Recently, I created a promotional video for the actress Tovah Feldshuh, currently starring in the CBS series "Salvation." I thought it would be a good idea to share with my readers how creating a promotional video can advance an artist's career.

Many artists understand the value of social media as a marketing tool; artists can upload full performances or snippets of their most recent work to YouTube (or other such sites) to create publicity and attract potential employers. An even stronger marketing tool would be to create a 3-5 minute promotional video (also known as a compilation video, demo reel, trailer, or sizzle reel) featuring some of your show's best highlights. The promotional video strings together several of your favorite clips to better showcase your range of talents into a single file.

The video can then be published to YouTube in two ways - publicly, for the purposes of reaching a global audience, or privately, with a simple link that can be sent to anyone via email - that way, only people who have the link can view the promotional video.

Potential managers who are looking to hire artists frequently ask for promotional videos instead of a video of the entire show, since they often do not have time to watch a full show. Furthermore, instead of having to send a CD or DVD in the mail which can take a very long time (especially if the manager is out of the country), a private YouTube link can be sent to the manager for instant viewing.

When I filmed Tovah Feldshuh at Feinstein's/54 Below last year, we worked together to create a promotional video from her 75-minute show. The edited, promotional video was cut down to about 10 minutes and showcased on her website's home page. In Ms. Feldshuh's case, it was important to select short segments featuring many characters she played throughout the performance, so that a viewer could see each in a short amount of time.

Promotional videos can contain small segments from an entire show stitched together with professional-looking crossfades, as well as titles. Because the video should be limited to a short duration, it is important to keep each segment moving along and each segment should be more or less the same duration. A contact information card can also be displayed at the end of the video so someone can contact you right away. A promotional video can also be an attention-grabber if you embed it on your website's home page so that it is the first thing anyone sees when they visit.

Filming corporate presentations can be quite a challenge. There are many factors in making the video a success: I have to faithfully capture the speaker, capture audience questions and/or reactions, and most importantly capture the PowerPoint slides to which the speaker is referring. The slides have to be easy to read and look professional.

There are many ways to accomplish this task. One way is to set up two cameras: one camera focused on the speaker, and another camera set further back to capture the projection or LCD screen. Then, in the editing process, I use my best judgment to switch back and forth from speaker to projection screen.

It is also possible to manually replace (after filming) each slide with the actual PowerPoint file instead. An issue with this method, however, is that it is extremely time consuming and can cost the client a lot of money to get it just right.

A better and more efficient way to capture a presentation would be to produce a live edit video shoot: one camera focused on the speaker, and a second camera on the audience to capture questions and reactions. Then, it is possible to connect both cameras and the laptop that is showing the slides to a switcher. The switcher allows me to literally switch between the camera angles, as well as the projected slide, live, right on location. At the end of the presentation, because the angles have been switched, in real time, it is possible to then give the client a finished video file, already edited, with no post production required.

A live edit video shoot can thus save the client a huge amount of money and time in post production. Furthermore, all the slides are shown full-screen (eliminating the need to set up a camera further back to capture the projection or LCD screen). You can even capture all of the PowerPoint animations with audio, as well as show the audience certain websites. Pretty much anything on the computer screen is covered.

To give you an idea of what the final product looks like, please view Captain Lou's video (top-right). In his case, a live edit video shoot was required, especially since his seminar ran for 3 days, and I needed to deliver the files to him as quickly as possible. The sample below his also features a presentation sample, but in that case, the replacement of slides were done manually after filming. The client gave me the PowerPoint file and I created still images from each slide. I then imported all the images into my editing software and created the final video.

If you have an upcoming presentation you'd like to document on video, or have any questions regarding this article, feel free to reach out to me.

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