With TV news stations often stretched thin and unable to send a camera crew to cover a story or event, it’s a good idea to have your own footage for each of your clients available to provide to them.
Providing professionally produced B-roll to a news organization is invaluable when pitching a story to the assignment desk. It is priceless to have footage to show what your client does in case a story opportunity is presented to you. With footage of the manufacturing process, employees providing a service or exterior building shots with company signage on hand, you are immediately able to provide the file to a news station.
B-roll isn’t just for timeless footage. For companies with events that are time sensitive, footage often needs to be shot and delivered to the stations on the same day.
Many businesses make the mistake of providing amateur footage that never gets on air. When you hire a professional video production company to gather B-roll they have the equipment and the knowledge of what the station needs to increase the odds of it airing.
Footage needs to be shot in HD and the shots must be fluid and steady. Shaky camera work is unacceptable. When shooting using pans or tilts, the camera operator should let the motion end before cutting to another shot. If you’re including soundbites, a good camera operator will know how much pre-roll to include and will make sure the audio is crisp. If your client is with a national company, try to localize the story to make it more relevant. And remember exterior shots matter. When pitching a local story, don’t send video of the client’s New York office with Times Square in the background.
The footage not only needs to be photographed professionally, but it must also be edited to provide the best shots in a concise package. A professional editor will know to include the ambient sound and know the safe area for graphics on the screen. The editor will create the dubs or digitally send the footage to the station.
For your corporate clients, it’s important to have professional video to best highlight the organization. Whether for airing on TV or other corporate use, brand is the most important asset a company has and by shooting profession B-roll and having it ready, you control how that brand is presented.
This link offers an example of how B-roll we provided was used during an in-studio interview as cover shots during the segment.
For assistance on producing B-roll footage or soundbite clips for your clients, or your own company, visit us at Spectrum Video & Film or call 602-889-0990. We are experts in video production and have been in the Valley for more than 30 years. We offer full-service video production from script to screen; lighting, projection and sound for events and meetings; and webcasting. Your facility is equipped with a studio, three edit bays and a sound booth.