Video demo advice please

[rockerdiva]

I'm chopping up a live video of my band to use as a demo.

 

The whole 20 song performance was good, with no fatal stutters, really at all.

But of course, obviously there are parts of songs that show us off better than others.

And I know club owners don't have lots of patience to sit through a long thing.

So I have cut it up into clips that can fade into each other. Wanted your thoughts, though, on:

 

1. Most clips end up being between :40 and 1:00 or 1:10 in length. Think they are still too long?

 

2. Some songs I got 3 or 4 equally great clips from. Others only one that I liked best. Don't want to do any back to back clips from the same songs because in my mind as a listener, that's just like putting the whole tune on, so why was it clipped at all? (As a club owner i might be wondering if I did it to edit out mistakes, lol) So should I just pick the 15 or 20 best clips of all different tunes and string them together? And end it there? Or should I just figure, hey, they will listen until they decide to shut it off, and go ahead and start adding other clips of the same tunes, after all the tunes have been represented at least once in the start of it?

 

3. I definitely think I should string them all together, so the listener does not have to go back to the menu option page to hear the next clip. But I could also have a next section where they could choose to select a clip from whatever they want from the titles. Jump straight to clips of specific tunes. Should I do that also?

 

4. Overthinking it even more, - I could include whole songs at the end. Should I? Just a handful of the best, or does that then make the listener think all the others were used in clips because there were sour parts? I could put all 20 on. In all honesty there are three I could leave off but not because they were train wrecks or anything, just not the same energy as the rest overall. Including all but three .. seems wierd ... after all this, I'm thinking I might even run into issues of space available on a DVD....

 

I know I'm making it a bigger deal out of this than I need to - really, I was happy with the whole thing. It wasn't totally without any glitches - but it was a live capture, and nothing serious wrong or even close to it - a couple of minor things but recovery happened in like, a second. Lighting could have been better but it was decent, and the sound pretty decent as well ...

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[rangefinder]

I'm having trouble tracking all of this...

 

It seems to me that most of the time posters around here say "demo" they mean a 4-6 minute video to be sent to bookers (or just posted on YouTube). Maybe half of that is performance, half other stuff (audience, testimonials, intro/outro, etc.)

 

But you seem to be thinking in terms of a full-length DVD of some sort.

 

Maybe you could clarify your goal a bit for all of us?

[rockerdiva]

I made it long and hard to understand, sorry about that.

 

I'm overthinking, thinking I need to include everything.

That's not necessary.

 

All I want to do is have some kind of recording to hand club owners.

Small town bar gigs.

Maybe I'll put it on youtube, who knows.

A live audio demo would have been fine, video footage is just what we happen to have.

 

You are probably right, the shorter the better.

I'm just trying to use more of it.

 

Too much thought for something that should be simpler - I know -

[rockerdiva]

I made it long and hard to understand, sorry about that.

 

I'm overthinking, thinking I need to include everything.

That's not necessary.

 

All I want to do is have some kind of recording to hand club owners.

Small town bar gigs.

Maybe I'll put it on youtube, who knows.

A live audio demo would have been fine, video footage is just what we happen to have.

 

You are probably right, the shorter the better.

I'm just trying to use more of it.

 

Too much thought for something that should be simpler - I know -

[rangefinder]

Here's a recent thread from somebody who got it right:

 

joshmac's video

 

You might want to take a stab at something similar, then post it here for feedback, or ask more specific questions along the way.

[kmart]

3 minutes, maybe a bit more MAX

No need to use more than a half dozen songs or so.

 

Keep it simple, keep it short, keep people wanting more.

[MusicalSchizo]

I wish you the best of luck, and provide some guidelines that should be helpful:

1. Pick the songs most likely to please the people who you'll be giving/sending/showing the video.

2. Use short clips (30-45 seconds MAX) of the songs and string them all together in one video.

3. Keep it short but still give a good idea of what you can do. Think of it as a "trailer" for your band. 3-4 minutes should be good.

4. If you are going to be sharing it with people who book bands at bars/parties/etc., it helps to have a happy audience in the video, too. If you have demographically-appropriate video testimonials, even better. Cut those in there, too.

5. Do not bother with "bonus features" like complete songs, etc. You may think they're awesome, but really (and this is said with great respect), no one gives a {censored} about that stuff on a demo.

 

Josh's band (the Don K's) KILLED it with their demo video. Seriously go check out that link.

Brian V.

[SpaceNorman]

Somebody posted about keeping your video to 3..ish minutes MAX.  I think that's great advice if your intended audience will be primarily bar owners.   However, if you're looking to market to private clients for weddings, private parties, etc. - giving them the option of seeing more is a GOOD thing!  

IF bar owners look/listen at all - it's only going to be long enough to make a quick decision as to whether or not you sound on par with the acts he's already booking.   They're going to make that decision within a minute or two of watching and they're not going to agonize over it.   They hire bands constantly - and know that as long as your band doesn't douse itself with SUCK before taking to the stage - even if it's not their best hire, your not going to kill his business during the 180 minutes of music you'll provide at your first gig there - which is your REAL test.   If the video you showed him was your band's best 60 seconds ever, if you have a weak night musically or have a dismal showing - you simply won't be back.  

Private clients however come at things a little differently.  Since typically they don't hire bands - and this is their special event - they agonize over picked the perfect band.  They're leary about spending what might be several thousand dollars on a product they only got a 120 second glance at.   The more you can give 'em to look at and hear in terms of pictures, audio and/or video - the better.  (It should go without saying that the "the more the better" approach assumes that anything you let them see or hear needs to be of decent quality!)

I've seen a few demo DVDs that delivered the best of both worlds.  The DVD included a menu with a highly edited 3(ish) minute "showcase" video as the prominent choice ... with the option to view other clips that didn't make the "showcase" and/or full length clips of the tunes that made the "showcase".   The DVD was mastered such that it brought you back to the menu whenever you finished watching one of the clips. 

[jeff42]

I am working on a new one for us right now. I say nothing over 5 minutes. A perfect lenght IMO is under 4, around 3:30 

[Vito Corleone]

 

---

SpaceNorman wrote:

 

 

 

 

Private clients however come at things a little differently.  Since typically they don't hire bands - and this is their

special

event - they agonize over picked the

perfect

band.  They're leary about spending what might be several thousand dollars on a product they only got a 120 second glance at.   The more you can give 'em to look at and hear in terms of pictures, audio and/or video - the better.  (It should go without saying that the "the more the better" approach assumes that anything you let them see or hear needs to be of decent quality!)

 

I've seen a few demo DVDs that delivered the best of both worlds.  The DVD included a menu with a highly edited 3(ish) minute "showcase" video as the prominent choice ... with the

option

to view other clips that didn't make the "showcase" and/or full length clips of the tunes that made the "showcase".   The DVD was mastered such that it brought you back to the menu whenever you finished watching one of the clips. 

---

 

This is a good way to go about.   I fretted a bit at first about our demo being too long at 6 min.  I find private event clients asking to see MORE more often than not.  My next time around is going to include both longer and shorter versions of a lot of stuff.