Marketing / Communications
Articles
“Lights, Camera, Action! Is Creating Your Byway Video Finally Affordable?”
by Larry Valtelhas, Valtelhas Productions,
America’s Byways Resource Center;
Vistas, January/February 2004 and March/April 2004
Public Relations: Is Creating Your Byway Video Finally Affordable?
So you want to be in pictures, or rather, you want to create a moving picture for your byway?
Ten years ago your budget and your video project goals probably did not even live on the same planet, but now, due to recent technological productivity improvements, you might be able to develop some of those video ideas gathering dust in your files. Today, you can produce a five or ten minute video to promote your byway at trade shows and public gatherings, not for $10,000 or even $25,000, but for less that $10,000, if you know how to make everything fall into place.
The process of creating a video is straight forward, if you pay attention to details, yet risky, if you do not. Fortunately, you do not have to be a Hollywood producer to get decent results. And just about anyone that has grown up on television has the intuitive skills to get the job done. The goal of this article is to outline a series of steps you might think about following to ensure your success.
Step One: Creating a video concept or idea
A successful video project starts with a well- conceived idea. To begin, consider your topic, venue and target audience.
Topic
What story do you want to tell? Is your video going to be a marketing tool or will it present training for your byway volunteers? Will your video provide public information that will help to preserve the intrinsic qualities on your byway or will it interpret on e of your byway assets?
Venue
Where do you want to promote the video? What is the venue? Will it be broadcast on TV or cable or the Internet? Will it be copied into VHS tapes or DVDs or CDs? Will your video be seen on a projection screen, a large screen TV, or a small tabletop TV, or perhaps even on a tour bus?
What are the sound requirements? Will it be seen in a lighted area or a dark room? Will it have multiple channels of distribution?
Target
Who is target audience? Will it be adults you want to visit your byway or will it be children you want to educate about the preservation of irreplaceable resources? Will your audience be tourism professionals, such as travel agents, that you want to educate about all the assets you have on your byway or will it be a general audience of all of the above?
Answering these questions will either narrow or expand the scope of your project.
You do not have to have all the answers. Just thinking abut some of the previous questions will put you and your byway on the right track.
Step Two: Outlining a budget
Outlining a realistic budget is an important step.
It is unlikely you will cerate a $100 million-dollar Hollywood production, but, you are probably not going to want to see the quality level of the family reunion film uncle Fred shot in the 1960s with his 8mm camera either. Come up with a reasonable, attainable budget. Here are some ballpark figures for different activities.
Hollywood movie
Cost: $500,000/minute
Length: 120 minutes
TV movie
Cost: $100,000/minute
Length: 90 minutes
High-end commercial
Cost: $50,000/minute
Length: 60 seconds
Documentary
Cost: $5,000/minute
Length: 60 seconds
Training or infomercial
Cost: $1,000/minute
20 minutes
Local TV commercial
Cost: $1,000/minute
Length: 60 seconds
Wedding or event video
Cost: $50/minute
Length: 30 minutes
The costs illustrated can easily vary a few hundred percent. You can also expect to add to those costs. If your project requires highly paid talent, newly produced sound, and leading-edge special effects. Take a pragmatic approach in matching your ideas with your budget. A good start is to choose a production standard and work your budget up or down from there.
Step Four: Funding the project
Over the years, Vistas has presented many ideas of funding sources for byway projects. A video production does fit the eligibility requirements for more than one category of the FHWA National Scenic Byway grants program (see www.bywaysonline.org). As described in the National Scenic Byways Program Guidance for the Fiscal Year 2004 Grant Applications, videos can be funded in at least two categories (1) Interpretive Information and (2) Marketing. It’s important to read the guidelines before brainstorming your video concept, since the guidance can help you focus on ideas that may meet National Scenic Byway grant requirements. Once you have viable ideas for the use of videos and its relationship to your overall byway goals, incorporate the ideas into your corridor management plan.
At this point in the process, you have almost enough information on the expected cost to write your grant application: however, one factor is missing. Where are you going to acquire matching funds? The National Scenic Byways grants program requires a 20 percent match. Do not make this mistake of thinking you can sell your video - you cannot sell the video under the current grant rules.( Note: At the time of this writing , Congress had not approved funding beyond Fiscal year 2003 for the National Scenic Byways grants program).
So where else can you find funding? A great place to start is to contact the stakeholders - both public and private - along your byway. Is there a golf course, a museum, a ski area. Or even a gambling casino located on the byway? If there is, you are probably in luck, especially if the organization is directly related to your byway’s intrinsic qualities and /or the site has been identified in your corridor management plans. To entice these entities to financially support your video production, you can feature, or at least mention them, in your video, but the context should first relate to your byway’s overall story and the goals of your corridor management plan.
Besides cash for your grant match, there are plenty of other avenues to pursue. Can someone donate the use of props, talent or time for your byway video? Some organizations have made extensive use of free on-camera talent graciously donated by several individuals that either acted or were interviewed for the project. There are many more services you might find necessary for your project, yet do not require any knowledge of video production. Can someone donate the use of a horse or an antique automobile for that historic 1930s interpretive scene? Does anyone have rare historic photos for a montage? Can someone fly a plane to take spectacular overhead shots of your byway? In-kind ideas are endless, so when appropriate include them in your video project
Step Five: Managing the project
Once you know your project requirements, such as the concept(a short paragraph will do), the expected length of the final video, the target media, and the venue where the video will be viewed, you should write a “Request For Information” and send it to at least a dozen vendors. Do not expect that all vendors will respond.
You can also try to get information by making phone calls and sending e-mail. The more specific your requirements, the easier it will be for potential vendors to give you expected costs and valuable information. When you talk to the vendors, do not be afraid to ask questions. Not only do the answers provide you with a free education, they give you the chance to determine if you can have a good working relationship with the company you may hire.
When you, the project manager, feel comfortable with the information you have received, it is time to decide to “make or buy.” Do you have the resources to create the video you want? If you look at the end of a Hollywood production, you can see all the possible skills that might be required; but, looking at your budget, the list is going to get real short, real fast. If you have the people with the necessary production skills, they can tell you the equipment you will need to own, purchase or rent to do the job.
Here are some skills that you will probably need:
• Research
• Scriptwriting
• Narration talent
• On-screen talent
• Lighting, sound, camera operators
• Editing
• Authoring (DVD,CD,Web) and duplication (CD,DVD,VHS, broadcast tape services)
If you decide you have some or all the in-house talent and equipment to do the job yourself, that is terrific, but for most byway organizations, it is more likely a contractor will be hired to complete the work. Should you decide to “make” the video in-house, treat the project done internally with the same level of management scrutiny as you would with an outside vendor? Stick to your schedule and your budget requirements.
If you decide to go to an outside vendor, you may need to write a Request for Proposal (RFP). Many States require sealed RFPs by law, depending on the level of money to be spent and that will vary widely. Check with your State scenic byway coordinator about the requirements for your State. Typically, lower cost projects require less paperwork, but make sure you budget time and money to do all the paperwork required. Different States and organizations score submittals based on many factors, but no matter how you comply with your regulations, it is important to address as many technical and schedule details on paper as possible.
Do not assume a vendor will know what you want. Communications, both written and verbal, are probably the most important aspect of management, and managing a video project is no different.
Now that you have seen an overview of the video production process, it is time to put on your producer’s hat and bring that video project to fruition!
