As a producer, director and video coach, I am always on the lookout in finding new ways to engage with and coach our clients, especially prior to their project’s film day. Because we live in a hi-tech world, we are offered endless opportunities to engage with each other over the internet with little to no effort. It’s a simple as logging onto a computer or grabbing your smartphone.

Facebook has opened so many doors and opportunities for just about anyone to create meaningful content by using Facebook Live.  I recently started leveraging this technology simply due to the fact that it was time efficient and could help document the pre-production stage of our video projects. “Necessity is the Mother of Invention”, as the Greek Philosopher Plato wrote in his notable works Republic. I believe Facebook had some great foresight and created this feature way ahead of the wave. Thank you Facebook.

In this episode of The REAL Podcast (powered by Facebook Live), we spoke with Douglas Echelberger of The Echelberger Group about his upcoming project highlighting San Juan Capistrano. This isn’t Doug’s first Destination Video with us as he’s done San Clemente and Dana Point.  Doug is the top real estate agent in San Clemente and it’s no surprise he was a natural on the show. The Echelberger Group has invested time and money in creating over a dozen videos with VideoSellRealEstate.com and are heavily using video to promote their properties and the cities in which they specialize. Highlighting San Juan Capistrano is important for Dough because he and his team have several listings in this community and want to show potential buyers the lifestyle this community affords. Plus San Juan Capistrano is within the Orange County areas that Doug services.

For every destination video we create, we always have a conversation with the client about key-points-of-interest and what lifestyle we really want to highlight. This is protocol and somewhat straightforward so having an opportunity to create content with our clients in a fun way really creates a better experience for everyone involved. Not to mention our entire team now has access to the conversation keeping everyone up to speed. During the discovery stage of the pre-production process, we were able to strategically plan the day of the shoot, along with overcoming challenges and committing to specific goals for the day.

This project was originally scheduled for the beginning of June however due to unfavorable weather, mainly a thick marine layer (a.k.a. “June Gloom”), we had to push it out a few weeks. When the Southern California coastline gets a good marine layer, it stays around for a good part of the day making it difficult to really optimize our filming time. Though San Juan is a bit inland from the coast, we wanted to make sure we could see the ocean for aerials and higher elevation shots.

This session was rewarding as we accomplished all of the goals we set for our Facebook Live. We spoke about specific key-points-of-interest such as Downtown San Juan Capistrano, Mission San Juan Capistrano, the Train Station (Depot), and Los Rios District, just to name a few.

San Juan Capistrano has the laid back vibe with a colonial flare as the architecture is predominantly Spanish and is found all over town. This is a very unique town, as it attracts a very specific resident who enjoy the suburban cruel feeling town but still close to major cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego. Interestingly enough, I only remember going to San Juan Capistrano once as a kid and after going twice to film this project, I will say it has quickly become a favorite of mine. I especially enjoyed being downtown and having quick access to the Mission and Los Rios District which were all a short walk away.

You’ll be seeing many more Facebook Live episode for our team. It is fun and exciting way to create content with our clients by documenting the journey.