6 Questions to Ask a Videographer was a great article posted by the much respected Inman News recently. After reading it we felt pretty good about the service we were offering to realtors in our video department and we decided to have our resident video guru Joe Jones answer the questions that you are supposed to ask your videographer before doing a home tour. Below are his answers with a link to our YouTube channel to check out his work!
Six questions we asked our videographer
1. What do you mean by “video”?
Having a video tour of a house and property means just that; using actual video. Some consider video as having still photos put together with music and some animation of the photos. However, this isn’t true video! A real video tour means using actual video footage from a good quality video camera, not a smart phone. Using real HD quality video footage replicates what it would actually be like to walk through the house and view the house from a human perspective. Make sure your videographer and you have all this clear upfront before you begin.
2. What areas will you shoot?
A typical home video tour includes a home’s interior, exterior, other outside buildings, and whatever views might be available of the house, or from the house. You can choose which rooms to include or not. You should have the flexibility in choosing which parts of the house or property to include, or not include, without having to pay any additional costs. If aerial footage is an option it can provide a great perspective for some of the outside video.
3. Who will shoot my video?
Make sure your video will be shot by a professional. Someone that just acquired a decent camera and stabilizer may not provide the most dramatic footage that will capture the viewer’s attention. The video tour production should be “cinematic” enough, to the viewer, to retain their attention throughout the entire video. The video tour should be comprehensive enough to give the viewer the feeling that they are truly familiar with this home after watching the video.
Always ask for samples of the videographer’s work regarding home video tours. Ask how long they’ve been doing home video tours and how long they’ve been doing video production. Will they provide agent branding without extra charge? Will they upload your video to a Youtube site and not charge extra? Make sure they have a definitive price structure and give you this price upfront.
4. What’s your timeline?
Will your videographer be able to work with your timeline? Once a home is ready to show you want to have your video done quickly. Look for someone who can be available within a few days of when the home is ready. When the house is staged and ready you don’t want to have to wait too long to have the video footage shot. Companies that work a lot with real estate companies understand this and make every effort to accommodate. They should be able to provide a finished product within 72 hours of the actual filming.
5. What’s your cancellation policy?
Things happen that may cause the decision to cancel a shoot: bad weather, the homeowners not having the house ready, the owners changing their decision to sell, etc. A videographer should make every effort to work with you on your circumstances. Most videographers would want at least a 24 hour notification if a cancellation has to take place. Some may charge a rebooking fee if the videographer arrives to see the property isn’t ready yet.
6. What else do you do?
You may want to consider other types of videos than just video home tours. At some point you may want to produce videos for your website; a real estate team video, a bio, or even a commercial. If you find a professional videographer who can do these other things it will make your entire marketing process much simpler by using one entity for all your video projects. Also, there’s the process that develops from a client/videographer’s relationship that enables the videographer to understand what that particular agent expects.