It’s been a while now since I bought my digital SLR camera that also takes hi-definition video. I got it right before we went on a family vacation to Grand Cayman in the Caribbean. I wrote a blog post about 938 photos I took on that vacation.
Since that time I have taken over 7,000 pictures with this camera. Do I like it? You bet I do. It’s a great camera that I’m still learning about. I’ve learned that you don’t want to use your dSLR to shoot fast-action video on the soccer field. You can read that blog post here.
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An amazing video shoot today with Ohio personal injury and divorce attorney Jack Carney-DeBord. I flew to Ohio last night, together with my production manager, Harry Brockman, so we could begin shooting video early this morning October 18, 2010. We had breakfast together and mapped out our strategy for the day. Our drive to Jack’s office was only nine minutes and I was pleasantly surprised that he was there early and ready to start.
Harry immediately started unpacking all the video equipment that we had pre-shipped directly to Jack’s office. The hi-definition video camera…
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Lawyers have difficulty seeing the difference. They are so ingrained at watching commercials that have no inherent value except to put a company’s name into the ether that when they decide they want to create video, they say “I want what they have.” The only problem is that what they’ve been watching is branding an image or a company.
Here’s what I mean. When you watch a commercial for McDonalds, the commercial doesn’t say, come down to our restaurant at 52 Main Street and get a happy meal. Rather, it talks about the company in general. When Nike runs an ad for a new sneaker, they don’t say “Pick up your new sneakers at our megastore in Times Square in Manhattan. They just want you to know about their new sneaker.
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Some might say yes. Others say “Phooey. I’ll just press record and then when I’m done, simply upload right to YouTube.”
Besides content, editing is way up there in terms of importance and here’s why:
1. You’ve got to make your video direct and to the point. If you don’t edit out the garbage and excess verbiage, your viewer will be turned off.
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You think you have the guts to create attorney video?
You think it’s simply a matter of standing in front of the camera and pushing the red record button? You think it’s as easy as pressing the ‘upload’ button directly to YouTube without editing? It might look easy when the professionals do it but I guarantee you that unless you have the desire, the time and inclination to learn how to do it really well, it’s not easy.
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If you’ve been following my blog posts, you know I use a Canon Vixia HF S10 to shoot my own videos. Great camera, excellent quality and it does everything it’s supposed to do. I recently sold my Sony digital camera to a great trial attorney in Virginia (thanks Sandra!) and needed to upgrade. I took…
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# Let your yellow pages rep design your ad. Why? Because the same design group designed all of the attorney ads. These folks clearly never learned about direct response marketing and individualistic marketing. Most attorneys are finally realizing that the yellow pages are becoming less and less relevant today.
# Create a newsletter and send it to your list…
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THE REACTIONARY LAWYER
Do you wait for things to happen and then react to them? Do you have too many cases where the best you can do is just put the fires out and simply react to everything your adversary does?
THE PROCRASTINATOR
Are you a procrastinator and wait till the last minute to get that legal brief into the court? Do you let time-sensitive matters sit on your desk until you absolutely must get it done? Do you wait till your client calls you and asks whether you did what you were supposed to do?
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Do you know what the Ken Burns effect is? If you’re a photo buff, you will. It’s where your photo editing program magically takes a still photo and creates movement to make it appear as if it’s a moving image. It’s really cool to see during a slide show. Ok, now you know what a Ken Burns effect is, but what is the John Burns effect?
I’m glad you asked. It’s when a really smart attorney recognizes that…
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Click on the link to read the ad (pdf file). Think you’re different? Think you stand out from the crowd? Show me. I’m looking for an attorney who uses online marketing and video to set yourself apart from your competitors. Read the ad, and if that’s you, drop me an email at gerry@lawyersvideostudio.com and show me how you’re different from your competitors.
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