The eLocal Photography Website Videos
eLocal, an Internet local search marketing company has developed a series of short 15-20 second for a wide range of occupations. The company has cleverly made each video sufficiently general that it can be placed on any website dedicated to the profession for which the video was made. In this way, the videos can be sold at a wholesale cost, and are therfore available in a price range affordable for many small businesses.
The eLocal company has made two videos for photography websites, and it is worth reviewing them, and learning from them, as the short generic website video is a new genre for the Internet. The two videos can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/elocalvideoexamples#p/u/8/SYkuCFjdHpY (73350000_03 Photography) http://www.youtube.com/elocalvideoexamples#p/u/9/K9aTpKehtLg (73350000_01 Photography)
Both videos use a format which is standard for photography website videos. They present a series of photographs of the artist set to background music. The effect of such videos depends on the quality of the photographs, how they are arranged, the quality of the music and the interplay between the music and the photographs. The appeal of photography website videos is liable to be personal with some people liking a video that others hate, and vice-versa. Therefore, I can only present my own opinion.
While both eLocal videos have the two main ingredients of a photography website video, the photos and the music, they are vastly different in their presentations. Video 03 presents well spaced photos. Each photo is displayed by itself and remains on the screen for several seconds. There is variation in the way the photographs appear, with each of the photos employing different special effects for their entry, i.e. one comes in via a spiraling motion, one comes in with a fold in fold out motion, one comes in from the side, leaving a comet trail of duplicates behind it, etc. The photos follow one after the other, and while captions appear on the screen, the captions appear at the bottom and do not break up the presentation of the photos.
In contrast to the first video, the second mini video (01) is more chaotic in its presentation. At times more than one photo appears together. The interval between photograph appearances is random, with some photos merely flashing on the screen and others staying on a bit longer. At times when more than one photo is showing, they appear and disappear at separate rates. On multiple occasions, there is only a dark screen with a white caption.
The caption style and the musical selections also vary a lot between the two videos. In the first video, the captions are family oriented, and heartwarming. “Capture your style, your family, your moment.” The caption in the second video is more imagistic “See yourself through our eyes.”
The background music in the first video (03), is a progressive, upbeat guitar and vocal. The vocalist sings “the spirit of music got you out of control,” “something’s got you and your losing control, wooh! wooh!” Whereas, the vocal in the second video is not made of words but rather vocalizations, “eooh, eooh…etc.”
In the first video we only hear a segment of the song, however, because the song is broken up into verses, with a chorus between each verse, we hear distinct parts of the song, which are complete in and of themselves. In the second video, we have the impression that we are listening to a segment of the song with the beginning and end cut off.
I can only speak for myself, as some people might have the exact opposite reaction to the videos that I did, but I much prefer the first video. The photographs are mostly photos of families. The first photo is of a man, but he appears to be a family man or at least a man solidly engaged in a business or profession. We can identify with these photos, and with the lifestyles. Just for starters, these are the kinds of people that like to document their lives in photographs.
In the second video, I feel like I am seeing life that most resembles an expressionist painting. While the presentation may be contemporary, and admittedly appealing to many people, this doesn’t represent the kind of life I would like to immortalize in photographs. I also, don’t feel I have enough time to connect to whatever is being presented on screen, and therefore would be unlikely to contact a photographer with this video on his website. The music is chaotic. Whereas the first video the song about losing control reminds us of the happy times when family like takes off in moments of joy and ecstasy and we totally lose track of time, as we live for the moment. These are the very times, family members are most likely to want to immortalize in photographs.
My take home message from reviewing these two mini photography , is that the goal of a photography website video should be not so much to stun the viewer as to attract him with a well created display that gives him time to appreciate what is being offered in the context of appealing music, which enhances the mood engendered by the photos.
