Real Estate Filmmaking

Learn how to showcase property like a pro.

Join Karl and the team film on location in a stunning property with ocean views. As he works to make the property look its absolute best on video, Karl teaches you a host of useful tips and techniques to help you produce your own pro-quality real estate films.

You’ll cover essential equipment, including lights and modifiers, as well as things to consider in terms of camera settings, focal length, and exposure.

Staging the property to optimise its appeal is a key aspect of the process. Karl shows you how to remove unsightly clutter and add tasteful props to create occlusion and accentuate a home’s best features.

You’ll also learn how to plan your shoot to make the most of the available natural light at different times of day, what frame rate and lens to use, the value of drone footage, the importance of point of view, and much more.

Watch the stunning final edit below, or at the end of the class.

In this class:

  • Real estate filmmaking techniques
  • Equipment and props for real estate filmmaking
  • Frame rates and lens choices for real estate filmmaking
  • Lighting tips for filming interiors
  • How to balance interior and exterior exposure
  • Drone videography
  • Removing unsightly clutter and reflections

If you enjoy this class, be sure to check out Video Camera Stabilisation, Aerial and Drone Filmmaking and Interview With Architectural Photographer Sean Conboy.

Questions? Please post them in the comments section below.

Recommended content:
Rémy Martin XO Cognac Product Shoot
Video Camera Stabilisation
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Aerial and Drone Filmmaking
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Interview With Architectural Photographer Sean Conboy
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Frame Rates, Shutter Speeds and Slow Motion

Comments

  1. Excellent, I learnt a lot from this.

    Would love to see how you’d shoot a location fashion – website ‘hero’ / seasonal collection lookbook type video.

  2. Karl, is it safe to say that you will be using Adobe Premiere for your class video editing. I would like to start familiarizing myself with the software now. I am a stone cool beginner.

  3. Hi, could you please tell me the name of the app you use for the sunlight ? it seems better than the one i have.
    Thank you,
    Alex

  4. Hi, I have a question re shutter speed. Appreciate frame rate is going to affect the minimum shutter speed however my (very limited video) understanding was that higher frame rates stop motion blur in the still frames so any movement can look jittery? Presumably the minimum shutter speed at 120 fps would need to be 1/125 (?) but if I needed to stop down light with a higher shutter speed would the higher shutter speeds cause any issues with motion?

    Also, I noticed in the video the shutter speed (at one point) was 1/200th with 1600iso. Is there a reason for that or could I shoot at a lower ISO and frame rate (ie 1/125) to reduce noise?

    1. Hi MSJCreative, with high frame rates/ slow motion it’s generally better to use a higher shutter speed as there is no need for motion blur like in normal speed video, so it won’t look jittery. The reason you want motion blur in normal speed video is because its simulating how we see naturally so when something is in real time with no motion blur it looks jittery because we are used to seeing motion blur naturally but when viewing in slow motion it’s actually better to not have motion blur. You’ll notice in the speed ramped sections as I filmed at a high shutter/ fps meaning no motion blur was recorded I then reintroduced motion blur in post in the fast parts to make the movements smoother again. Yes the minimum shutter speed for 120fps would be around 1/125.

      It depends on what you are shooting and your cameras low light performance, the Sony A7S3 I was using to film this is ok at 1600iso but I wouldn’t have to wanted to go much higher than that other than 12800ISO (the cameras second native ISO), in this case I opted for slighter crisper slow mo using 1/200 but if the camera wasn’t as good in low light and looked noisy at 1600ISO then yes I would have dropped the ISO and the shutter, its just trade offs to get the best image I suppose.

  5. Chaz27

    Very nice seeing the lighting set ups. What lights are you using?

    Looking forward to seeing more. Always open to learning more for everybody has their different styles of shooting,
    I have recently shot several large horse equestrian properties for a realtor with beautiful results.
    Looking forward to sharing what I have learned and of course, everyone else’s opinions.

    1. Hi Rizwan, no it was in manual focus, I was filming at around f8/f11 so I had sufficient depth of field and then before I filmed the shot I would move into the planned shot slightly and focus on the main area that needed to be sharp, for the reveal style shots from behind walls or other foreground elements I would pre focus on the area that was being revealed and then move behind the wall or what ever item was in the foreground ready to do the reveal.

      1. Hi Ben,

        ¿Do you always shoot real estate photography around f8 or do you use other f stops?
        I´m a real estate photographer and want to start videography for interior design, I´m buying new equipment and I´m between a f4 stop lens or a f2.8 stop lens but I don´t know if the f2.8 is necessary or not while making this kind of videos.

        1. Hi deniseheirman,

          Not always f8 but mostly around there, it depends on how much light etc there is, for real estate you probably don’t really need a super shallow depth of field like f2.8 as you are going to want to most of the room/ house in focus for wider shots, the only use it may have is for some arty detail style shots of some stand out features in the house, so I suppose its good to have the option if its there but its not essential, hope this helps

  8. Karl, this film is outstanding. That said, are you planning, or already have some videos on post production on the making of the final edit?
    I am curious on what software you use and how that process is done.

    Thank You
    PS
    The gimbal video is excellent too!

    1. Hi Mark thank you, yes there will be a video on the edit etc coming in a couple of months time. We are also adding other editing classes in due course as we continue to expand our film-making section.

      1. Looking forward as are others to the video editing. Please assume no knowledge of video editing, a true beginner’s course. Thank you.

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