I have my first two video shops tomorrow and I'm a wreck. I have cut three holes in my top so far and the camera still films the ceiling. At best I get the other guy's head and nothing else in the frame! What should I do?

You need to be able to steady the camera and secure it so that it does not move. I am guessing the issue is that the camera rig is somewhat heavy in comparison to the shirt you are wanting to use.
One of the methods I use is I had purchased some thin elastic and sewed a small band inside the shirt around the button hole. The camera rig slips tightly inside the band and it secures it to the button hole. I also have my rig electrical taped to a popsicle stick (method that has been around for a while). I have more bands sewn into the inside of the bra I wear for shopping, and the stick is then slipped inside those. It's quite the set up.

jpg,
You may also want to call your scheduler for some one-on-one coaching. There is no "one size fits all" method of mounting and securing the mini-cam. I prefer a shirt mount, rather than something that must move with the body, such as a bra mount. I also move the cam down one button hole below where most would mount it. Because I use crisp, thin cotton blouses, just screwing the button onto the cam will steady my camera angle. If I look down and can see the front of the button, I know that my cam is aimed too high. To solve that problem during a shop, I lean forward a bit. Or, if sitting at a desk, I stand, complaining of a stiff back, and then lean a bit to get the target in the frame.

Also, there are more tips on threads at the Video Shoppers Network [www.videoshoppingnetwork.org]

Good luck.

This is how I stopped filming ceilings:

1. Set your button camera up at home, and walk around slowly, looking at the PV-500 screen.
2. When it's just right, pin it in place. Try it again, looking at the screen.
3. Anchor the button lens with a few more pins to your shirt (I also don't like bra mounts.) Try it again.
4. Baste the button camera to your shirt with coordinating thread. Try it again.
5. Go into a retail store (if you are a one-party state) and take 5-10 minutes of film. Review your video.
6. Adjust as necessary.
7. Go into another retail store, do another practice video. Review again. Adjust again.
8. When you are 100% happy, add Velcro to secure to your shirt. Or whatever you are most comfortable with.
9. Look at how the loaner shirts from EPMS or other firms are set up. Get ideas from reading and testing.
10. Make sure all your buttons match! Sales agents aren't that dumb, many of them know what a single mismatched button means.

It's a good morning (3-4 hours) of time well-spent to do this. And it's a very individualistic thing for each person. Tall people (I'm 5'10" have one way, more petite people have another.


DONT rush out to do a video with 15 minutes to spare and no testing and expect good results.Unless you are the luckiest video shopper ever, you won't get useful footage.

Missy,
Excellent detailed advice. May I please borrow it, word-for-word, for a sticky that I am preparing on video shopping?

Many thanks!

jpj,
How did the shop go?

Wales, sure.

Once you get it right, it's like butter - takes a few heartbreaks and frustration first.

Yes, the video gods can be cruel. Twenty minutes of video of one's nostrils can get very boring.

Is there any way to alter a piece of jewelry like a brooch or pendant to make this button cam work?

It is so much easier to just utilize the buttons that come with the rig and alter some shirts. Plus the button is centered on the shopper's body and there is more flexibility for moving it higher or lower on the shirt to accommodate the shopper's height and build. A brooch would certainly look silly pinned in your cleavage or several inches above your belly button



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2013 07:05PM by LisaSTL.

Ok, I understand it better now. I was just thinking that since I design amulet pouches and other types of jewelry, this might be an alternative option. I will keep a reference to the hints on making the shirts work with the button cam for when I start my own forays into the vid world.

What works best to stabilize it differs for each person, particularly given different body types and heights. I am tall and rather curvy, so it took an entire day of trial and error (employees at the drug store up the street must have thought I was nuts) to get it secured in a way that was framed right and didn't cut off anyone's head.

I love hearing all the different ways to rig the camera. I am short and I have to step back if the salesman is over 6'. The guy must've thought I really wanted personal space! To steady the camera, I tested different valcro and cardboards, but ended up wearing a cami tucked into my pants, under the shirt. I safety pinned the shirt tab, just below the camera, to my cami and it worked. I ms'ed a plaid shirt from Aeropostle and it's flannel-like. I will need a much lighter shirt for summer in Florida.

Contact Kathy Hart with Instant-Replays. She fixed up my shirt & I have not ever had an issue with angles since.

I just used a shirt Kathy Hart loaned me for my 1st video shop today....have watched some of the video and it looks like I did a pretty decent job (the leasing agent was a young girl who moved fast!). The way Kathy fixed the shirt really helped.

Good deal. Were you a wreck the whole time or did you finally relax? My first video shop was car sales and the guy practically ran around the lot. It was amazing he was in frame at all, lol!

I highly recommend going with the shirts that Kathy Hart rigs up. Even if I thought I could do it myself, I probably wouldn't even bother to try - she charged me $40 for the shirt and all the sewing. Once I put her shirt on, there was no adjusting to speak of, other than making sure the camera stays "straight." Angles are perfect every time I put the shirt on.

Does Kathy Hart do online orders, or how does that work? Does she supply the shirts, or do you send her an appropriate one that she alters?

stormcloud,
There is a whole brochure for Kathy at the VSN site. Check it out. [www.videoshoppingnetwork.org]

In order to best figure out where (which button hole) is best for you to use, I strongly suggest getting a borrowed cam and testing out which button hole to mark for Kathy to alter for you. One plan does NOT fit all. I have to wear my cam on button lower than most, even though I am average height for a female.

Definitely nervous the whole time. Haha! But when I emailed Kathy about it earlier, she said the first 2-3 times the sweat rolls....and then you relax....and forget to turn the DVR on. LOL!


LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good deal. Were you a wreck the whole time or did
> you finally relax? My first video shop was car
> sales and the guy practically ran around the lot.
> It was amazing he was in frame at all, lol!

Or forget to turn it off! I left a new car dealer in Lexington, KY and because the associate ran up to my car during my getaway, I completely forgot. It ran while I drove to Louisville and proceeded to die just as I was being greeted at my next shop

I've left one of my voice recorders running for three hours before . . . . Hate when that happens.

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or forget to turn it off! I left a new car dealer
> in Lexington, KY and because the associate ran up
> to my car during my getaway, I completely forgot.
> It ran while I drove to Louisville and proceeded
> to die just as I was being greeted at my next
> shop

The last video shop, I was in the car taking out the camera to turn off, when the associate ran up to my car and almost scared the h*ll out of me! I had the camera in hand and was talking out loud the time and that I was leaving. I quickly put the camera behind my back and clumsily slipped in it my back pocket. Lesson learned...I will drive out of the lot before taking out the camera to turn it off.

ALWAYS, robe and wire well away from the site and then leave the site before reversing the process. Targets, especially at new homes, take great pride in spotting video shoppers and reporting them. They are well aware that we won't be paid if they report being shopped.

I always set up my rig at the closest location possible that I can safely pull into, introduce the video (shop #, community name, blah, blah), get everything situated right and then drive to the location. When I return to my car, I get in, make SURE I don't say anything as it would look weird and be a give away if I were talking to no one, and return to wherever I pulled over before to repeat the shop information before I turn off the video. I have and still get nervous from time to time that something weird happened and my camera stopped recording, but just remind myself that it is too late to do anything about it once I walk into that door so I cross my fingers and hope to see that little red recording light still on when the shop is done!

Just got an email saying my video was VERY good and that I was too hard on myself when I said it was hard keeping the agent framed because she moved really fast. The part that made me most nervous was when she showed me the onsite workout facility....with 3 walls of MIRRORS!! I was sure I was going to film myself. LOL

The thing I need to work on is not saying "okay" and "right" too much. I just feel like I need to acknowledge each thing someone tells me about an apartment. Gotta learn to bite my tongue. Haha!

lbyrche,
Well done. You have joined the SABOTS! (Sisters and Brothers of the Traveling Shirtd.) Once that camera is properly aimed, and does not come adrift, forget the cam and work the story. (Cams can get out of line just by carrying a shoulder bag, for instance.)

As for those mirrors, you will learn to anticipate them and carry a tissue or a brochure with which o discretely cover the cam when approaching any reflective surface. EXPECT a mirror whenever an elevator door opens; when turning to enter a bathroom; whenever entering a bedroom; when entering a leasing office or sales center. You can also send a note with the video asking the editor to edit out your reflection, giving the approximate time in the video for that.

Great tips, walesmaven! I never thought about covering the lens....it never crossed my mind I could do that and not cause issues with my submission. Most of the (non-video) apartment shops I've done have not included tours of workout areas....just an indication of where they are. Since we entered this one from outside the building, I wasn't even aware of where we were going until the agent opened the door....and suddenly there were mirrors everywhere. LOL