Frequently asked questions

We focus on communicating clearly, professionally, and making it interesting and relevant to the target audience.
Being lean enables Clips That Sell to be fast and flexible. We can be filming on location quickly and have a clip edited that day, also saving you costs.  Moreover, I (Keith) love making marketing videos and I try to make the experience fun.

The best evidence is to view the videos and read the testimonials on the Examples page.

For filming we mainly use Sony cinema line cameras like the A7siii, FX30 and Z190. I bring all necessary lighting, tripods, gimbal, drone and high quality sound recording equipment – lapel radio mics and shotgun mics.  We can also create complex animations and animated graphics.

We have experience scripting, filming and editing a broad range of commercial and not-for-profit projects.  Some examples include:

• Project case study interviews for Hume City Council, similarly for Federation University programs
• Editing for the payment platform, Stripe
• Client testimonial videos for a kitchen / bathroom install business
• Investment attraction videos for Brimbank City Council and separately, Hume City Council
• 3 clips for Western Water explaining how they deliver water, sewer and recycled water.
• 7 investment attraction videos for Wyndham City Council
• Four township videos for Mitchell Shire Council to attract residents.
• Eight product videos for Sitro Group, owners of the Gasmate brand among others
• A series of eight short cooking shows for WeCook4U.
• Short video blog style interviews to camera for Search Engine Optimisation company ROI
• A number of advertising ‘explainer videos’ for a new company, Pickawall, which makes customised removable wall paper
• A series of six documentary style interviews with leading environmental sustainability experts and permaculturalists
• Filming speaking engagements to large audiences by professional public speakers (AP Marketing and Kovess International).
• Filming testimonial videos for a pharmacy purchasing group under a tight filming schedule.
• Many others such as recruitment videos, clips for local clubs, a solar power installer, a cerebral palsy service provider, metal art work, skylights, pizza ovens, furniture, Fitness coach.

We understand how best to communicate complex information about products and services.  We have qualifications and experience in marketing, project management, film and documentary production.

First, you may not need to appear in front of the camera at all. We sometimes use voice over or actors or other people involved in the business.

Second, you may only need to appear for a few seconds or say a very few words. With our coaching, short takes are easier.

Third, we know how to help you relax, enjoy and to be a little more animated and to give your best performance. We can use a teleprompter to save remembering lines, and we’ll coach you on how to still look natural.

It true that most of us don’t like seeing or hearing ourselves in videos. Yet every day everyone around us sees and hears us. Video as a medium is here to stay and is probably worth getting used to if you’re in business.

Well help you start, with a good idea of what you want to communicate in the video – its purpose and who to target. You can draft your own script or we can do it.  Effort on preproduction – sourcing excellent locations, and your talent being well prepared, makes for a much better final video.

Make sure that on the day of filming, any ‘actors’ or talent are well prepared. Make sure speaking lines are rehearsed. Ensure all props and facilities you are providing are available at the right time.

Once we send through a draft video, provide any amendment requests in one go. Generally avoid changes mid-project.

Feel free to ask at the start how you can save costs if you need to.  There may be elements of the process you can do which save us time and your money.

I’m not satisfied until you are.  If  the final video isn’t something to be proud of to promote your business, we will work something else out, such as re-shoot footage or change the script.

Depending on the complexity and number of videos, most projects are done within a couple of weeks. There may be a few days going back and forth on pre-production or scripting, filming may take half a day or a day. We’ll usually have a draft video back to you within a week of filming. Subsequent rounds of changes will be made in a couple of days of your feedback.

If we’re making multiple videos we will write shot lists and batch like scenes/ locations together and film them at the same time to keep costs down.

We think of using videos for marketing purposes, but there are other communications challenges within a business. Sometimes recruiting, retaining and training talent is more important.

We’ve made videos with business owners explaining their approach and philosophy that drives the culture of the place. This is backed up with short vox-pop style chats with staff. Cover footage shows the workplace and facilities. For example, do they go home on time, what benefits do they get, and do they all get on well.

Get ahead of competitors. If you work out the costs of recruitment and and staff retention, these clips can have a massive ROI.

We do need to be mindful of people’s privacy. It’s a natural curtessy that we have permission to display people. Here’s some options:

• Put signs up at events and make an announcement at the start, giving folk an option to move to a spot where we know not to film.
• Get signed consent forms, we can help provide these
• Use staff, actors or friends to simulate customers or other participants
• Even when using staff, we’ll often recommend getting a signed consent, in case they leave soon after filming

It’s generally considered acceptable if you’re in a public place and there are other people around but not featuring.

If you recognise videos can help attract the right clients and save time in other ways, make an estimate of the improved business revenue or time saved and you’ll see the return on investment from making videos.

You can make the videos yourself. But again, estimate the time you’ll take in planning, filming, editing, and re-editing. And then, will they look good? At Clips That Sell we have the professional cine cameras, lights, mics, tripods, gimbals, editing software and skills to save you the hassle. We have lots of experience directing and advising.

We plan the video production to be as efficient as possible whilst also achieving the desired outcome. For example minimising filming locations, scheduling and grouping like scenes.

The video production process is split into three essential phases which scale to the project:

1. Pre-production. This includes planning the videos, organising locations, talent, scripts, shot lists.
2. Production. Filming, creating other assets like motion graphics, animations, finding stock footage and music.
3. Post-production. This is the editing phase. Assembling all the assets in the editing software to tell the story as it was planned. Adding the Broll (cover footage), graphics, titles, end screen and music. Usually we include two rounds of review for the client.

There’s more details on this page.