Connecting with your Audience Using Aerial Videography

Up, Up But Not Too Far Away

Video shot from the sky, using aerial videography is just plain cool.

And while its easy to get caught up in the novelty of a camera soaring over your community and seeing it from a whole new perspective, at the end of the day — remember that your aerial video must be more than ‘cool’, it must tell a compelling story.

Take an image of your community from birds eye view, it has the possibility to allow future renters to see all that you have to offer, or it can easily miss the mark and give the viewer too broad a picture.

Keep in mind that your audience is now exposed to a fair amount of aerial videography, it’s nothing new.  So how do you get your aerial video to stand out, and more importantly let your viewers picture themselves living there?

Aerial footage needs to serve the story, not vice versa.  Each shot has to have a purpose.

The challenge is to hone in on the element that sets your community apart.  Perhaps it’s your building’s architecture, maybe the size/layout, or even what’s around the property, and sometimes even — a community that is not even built yet!  Outlandish as that may sound, hear us out.  You want to start telling your community’s story from the start, and while you may have only dirt piles and frames to show, aerial videography easily showcases incredible views the finished property will have, along with the ability to boast neighborhood attractions. It’s a smart way to start building anticipation and excitement for the neighborhood’s hottest new addition.

We recently did two videos back-to-back, one community in Downtown LA, and the other just a few miles away near LA’s Marina.  Both in Los Angeles, yet these communities had entirely different stories to tell — the downtown location needed to showcase an alluring urban city scape and all of the hip spots around it, while the Marina one boasted sweeping water views and a luxurious beach-side lifestyle.  They ended up quite different, and rightly so!

Waves MDR Apartments Aerial Videography

8th + Hope High-Rise Aerial Videography

Certainly one of the biggest challenges we face is a community with few outdoor amenities and an unattractive surrounding location.  We adapt our shooting style to the property, and focus our aerial videography on tighter shots of the building and available amenities.  There is always, always a story to tell — sometimes we just dig a little deeper to find it.

Ready for Your Close Up?

While the shots from the sky are an intriguing way to showcase your property, you still want the audience to connect with you community as much as possible, and the bird’s eye view can create a certain distance between you and your audience.

We avoid this by bringing the camera close to the ground, and moving through the community as well as over it. Starting or ending the shot on a closeup bridges the feeling between super high wide shots, and the perspective of standing in the community.  The wide tends to cover the magnificence, while the beauty is still often in the details.