Building My Green Construction Company #19

Here is Paul Hering's latest video. High tech or high production values, not. But nevertheless, he has achieved an intriguing early-state use of video for construction marketing in the new era. (I wonder, however, if he cleared copyright for using the music in this video!)

I emailed him to learn what camera/technology he is using for this video series.

Here is his response:

"Mark - I have a cheap AIPTEK camera with a 1GB card in it to capture pictures and videos. I got this camera because it was cheap and small. I carry it in my front left pocket and I can pull it out and take video pretty much anytime and often without others knowing I'm taking it. I hold the camera away from me when I am shooting myself and sometimes put it up on something. I note that the more I can just do it on the fly the more real what I say is and the more natural I appear...so I almost always just walk or move about as I would normally when I am shooting myself.

When I am in the truck, I just put it up on the dash pointing at me, sometimes I put a piece of duct tape under it in a loop so I can make sure it doesn't fall. Pretty darn low tech.

As far as editing, I use Ulead's Video Studio. It is a very easy program to use.

I plug in my card from the camera and move the files to a directory. Then I start the ulead software and I import all the video and images to the library.

I start a new project, review the video, use some simple cutting tools it has, put it in a timeline (drag and drop), and then put some titles, transitions, and music where it needs. The one I just did (not my best) I did in about 10 minutes. It was a 5 minute video with lots of cuts. Many of the videos can be done in a matter of a few minutes.

One last note. Youtube suggest you use MP4 files at 240 x 320, with 30 frames per second.

That's about it.

Hope this helps you."

I looked up Aiptek and learned their most expensive "high resolution" camera is available for about $400.00. The Ulead editing software is priced at about $60.00 This is definitely not high-budget stuff.

But it is right in line with some major trends in business and therefore Paul's project is worth observing closely.