The LumaVox blog category contains articles about video production,
video marketing, video live streaming production, small business marketing, as well as a portfolio of some of our work.

23 04, 2018

Live Streaming Video Production for Philadelphia

By |2018-07-19T08:42:34-04:00April 23rd, 2018|Blog, Video Live Streaming, Video Production|0 Comments

Live Streaming Video Production for Philadelphia

Philadelphia Live Streaming Video Production

Live streaming video production is growing by leaps and bounds. But what exactly is it and do you need it for your business? LumaVox offers live streaming video production for Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. It’s been exciting to ramp up to this new technology and new way of helping our clients. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the video live streaming landscape and how to produce it.

What Is Video Live Streaming?

Perhaps you’ve been producing videos for a while for your business and uploading them to platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. Have you wanted to broadcast those videos live?

Video live streaming is about broadcasting your videos live and in real time.

The production process is similar to producing a video for uploading, but requires some extra considerations in your production planning.

The Equipment You’ll Need

The equipment you’ll need for video live streaming can be as simple as using a smartphone. Along with that you’ll need an internet connection and an account to a streaming service.

Of course you’ll need to use multiple cameras and professional mics for higher quality video live streaming.

Usually, some social media content is better then no social media content. Therefore, don’t let a lack of professional equipment, or the budget to hire a professional live streaming company, stop you from starting to live stream.

Always Test Your Setup Before the Event

You can produce video live streaming using equipment ranging from a smartphone to an elaborate multi-camera production. In every case, your audience will view the video stream live. Of course, that means that any glitches or mistakes will happen in real time.

Therefore, it’s essential to test out your equipment and workflow before you live stream your event.

For example if you’re setting up live streaming video production for Philadelphia events, try a test live stream at the event venue before the day of the actual event. Make sure the equipment is working properly, and that it connects with the encoder that will create the streaming format. Use the test to work out any problems with lighting and sound.

Obviously, it’s best to deal with any glitches and solve any problems before your live event.

Get a Video Switcher

If you want to live stream video will multiple cameras you’ll need a video switcher. The video switcher will allow you to switch between cameras. This creates a much more entertaining and engaging live stream.

Some video switchers have transition effects built in, as well as the ability to switch to graphics, lower third titles, and video content from a hard drive. With the right video switcher you can even live stream green screen effects. Think of the weather reporter standing in front of a weather map. That’s done using a green screen effect. The reporter is actually standing in front of a green background, and the weather map is then laid in behind the reporter using a special effect.

At LumaVox, we use Blackmagic Design video switchers with the ability to switch between cameras with transitions, switch to graphics as well as lower thirds, and with the ability to live stream using green screen effects.

Invest in a Hardware Encoder

You’ll compress and format your live stream video content in order to broadcast it on the internet. While you can do this with software in your laptop, it is best to have a dedicated hardware encoder. These hardware encoders have processing chips and software dedicated to compressing and formatting your video files. This will cut down or eliminate a number of problems. For example, a hardware encoder will help reduce the major problem of latency.

What is latency? Think of your video footage as water filling a jug. At the bottom of the jug is a spigot letting the water out. That water being let out is like your compressed video footage being broadcast on the internet. Compressing and formatting your video content with software on your smartphone or laptop is like having a very small spigot at the bottom of the jug. Therefore, your content stream will back up causing a time delay, or latency.

On the other hand, having a hardware encoder is like having a very large spigot that empties the the video content as quickly as the jug is filled.  So the live stream broadcasts in near real time.

The companies Livestream and Blackmagic Design both sell high quality hardware encoders.

Always Have a Contingency Plan

You’ll be broadcasting a live show, and things can go wrong during a live show. Therefore, you need to have a contingency plan.

Even if you’ve tested your live streaming video production for Philadelphia events for example, it’s best to have backup content to stream should your equipment fail during the broadcast. This could be as simple as a graphic with pertinent text on it either describing the event, or alerting your audience that the live stream will return shortly. Audiences want to know what’s going on, and a simple graphic can give them that information should something go wrong during your live stream.

Determine Your Stream’s Encoding and Distribution

You can broadcast video live streams with several encoding formats and stream the video to numerous distribution platforms. Each platform will have its own requirements for the encoded format.

Some of the most popular platforms are:

Pay Attention to Your Internet Access

Finally, you’ll need internet access to live stream your video content. For live streams using your smartphone, you can simply use your smartphone data account or wifi connection.

However, for higher quality live stream video productions we highly recommend that you have a hard wired internet connection. There can be a lot of glitches and problems with wifi connections and phone data connections. Therefore, it’s best to have a hard wired internet connection at your event location. Use a wifi connection or phone data connection as a backup.

Get Started Live Streaming Video

Live streaming video content is a very effective way to engage your business audience. If you have a smartphone and a Facebook account, you can start today.

If you have questions about  live streaming video production for Philadelphia area events, we’ll be glad to help. Contact us at LumaVox today with any questions you might have.

Happy live streaming!

Featured photo courtesy of Hello I’m Nik.

11 04, 2018

Video Production and Editing

By |2018-07-19T08:46:18-04:00April 11th, 2018|Blog, Video Production|0 Comments

Video Production and Editing

LumaVox Video Production and Editing

To effectively tell your stories, you’ll need to work toward mastering all of the the tools of video production and editing.

Since you’ll probably film more content then you’ll later use in the final video, it’s important to think about editing along with planning the video shoot.

Editing is the final stage of your video production. It takes all of that raw footage and brings it together in a cohesive and coherent final message.

Pre-Produce the Video and Write the Script

The editing process really begins in pre-production and in writing the script.

First, pre-production will establish your vision for the final video. It will hone in on the possibilities available for shooting the video. For example, things such as budget, location, crew, and talent. Therefore, knowing what the opportunities and limitations are in shooting your video will help to craft the story you’ll tell.

Second, writing the script gets this vision down on paper. As a result, the script will give you the blueprint for shooting your video. Moreover, it is the first edit of your final video.

Film the Video

Obviously, filming the video is usually the fun part.

Even so, of all of the skills needed for video production and editing, the skills needed to film the video is perhaps the most critical. You’ll have to get all the shots, notwithstanding the time and constraints that your production allows for getting those shots.

Import and Organize the Media

At LumaVox, we use Adobe Premiere for our video editing. The specific steps of your process may vary a bit if you’re using a different editing app, but the basic process is the same.

To begin, you’ll import your video and audio clips as well as assets into Premier Pro using the Import Command, the Media Browser, or Adobe Bridge. Whichever method you use, be sure to give a lot of thought to how your clips and assets will be organized. As a result, it will make the editing process much easier if you can quickly find the clips and assets you need.

Not only is Adobe Bridge a powerful media manager, but best of all, it’s free!
You can download it here. 

Edit the Dialog Tracks

Next, I recommend that you edit the dialog tracks. These will be the tracks of your voice overs, interviews and talent dialog. People will use different nomenclature for these tracks, but here at LumaVox we call any track that is of people talking a dialog track.

Editing the dialog tracks first will do two things.

First it will help establish the arc of your story. Of course this will be different if your video relies mostly on b-roll clips and less on dialog, but small business marketing videos usually have dialog tracks to help tell the story.

Second, it will make the editing process go much faster. For example, once the dialog track of your interview is cut together, it is much easier to find the right b-roll clips to lay on top of it.

Add Music Tracks

Any music tracks you want to use should be laid in next. Remember to always have copyright authorization to use any music clips.

By the end of this step, you’ll have a rough cut audio version of your final video. To be sure, this is a milestone step along the road of your video production and editing.

Add B-Roll Clips

Now comes the fun of adding in your b-roll clips.

B-roll refers to the supplemental footage used as cutaways in your sequences. In effect, your b-roll will visually reinforce the story told in your dialog tracks, or tell the story on its own for sequences that don’t have dialog.

Be sure to capture enough b-roll in your video shoot to cover all possibilities in your final edit. Again, this is a good reason to start the process of video production and editing with pre-production and script writing.

Edit Motion and Color Correct

The next step is to edit motion and color correct.

The motion effect in Adobe Premiere is used to effect position, scale, and rotation of a clip. You can use the motion effect to do optical pans and zooms, as well as set the framing of your shots.

The color correction tools in Adobe Premiere will effect the exposure.

Add Lower Thirds and Cards

Now is a good time to put in your lower thirds and your cards with graphics and text.

Add Transitions

Transitions come next. I recommend that you leave these for the end of your edit. That way, if you need to switch out clips or need to change the length or motion on a clip, you won’t have to readjust the transition.

Export the Video

Finally, export your video.

If you’re using Premiere Pro, you’ll export using Adobe Media Encoder. It’s a robust program in itself, so if you haven’t used it you’ll want to get up to speed with a tutorial. Where you’ll publish your video is the primary decision you’ll make in adjusting the settings in Media Encoder. Each platform has an optimum setting for export. So it will be slightly different for Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or for hosting on your own web site.

Planning Video Production and Editing Results in High Quality Video

As with many creative tasks, editing video at first can seem daunting.

However if you break down the process into manageable chunks, in time you’ll find that the process will easily flow along. It’s a matter of gaining experience with the process, and then relying on the process to work through and complete your video project.

The featured photo is courtesy of Jakob Owens.

19 03, 2018

How to Write a Video Marketing Script

By |2019-07-02T13:46:11-04:00March 19th, 2018|Blog, Video Marketing|0 Comments

How to Write a Video Marketing Script

How to Write a Video Marketing Script

Planning a video production is similar to planning any type of construction. With this in mind, you need a plan and then you need to execute that plan step by step. Most marketing videos have a script, or at least an outline of the points that the video will cover. Whether the script is fully written out, or is bullet point form, it is the first step in constructing your video. As a result, if this process is new to you, the first thing then is to learn how to write a video marketing script.

Make Your Video Be About One Thing

If you have a lot to communicate to your clients and leads in your video, it’s better to break the subjects out into several videos instead of having them all be in one. Don’t make your marketing video too long.

This will help your video in several ways. It will help engage of the viewer.  For example, they might have interest in only one of your points.

Particularly, it will help with the search engine optimization of your video. Therefore, the SEO of your video should concentrate on a keyword or keyword phrase. Obviously that helps search engines know what the video is about and will help the video rank higher.

Know Your Audience

Know your audience. It’s key to learning how to write a video marketing script. The video should speak to your audience’s concerns and problems. You should write the script in such a way that the audience thinks you’re talking directly to them in the video. As a result, your audience will tend to stay more engaged with your video.

Write As If You’re Having a Conversation

The best scripts for marketing videos speak directly to the viewer and in a style that is personal. Therefore, it’s like having a one on one conversation with your viewer. Make the viewer feel as if you’re talking only to them.

The site Printwand has practical advice on how to write your script with a conversational style.

The tips include:

  • Shorter sentences
  • Use common words
  • Ask questions
  • Write with an active voice
  • Write like you’re telling a story to a friend

Write for the Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Each of your leads is at some stage in a classic buyer’s journey.

The stages are:

  • Awareness stage
  • Consideration stage
  • Decision stage

First in the awareness stage, your lead is just learning about the nature of a problem they have. Second at the consideration stage, they’re learning about the various solutions to their problem. Finally in the decision stage, they’re trying to decide who or what to use to solve their problem.

Being aware of the buyer’s journey will help your video be more relevant to your viewer. For this reason, try to write your video script so that it speaks to one of these three stages of the buyer’s journey.

End with a Call to Action

Finally, end your script with a clear call to action. What is it that you want your viewer to do? What is the next step that you want them to take?

The call to action is not necessarily about converting a viewer into a customer. If a viewer is at the awareness stage, they will be more interested in learning about solutions to their problem than they will be in using your company as the service provider. Therefore, it’s more appropriate to have a call to action that offers them more information about the various solutions to their problem.

If they’re at the consideration stage of the buyer’s journey, a good call to action could offer the viewer more information about the services your company can provide.

It’s only at the decision stage that you ought to have a call to action that would directly convert them from a lead into a customer.

Last Thoughts on How to Write a Video Marketing Script

Before you pull out your video camera or smartphone to film your video, take out a pen and paper. Jot down a bullet point draft of what you want to say in your video. It’s the first step in how to write a video marketing script. If you follow the points in this post, you’ll have an easier time with filming your video and will end up with a more successful marketing video.

The featured photo is courtesy of  rawpixel.com.

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