Real Estate Video Production

A real estate video has the specific mission of convincing buyers that a property is of interest to them. The following is our real estate video production considerations for creating real estate videos that will work to sell property.

Photos and video are crucial to sales as real estate has to be seen. Regardless of whether it is home sales, luxury office space, or extravagant vacation rentals. Imagery is fundamental for websites showcasing homes for sale, hotels, and properties listed on Airbnb. There is a drive for real estate agents needing to showcase properties in competitive ways. With the expansion of platforms like Youtube, TikTok and Vimeo peoples habits are changing. More and more they seek information delivered in video format. It has been a slowly revving up to that point that now it is massive. This is why the incorporation of real estate videos have seen considerable growth recently.

I will cover the three main types of real estate videos and the rules for success that apply to them. Thereby giving you an understanding of what is required for a must-see real estate video that attracts potential buyers.

Needless to say a real estate video should accomplish two objectives. It should showcase the property and it should create a call-to-action sending potential buyers to the real estate agent. The call-to-action is typically listing the real estate agent at the end of the video and throughout the video with a lower thirds graphic.

Rules of Real Estate Video Production

For most properties, the final real estate video should be less than three minutes. In fact a minute and a half will normally do the job just fine. Buyers initially skim through listings looking for one that catches their attention. The more features a property has the longer a video needs to be, obviously, but it still needs to be trim. Views are unlikely to invest any more than 3 minutes regardless of how impressive the property is. Only key features and amenities should be highlighted with a few fine detail shots to illustrate the workmanship. A complete list of features is what the description is for rather than showing them all in the video. A voiceover track can be used to extrapolate details like to style of floor and windows.

Shooting Immersive Real Estate Videos.

We shoot shoot wide for the majority of the video. Sometimes as wide as 12 mm. We’ll only shoot close up shots of décor and furniture if they help explain the purpose or possible use of a room. Like a shot of a platter of cheese and crackers on the outdoor table can help sell an entertaining space. Or a close up of elegant taps and other such fittings. For these detailed shots we use a 50 mm. However the majority of shots in a video show entire rooms so viewers can envisage the space. As a ratio about 80% of shots in the video are wide and 20% detailed. This ratio changes depending on the client. Some prefer more tight, detailed, lifestyle shots and some prefer the majority of shots to be wide. The property in question also determines the best way it should be captured.

While the main focus of the real estate video is the property, we usually include drone and street level footage of the neighborhood and nearby stores or restaurants. In doing so we demonstrate incentives to living or working in the area.

How We Shoot Cinematic Real Estate Videos

Cinematic real estate video production requires control of the mood. Lighting, pacing and audio are the key areas of concern. Lighting is always a challenge real estate videos. We pay attention to the very bright and dark areas. We will illustrate the natural lighting and built-in lighting as it is a key aspect in conveying the space’s ambience. Our cinematic lenses are suited to low light and we rely on ND (Neutral Density) filters to balance the bright out door lighting. We capture footage in 10-bit High Dynamic Range. This is essential for capturing the view out the window on a bright day.

The audio track requires special attention. Music provides the mood and the voice over track the information, and a bit of mood as well. The music backing track ties the edits together. We carefully match the type of genre of music to the property and generally edit to the beat. This emotionally captures the viewers attention. However it is important that is not mechanical. We mix it up. For long expansive shots we will carry it for two or three bars. One bar edits enhance the energy. And mixing up the syncopation.

The Three Types of Real Estate Videos

The main styles of video are the Slide Show, the Walkthrough and the Documentary style. We can produce all three of them and their many variations. Incorporating slick graphics and smooth transitions for a high end look in line with the properties overall marketing.

Real Estate Slide Show

The Slide Show, or photo montage, is simply a video of still shots artfully edited to capitalize on the emotional hook of music and elegant motion graphics while keeping the budget down. This style of real estate video repurposes the real estate photographs from the photoshoot. Presentation of these stills is what makes them effective. Informative well presented graphics greatly enhance the impact.

Walkthrough

A real estate walkthrough video is as the name suggests. It shows people what it’s like to walk through the property. It can incorporate an agent interview and a voice over as well as graphic overlays. These are the most popular type of real estate video

Generally they begin with exterior footage either at street level or aerial, from a drone. In many cases they do both. Then going room to room like a guided tour so the potential buyer can imagine living in the property. After the exterior and entry they will move onto the living areas, lounge room, dining, kitchen and any associated side rooms like the butlers pantry and cloak room. Illustrating the houses interconnectedness is important. Then onto the bedrooms, generally starting with the master bedroom, ensuite and ancillary bedrooms. It may seem logical to leave the master bedroom till last as the finale. However it is important to get the important content out of the way before the viewers attention wanes. Displaying the smaller bedrooms first my mean the view never gets to the rooms that really sell the property.

Walkthrough videos are ideal if you want to draw attention to the best features of a property. They engage the potential buyer more than photography because it takes them into the house.

Documentary

The documentary-style real estate video can be very similar to a walkthrough and incorporate much of the same ingredients. We differentiated the two because the documentary style incorporates a narrative that goes beyond explaining the spaces. It may be it’s relevance to the local areas history. The property may have been designed by an influential architect. It’s particular location may be noteworthy. An important person may have lived there or it may have features so unique that they are a relevant a selling point worth explaining. This style is not for standard dwellings, even if they are on the luxury end of the market. Documentary style real estate video production typically makes use of voice over, slick editing and informative graphics.