If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine the value of a custom 3-D video promoting your product!

Why just talk about it if you can show it? TV advertizers know that any time a customer can see a product in living color - you sell more.

Until now, it's been practically impossible for customers to get a 3-dimensional view of products online. But not anymore!

Now there's Promomercials - the easy high-tech way to create an infomercial that brings your product or service to life... on a shoestring budget!

Boost Customer Response By 300% Let Your Prospects SEE The Product Before They Buy! Provide The "Human Touch" A Flat, Impersonal Ad Can't Even Approach Allow You To Personally Communicate Your Message Add Excitement, Impact and Build Desire! Close the Sale!

...All for a Mere Fraction Of What Ad Agencies Charge!

And the good news is, we handle the production for you. Why spend months of learning curve and thousands of dollars?

Promomercials is an affordable service to handle all your business video needs. We've optimized the video production process in standard formats to make it easy and foolproof for you!

Try Promomercials now during our limited time promotion which is sure to fit into your budget.

How does it work:

• Select from 100s of background scenes and 3-D virtual sets.
• Feature yourself in the video to explain your business or product as only you know how.
• Add text or bullets to your video production to present to your viewers.
• You can have multiple scenes and transition between each.

The video design has been simplified only requiring you to fill in a form and upload any photos you wish to include. Before starting work, we will review the video and requirements that you have given.

View More Samples: (scroll to view all)

Myth: You can easily create your own video infomercial.

Don't believe the gurus. They're lying to you.

This is my gut wrenching story to create the first couple of video infomercials.

I set out to create a few video infomercials to promote merchandise. I thought this would just take a few hours and maybe $100 in software costs. Boy, was I in for a surprise.

I wanted the video infomercials to look professional not like some amateur Boy Scout with a wobbly camcorder.

I knew that video would help tremendously to promote my products and boost the bidder activity. I wanted to sell an audio amplifier and WW II uniform on eBay. I should easily have this done by the end of the day, right?

I first looked for a capable video editing software package that did not cost too much. I wanted one that had chroma-key editing capability so that I could use a green screen and edit out the background. after three hours of evaluation and understanding features, I settled on one for $90 that seemed capable. It was even what the experts had recommended. OK, fine so far.

I did not know where to turn for a green screen, so I conducted research over the internet. I found many options for around another $100 and several lower cost alternatives. It did not occur to me that most of these would not work or yield crappy results. I tested eight different green screens and how they would work with the $90 software package. I even tried "pool table" felt - silly me. Some of the green screen options took a week to arrive. I also learned that lighting is critical to the chroma key software. You need to know where to place the lights or forget it. I got schloky chroma key results for all screens and only one was marginal. I dropped two weeks and several hundred dollars on green screen testing and still not happy with results.

I did more research on better software to handle the chroma-key effect for green screens. I found a $500 software package that looked like the cat's meow. I tried it and it worked far better than the $90 package. This produced professional chroma-key results. I dropped another $500! Still not even close.

I have a camcorder that I had purchased three years ago. It is a nice Sony Handycam and should do just fine for what I wanted. My first attempt sounded like I was speaking from a toilet. You see the built in mic from handycam was incapable of picking up my voice. I got in the car and drove to the Best Buy store to purchase a "gun" microphone. I dropped another $65. Now the audio was far better.

Now I had to upload the video onto the computer. Ohh, where did I put that manual from 3 years prior. Wow I still had it tucked behind the book shelf. I got lucky. I needed the USB cable to make the connection. I got back into the car to the Best Buy store. My blood was pumping. What if they did not have the right cable. After all the he was just a teenager. Ahh, there was one left on the rack and already opened item. Lucky me, dropped another $63. I proceeded to spend my entire Saturday figuring out how to upload the video. I could not get this to work by the end of the day. A few days later, I had to load one of the software programs provided from Sony. This took hours of trial and error just to get the first video clip. A small victory.

The next step took days to learn the video editing software. After all there were 95 video effect filters. The training guide was good however the software complex. I consider myself a technically savvy individual. If I was a technical novice, I would be totally hosed, humiliated and need to take a time-out for reflection. I was also juggling two software packages, one for chroma-key and the other for editing video on a timeline. I also had to come to understand all the NTSC video formats. I did not get it at first how to add text annotation to the video. I did not learn this until days later. My first attempts were crummy and had no text effects or scene transitions.

Next I wanted to add one or more scenic image backgrounds into the video. After all, this is what the chroma-key effect is all about. I was fortunate to already have a service that provided great image backgrounds. I had previously dropped $167 for the annual membership to obtain images. In this way the license was clean to use for royalty free commercial use. Good for me. I can see those without a membership or access will be shelling out more clams for images.

I went to another service to purchase some background videos. These would produce a nice background effect. I actually spent a half day researching what was available and costs involved. Most of the options were around $100 for each video. After several hours, I found a nice site for $10 each video background and fully licensed. The problem was that these were in true 16:9 format and the video editing wanted 4:3 ... arrgh. I even repurchased several of the videos for $20 each at a higher resolution however still with the same format issue. I spent a full day figuring out this bugger and finally found a solution with the software.

Next I wanted to add background music to the infomercials. I can't believe how much nicer they sound with motivational background music. I searched around on the internet and found FREE MIDI music at every corner. This is music that is synthesized by the computer. It was not near MP3 quality but, hey ... it was for free. There were hundreds of these songs free for the taking. It was like I just landed in Oz. OK, so I had to drop another $20 for a program to convert them to a WAV format. I didn't feel so bad because I was getting free music. Wrong!

I went along this merry path for a few weeks finding more music selections. I was feeling good like I got something without major expense. I got a rude awakening from my merchant provider. They had sent me a message that I had to prove all the music was copyright free or they would shut down the merchant account. How did I suddenly get caught up in a Napster style battle? After all it was only a few MIDI songs that I got off the internet. Right??

I started to poke around and spent a half day reviewing copyright issues in regards to MIDI files. These are in fact copyrighted same as any other content. There is even some lawyer from CA, suing people at $50,000 a pop for violation of MIDI copyrights. No wonder the merchant provider backed off. Why didn't these "FREE" MIDI sites explain all this to me. I can't even download for personal use without violating the copyright.

I spent several hours searching for royalty and copyright free background music. I found a great site, however they wanted $59 for each MP3. I really liked the music selection and also the license terms. I made a bulk purchase and dropped another $190. At least now I was clean and could use the music for commercial use. I even got them in higher quality MP3 files. Sure, I could have purchased MP3 songs off the net for $1 however this is strictly for personal use.

For a few of the video infomercials I wanted to add a nice voice over. I had a medium quality microphone that I had paid $60 a few months back. After a few hours I found some nice audio recording software - dropped another $30. As I found out later, if I didn't like my own voice, I would need to hire voice talent. This costs extra and you need to provide script and direction to the voice talent. I had to redo the voice over many times until I got it right. I also needed to re-record as the audio input was clipping.

Now after 6 weeks I was all set to put it all together into a video production. I spent the entire day fighting with the tools and video formats. I also had no idea how loud the final audio would play on the internet .. just guessed. Also I needed to know what resolution the source videos and content needed (480x360, 320x240 or 240x180, etc). How would this effect the bit rate and bandwidth for the final product? What if I wanted to change the display size .. what then?

My first attempt at rendering the movie produced a 4 Gigi-byte AVI file. Wow, I was impressed with myself. After a few more of these, my available disk was all cooked up .. had to delete before saturating the hard drive. I knew that I could not upload a 4 Gigi-byte file to the server and needed to convert to a different format. After previous research, I knew that the FLV flash video format was the most compatible. I searched and found a FLV conversion tool. I like the tool ... dropped another $150.

I could have uploaded onto YouTube or Google Video, however would need to live with the funky splash logo overlay they demand. You know, the YouTube logo on top of your hard earned video. I searched for the better part of a day and finally found a player for the FLV file. They even provided a good user manual and forum. The player was fully featured and I could program the size of the display. It wasn't until weeks later that I really understood all the features of the player. I'm happy with the player ... dropped another $150 for the commercial license.

I had created the FLV files for DSL bit rate. After playing many times, I was not happy with the quality. The videos were grainy and blurry. I spent a half day playing with the bit rate, frame rate and resolution. I finally found a combination that I was happy with the video quality. I was running a screaming broadband cable connection however. I tested my connection and found to be running at 7 Mbps. Wow, I was impressed again ... yipes what about the rest of the world? Would they be able to run the video at these new settings?

Here starts my public library tour. Sure I sent this to friends to test, however they didn't know their connection speed. I dedicated another Saturday. Little did I know that libraries don't open until 1 PM .. librarians have a life too? I drove from one public library to another just to test speed and video quality. Most of them made me register a library card even though I wanted only one minute on their computer. They must have thought I was some kind of criminal there to blow up their computer or infect with a virus. After visiting six libraries I was satisfied the bit rate and quality were set properly. Well at least I'm now a happy card carrying member of these libraries. I hadn't been to a library for 7 years ... not sure if I'll go back again. Dropped $6 for library cards.

Ok, now I'm getting close... I could feel it. Some weeks back, I had done a pre-test for running the video on eBay. I felt confident. I went in this time to my eBay account. All I needed to do was add a few lines of script code and I was gold.... wrong! Some time back, eBay outlawed Javascript code on any of their listings. I did not catch this until now. I was sweating beads. After all I had spent the last two months getting these videos produced. How could they throw this on me at the last minute? I had to do something as I had come so far. I'm technically savvy and also a webmaster, however felt like I was blind-sided.

After three hours and some nervous searching, I had come up with a code solution that was compatible with eBay. It actually worked first time ... amazing. What if I was a novice or did not understand code ... what then? I would be stuck.

Finally success and an end to the adventure!

Even now, I find that each video infomercial I produce gets better and better. Beyond mastering all the technical ins and outs, there is the aspect of quality and professionalism. I know it is just human nature that the first attempt at a video infomercial will look like the "Funny Home Videos" TV show. Now, after doing many of these, I've got most all of the fine points.

OK, take a deep breath, let's tally the damage.

It took the better part of two months to get to the end. Of this a good 2-3 weeks solid was spent actually working the issues.

Damage in dollars:

	Video Editing Software:	$90
	Chroma-Key Software:	$500
	Green Screen Kits:	$200
	Lighting:	$25
	Image Backgrounds:	$167
	Video Backgrounds:	$65
	Music Backgrounds	$190
	Microphone (camcorder)	$65
	USB Cable (camcorder)	$63
	Microphone (computer)	$52
	Audio software (computer)	$29
	MIDI conversion software:	$20
	FLV conversion Software:	$150
	FLV Player License:	$150
	Library Cards:	$6
	Sub Total	$1772

After first adding this up I almost flipped! What started as a no big deal Brian ... have it done by the end of the day, turned into a 2 month wild ride and $1772 out of my wallet.

Myth: Busted!

OK, Gut check time... does this sound like a fun time for you?

Do you have this level of patience, technical know how and dollars to invest? Are your "Do It Yourself" hormones this turned on to jump in with both feet?

What if I had used one of the video infomercial professional services. After all, they show really well done videos on their website and friendly sales staff. What's wrong with this? Nothing if you can afford it.

I surveyed more than a dozen of these services. Even for the service options where you provide a fair amount of assistance, the starting price is $5,000. Most were running around $10,000. What's up with this? They must know what you would go through if done on your own and then jack up the price. What's the average Joe to do?

Now, why should YOU go back though all this pain and learning curve. After all I learned what not to do and also purchased the needed tools and backgrounds. I now have this process down where it takes under one day for each video infomercial. I wish I had all this knowledge two months ago.

I have packaged this service and prepared a well documented system to follow. I'm not however going to fly out to your location and shoot video. I train you how to record the video, setup the lighting and write the script. All is done through a series of forms that you fill. Don't bother uploading video on the internet, just send through postal mail.

You get to pick the background images, music and any text annotation, for up to 8 scenes. Use video and photos in your infomercial. I handle the rest. I even remove the background clutter on the photos.

When done with production, you get a few lines of code to load onto the web page. That's it. No grand adventure. Sorry.

I have this process and system worked out that your cost is beyond belief. Gone are the days of $5000 video infomercials.
That's my story.

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