There are many occasions in a company’s life when video production is required but not the video production company and the price tag that goes along with it. They might be day to day short videos to keep up your social media video presence. Front of mind marketing is a thing, where if you get in front of potential customers often they will remember you when the time comes to make a purchase.
Day to day videos might include updates on projects from the CEO, new staff intros, ideas for using products, tips and tricks on how to use your service or FAQ videos. The main idea of these kinds of videos is to get your face on camera so that your potential customers can relate to you, can know something about you before they make a purchase. People still buy from people so the more they can know, like and trust you before that point then the better position you will be in for a sale.
So here are a few tips on creating day to day DIY video content for your company.
Light from the front – never put the talent in front of a window and expect a camera phone or similar to be able to automatically cope with the light. Putting someone with the light behind them and insufficient light in front will mean they end up looking like a silhouette.
Working in the Melbourne video production space means that we never rely on the weather. Make sure you find a nice dry quiet space to do any talking to the camera as it will mean that the audience will concentrate on what is being said rather than the rain or noise in the background.
If you are using a camera phone or dslr without an external microphone you will need to have the camera operator as close as possible to the talent. The microphones on those things aren’t particularly directional so you need to make sure that you are basically speaking directly into the microphone. In Melbourne, like other cities, there are all kinds of distractions, including trams, but you certainly want to choose a quiet space to record in. People can and will put up with dodgy camera vision in their social media videos but bad audio will drive them away.
Always have the camera at eye level. We have all seen it during covid, video interviews being conducted where someone has their webcam looking up their nose. You will notice in professional video productions that interviews are nearly always done at eye height, it guarantees the best shape of the face and is the most flattering way to film it.
Consider using captions. A large majority of people, as much as 80%, watch facebook videos with the sound off. Think about inserting captions over the top of your video so that it is accessible to as many people as possible.
Upload natively. Facebook wants people to hang around on facebook. Linkedin wants people to hang around on linkedin. Uploading your video directly to the social media platform of your choice will mean that it will be promoted more by the platform as you won’t be asking people to leave and view a video somewhere else.
Always use the back camera – On most mobile phones the back camera is much better quality than the front camera – so as often as you can utilise it which will most likely mean that you will need someone else to operate the camera for you.
Focus and stability. Make sure the talent is in focus – there is nothing worse than having a shot of someone and they are out of focus and the background is in focus. Make sure the videographer, your colleague, keeps you in focus and learns how to stay in focus on whatever camera you are using. Don’t shake the camera around either, nothing will pull an audience out of a video quicker than motion sickness because your camera operator created shaky vision. If you are filming a long piece use a tripod if possible or get your camera operator to rest their elbows on a bench.
Be authentic. In any video production, authenticity is one of the most important aspects. Viewers can see through someone who is not being themselves and it is harder to trust someone who you know is being fake. Leave in the mistakes, the viewers will realise that you are just like them and will feel a connection.