Creating Digital Content: Behind the Scenes on our Digital Product Shoots
It’s easy to imagine ways to market a physical product: whether it be a candle, a notebook, or any other thing that can be held in your hands, the marketing, and advertising opportunities are endless. But, if you run a digital-first brand (such as design services, online courses, or mentorship and coaching), it can be reaaaaally hard to think of ways to market your product. That’s where we come in!
This week, we’re partnering with Planoly, an Instagram scheduling app, to host a workshop on approachable design. So, like a lot of small brands and experts, we had to find a way to create digital assets for this partnership.
Keep reading below to see how we use our app, Life Lapse, to create digital assets and marketing materials!
What you’ll need:
Tripod or DIY tripod
iPhone or Android with Life Lapse
Adequate lighting (check out our faves!)
Laptop with important information on the laptop screen
Various props: we used draped fabric
Flowers, dried plants, and other botanical elements
This video is of flowers growing out of a laptop. To film this, we will be filming it in reverse, cutting down the length of the flowers between each shot, and then reversing the entire video. This makes the whole process easier.
Set up your props, such as the draped fabric, flowers, and the laptop (make sure to change settings on your laptop to make sure your screen doesn’t go to sleep mid-filming). Set up your tripod and camera, making sure to lock white balance and exposure once your props are in frame.
Begin shooting. Have the full-sized lengths of the flowers and dried leaves coming straight out of the laptop. Take a photo.
Slowly cut the stems of the flowers and place them back in the same position. The ghost feature in Life Lapse is crucial for this! Take photos in-between “layers” of cutting stems.
Once you have reached a point where there are no flowers, begin taking shots as you rotate the laptop slowly. Make sure that the center axis of the laptop always stays in the same position— you want the laptop to rotate, not run out of frame. Make sure to slowly close the laptop as you rotate each shot.
Once the laptop has closed, repeat the rotation but with a closed laptop, but with larger movements in between each shot, which will make the laptop look like it is spinning faster. Take photos of each movement.
Launch the editor, and reverse your entire project! Make any adjustments, such as speeding up the video, cropping the frame, or adjusting brightness.
Save and share! Tag us on Instagram @lifelapse_app or using the hashtag #LifeLapse.
We hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at how we made this digital asset for our workshop! Make sure to sign up for the workshop as well: we’re super pumped about getting to share our knowledge.
