Filming Tips for Visually Explaining Your Curbside Service

In this strange new world of the COVID-19 pandemic, veterinary medicine is changing. Curbside service is becoming the norm, but many pet parents may be disconcerted about letting their pet be taken away for a check-up or treatment or coming into contact with your staff. So how do you gain their trust and promote your curbside services? Video, of course! We’ll give you tips and advice for shooting video of your curbside services to give your clients peace of mind while keeping them, your staff, and the pets safe and healthy.

Filming Tips

To film your curbside service video, you don’t need any fancy film equipment. Most smartphones these days have all the technology you need to create an informative, engaging video! Yet, to help you shoot the best video possible, we’ve collected some filming tips to help you along.

When filming with your phone, turn it on its side for a full-screen video.

A full-screen video will fit well on a variety of platforms including social media, YouTube, your website, etc. And it provides a nicer viewing experience, too!

When recording audio, have the phone microphone 1 or 2 feet away from the subject’s mouth.

This helps create clear, crisp audio with minimal interference or outside noise.

Get shots that help tell the story.

Here’s a shot list that you can pull from. You can try to get all the shots, or just the important ones, like the establishing shot of your practice, the car pulling up with a pet poking their head out the window, and your staff coming to greet them. The purpose is to give people a sense of normalcy and ease. The video is essentially saying, “See how easy and safe curbside service is? You can do it too!”

• Start with an establishing shot of the outside of your practice. This is essential! Think of it as a greeting—you wouldn’t ever start a conversation with your clients without a greeting, so include one in the video!
• Get an action shot of a client’s car driving up for curbside service. This one’s important, too. It shows people exactly how easy it is to receive your services!
• Have your staff come out to take the pet from the back of the car into the hospital or have your staff (safely) hand over a prescription, supplements, or something else pet parents would pick-up at the practice.
• If you brought a pet into the hospital, you’ve got to show them coming out! Have a shot of your staff bringing the pet back to the car and speaking briefly (and at an appropriate distance!) to the pet parent in the car.
• To close out your video, you can include a closing statement from a veterinarian or other staff member thanking clients for their continued trust in your practice!

Get audio to support the shots

A picture is worth a thousand words… and video is worth even more! While clients can still get the gist of curbside services without any audio, some dialogue does help to clarify things! It’s helpful to have a narrator to explain your services. They can either be in the shot, or you can take their audio separately and overlay it throughout the video. If capturing any dialogue outside where there could be a lot of audio interference, make sure to keep the speaker’s face in full view of the camera so people can see their mouth move while they talk. This helps the viewer better understand what is being said.

Need Some Help?

Most smartphones have everything you need to be able to shoot and edit your video, however, it may need some polishing! Our videographer, Jonathan, may be able to help.