Thread: Tips for DIY Promo Videos?

So I've been procrastinating big-time on putting a video on my website. All I have is crappy, shaky footage shot in dark venues. Definitely not what I'd call an effective way to sell my dancing.

My boyfriend just got a nice little video camera and we're gonna try it out. Hopefully I'll get a nice clip I can put on my website that doesn't look like The Blair Witch Project ..c::

Anyone have any tips for making your own promo video? What types of venues are good to shoot at?

Darn. Where's Gene when you need him?

Seriously, there's nothing worse than a video with bad lighting. You can't show off your lovely technique if the footage is so dark your audience can hardly see you, so for me good lighting is the first priority. Really nice videos often seem to be shot in actual theater settings, which unfortunately is not conducive to most budgets. Do you have a photographer friend or a nearby community access cable station that would allow you to get some serious, professional lighting, even if you had to rig up your own backdrop? I know you do a lot of work outdoors for your photo shoots, but if the wind isn't cooperating, then you can end up with that being a distraction, so maybe indoor is the way to go? Another advantage to indoor shooting is that you don't have to accommodate the natural progression of daylight during filming, because the lights stay the same brightness and angle throughout however many takes you need to get the performance footage you want.

I would suggest using a tripod, which will greatly reduce the shaky "Blair Witch" effect.

You can always do an outside thing!

ETA: well maybe not in the winter...

I also think good lighting is the most important, way more important than venue.
What kind of promo video are you looking to do? How long?

Preferably on a stage or in a studio with proper lighting. Also don't use the audio track off the camera when edit, have another audio track for the cd or mp3 you will use to dance to. It should be fairly straight forward to sync up if you have proper video editing software. I have done it a few times for the Sydney Middle Eastern Dance Festival DVD.

Also only closeups when shimmying and slow taqsim.

maybe a local school will let you "borrow" their auditorium briefly? it's certainly worth asking and would give you a decent stage

I'm trying to muddle through putting videos up for myself and I've had a few things crop up. Like:
1. you may have to convert the file to mp4 for YouTube.
2. YouTube only allows 10 minutes.
3. What software do I use to split two performances apart?
4. How do I split them apart once I've picked software?
5. Do I remove existing audio and replace it with an audio track from itunes?
6. If I make a video montage of different performances, how do I deal with sound so it makes sense? Fade sound between clips? My dancing is connected to the music so I don't want some unrelated song playing over the top of my dance- I wouldn't be moving to it! *sigh* There's a reason for professionals to do this...

Thanks for all the tips, guys! Gonna start looking around for stages and studios, although I'll be in FL a lot this winter and I remember seeing a cool little outdoor ampitheater dealie in the park in Cocoa Beach. That might actually be a unique setting if I can get there on a non-windy day!

I actually have a clip from my TV appearance, but I'm hesitant to post it because I wasn't really smiling. And I'm the opposite of a poker-faced Mona Lisa when I perform. Hard to "emote" in a gray box, without an audience...

Last but not least, can you disable rating/comments on YouTube? I get so paranoid with all the whackjobs, navel fetishists and armchair bellydance critics out there...,r:;

Yes, Lisa, ratings and comments can both be disabled.

Cool, Michelle

I don't want my videos to turn into a battle of whether Egyptians or Turks invented BD. Some of the comments these random yahoos leave on other people's videos....

Hehehehehe, I don't know why any dancer wouldn't want that on her video?!?!?!?! *sarcasm*

Will you have yourself floating around on a magic carpet, with the pyramids in the back ground?

I seriously can't believe some of the stuff that's out there. It seems like on 8 out of 10 clips, somebody makes a stink about the dancer's ethnicity or body type or whatever. Even Dina's videos get crapped on by the Anonymous Idiot Squad! .w.:

Oh, and of COURSE I'm gonna fly around on a magic carpet. It's all about the Green Screen of Doom, baby!

Maybe I'll even get one of those Green Man suits so my boyfriend can go in and digitally add like a monster or a robot over me!

LOL.....


Whatever you do I'm sure it will be super. You're photo shoots are always glamorous.

Originally Posted by Michelle75

Whatever you do I'm sure it will be super. You're photo shoots are always glamorous.

Thanks! I'm resisting the urge to copy Lady Gaga and dance out of a pool, flanked by two bad-ass Great Danes ,r:;.w.:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Just found my way to the YouTube handbook. It has some very useful information all conveniently broken down by subject such as Uploading Advice and Camera Techniques. Also mentions lighting and sound. ..g.:

Originally Posted by RioDancerCO

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Just found my way to the YouTube handbook. It has some very useful information all conveniently broken down by subject such as Uploading Advice and Camera Techniques. Also mentions lighting and sound. ..g.:

Oh, good to know! Thanks, Rio!! ..g.:

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Last but not least, can you disable rating/comments on YouTube? I get so paranoid with all the whackjobs, navel fetishists and armchair bellydance critics out there...,r:;

You could totally disable it. But you might be better off at the very least just moderating comments as this helps get the video ranked higher on your keywords.

Originally Posted by HubicRuzz

You could totally disable it. But you might be better off at the very least just moderating comments as this helps get the video ranked higher on your keywords.

Yeah, I'm sure there's an option to screen comments before they get posted...maybe I should moderate ,r:;

Originally Posted by HubicRuzz

You could totally disable it. But you might be better off at the very least just moderating comments as this helps get the video ranked higher on your keywords.

on youtube I had to set all my videos of myself to moderated because of some nasty idiot comments but then I decided that I would just watch the comments and remove them if I didn't like them. Its a little more labor intensive but worth the ratings
Andrea

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Last but not least, can you disable rating/comments on YouTube? I get so paranoid with all the whackjobs, navel fetishists and armchair bellydance critics out there...,r:;

Comments on my videos are set to "approval only" mode to combat this. ..g.:

Also wanted to recommend Sony Vegas for editing videos. Easy to use, and great features.

(Agree with previous comments re: lighting, audio, etc.)

Yeah, BDers tend to attract some very odd "admirers"

What's the advantage to having higher ratings on YouTube? Does this put you at the top of YouTube searches? Does it impact your Google ranking?

And what happens if you opt out of rankings/comments? Is it harder for people to find you in a search? Would that mean no candy or shimmies for me?

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

I actually have a clip from my TV appearance, but I'm hesitant to post it because I wasn't really smiling. And I'm the opposite of a poker-faced Mona Lisa when I perform. Hard to "emote" in a gray box, without an audience...
..,r:;

Maybe you can manufacture an audience. Invite a local senior center, girl scout troupe or even other bellydancers and their friends and family to be an audience stand in. Depending on how much time you want to film, you might even be able to split the rental cost with another dancer who wants to do the same, with the understanding that she helps recruit an audience.

I'd to hear how this works out for you. It's something that my bd partner and I might do in the near future.

Tammy

I'm assuming you are wanting a video for sales purposes for viewing by the GP, not to prove what a great dancer you are to the Middle Eastern Dance community, as this would result in a very different product! I was told by an agent awhile back that having a video nowadays is a must. I was also told to keep it under 3 minutes. It's an effective sales tool, and the GP expects it. You can make (or have made) a decent video without spending a lot of money. Here are my views on the topic ...

Unless you're going to be doing the whole thing studio-style (not from real gigs and shows) start collecting footage now, and once you've gotten an assortment of performances, see what you're missing, then make a point of filming that or schedule filming a good-quality mock-up of the situation. Having all the material be perfect isn't necessary or even desireable, IMO. (after all, you want to look like you're busy, busy, busy with real gigs). As long as many of them look good, it's swell. And your performances don't need to be flawless either; long uninterrupted sections of dancing will lose your audience's attention, so those seven great seconds you have (right BEFORE you fell on your face, for example) are totally okay; look at the material with an eye for short, eye-catching moves that convey you, your message, or the dance clearly.

I'm a fan of using one piece of music that is exciting but not frantic as a backdrop. We all work really hard at being musically-sensitive dancers, but the GP most likely doesn't know or care about this, and a short promo video isn't the right medium for showcasing this anyhow. They want to see that you have a lot of different, lavish costumes, that you have a sword/candle tray/cane/wings/etc., that you're having a wonderful time, and that you know what you're doing. One can't possibly include everything one thinks is important about the dance, so it's important to prioritize: what will A) clearly state what I'm offering, and B) make it appealing to a non-dance audience in 3 minutes or less.

It's always great to have a pro "do things right," but really, you can make a rather accomplished video yourself if you keep it simple and take the time to work on it. There is a lot of user-friendly non-pro software out there, and people dumber than us use it all the time ;-D It's a sales brochure, not Citizen Kane, and as long as the material and workmanship aren't distractingly horrible, it'll fly. As you get more material, higher expectations, or maybe a bigger budget, then yes, I'd certainly go to a pro. Dancers are visual people, and you can easily analyze what you do/don't like in other videos and figure out what is/isn't possible with the software/expertise/material you have and make the most of it.

Go for it! Good luck!

Not all GP audiences are created equal. If you were courting the market in Dearborn, Michigan, where there is a huge Arab diaspora, your average potential customer would probably expect higher standards from a dancer than somewhere like Huntsville, AL, where there is considerably less awareness in the GP market of what a real dancer is. If you are hoping to get ethnic gigs (ME parties, restaurant work), I would think you would want to have a little longer display of your musicality in your video package. If you're only aiming to get a slice of the GP novelty/party market, then maybe this is less important.

Not everyone who watches your video is going to want to see a montage of "Look How Many Parties I Worked, and I Wore a Different Costume for Each One." When you put that sort of video on the Internet, and particularly if you have a high online profile, it is likely that other dancers will be seeking out your video and passing dancers' judgment on you anyway. They may not be looking to hire you for an occasion personally, but they may be researching you from another part of the country to recommend you to friends in your area who are looking for a performer and/or teacher. Possibly they are just checking you out to see if you're more hype than substance. At any rate, you don't want to give anyone--dancer or not--an excuse to watch your video and think, "Meh. I wasn't impressed...."

You want to project an image that you are both extremely qualified as a dancer and in demand as an entertainer, and that means you should have enough substance in your clips that your potential audience can see that. You need some editing so that you have variety and the piece isn't boring for the GP to watch, but not so much that the video feels like a parade of costumes and locations with no sense of what you're really like as a dancer. IMHO, a montage of too many short clips doesn't fool anyone anyway. You don't have to be a trained dancer to realize that a video with no substantial display of actual dancing in it probably says something--and the only people impressed by a wardrobe of costumes are people who value the outfit above the talent behind it. My advice is to take advantage of the medium and use it to show off your skill and range as a performer, and keep the extended fashion show in the photo gallery.

Those are all good points.

I'm thinking a montage-style clip might work against me, since I already have a ridiculous number of photos. Less might be more, in my case My boyfriend's also going to help me condense my TV interview into a short "teaser," with a few key sound bytes. I'm coming to understand both the strengths and challenges of my own positioning, and I think having some beautiful footage will make me more desirable above and beyond the general public market.

I think other dancers will always play the part of Simon Cowell Jr., even if you're Jillina-famous. Some people will always find something to gripe about. I guess the key is 1. not to feed the trolls with unflattering footage and 2. to ignore it and be grateful that you have your very own publicity elf who is willing to work for free.

Good points, Tourbeau! What I'm warning against (that Satin wouldn't do anyway!) is the two whole minutes or whirling around with wings/veil/whatever and no variety. And yes, I think it's perfectly reasonable to slant your "advertising message" (how's that for jargon?) toward one group or another while still remaining appealing to the whole. Another thing that bugs me in promo videos the the dancer (who is very, very accomplished) sets up a camera in a fluorescent-lit empty restaurant and dances (beautifully!) for an entire 3- or 4-minute song, no cuts, no editing, no closeups, nada. Better than nothing, sure, but certainly not showing the dancer to any advantage in any show-bizzy way.

IMO, dancers--and a knowledgeable GP-- who really know what they're looking at will probably see that you know what you're doing (or not) no matter what style of video you put out.

And let's face it, Satin, you wouldn't put anything out that's crummy, no matter how you hard you tried!

Originally Posted by Nabila-Nazem

Another thing that bugs me in promo videos is when the dancer (who is very, very accomplished) sets up a camera in a fluorescent-lit empty restaurant and dances (beautifully!) for an entire 3- or 4-minute song, no cuts, no editing, no closeups, nada. Better than nothing, sure, but certainly not showing the dancer to any advantage in any show-bizzy way.

For the dancer who's really doing it all herself, I'm thinking it may be possible to either have more than one camera running at the same time or film yourself dancing the same song a few times with different zoom levels. The idea is that you get a less choppy sequence. One film session would be the full frame. One would be something like a close up on hip level and a third would be upper torso/face. Theoretically, you could then bounce between all 3 (where appropriate in the music) and get the whole picture as well as close ups/action shots. This scenario should allow for longer portions of unedited dance as opposed to lots of tiny clips. I say all of this in theory because I haven't actually tried this myself, just pondered on it a bit... What do you all think? Potentially successful alternative where a pro videographer is not available?

Originally Posted by RioDancerCO

For the dancer who's really doing it all herself, I'm thinking it may be possible to either have more than one camera running at the same time or film yourself dancing the same song a few times with different zoom levels. The idea is that you get a less choppy sequence. One film session would be the full frame. One would be something like a close up on hip level and a third would be upper torso/face. Theoretically, you could then bounce between all 3 (where appropriate in the music) and get the whole picture as well as close ups/action shots. This scenario should allow for longer portions of unedited dance as opposed to lots of tiny clips. I say all of this in theory because I haven't actually tried this myself, just pondered on it a bit... What do you all think? Potentially successful alternative where a pro videographer is not available?

This is just my personal preference as a dancer, but I don't particularly like to see chunks of body. I guess I am so preoccupied with not encouraging the stereotype that close up shots of the hips sort of make me cringe. I don't mind making an exception for a tight shot if a dancer is doing some amazing abdominal work, but otherwise, if you want hips, I'd rather shoot from the mid-thigh to the top of the head. I think head shots are fine if that's where the action is (your facial expression, head slides, whatever), but in general, I think it's important to frame enough of the body to show what's happening dance-wise. In other words, if I were the director, I'd have my cameras covering full body, mid-thigh up (no decapitation, please), and face. I want to make sure the audience knows that the face and the body doing the dancing are the same person, and there's no chance I swapped in a body double for the impressive stuff.