I’m pretty certain I have lost a few of my traditional Real Estate Video clients due to my lack of creativity in my real estate videos.
Actually, more accurately I believe I’ve lost these clients because my competition is producing more creative videos with all the latest whizz bang editing techniques such as speed ramps, shake transitions, sound effects and the latest new school rock n roll editing techniques.
This blog post has more questions than answers and I have often now found myself doubting the quality of my real estate video product! Perhaps I’m getting too old?
Here’s an example of my traditional real estate video offering,
So what are the lessons I’ve learn’t and what am I going to do about it?
The Lessons Learned?
- I was resting on my laurels with how I was shooting and editing my videos ( I guess in my defence if the client has been happy with the videos why would I need to change them!)
- I wasn’t keeping any eye on what my competition was up to.
- I should have perhaps made more of an effort to ask the client what they wanted in terms of the style of the videos.
- And lastly do I want to change what I am producing or just stick to my guns and keep doing the same thing?
What am I going to do about it?
- I think the most important lesson here is have a conversation with your clients and find out what they want in terms of the style, speed and duration of the videos?
- Althou I am not a big fan of speed ramps and shake transitions I’ve actually started to incorporate them into my videos for one of my clients. I’ve actually find it rewarding when watching and learning to introduce new styles into my edits.
Example of a few new tricks added to my edits,
And of course this then raised more questions such as….
Will my videos will start to look just like my competitions and then what will differentiate us? Price? Thats not a race I’m keen on taking part in.
So then I got to thinking what is my style of videos?
Is there actually any such thing as creativity?
I believe we just distill and take what we like from other creatives and our own personal experience and produce our own flavour.
And then just to complicate things more another client came to me recently who only likes videos with slower pacing, classical style music and definitely no speed ramps and here is the video I shot for them below
So as I alluded to earlier, I have more questions than answers but I guess one take away is that we should all keep on learning as we’re in the creative space and its good for us to keep evolving…….even thou some days it frustrates the heck out of me!
Love to hear your thoughts on the subject below.
Really great! I like that you incorporated just a bit of those creative aspects.
I live in Tucson which is a small town of about 1M people compared to Phoenix. I just looked at several videos from a photography in Phoenix which are like the ones you described with speed ramps, flashy transitions, and more. I have been questioning my videos also. I took your video course several years ago and produce a bit different video with more of a walk-through look. I personally think my videos are much more helpful to the buyers, but not sure if the younder buyers are not look for something flashy.
I have always liked your videos which I believe are mostly created using a slider while mine are on a hand stabilizer. I like your newest video with the light transitions and speed ramps which are much smoother than most of the ramps I have seen.
I would definately purchase another video course from you that included the light transitions and smooth speed ramps.
My videos have not been on SmugMug since they changes the size video they accept. I am now using Vimeo and a link to one of my most recent videos is https://vimeo.com/879302301?share=copy.
I am still very fond of your style of videos. Tastes differ though and that will always be the case, yet learning new styles of shooting video and editing skills to stay on top of one’s game is important.
What I have found is that interactivity in real estate video is a way to maintain people’s attention. Therefore I embraced Virtual Tours (in which I do use video, photographs, info hotspots and PDFs etc). Obviously, one can make interactive video in other ways too. This article may be of interest: https://www.spielcreative.com/blog/interactive-videos/
I have always loved your technique because it is classic, simple, relevant and customer centric. As a real estate professional, I find that you deliver whats needed, and that is adequate footage that is engaging and presented in a way that will encourage decision making on the property.
Adding more effects could be cool and catching up with modern styles, but I would encourage that you do it gradually and not lose that classic and simple story telling technique you have (thats your style).
For me thats probably the catch with clients, the story being told about the property is more important than the effects of the video.
Hope this helps someone. Cheers!
Your videos look great and do the job they are meant to do, help a potential buyer see a property in its best possible light.
I understand adding speed ramps to move things along but in my opinion flashy effects don’t do anything to help promote a home. I think you should focus your efforts on educating your clients on the benefits of the type of videos that you produce as opposed to the competition with all of their bells and whistles that don’t necessarily belong in a real estate video.
Keep up the good work!
Personally I’m not a fan of speed ramps, and if I were in the market for a house, I’d much rather see my future prospective house in a grand, cinematic slow moving Downton Abbey style reveal, rather than it break dancing all around the screen like Michael Jackson. As it is, it’s scary enough that I live in the earthquake capitol of the USA, without thinking my house is going to speed away from under me before I even move in. I think a lot of realtors are really impressionable and just get sucked into the latest trends without ever stopping to ask themselves if this trend will actually support them in selling the house. So. I’m good with your older, more classic style. That said, I’m going to try outsourcing the editing part of my videos in the future, and let’s see what additional techniques the editors bring to the table that are outside my normal habits….
Absolutely love your work and thanks for putting this post together . Its on point and I feel that many RE video photographers are feeling the same , or if not they soon will be. It is the nature of the Real estate agent to want to be different and perceived better than their competition so the goal posts , by nature , will constantly change. In essence when we look at the core of real estate video it is about making the agent look good . When we learn how to take the agent to camera and make them look good , which now is about connection and authenticity , then we are doing the job. We know that real estate videos sell real estate , but the people who are selling our product (The agent ) are a little more inwardly focused and think it is all about them and making them look good. Our job is to make the agent look good and then the property look good, unfortunately , in that order. Just my thoughts.
What about provide a menu of different styles &price points. Eg 30 second FPV fly through @$395. Modern with speed ramps and sharp edits, say 60 seconds &$595. Traditional classy style 90 seconds @$895. And any combination of other add on services. By offering the choice of style to the Agent/Vendor, you of course eliminate “style” as an objection. Keen to follow other thoughts as they are posted.
Grant, I bought your program because of your style. It has a touch of class about your filming methodology which is what appealed. There is a place for the creative applications but I believe less is more.
Bring back the old course, it won’t appeal to everybody but no course ever does.
But we love it!
You are raising interesting questions in this blog post. I find myself wondering if the homes with videos with ramps, etc sell more quickly than classic videos. I have found my clients voicing a preference for seeing the house layout on a walkthrough as if they were there in person. But the answer to your questions may be in the data—if there is no statistical difference in how long it takes to sell with a classic style video rather than flash-bang, then I would say you could offer both but can let the self-doubt go. (I enjoyed your class and learned a lot, by the way. A class on incorporating AI editing/effects for when I have a small lot or (something not worth the money for a professional video for) is something I would buy from you.
I’m in the same boat and totally agree we should always be observing, learning, growing….
Communication is the key with any client. And to me that’s where the buck ultimately stops.
Hi Grant – I feel your pain. I however do like the speed ramping and I use it quite a bit in my edits. The main reason though is that I do more of a walkthrough style of video so we use speed ramping to get from point a to point b in the shot. Like moving between rooms, etc. I don’t really like the day/night transitions you used. I’ve actually never seen that done in a video before but to me it caught me off guard and I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at when I first saw it.
The difference between me and a lot of others who’ve taken your course is that I’m a realtor who shoots a lot of my videos. I understand what agents need and want and what’s trending (because I am one). The agent has to feature in the video with an intro, outro (optional) but for sure in the voiceover. As an agent you need to develop that know, like and trust or else what’s the point. Honestly, you may as well just play a slideshow of still images – which A LOT of agents still do and they call it a video. 🤦🏻♂️
I think you are a master at not only your traditional style but civilizing, containing and using those modern techniques in a way that makes them add to the video, not distract and confuse yet makes the videos cutting edge for today’s high end market.
” . .we just distill and take what we like from other creatives and our own personal experience and produce our own flavour”. I think this is right on.
Wow! Well done Grant. Once again you knocked this blog out of the park. I must say I’ve always been OVERLY impressed with your ability to get amazing colors in your video. Our team over at BlueLaVa is still trying to dial in speed grading but it’s one of those things that can just make the footage go sideways if it’s done incorrectly. I had to tell the team to stop trying before we started losing customers last April. At BlueLaVa, our customers like the four second “Scene” time and no speed ramps. I do think however some of the younger customers like the speed ramps as many of our competitors up here seem to offer it. Perhaps that’s something we put on the menu when they place an order? I agree that it’s very important to ask your customers what they want. Here’s a recent project that one of our pilots/photographer Shawn just completed – https://tours.bluelavamedia.com/s/1056-Taquaka-Rd-Frankfort-MI-49635 Nice job Shawn! Hey by the way, it’s great to see so many folks here from the RTV photography group. Hi team!
Hi Jason, small world!
Hi Grant, Like so many of your course members that have commented, I love your work. It is smooth, well composed and has a classy feel about it. I too don’t like speed ramps and I find some videos hard on the eyes, particularly if speed ramps are overused, and in my opinion make it difficult to take in the house itself.
I did like the way you did the daylight to evening transitions and feel that effects like that can enhance our videos that could satisfy the younger real estate agents and older alike. However, I still prefer the more classic style particularly for the up-market type properties.
I hope you continue with your courses Grant, which are much better than some I have seen.
From anecdotal evidence, I suspect its just a market shift due to age-linked fashion thing.
Your normal standard of work is thoroughly professional and has a certain “dignity” throughout it. The new piece reminds me of a Sam Kold travel video. The end of the day you have to provide what the customer and the market wants to pay for.
To differentiate your work, perhaps you might need to go the “Current Year” route. Start in a boardroom with a scorchingly beautiful mid-20’s blonde model at work, professionally dressed at her high-end professional job. We follow her home in her Tesla, watch as she arrives and unwinds in her sanctuary, emoting her way through the house and gardens.
I’m not trying to be horrible about it, but my experience in high-ish end luxury sales (yachts) taught me to sell to the woman in the relationship. The boat might be precisely what hubby wanted. But if she couldn’t see herself in it, the sale would never proceed. Not one time in over a decade working in that industry. She has the ultimate say in whether the sale proceeded – in that market.
I suspect residential real estate would be even more driven by the woman. Perhaps it is time to have input from focus groups from your buyers demographic? Who are they? How old? What do they value ? Basic stuff like that, and test the waters targeting the results. It’s not intended to be offensive – just business.
Great insights thanks.