Take your Zoom meeting look to the next level with an at-home-cinematography consultation

How can you put your best foot forward in the working-from-home era?

how can you make a better first impression? How can you look great in video chats?

Have you ever been on a Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, or other video call and thought, “I look terrible!” Maybe the image is muddy and dark, or maybe you look backlit or underlit like the villain from a 30s horror movie. Well you’re not alone. Between bad lighting, unconsidered backgrounds, and poor webcams, terrible is the default.

Then there are other times where you look great. You catch yourself in the mirror somewhere and if the light is just right, suddenly, you’re a movie star! There’s a reason for this, and no, it’s not because you look Jekyll/Hyde-different day-to-day.

I recently edited videos for a major Fortune 500 company in which all videos were shot from home on webcams or phones. The crazy part is everyone looked terrible and destitute, even though they were all good-looking people with amazing salaries and beautiful homes. I realized it’s because they didn’t know how to choose the right location in their houses or apartments, and didn’t know how to light themselves to look their best.

So the next time this company hired me, I offered an added benefit: lighting consultations. With just 30 minute calls I was able to dramatically improve the quality, using the same materials!

With over a decade of experience as a cinematographer in the New York video production world, I’ll tell you the NUMBER 1 rule of video:

Lighting is everything!

You could be shooting on a $100k camera (yes, they exist) with a $100k lens (yes, they exist) and still have it look like garbage.

Similarly, you could be shooting on an iPhone, and if the lighting is right, and the room looks good, it will still look incredible! Recently one of the world’s best directors, Steven Soderbergh, proved it, shooting a major Hollywood thriller on an outdated iPhone.

And here’s the good news, you don’t need a $30k light and modifier (yes, they exist) to get the right light quality! You can get amazingly good light quality from fixtures around your house, IF you know how to use them.

In general, Hollywood cinematographers are trying to recreate the look of natural daylight and household lights, but most importantly they use this light in a flattering way.

Light position and placement is the key, and that’s the real skill a cinematographer learns: where to put the light relative to the subject to make the subject look their best while the surroundings still feel believable and natural.

Light position and light quality are what make people ugly or beautiful in video.

How can you get better Zoom lighting?

You don’t realize it, but your home has AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, FLATTERING light. You just don’t know how to find it.

Here’s where I come in. I can tell you the exact place to sit or stand in to look your best, while positioning you in your space and working with your furniture to make the best impression, all using lights and windows you have at home.

Or, if you want to take it further, I can guide you to products which can help elevate your image for any budget.

After a quick video tour of your space, I’ll tell you which lights to use and how to modifying them with everyday household items, you can achieve amazing results. I’ll talk you through the process in laymen’s terms that anyone can understand.

Are you ready to go pro?

Having a flattering Zoom call video is as fundamental to modern career advancement as having a good handshake, eye contact, and business card were a year ago.