Today, the most innovative and modern real estate agents are marketing their properties using professional photography and live-action videos. As a professional photography company and producer of real estate property videos we are often asked by our agents and home owners, “how can I make my property video stand out from the rest?” This is a great question!
One simple fact: The goal of a real estate video is to create an emotional connection between a homebuyer and the property through live-action images.
In a real estate video, focusing on the home’s best features and showcasing lifestyle is so important. Your VSI videographer knows what to do behind the lens to capture your property and tell its “story,” but you can have a big impact in helping the videographer too. There are several items, we call them “props,” that you can use throughout your home, and they will showcase lifestyle and create that essential emotional connection you want homebuyers to have about your property. These items will make your house Pop!
In this post we will focus on four items, or “props,” that will help make your property video stand out from others. (These ideas will work for your professional photographs also.)
Fresh Flowers
Candles
Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs
Beverages
Look at the photos throughout this article to see the impact the “props” make. We have also included a few links to our property videos so that you can see these “props” in action.
FRESH FLOWERS:
It is proven that fresh flowers improve your mood. They produce feelings of calm, happiness, and well being. You want homebuyers to feel this when they watch your property video.
Purchase fresh flowers and put them in the key rooms in your home (kitchen, living room, master bedroom and master bathroom). You can coordinate the color of the flowers with the color of the room, or you can pick a contrasting color to really make the flowers stand out. Place the blooms in a prominent area of the room to have a dramatic effect.
Our top picks for flowers:
Tulips, White or Blue Hydrangea, Gladiolus, Lilies, Roses, Irises, Orchids, and
Sunflowers
Our top spots for flowers:
Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Fresh Market
TIP: Try to avoid dyed grocery store flowers. Roses and Lily of the Incas (alstroemeria), are popular grocery store flowers and they can work if they are a same color, same height arrangement.
TIP: Look in your backyard too. Your personal garden may have some great flowers and this will save on cost. That’s always a good thing!
CANDLES:
Simply put, candles are romantic. They soothe, calm, and captivate us. They also look amazing when captured on film. Showing movement is the whole point of producing a live-action video. Flickering flames on side tables or tea lights surrounding a warm bath are sure to lure buyers to your property.
Four great things about using candles or the fireplace:
(1) It shows more movement for the camera to capture.
(2) It highlights the ambiance of a room.
(3) It portrays the lifestyle buyers will live when they purchase your home.
(4) It showcases a special selling feature in the home, whether it’s the fireplace itself, beautiful tile work around the bathtub, or granite counter-tops.
TIP: Using the fireplace is best when listing your home in the fall or winter seasons.
FRUITS, VEGGIES & HERBS:
Nothing is as synonymous with home than food. When you see images of food you feel emotions like comfort and relaxation. Thoughts of family, favorite meals, and traditions come to your mind. They don’t call it ‘comfort food’ and ‘home cooking’ for no reason. Strategically placed bowls of fruit, colorful vegetables, or bright green herbs in the kitchen have the same calming and ‘at home’ effect as fresh flowers. On video shoots we use fruit and vegetables to add color throughout the home, soften hard surfaces, or add drama or whimsy.
Our top picks for fruits:
Apples (any color), citrus: (limes, lemons, oranges), Bananas, Strawberries, Pears, Peaches, Plums, and Tomatoes
Our top picks for vegetables:
Artichokes, radishes, leeks, onions, red potatoes, field greens, and bell peppers
Our top picks for herbs:
Rosemary, Basil, Lemon balm, Lavender, Mint, and Sage
TIP: Basically, any large-leaf herb will work, and herbs look best in clusters, or grouped together like flowers.
TIP: Fruits and vegetables can be used in the kitchen, but also in the keeping room, breakfast room, bar, or dining room.
ANYTHING ELSE? In addition to fruits, vegetables, and herbs consider other food items such as hors d’oeuvres, tapas, artisan breads, a block of cheese, pastries (cake or pie), or salad.
BEVERAGES:
Beverages send a welcoming message too. They welcome homebuyers into your home to enjoy your hospitality. Remember, you want viewers of your video to feel this exact way – welcome and drawn in.
Our top picks for beverages:
Wine, Cocktails, Sparkling water (like Pellegrino or Perrier), Lemonade, Iced Tea, and Glass-bottled soda (like root beer). Voss water looks good in modern/ contemporary homes.
TIP: Plain glasses filled with water and a lime or lemon on the rim will work too for a cheaper alternative.
LEMONADE…kind of:
Here is a little trick to make a mock pitcher of lemonade for your video. It’s quick, cheap and you don’t have to stir anything.
You will need:
Sharp knife, Two lemons, Ice, Glass pitcher
Directions:
1. Use your knife to cut your first lemon into thin slices.
2. Use the ice and only fill the glass pitcher half-way full.
3. Take the lemon slices and put them against the inner wall of the glass pitcher.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 by cutting the second lemon with your knife, and filling the remainder of the glass pitcher with ice. Line the inner wall of the glass pitcher with the slices from the second lemon.
In conclusion…
Items, that we at The VSI Group call props, can really impact the way your home is seen in your video (and in professional pictures). In this blog article you saw images enhanced using flowers, candles, beverages, and herbs. These items help homebuyer make an emotional connection to your property that they will not forget, and it will definitely make your real estate video stand out.
