The viewer’s heart is won through the ears, not the eyes
When I first started learning about real estate media, I noticed that many videos showcasing real skill from the videographer and editor still ended up feeling dull and boring because of overly neutral music. It filled the silence, but carried no soul, evoked no feeling. When music like that was used in slideshows, it just put me to sleep.
Since then, I have watched a huge number of real estate videos and slideshows, and realized that this is a very common problem in the industry. Professionals are happy to spend thousands on equipment, but it rarely crosses their mind to treat music as something that truly matters.
Home buying—and even renting—is an emotional decision, which means your marketing visuals should be aspirational. And when it comes to emotional engagement, the music in a real estate video or slideshow plays a huge role.
At first, I thought music was just as important as the imagery. But I soon realized that it’s even more important!
This concept felt so daring that I put off writing this article for quite some time. But then I came across an educational video for videographers that perfectly confirmed what I had strongly felt:
“80% of what makes a video feel premium is the music. The song really does 80% of the work. And the footage is just a visual layer on top of the emotional foundation that the music has already built. The song is the video, and everything else around it is just decoration.
Go look at all the videos that you love, all the videos that inspire you. And I guarantee you: the song is either catchy, exciting, moving, motivating, and above all, it’s memorable. And this isn’t just my opinion. There is actual research that backs this up. The brain processes sound 80 milliseconds faster than it processes visual infrmation. This is primitive wiring in our brains. Sounds wire you to anticipate what’s coming. That means the first impression of your video is the song. It’s not the shot, it’s not the color grade. The music hits the brain before the viewer has even registered what they’re looking at. And there is a study out of Nature Neuroiscience that shows that the music releases dopamine, the feel-good chemical. The emotion fires before the rational mind catches up.
So when you pick the right song, you are literally programming an emotional response in the viewer before the first frame even appears. Music is what makes your video come alive.”
That’s why I place enormous importance on music selection. I’ve spent endless hours choosing soundtracks. The winning candidates have gone through a selection process that’s no less strict than Hollywood actors casting. 🙂
The beauty and emotional impact of the chosen music is amplified then by the “Edit to beat” method (cutting clip transitions and photo swaps to the musical rhythm for a slick, high-end look). The combination of these two factors makes impact on the viewer truly powerful.
Using these factors also in Premium Cinematic Slideshows (videos made of still images using “cinematic” transitions) perfectly explains the phenomenon mentioned in the product description:
“Surprisingly, our Cinematic Slideshows create an emotional experience that feels more like a real video than simply browsing a static photo gallery, as with regular slideshows. … No wonder one client called this kind of tour “Almost a video — almost for free.””
Really, “The song is the video, and everything else around it is just decoration”!
See the difference for yourself
Now let’s run a small experiment. The same slideshow visuals will be presented with two different soundtracks.
The first video uses standard music. It works well and is better than the music used in many (most?) MLS slideshows. But it’s still generic music that doesn’t meet my standards. The first video also has no “edit to beat”: the music and visuals are not synchronized. Apart from the cinematic transitions between photos, it can be described as an average MLS slideshow:
And now — the same visual sequence, cut precisely to the beat, and with music that actually carries the story. The emotional impact on a potential buyer is in a completely different league: