Our New Video And How We Made It

In July, Stephanie and I had exactly half-a-day together when we both were free to “take off” from work, and how did we choose to spend it? By filming our new video, of course! Can you tell how much fun we had?

But we bet you have questions about how we made this — and perhaps how you could too.

How long did the video take to make?

• Filming took about three hours; we ended up with 75 minutes of footage.
• Editing the video took four rounds and about eight hours. This timeframe is on the lower end, mostly because we had an agreed–upon outline, and a brilliant cinematographer and editor, Fivel Rothberg, who knows us well and knew what we wanted.
• From start to finish, the entire process took about two months. Why so long? Because it was a side project for us, that we did mainly in our “free time”. We don’t recommend it this way — unless you’re aiming for a home video with no deadline!

How much did the video cost?

• We only paid for filming, editing, and travel fare – all told, for under $2,000. (But, we bartered with Fivel to promote the video, thereby reducing our costs.)
• We saved ourselves money, time, and some headaches because:
  • We didn’t have to hire talent – we were it! (And we didn’t pay ourselves). We also – if you can’t tell – didn’t employ make up, hair stylists, etc.
  • We used copyright-free music, and didn’t use any special effects, or animation.
  • We also didn’t rent a venue, instead using a friend’s space to film.

What worked best?

• We knew what we wanted; we had worked out in advance the exact scope of the video, our audience, the main messages, the tone, and look and feel.
• We also were very comfortable with each other –- we had all worked together and Stephanie and I know in what ways we best complement each other.
• We weren’t pretending or acting. And we weren’t talking about extremely personal, sensitive things. We wanted the video to be fun – and we let ourselves have fun and enjoy the process; hopefully that comes through!

What would we do differently?

• We had an outline of the script, but we should have written out a real script, even if we ended up modifying it slightly. Though we were speaking from the heart, having actual lines would have saved us a lot of time in filming and editing.
• We wish we had more time for the film shoot; we wanted to have B-roll (shots that cut away to show us doing other things), but we simply ran out of time.
• Our expectations were realistic – we aren’t expecting the video to go viral, and we aren’t trying to necessarily change hearts and minds, but next time, we would want to include more concrete calls to action. Like sharing the video, or this post!

Ask us anything else you’d like! Or tell us what you’d do (or have done when filming).