Can anyone give me suggestions on creating video tours for marketing our apartments?

Go you fiverr and look up a video producer called Neophonic.

He is incredible!! Just send pics and details and you get a professional video for $30-$40.

Jim,

For my first walk thru video attempts I used

iPhone 6

Clip on Mactrem wide angle lens ($18 Amazon)

Battery powered work light in my other hand.

Post on YouTube with their music.

Upload to YouTube, marked with the house number then my company name, no street name, block comments.

You can see online at my YT channel GraysonProp.com . Not great but they are getting views (73 views!) and good comments on applications. I don't like my music selection and I want a cool title thumbnail, but they are up and working while I sleep! We make the video PRIVATE on YT when the house rents.

Now I use

iPhone 6

clip on Momentum wide angle lens ($67 used, no distortion)

Smooth Q gimbel ($135 Amazon) to steady the picture - smoother. I have not uploaded those yet.

My tips:

Turn on all the lights in the rooms, tilt the blinds so they let in light shine down but we're not distracted by seeing my truck outside, unlock doors so you can push them open, straighten and clean because the camera picks up EVERYTHIING!

Start with a full shot of the front, do a SLOW 360 left to right, circle the exterior of house, (or do this when you walk out the back door). I walk quickly in boring areas like getting to the back corner of the yard, then slowly show the entire yard or room. As I go into the house I kick off my shoes and walk like a Ninja. Again, I tilt down to swing thru an area or walk quickly, (if you point the camera at the walls while you swing around your viewer wil get ses-sick!) then almost dramatic slo-mo to show the wide shot of the room or features such as kitchen cabinets. I try for 3 minutes max. That's hard in larger homes.

You can upload straight from the phone to YouTube, set for no sound, or narrate while you shoot, narrate later, or use YouTube's free music.

After you've done all that you MUST promote the video in your marketing or no one will ever see it.

We have it on the website and flyer with a copy taped inside the front window. Some folks have told us they stood on the porch and watched the video on their phone.

Hope this helps!

PS

I hold the camera at MY forehead level with a slight tilt down. (I'm 6'2" so the camera is at 6')

Seems to include more of the room and minimize distortion.

I pro told me showing more of the floor makes the room look bigger than just showing wall.

BRAD

PS watch for mirrors and reflections in windows. I don't have anything to hide but I find it very distracting to see the cameraman.

I use a battery powered 126 LED photo light to light up the rooms as I go. Without it the corners and some rooms look dark.

BRAD