Video Will Get Your Message Across

Nothing has quite the impact of a well-done video. Although it may seem complex, it’s pretty easy to make a short video that showcases your service or product to make it really come alive. This is best for products that have a very specific niche or for particularly esthetic content where video can really demonstrate a point.

Most people are not really familiar with video techniques and it can be intimidating. However, most phones already have excellent video capability. Just download the YouTube Creator App, and the built-in tools make it easy to create your own video. The result is certainly suitable for web sites and there are enough software tools out there to really polish up the final version.

Regardless of how you start, it is highly recommended that as a beginning videographer that you shoot the video without any sound. Then record the sound in the form of a voice-over as a separate track. By keeping these as two  separate tracks it is much easier to edit the video separate from the audio and match them up. This is the default set-up in the YouTube application.

Most people, unless they happen to be an actor, don’t have a voice suitable for professional video. This is easily solved using a voiceover program such as VoiceBooking.com. Let’s dive into an example. Suppose you have a business framing pictures. You want to encourage people to use your service. Your experience tells you that if people can experience the transformation of a picture by matching it to a nice frame, they will see the value in a professional framing job and hire you to do the job.

First you break up the video into several logical parts:

• Show the picture with the frame and mat that you have chosen to use
• Next, show how the frame and mat look together with the picture
• Following this step, show the assembly of all of the parts including a wire for a wall hanging
• Lastly, show the finished framed picture on the wall

Each of the four steps could be either a still photo or a short video clip. You might find a good series of stills with one of the free stock photo sources such as unsplash.com or pexels.com. As a beginner you can start with stills and then move to video as you become more familiar with the process. Write a little bit of descriptive text that you want to go with each section and then convert it to a voiceover using inexpensive software.  Voices come in a variety of types to match the feeling that you are trying to generate.

Once you have the “rough cut” of the video, then you can work on matching the various segments, timing and transitions between sections. These techniques are all covered in YouTube tutorials. When you are finished, all you need to do is save it and then upload it to your YouTube account and it will be free for anyone to watch.

It takes a little bit of practice to get very professional results, but as long as you keep it simple, your results will look better than 90% of what is currently posted on YouTube. To start you off in the right direction here are a few hints that highlight common mistakes that first-timers make.

Soundproofing. Find or make the quietest conditions that you can. It’s amazing how street level locations can pick up the sounds of cars, trucks and emergency vehicles. Move to the back of the building, hang heavy drapes and consider doing the recording after hours when things are quieter.

Lighting. Typical screw-in lightbulbs usually have a slight yellow or bluish cast. Off-color shadows and reflections can give your video the wrong feel. Go for a neutral (white) color like you get from white LEDs and using some foamcore board as a reflector to create a shadow-free arena of light to capture your video.

Always shoot with a tripod. This ensures that you have total control of the point of view. It also allows you to experiment with different points of view and always return to the original view.

Backgrounds. Keep your backgrounds simple. You don’t want them to distract from the main action. You can pick up a lightweight, light-colored stock from any art store and a couple of clamps to hold it up. You can do all of your filming on a card table and use the background as a “sweep” to make a gentle transition of light.

So dive in and you’ll soon find out how easy it is to add some new life to your business with engaging videos.