We recently put together a simple promotional video (below) for our client, Ambition Bistro.
And by simple, we really do mean simple. You can do this, too. (And if you can’t, we can do it for you!) How did we do it? Read on:
How to create a simple promotional video using still images
- Choose your images. We chose a selection of still images meaningful to Ambition. Decor, celebrities and the other cast of characters who have visited, the owner, a view of the exterior and other relevant photos.
- Set up transitions between images. We used Microsoft’s free Live Movie Maker. There are many transitions to choose from. We chose “automatic”. That is, we let Movie Maker decide. This makes it appear that still images move. Very useful when a lot of images are used.
- Choose your soundtrack. We were lucky on this one in that owner had created his own 90- second jingle. If you don’t have your own jingle (and certainly most won’t), you can find many sites (including YouTube) that offer free stock music. In the alternative, you may prefer a voice over that describes your business, or a combination of the two.
- Set the images to the soundtrack. In this instance, Movie Maker will automatically set the time duration for each photo according to how many photos there are and how long the soundtrack is. How easy is that?
- See that the images make sense with what’s on the soundtrack. Or at least that they aren’t jarring. In our case, the jingle included words referencing food and fun, so we tried to set the images to match the words of the jingle. As positive reviews of the video attest, that reinforcement -image to sound- triggers a positive response from viewers. If the soundtrack is about death and destruction, you may not want to show images of kittens and puppies (unless the jarringness is for effect of course)
- Don’t let it be too long. Let’s face it, attention spans are short. You probably don’t want to go more than 90 seconds for the video, or let any image linger more than a few seconds. Less is more.
- Voila!
- Oh, and share the video. Put it on YouTube. Share on Facebook, etc. Get the word out.
Watch Ambition’s video:
[youtube=http://youtu.be/RkTa_JAoQRY]
