How do you continue to make engaging and effective videos - while remote? I rounded up a ton of examples to get you started and to see the balance between low quality and higher quality videos. There’s also some really creative ideas to help give an extra polished ‘pop’ to your videos.

Testimonials

At the end of the day what really matters most is your customers authentic voice. After all, people are watching in order to build trust and credibility with you, sometimes a simple one-take no-fluff video is all that it takes.

Here’s a few different quality and formats you can expect. If you want higher quality have people film on their phones (or camera if they have one!). Keep in mine vertical vs horizontal. Also understand that most people don’t have an eye for composition, so giving direction for what room to film or lighting helps.

If you want a more targeted message considering scripting. You can either use a real customer who can deliver well to the camera, or an actress to build a promo around:

Having a more scripted or direct testimonial is good when trying to tell a specific story, or your customer is comfortable delivering a written ‘speech’. You could either have them write something up, or do a pre interview call with them and you edit into a script.

I wouldn’t doubt she an actress. But none the less having an energetic persona on camera always helps. Also note that filming people outdoors may be a solution if you still want a film crew involved.

Additional graphic design or animation to your videos can really help give them a more ‘commercial’ look or be better suited for advertising purposes:

Making a simple ‘frame’ around your videos can work great when trying to give your videos extra branding design. They also are effective on social media where having your companies graphic on screen during the testimonial helps give the viewer the information they need.

If you want to pull them out of a physical location, consider green screen and keying a neutral backdrop. Zoom and other webcam software can now easily do this, or do it in post and work with your subject to find a solid background in their home.

Story Driven

Looking to make something that’s a little more than just an interview? Create engaging stories by collecting your remote interviews, social media posts or user generated content and delivering it in a format that is engaging and entertaining.

Add animation and design to your videos to keep things more engaging.

One on One Interviews

Having a two person interview discussion may be the best solution for your testimonial. Have a long form conversation and then use the content to edit shorter videos to use in future projects or marketing efforts. This video by ‘AQ’s Blog & Grill’ takes a creative approach by filming the host in person and keeping the interviewee on screen and mix with full screen.

This series by New York Times uses facetime/phone calls with different media and graphics mixed in.

Presentation

When presenting information or wanting to create more of a show format, here’s a few videos you can pull ideas from. These use an on-camera ‘host’ who guide the viewer and use elements of design, images, interviews, screenshots and audio to create their message.

Mr. Wonderful uses a two camera set up for his videos, with a wide shot on an automatic slider to give a more produced look.