You can now schedule an Instagram Live up to 90 days in advance, which is great for building hype and creating more of an “event” out of your upcoming broadcast.
By scheduling a Live, you can share reminders and countdowns directly to your their Instagram Stories and feed.
Tell your audience what they can expect in the live broadcast, and invite them to share any questions they have in the comments. This can help your followers feel more engaged, and ultimately more likely to tune in.
Tip 2: Go Live When Your Audience is Most Active
Going live when your followers are most active is one of the easiest ways to make your Instagram Lives more successful.
But how can you predict when your audience will be online ahead of time? The best way to do this is by studying historical data trends to understand when your audience are typically most active on Instagram.
Take a look at your Instagram insights. Under the Audience tab, you’ll find a breakdown of when your followers are most active online broken down by day of the week and time of day.
And if you’re looking for even more detail, you can use your Later Analytics to hone in on your audience’s behaviors.
Your Later analytics dashboard has a super-detailed breakdown of when your audience is online — and you can use that info to tailor your Instagram Live schedule.
PRO TIP: Use Later to discover your best time to post based on audience engagement trends! Upgrade now to find the best days and times to post on Instagram for maximum engagement.
Find Your Best Time to Post
Get more engagement on Instagram posts by scheduling them for your optimal times with Later
Tip 3: Consider Your Lighting and Location
Planning the location and lighting for your Instagram Live can have a huge impact on how professional your broadcast looks.
Consider how the backdrop of your Instagram Live supports your brand’s message. For example, a minimal white setting with plants will create a totally different aesthetic to a wall with scrapbook-style photos on it.
If your brand is fun and playful, consider how to reflect that with your use of color. For example, a bright pop of pastel can instantly shift the tone of your Instagram Live and make it feel more on brand.
In terms of lighting, natural light is always the most affordable (and often the best) option.
Tip 4: Have a Clear Content Plan
As with any video content, it’s super important to have a clear vision of what you’re going to cover in your Instagram Live broadcast. Having a clear plan will help prevent any awkward pauses, and will also make sure you’re hitting all the important points for your business agenda.
One of the best ways to plan your live stream is to think of it as having a beginning, middle, and an end — or more specifically, an introduction, focal point, and conclusion — and making a note of the most important messages to get across during the broadcast.
It’s also a good idea to consider what could go wrong in a “worst case scenario.” For example, if your live broadcast relies on viewers’ questions, have a backup plan in case you don’t receive any. This could be a list of questions that you’ve gathered earlier from Instagram Stories, or an alternate talking point.
Tip 5: Introduce Branded Elements
One of the main advantages of going live on Instagram is that you’re providing an unedited and direct channel for your audience to engage with your business.
However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t introduce some branded elements to make your live broadcast feel more aligned with your brand values.
This could be as simple as having cue cards in your brand color palette, holding a branded mug, or choosing a backdrop that fits with your creative aesthetic.
Watch our TikTok video to discover exactly how to do this here:
TIME-SAVING TIP: Add your customized templates to a dedicated folder so you can easily find and select them during your live broadcast!
Tip 6: Keep Your Business Goals Front and Center
There are hundreds of reasons to go live, so nailing down what matters the most can help keep your broadcast focused, effective, and measurable!
This could be building hype around the launch of a product, spreading the news about an important company update, getting real-time customer feedback, driving sales for an existing product line, or positioning your brand as an expert on a certain domain.
With clearly defined goals, you can regularly step back and make sure your Instagram Live content plan is fully supporting them.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
Gone are the days when you would listen to radio stations on repeat. Feverishly trying to find anything useful to occupy your mind and ears. Anything you’re interested in — from quantum physics to stand-up comedy to love and loss tales — may now be accessed and experienced with the swipe of a finger. Let’s figure out why are Podcasts so Popular in 2022.
A podcast is a miraculous alternative to regular radio that most people are familiar with these days. A podcast, by definition, is an episodic collection of digital audio recordings made accessible for download through the Internet. For convenience, listeners may subscribe to their favourite radio stations and listen either online or offline. Even better, they’re (usually) free!
Podcasts may make a monotonous commute to and from work more fascinating, stimulate your thoughts while cleaning the house, or encourage you while working out at the gym. But what is it about podcasts that make them so popular? What makes them more appealing than their favourite new hit or a typical radio show?
They help you get over a creative block.
Assume you’re a fiction writer who is stuck on character development in a new novel you’re working on. Listening to podcasts including conversations with other fiction authors might provide insight into how they use their personal experiences and dreams to help construct characters in their works. You may then utilise these ideas to draw inspiration from your own life. Podcasts can also help listeners address problems creatively while focusing on other topics.
They help you feel inspired and empowered.
Do you wish to go all over the world? Considering establishing a non-profit organisation? Do you want to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle? There are several podcasts that contain conversations with activists, explorers, and small business entrepreneurs that might motivate you to live the life you’ve always desired. Sometimes all you need is a podcast to get you started in the morning.
They help you spend time more effectively & escape reality.
Consider how much time you spend travelling to the office, jogging, or perhaps even house cleaning (geez)! Those are many minutes that can be spent far more successfully by listening to podcasts while driving, running, cleaning, or cooking, making the best use of your time.
They help you understand your education in a far more enhanced manner.
Did you major in Business Administration but secretly want to be a farmer or a filmmaker? With the abundance of podcasts accessible, it’s simpler than ever to broaden your knowledge on any subject conceivable. You may learn about fresh technological developments, unusual scientific findings, and the best ways to advertise your web series or start a homestead.
They help you stay relevant about current and trending world affairs.
It’s easy to feel quite depressed after listening to the news all day. Podcasts provide a new dimension to your daily news by providing engaging debates on a wide range of topics. They can look at a topic from several perspectives and frequently delve much further into an issue than a standard news source would, while also providing some entertainment value. As a result, you may have a more comprehensive understanding of the issue. Many new listeners have discovered podcasts to be an excellent substitute for news that is overly fear-mongering on television and overly sensationalised on social media.
They enhance relationships and make you feel less lonely.
It might be tough to look at a situation objectively and address an issue if you have a bad connection with a family member, love partner, or friend. Listening to conversations with individuals who have dealt with similar situations might help you get clarity on your own problems and gain the information you sorely need. In the absence of individuals in your actual life, the podcast might help you feel linked to another human being.
There is a podcast for everyone, whether you are 20 or 70, male or female, a free-spirited hippy or a highly focused businessman, and there will be more in the future. They’ll make you laugh and cry, push you to advance in your work, or provide you with the clarity you’ve always needed to make a crucial life choice.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
Why learn how to use video in blog posts? Widespread adoption of smartphones and high-speed wireless have made video one of the most accessible — and popular — forms of online content. In fact, online video is expected to make up more than 82% of all online consumer traffic. And modern video marketing isn’t just about YouTube. 500 million people watch video on Facebook every day. Snapchatters watch 10 billion videos per day. People spend 2.6x as much time on pages with video as they do on pages without.
In other words, if you aren’t using video in your marketing strategy, you’re missing a golden opportunity to deepen your connection with your customers.
You’re also missing an opportunity if all your video content is entirely separate from your other marketing efforts. The best way to capitalize on video is by integrating it with your other marketing channels, and your blog is one of the best places to start. Here’s why and how to use video in blog posts:
When to add video to your WordPress blog
There are several great ways to incorporate videos on your WordPress blog:
1. Create video tutorials
65% of the population are visual learners, making video tutorials extremely effective.
They’re also some of the easiest video content to make. This is particularly true for software tutorials, thanks to a plethora of simple and affordable screencasting tools.
Video tutorials can either be posted by themselves – as standalone WordPress posts, or accompanied by a text tutorial, like we did in some other posts on this blog.
2. Video summaries and/or vlogs
Anything worth writing a blog post about is probably worth creating a video about. Summarize the main points of your WordPress article in a video, then expand on those points in writing.
This approach works particularly well because short videos get the most engagement, and you can post your summary on YouTube and link to the expanded version.
Or you can simply post a transcript, like science and activism blogger Rebecca Watson.
If you’re short on time you can also switch to a vlog-only format for some or all of your blog posts. If you take this route, consider breaking up articles into several short vlogs to maximize engagement.
3. “About Us” video
The “About Us” page is usually the most visited page on any website, directly after your home page. A short video sharing who you are and what you do is a great way to give it some personality. These videos should be under two minutes long and focused on the story behind your brand. A great example of how to use video in blog posts is the Hubspot’s “Our Story” video from their about page:
You can also use a background video to add to the story your words are telling. Cultivated Wit is a media company that has done this particularly well, showing their sense of humor and dedication to tech through a series of short clips in the background.
4. Share video reviews
There are video reviews for almost every product imaginable, and in the beauty and health industries video reviews are the lifeblood of many businesses.
You should already be thanking video reviewers, and now you might want to take it to the next level: share their reviews on your website. You can either share them as blog posts or add a couple video reviews to your “About Us” page. If your product has been reviewed by a well known YouTube channel you can also add this to your “Press” page and media kit.
Don’t have any video reviews? Many reviewers accept free products and some are willing to participate in extended media campaigns. There are also services like FameBit that connect business owners and media influencers.
If you run a service based business you can do something similar with something called video testimonials. These don’t need to be high-production videos, they can also be posted on both your “About” page and your “Testimonials” page.
How to use video in blog posts
There are two main options for adding videos to your blog: hosting them yourself, and embedding YouTube videos on your website. Nine times out of ten, you’re better off hosting videos on YouTube. Self hosting gets expensive fast, and YouTube gives you access to several SEO and analytics tools.
You can check other video hosting platforms, but hosting all your videos on YouTube also gives you a presence in the social world of YouTube. Built right, your channel will take on a life of its own and bring thousands, even millions, of new customers to your business.
Last but certainly not least, it’s incredibly simple to embed YouTube videos in blog posts. You can do it in three easy steps:
Step 1:
Go to the page of the YouTube video you want to embed.
If it’s your own video you can do this either by searching for it in the YouTube search function or by going to your “Creator Studio” and clicking on the appropriate video in your dashboard.
If it’s someone else’s video then you can find it easily via the YouTube search bar at the top.
Either way, you should end up with a video URL like this one:
Step 2:
What’s cool about WordPress is that you can embed a video quite easily. All you need is that raw URL of a video.
You just take it, paste it right where you want to have the video embedded in your blog post, and see it magically converted into a live video block. Like so:
And that’s it. All you need to do now is save the post.
Note; this method works not only with YouTube but also other popular platforms. You can also use it with videos from CollegeHumor, DailyMotion, Facebook, Flickr, Hulu, TED, Vimeo, and more. All you need is a direct URL.
Final advice on how to use video in blog posts
Whatever video strategy you choose, the most important thing is to know your goals and consistently work towards them. If your main goal is to spruce up your website, come up with a few key videos you can create to share your story and vision with your customers, then shoot them all in a similar style.
To build a large YouTube presence, you can experiment more and get away with lower production value on individual clips, but you need to upload something at least once a week. Not sure what approach you want to take? Research what other businesses in your industry are doing, and figure out how you can improve it and how to use video in blog posts of your own. Meet with your team to gather ideas. In fact, do this research even if you think you know what to create. You might be surprised by what actually works in your industry.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
If you speak to your married friends who hired a videographer to film their day, we guarantee that they will say it was worth it! For one reason or another, videographers don’t seem to be high up on the priority list when it comes to choosing wedding suppliers, but there’s absolutely no reason as to why every engaged couple shouldn’t consider adding a videographer to their budget from the very beginning.
1. A life-like memory of your wedding
Your day will probably go by in a flash – but having a wedding videographer capture your celebration from before your ceremony to your evening reception will remind you of your best day ever for many years to come.
2. See things you wouldn’t have seen otherwise
You can’t possibly see how your guests will react to certain parts of your day – but on film, you’ll be able to look back at everyone and see things that you may not have seen if you didn’t hire a videographer.
3. Capture friends and family in that stage of life
Whether you’re inviting grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, small children, teenagers or babies to your ceremony, it will amazing to look back at your wedding video in years to come, to see how people have changed from then to now. Having that lifetime memory of grandparents, for example, would be priceless.
4. Your wedding videographer can get creative
A wedding video these days isn’t quite the same as you may have seen in the 80s. Today’s Videographers are experts when it comes to using top of the range equipment, music and digital creativity to turn your video in to a memory that you’ll want to watch over and over again in the future.
5. Share your wedding video on social media
Aside from watching your wedding video on repeat at home – your videographer might be able to create a shorter version for you to share with your friends on social media.
6. A wedding videographer may not be as costly as you think
Shop around, contact wedding videographers to find out what you can get for your money and be sure to compare prices depending on how long you would like them to stay during the day/night. You may find yourselves pleasantly surprised.
Top Tip:
If you’re really keen to hire a videographer but it is coming out way over your budget, could you compromise on other parts of your day by say reducing your budget for flowers or the cake?
7. A keepsake for your future children
If you plan on having children in the near future, or if you have them before you get married, having a recorded memory of your wedding day will be something for them to treasure and watch back in years to come.
8. Re-live your perfect day again…and again…and again…
When your wedding is over, we’re pretty sure that you’ll wish that you could re-live that day over and over again. With a wedding video, all those incredible emotions and memories will come flooding back.
9. Capturing the real emotion
There are numerous parts of the day when emotions can run high; from the father of the bride seeing his daughter all dressed up, to walking down the aisle and more than likely, the speeches during the evening banquet. Having these emotions captured on film will be forever sentimental to look back on.
10. No regrets
You won’t want to get to the day after and then realise that you wish you chose to hire a videographer! It’s always best to exhaust options during your planning if it is something that you are considering.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
Videography can be extremely stressful. Here are some tips to help you focus on getting all the right shots.
The difference between a good wedding filmmaker and a great one doesn’t come down to having the best camera or gear. The difference is you. Are you the type of person that a couple wants to have attend their wedding? These are a few ways you can make yourself a better wedding videographer.
1. Communicate with the couple, venue, and vendors.
Well before the wedding date, you should have a sit-down meeting with the engaged couple. Get to know what they are looking for in their video. Do they want to make sure you capture certain moments? Will there be any surprises or choreographed dances you need to know about? Will the bride be wearing her Great-Great Grandmother’s earrings? Being ready to capture these moments will truly make your work stand out.
Reach out to the ceremony and reception venues and find out if they have any rules or regulations. Many churches won’t allow videographers in certain areas, so it’s important to note if you will need to bring a zoom lens. Some large reception venues require a proof of insurance before they let you shoot on the premises. It’s your responsibility to have everything in order before showing up.
Talk to some of the vendors, mainly the ones you will work with on the wedding day. Knowing vendors in the industry is your gateway to success. Their recommendations can help you land future weddings. First get to know the Wedding Coordinator. Ask for a copy of the schedule and contacts for the other vendors. Then you can ask the DJ about their setup. Will they let you plug into their sound board to get backup audio? Will they bring a high end light kit for the reception? See if the photographer is willing to collaborate with you. Can you shoot side by side and rotate for closeups? Getting acquainted with everyone will help the shoot move along much smoother.
2. Stay fast while carrying as little gear as possible.
Bonus tip: Don’t wear shorts to a wedding. Otherwise you might look like the odd one out in the video.
The morning of a wedding is a fairly typical operation. The groom and his groomsmen hang out, the bride and bridesmaids get their hair and makeup done. After that, you will be running around until the wedding is over. So it’s best to set the heavy bag in the corner and take it easy on your shoulders and back. Only carry what you need.
Having every lens option at once is no use to you. A camera and two lenses are perfect for running around. Be sure to have extra batteries and formatted memory cards ready to go. Nothing is worse than having to tell the couple to hold off on tossing the bouquet because your batteries died. I’ve seen it happen. Don’t be that person. If necessary, find an outlet and have a charging station for any batteries you have already used.
3. Audio is crucial, have backups ready.
There are no re-“I Dos” in weddings. If you don’t capture things as they happen, then you didn’t do your job. It’s best to have multiple audio sources recording. Does your camera capture quality sound? If not, have external recorders ready to go. Try to avoid putting the mic on a bride, instead go for a lavalier microphone on the officiant or groom.
If the DJ is running sound, you may be able to plug into their sound board. That’s why it is beneficial to have talked to the DJ before hand. Keep in mind every DJ is different, so it’s no guarantee that you will get quality sound. That’s why you should only rely on them for backup audio.
4. Always capture the traditional wedding shots.
You may feel the need to experiment on the wedding day, but be sure to always get the typical wedding shots too. Experimenting is a great way to help you find your style, but don’t forget that couples want to see their vows, first dance, and cake cutting. Make sure you have the important things covered before you get all those cool transition shots.
5. Keep the camera stable.
Stabilization is necessary. Going handheld is not going to cut it. Whether you use a tripod, monopod, glidecam, slider, or a shoulder rig, be sure that you can quickly switch between your support gear. By putting the same quick release plate on all of your gear, you can easily switch on the go.
Tripods are great during the ceremony, but can easily get in the way elsewhere. When you’re in a tiny hotel room with the entire bridal party, family members, hair stylists and makeup artists, you won’t have much space to work. Being able to quickly switch to a monopod or glidecam will keep you shooting.
6. Be sure to capture enough B-roll.
B-roll will be your best friend and worst enemy when editing. Not having enough will make you job much harder. It’s easy to remember to shoot exteriors of the venue, but don’t forget that there are people coming to these venues. When the bride and groom watch their wedding video, they will want to see their friends and family in attendance.
Have an extra camera capture parts of the crowd during the ceremony. This footage will always come in handy to hide any rough edits. It’s also great to cut to the crowd if the photographer walks into your shot of the couple at the altar.
7. Prepare for low light situations.
Evening receptions can be a nightmare for wedding filmmakers. Indoor or outdoor, it will probably be dark. After dinner is served, venues dim the lights so the party can begin. Hopefully you and the DJ also talked about his light setup, but you will still need your own lights to help you get certain shots.
If your camera doesn’t handle low light well, keep in mind that guests don’t want to be blinded by video lights all night. When you use lights, be sure to use them sparingly. Don’t kill the mood by leaving them on during the entire reception.
As video marketing experts we are specialists in all forms of video marketing. Here at Modus Film, we have completed many projects for our clients that have required us to define a digital strategy with really great results. If you want to speak to a specialist email hello@modusfilm.com or call us on 01233 273 273.
