Dec '15 | Need Marketing Videos Fast?

Creating marketing videos, especially videos that’ll be consumed on social media platforms, don’t always have to cost a fortune or require an entire marketing team to design.

It’s surprising how many social media marketing videos you can actually create with a limited budget and only:

• Two days of pre-production
• One day of filming
• Two days of post-production
• One cameraman and a shoulder mount
• One stedicam operator
• One assistant camera
• One producer

Clothing boutique Scout & Molly’s latest owners, Olivia and Amy, were looking to capture footage during their opening day and craft several fifteen second spots that would get the attention of their Instagram followers. But with all the last minute details and money involved in opening a clothing boutique – check out their article in Entrepreneur: “Can you Bring Individuality to a Franchise?” – budgeting and coordinating a video production team during their opening day was last on the list.

But that’s when we stepped in. While Patina Pictures doesn’t love making last minute production details, we also don’t turn away incredible opportunities to partner with new entrepreneurs when we know we can achieve their vision, even if the budget and timeline are tight.

We also understand the importance, especially when time and location are moving targets, in hiring a very agile, skilled and mobile video team. Having a stedicam operator allowed us to be able to successfully and quickly pick up the models moving naturally in the clothes, while another cameraman picked up closeups and details we didn’t want lost, such as jewelry, patterns, shoes, and colors. All this, while using natural light, made for a very low key and subtle filming experience. The last thing we wanted was to distract or get in the way from clients buying new clothes!

For companies interested in creating social media marketing videos, but really needing to trim the budget, here are a few additional cost cutters that we implemented on this video shoot:

• Instead of actors, we sought out real people models from a local New York City college
• Rather than hire a make up artist, we partnered with the local Benefit Cosmetics store
• Rather than hire an art director and stylist, we brought on a producer with those skills

We were a small, but mighty team, while filming marketing videos for Scout & Molly’s New Canaan location. But the final results say it all. Also check out these sweet patterns and fall colors!