Shooting notes

Shooting

• Sound first. Lyle wears the lapel mic every time.People forgive a wobbly picture. They scroll past bad sound.
• Shoot long videos landscape, with Lyle in the middle and some space around him.Then the vertical clips can be cropped from the same footage. One shoot, both formats.
• Long videos: 2 to 6 minutes, each answering one question.These go on YouTube and the website, and they're what Google's AI quotes.
• Short clips: 20 to 45 seconds, with the point made in the first two seconds.For Reels, Shorts and TikTok. Cut them from the long video where you can.
• Drone: landscape, high quality. Time-lapses of whole jobs are gold.Homeowners love seeing the full process, and so does Reddit.

Captions and words

• Burn captions into short clips. Most people scroll with the sound off.
• No burned-in captions on long YouTube videos. Correct YouTube's automatic captions instead, especially town and product names.Google reads those captions, and the video goes on the website.
• Title = the question. For example: “Standing seam vs exposed fastener: which metal roof is right for you?”It's what people type into Google.
• Descriptions and captions in plain search words: the service, the town and the material.For example: “Metal roof replacement in Goshen, Indiana”. Name the town in the text, not just the location tag.

Filming notes

A few things to steer around, mostly for the homeowners' sake.

• Check with the homeowner first, before the camera comes out at their house.
• Frame out house numbers, street signs and car plates, or blur them.
• Leave the Amish crew out of shot. Ask any other crew member before filming them.
• First names only for customers, with a surname initial if needed (“Timothy G”).
• Harnesses on. Keep anyone working without fall protection out of shot.

Where it all goes

Make once, post everywhere. Lyle gives each piece the nod first.