Product demo video production for a website editorial
One example of a product demo video that I was recently produced was commissioned by the Bauer Media Group. The Bauer Media Group is an entertainment network of multi-platform brands and channels. One of their channels was ‘The Debrief’ a digital online style magazine. At the time of production ‘The Debrief’ interacted with their audience via social media platforms focusing on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Tumblr.
Creating a video review for a hair colouring product
The product demo video brief was for me to film and edit a demonstration of Flamboyage. Flamboyage is a modern hair highlighting technique. Alice and Lucy, who work for The Debrief, were to use this product demo video as a way of reviewing the use of Flamboyage adhesive strips. The plan was to show the ‘before and after’ effects of this technique on various hair types.
Location filming
This product test was booked in for filming at the Blue Tit hairdressing salon in Stratford, East London. On filming day, I arrived there early to set up my equipment and met Declan who is the Manager of a Blue Tit salon in Dalston. He was to carry out the hairdressing demonstration of the Flamboyage colouring treatment. Alice and Lucy were to be his models. Declan showed me the area in the salon which he planned to use during the filming of the video. I was then able to unpack and set up my filming kit and lights in the correct area.
Two-camera shoot
I had been asked to film with two cameras. One camera had been requested to film a fixed locked-off shot on a tripod of the treatments in progress. This shot could then be sped up in the edit to clearly show the whole process. I used my second camera to film a variety of shots to show the different stages of the process from different angles.
Lighting the set
During the filming, the salon was still dealing with its customers, as usual, so the ceiling-mounted spotlights had to be left on. To improve the lighting while filming, I used additional LED lights. The treatment was filmed in front of a large mirror. I had to position everything carefully so that my equipment would not be reflected in the mirrors.
Recording the sound
As well as carrying out the hairdressing demonstration, Declan was also to provide a verbal description of the treatment. Declan was fitted with a Latvia microphone and a radio transmitter pack so that I could record his clear sound. I connected the receiver to my digital audio recorder and the camera. This enabled me to record two copies of the sound for safety. The Tascam unit was left recording his sound for the entire treatment session. I constantly monitored the sound recording with my Sennheiser headphones.
Filming the product testing video
Once I had set up my equipment for filming, Alice and Lucy arrived. I started by filming an introduction to the video with both of them describing the product. Declan then carried out the Flamboyage hair colouring technique on each of their different types of hair. During the treatment process, Declan explained what he was doing. I would use his voice later as the sound bed in the edit. After Declan had completed Alice’s and Lucy’s treatments, I filmed another piece to the camera of them both displaying the results.
Video editing
Once I had been commissioned for this project, the Debrief team sent me some examples and guidelines of the sort of style and duration they required for the video. They also sent information on which caption-text fonts and colours to use along with logos to be added and a link to the music track they wanted. After I had edited everything together, I sent a link to the video uploaded to my Vimeo channel so that my client could watch the edit and send me their feedback. They liked the first edit and requested some additional explanatory text captions so that the message of the video could be understood even if the sound was turned down.
I enjoyed working with the team as a London videographer to film and edit this product demo video.
If you would like my help or advice on how to create a video production for your own products, please do get in touch with me here.
