What if you made a video proposal to accompany your written bid? Would it help get freelance work? I originally thought about video in limited terms. I saw it as a welcome to my website; it might engage people more than a standard written introduction. But perhaps video could do more, perhaps it could deliver a clip personalized to pursuing a specific job. I envision a one or two take video, no more than a minute, linked from a written proposal. I may post a model video after I’ve finished the present discussion. Speaking of which, here are a few more thoughts on producing a short film:
Vary the camera angle, especially if you are going to do something dull like read. Look to the center, look to the left or right. Move your camera. Get an uncluttered background. Sudden thought: the cheap vinyl banner is everywhere. How about ordering one with your logo and having that as your background?
Should you be doing a video? I thought discussing one of my magazine articles would be interesting. But all I ended up in my video were a bunch of pictures, which I could have displayed in an on-line photo gallery, and some text, which I could have presented on a web page.
To be involved, get involved. Perk up. In my video I was slow and rarely animated. Who needs that? It’s no wonder that morning television people are over-caffeinated. To make your message compelling you have to keep your viewer’s interest. And you can’t do that by putting them to sleep.
Music is wonderful! Plenty of royalty-free music exists on the web. Properly credit and experiment. In my recent video I used soft jazz underneath my discussion of still photographs. It worked very well. In a job proposal I can imagine some punchy music in the introduction, as the opening credit rolls, and then again at the end.
