We were so excited about our CalPal 3 app launch that we wanted to pull out all the stops with a professional video. We’ve admired Sandwich Video’s work (AirBnB, Uber, Square, etc.) for a long time, but …
I’ll tell you that a typical Sandwich video can cost in the range of $50–65K … for startups with some considerable funding. For bigger corporations, it goes a bit higher, and for indie devs and bootstrapped trailblazers, usually lower.
http://www.quora.com/How-much-does-an-Adam-Lisagor-produced-video-cost
This estimate exceeded our budget by $63–64K, depending on how many times we wanted to go to Chipotle. So, being the scrappy little nuggets we are, we took it upon ourselves to produce a professional video ourselves. We had so much fun with it, we ended up making a second as well.
Although our videos may lack some of the bells and whistles (e.g. visual effects) that a high-end production company could provide, those pricey embellishments are probably not what your average viewer is paying attention to.
We’ve received glowing feedback from not only “ordinary people,” but also product marketers at Pinterest and Apple — many of whom expected that our videos came with a sizable price tag. A member of Apple’s App Store Marketing Team even sent us an email saying only: “These assets look amazing.”
But we’ll let you judge for yourself:
5 Steps to Spielsbergian Fame
Here’s a five-step plan to be the next internet sensation without taking out a mortgage on your 1br/.5ba San Francisco condo.
- Software: Free
The Adobe Creative Cloud collection has everything you need to produce the next over-the-top Wachowski box office flop — all free for 30 days. Whatever you come up with will probably be more entertaining and will definitely be far less bloated. If you’re willing to forgo fine-grained editing capabilities, however, you can also create stunning videos using iMovie 10 (free with Mac OS X). Our first promo video above was edited exclusively using iMovie. - Camera: $130
When you make it big, you can splurge on a RED camera, but for now a DSLR will more than suffice. If you’re based in San Francisco, check out Samy’s Camera. For a mere $130, you can play in the filmmaking big leagues for a day with a Canon EOS 7d and an EF 24–70mm f/4 zoom lens, replete with the necessary accessories (2 batteries, memory card, etc.). If you can part with an additional $50, go for the state-of-the-art Canon EOS 5D Mark III. - Microphone: $35
Even the iPhone camera can take stunning video nowadays, so audio is what separates the wheat from the chaff. Whatever you do, do not rely on your camera’s onboard mic. Invest the marginal amount of money necessary to rent a professional-grade microphone. Anderson Audio Visual rents a kit that will more than get the job done (Pro Tip: make sure to ask for a male XLR to 3.5mm adapter, which they’ll throw in for free). That all being said, a professional-grade microphone isn’t a magic wand — if the microphone doesn’t feel uncomfortably close while filming, you’re doing it wrong. - Music: $0–20
Thanks to the Internet, putting together a cathartic musical score doesn’t require any musical knowledge whatsoever! SoundCloud makes it easy to find sounds licensed under Creative Commons. If your needs are more specific, AudioJungle sells a wide range of high-quality audio tracks that you can license for under $20. For example, if you’re spoofing a trailer for a Hollywood blockbuster, here would be a good place to start looking. - Accessories
If you want to go the extra mile, investing in a couple of accessories can add a level of polish, especially for certain types of shots. Appropriately lighting subjects is always a challenge, especially outdoors where the sun casts harsh shadows. Video filters applied during the editing process can correct minor lighting imperfections, but having even a small reflector on set will work wonders in helping you avoid the “home video” look. Westcott is a popular brand, but we preferred the Lastolite TriFlip 30" 8:1 Reflector Kit because of the convenient handle (especially useful when trying to juggle a camera, microphone, and reflector with only two people on set—including the actor!). Pro Tip: use sunscreen and have eye drops handy —in our second video, you might notice that “Carl Peters” has a very squinty gaze.
Some Additional Lessons Learned
- You run your startup lean, why would you produce your video any differently? Between your phone and laptop, you have at least two cameras on you at nearly all times. What was a great idea on paper more often than not doesn’t work all that well on film. Before renting equipment and perfecting your shots, try putting together a “rough cut,” like we did here:
- Trying to be funny is high-risk, high-reward. If your friends don’t think it’s laugh-out-loud hilarious, stick to cute. Dogs, babies… people eat that stuff up.
- Sifting through hours of footage and royalty-free audio clips in the dim 2AM light of your Macbook Pro isn’t the best environment in which to evaluate the success potential of your directorial debut. Solicit feedback from lots of friends (with different personalities and perspectives) BEFORE calling up Clooney to re-film the scenes your boyfriend ad-libbed in your living room.
