Brogan Video October Newsletter

Hello, thank you for watching. I’m Michael Brunner of Brogan Video. September is
finally wrapping up. I’ve had a great month working with people of all age groups
on a variety of projects, and it has been absolutely wonderful. I hope your month
has been just as good. I’m looking forward to October when the weather gets cooler.
Definitely looking forward to that, and we get the opportunity to do spooky lighting
just for fun. This is Brogan Video’s October newsletter. Thank you so much for
watching.
Here’s a quick tip for you. People sometimes ask me what the difference is between
an amateur and a professional. Well, there’s one detail that I like to think is the
real difference. An amateur can easily use the same gear as a professional,
or at least in the same ballpark of quality. So why does the professional get
better quality images than an amateur? And I think it comes down to a professional
is dedicated and focused on getting it. And that doesn’t come out any better than a
professional is willing to get down on the ground, on their belly, crawl around like
a lizard in order to get the shot. I have seen professionals climb things,
stand in precarious positions, run around in circles, all the kind of things that
someone who’s just doing it for fun would, I’m not doing that. And To me, that is
one of the biggest differences between an amateur and a professional, just the
willingness to do what you have to to get the image you need.
I work for the Pleasanton Museum on Maine doing their Ed Kimme lecture series, and
I’ve been doing it for about 16 years now. but they recently did a lecture for Al
Capone and I was able to do a technique that no one’s ever going to notice because
it was entirely invisible and that’s why I wanted to show it off. You see, the
lecture was a man going about on a stage, talking to the crowd.
I was in the tech booth, following him with my camera. When he would stand up,
it was easy to follow him. When he would sit down, it would be very difficult for
me to crank the camera down quickly in order to follow him. So what I do, I film
with enough vertical resolution, which I can manually select, that all I have to do
is horizontally keep him in the center frame. And then after the fact,
while in editing, just have it digitally move down to show him as he seated,
and then when he stands, right back up. It’s an invisible effect. It allows me to
keep the image directly on the performer at all times, and I don’t think anyone
noticed, and that’s what I like. When my work is invisible, that means people are
focusing on the performer.
In Pleasanton, there is an estate and trust attorney called Life Plan Lawyer.
I’ve had the benefit of working with them multiple times over the years. It has
been very rewarding. They are the kindest and most generous people. But I am deeply
impressed with how they used my videos. For one, they didn’t just get testimonials
of their happiest clients. They got testimonials of the people who had the most
interesting stories to tell, the biggest hurdles that had to be overcome in order to
bring their family estates in line. And when they got those stories really well
captured on camera, they were able to show those all over the world.
They were able to show those to all their future clients and illustrate to them
exactly the kind of length that they will go to for their clients, and it has been
tremendously successful for them. So it wasn’t just a testimonial, it was a
demonstration of why they are the best.
One thing that surprised me quite a bit when I started going to mixers and
conventions, was that there are a lot of people, maybe one in four, that would have
already spent a fair amount of money on a video, and they don’t share it. They
don’t put it out there at all. Even if they spent $10 ,000 on it, they just do
not share it. And when I ask them why, it’s usually because They don’t like how
they look at it. They don’t like how they were asked to present themselves, or the
video is just out of date. That’s just unfortunate. But the out of date one
shouldn’t be a problem, because many times it’s an employee that’s shown in the
video isn’t working with them anymore, or the phone number is out of date, or
there’s a certain image that just doesn’t apply anymore. Don’t Just throw it away,
especially if you’ve spent thousands of dollars on it. Send that to me, send that
to any other videographer, work their salt. They can cut those bits out, cover them
up with something else, change the phone numbers, get that video working for you
again. If it’s something that you like, just update it.
It’s not hard for the people who have the right tools.
In the end, making videos for yourself and your business, your urbanization,
can be very intimidating. It’s not natural to be under heavy lights,
speak in a little bit unnatural way, and to stay right at a camera lens.
But it is so valuable to learn to do so. because a video isn’t just showing you
and your smile and your great attitude, but it’s really putting a mark in time.
That this is you at this moment, this is your business, this is what you need, and
this is what you do. And people respond to that because it is so genuine. It is,
this is who I am, and this is what I’m doing. For me, I’m Michael Brunner of
Brogan Video. This is my October newsletter. Thank you so much for watching. I hope
you learned a few things and I would love to talk to you. So if you’re looking
for video, please give me a call.