Self-made Promo

[George Gilbert]

Hello,

I'm no producer but please be honost with me .. Will something like this be good for the festivals that require a Video? does it do what a promo video is supposed to do?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwoDAX4UY08&feature=channel_page

I also have a full length (60 min) DVD of raw performance footage (no cuts) .. Would it be better to send the festivals the full DVD or this short clip??

George

[Evan Young]

you can't see the cigarette. If I wasn't familiar with magic I would have no idea what was happening.
Your character comes across well, and it's interesting (I like it).
I like the gag about walking the rope, but the clip drags on in the video. Try breaking it up into sections and put other clips between them.
promo vids should be 2-3 minutes long, and the first 30 seconds are the most important. Get your message out there as fast as possible. The video can be longer than 2-3 min, but assume that they will turn it off after a couple minutes, don't save the good stuff for the end.
Think about what a festival wants, and what they want to avoid.


video is the most difficult part of promo in my opinion.

[Stephon]

I'm not sure repeated shots of you having to encourage your audience to applaud for you will send the message you want. Also, there's a shot of a family turning and walking away from your show; you might want to find another clip to use instead.

That said, it looks like your stuff is strong, and I'm glad to see someone having success busking in OC.

[George Gilbert]

i'll be redoing this video with your thoughts in consideration (i'll refrence back to this thread while i'm working on it) ...

.. i'm tryin to get my stuff together.... (i'm also working on a website, new myspace, and other promo material now)

thanks a million guys