10 Tips on How To Get Into Real Estate Videography
Using photographs in the real estate business is standard but videography is stepping up more and more.
Especially during the hard times with COVID-19, more and more people are staying at home and real estate visits are harder to do as corona measures don’t allow them.
Video is great for potential customers to get a feeling of the size and the surroundings before even getting there. With video you can also create a certain mood or feeling for a property which normally the real estate agent tries to create during a visit.
This is good news if you want to become a videographer because it is a niche where demand is rising these days. See our tips to start your real estate videography business:
1. Get educated
Real estate videography is not as easy as creating photo slideshows or recording a continuous video walkthrough with a smartphone. The creation of real estate videos is all about video production. You can get yourself familiar with this field by enrolling in classes, attending workshops or see tutorials.
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2. Get the “best” equipment
You must aim to be the best since this field is competitive. You don’t need to buy the best equipment but you will have to invest in the right equipment and know how to use it creative.
Smartphones these days produce amazing videos. You can use one with a great camera. Add a gimbal and you can produce steady walk-throughs. Think about investing in a drone! With a drone you can produce awesome shots from above and show the surroundings of the real estate.
This way, you will be able to market your work and get more clients.
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3. Come up with a desired output
After you get the correct equipment, you can start practicing making real estate videos. You can also check out some video samples and try to recreate them. If you practice more often, you will be able to come up with a good final product.
Also think about these things:
What is your signature style?
How should your videos look? Vibrant or maybe faded colors?
Do you want to work with a drone?
Are you adding music or is someone doing a voice over?
What makes your videos unique and how can you create a identity so that people
recognize the video as yours.
4. Create a good portfolio
After you start working with your first clients, reserve some of your best work for your portfolio. Real estate listings always have simple shots that focus on the main thing which is the featured property. You can consider starting small with evergreen videos that will be good as a marketing tool. Add your business to web directories like photognow.com. Your future clients can find you more easily.
5. Get familiar with properties
Before the day of the shoot, take into account areas that will be great to highlight in the video as well as areas that you need to pay less attention to. Getting familiar with the property will also send a good message to the clients.
6. Good lighting is key
You won’t need any lighting equipment to take real estate videos since it’s all about capturing the natural look around the property. It will be crucial to work with natural light. Make sure you shoot at the right day of the time. Think about the direction of sunrise or sunset. Which is more pleasing to the property? The sun in the morning or is the evening better?
Real estate videography is all about lightning and mood.
7. Preparation is important
The benefit of checking out the property before the shoot is that you can note what needs to be cleaned in the house before the shoot. Is the lawn nicely trimmed? Are the windows clean? And so on…
8. Focus on quality content
You may be faced with a client that has very low-quality standards. It will be best to stick to the level of quality that matches YOUR standard to market your work.
The same goes for clients without any idea of video.
For example: You meet a client who loves his couch. He wants you to film the couch from every angle to show it properly. But this is really bad for the final video. No one watches a real estate video because of a piece of furniture. They want to see the house in total. Don’t waste the users time.
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Things you must avoid:
Bad weather
It affects the mood of the video. A wet garden and a grey sky is never good as the colors look “washed out”.
Mixing your walkthrough
You can’t start in the backyard. You always walk through like a new guest.
Start in front of the house, show the garage, main entrance and so on. You get the point.
Repetitive shots
Avoid repeating the same shot. Every shot should focus on something different.
Overdoing it
You don’t need to show every little detail of a room. The people need to get a feeling for the house they (maybe) want to buy. Not for the accessories next to the bed.
9. Value your contracts
You need to consider what details you put in your contracts. This will be key to making your job much easier and comfortable. You can head over to expertphotography.com. They provide a detailed article about real estate photography but you can adapt this very easy for your videography business: What a Real Estate Photography Contract Should Include.
10. Enjoy what you do
The more you love what you do – the less it feels like a job.
Put your heart into it and people will start recognizing you.
Success will follow soon.
What do you think? Did we forget something? What are your tips for our readers?
Leave them in the comments!
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