Focus on Lifestyle Production
Video content works. In fact 78% of video marketers say video has directly helped them increase sales. Whether you are already using video or are in the 17% who don’t know where to start with video, you need to make sure the video you create gives you a return on your investment.
This means understanding what you are looking to communicate and the best way you can utilise video for your end goals. To help you, all this month we’re going to look at different types of video production and how and when you should use them. This blog showcases lifestyle production.
What is Lifestyle Production?
The final type of ‘Field Production’ is lifestyle production. This is a hybrid of studio and onsite production, as it is centered around sourcing a location specifically for filming. However, unlike sourcing a studio, which is specifically built for production, with lifestyle production sourcing you are looking for a specific type of location. This could be a house, a park, a cafe or something completely different.
Benefits and Challenges of Lifestyle Production
Like with onsite production, you are filming at a location that isn’t designed for production and some of the same challenges apply, such as trying to control lighting sources. However, you often have more control over the amount of space you have available and are able to dedicate more space to setting up equipment such.
Like with a studio setting, you may have more control of the space and this means that you can set up equipment in advance and often have a larger crew. You can also set the structure of the days filming in advance, meaning that capturing footage can be more efficient.
With lifestyle production you can have a mix of equipment. When filming in a larger setting this might include larger lights, diffusion and dolly and track that you might find in a studio setting. However, with smaller spaces it might be more lightweight equipment that is more often used for onsite production. The key is that you can match the equipment to the location when it is booked rather than needing to be flexible on the day.
A big part of a lifestyle production may come down to the location sourcing, which is in itself an art! Making sure that the right location can be found, which is large enough to accommodate the equipment, crew and any actors or models and that can cover the breadth of different scenes can be a mission.
Sourcing talent such as actors and models and the art direction, such as the props and set dressing that might be part of a specific scene are also key components that can help a lifestyle production come to life.
When to Use Lifestyle Production
Lifestyle Production should be used when you need control over a location but may not have the funds for a studio.This can often be where you are trying to tell a story where the locations play an important role or are required to give context.
Examples of Lifestyle Production
For example when we worked with Dark Stag we were showcasing their range of barbering equipment. We needed to source a barbershop for the filming that met both the production requirements, but had a look that dovetailed with Dark Stag and their brand story so that the video would be a success.
For Glenmuir we needed a golf course that would lend itself well to both video and photography, where we could control who was on the course so that the main focus was on the models and the high-tech clothing they were wearing. As Glenmuir is an aspirational brand, the location also needed to look stunning and be somewhere picturesque.
For HoMedics, Winstons Wish and the Property Academy we needed home settings that each looked realistic to the video's story. For HoMedics this meant utilising separate living room, bedroom and bathroom spaces to showcase their wellness products.
For Winstons Wish, we needed the child to be the focus, so the house needed to be a simple backdrop but staged with specific props and set dressing.
For Property Academy the home was filmed both internally and externally to tell the story of a home sale. It was important that the internal scenes showed the house as empty to match the story of the video, so this was a key part of the location sourcing.
Conclusion
We hope this blog has helped you understand lifestyle production and when this style of production might work for you. Want to know more about production styles check out our series - Studio Production, Documentary Style Production, Onsite Production.
Think a lifestyle production might be right for your next project, get in touch using the button below.
