Changeworksblog.com

Part Three – Setting up your video shoot:

With a rapid increase in the popularity of online video, how can you get your message heard above all others?

Part three of this blog series, offers useful tips on how to shoot your video so that it looks and sounds more professional. There is an extensive amount of production tips and advice out there. I am highlighting just some of the main ‘tips and tricks’ to give you an overview of the broad spectrum.

With the advances in mobile phones and digital cameras, video making has become widely accessible. Anyone can pick up a camera, shoot some footage, string it together using a basic video editing software, but the finished result (more likely than not) will not utilise the professionalism needed to make a marketing video stand out.

Setting up your shoot:

• Steadiness Techniques: Get as close to your subject as you can without causing them distress. This will enable you to work at the wider angle end of your lens thus avoiding the instability caused when working on full zoom. However, avoid full wide angle as this is likely to distort your subject.

• Shot Sizes and Angles: When setting up your shot, keep in mind which shots will be edited together; two images shot from the same angle with the same sized subject, will cause a problem with visual continuity.

• Lighting: Video recording systems tend to have a weakness in their inability to cope with contrast and backlighting. A good test to apply for all shooting situations is the “squint test”. Screw your eyes up until they are just slits and you can just about see the subject. Look into the shadow areas. If you can still see detail in the shadow areas then all is OK. If not, you can use reflectors to reflect light back into the shadow areas.

• Sound: Get the microphone as close to the subject as possible. This could entail moving the camera closer to the subject. If this becomes a problem, look to using external microphones that can plug into your camera mic socket and monitor the sound with headphones.

• White balance: To get a more accurate white balance, best way to do this is to set your camera’s white balance to a manual setting. You can then place a white card/board in front of the camera, zoom in so it fills the viewfinder and press the white balance button to adjust the colour cast of the light.

Part Two – Storyboarding:

Example of a visual storyboard

With a rapid increase in the popularity of online video, how can you get your message heard above all others?

Part two of this blog series, offers useful tips on how to create effective storyboards during the pre-production process of making your video.

So Why Use a Storyboard?

Alfred Hitchcock was ‘notorious’ for having used storyboards, so much so, he considered this phase of production to be the actual process of making the film. For him, shooting the film was a necessary evil; the making of the storyboards was where most of the creative work took place. (Steensland 1995:1)

Storyboards are essential tools that visually and/or audibly explain a scene in good detail. They also help to visualise how a scene should be shot and act as an excellent asset to get approval from sponsors or clients.

There are four main types of storyboard you can use:

• Basic storyboard – This storyboard is principle when your creative ideas start to flow and you need to get them down on paper.  It enables you to sketch out visual representations of your video when words alone become difficult.
• Audio storyboard – The first thing you should think about when you come to producing a storyboard is whether your video is going to be visually or audibly led. Audio storyboards are helpful if you plan to use a detailed script, use text on screen to tell the story or use a voice over. You can also add in music and any other audio elements i.e. sound effects.
• Visual storyboard – Visual storyboards can be used if your video is going to be visually led. This gives you the opportunity to paint a picture of each scene and add in other visual elements that will drive the narrative.
• Editing storyboard – These storyboards can be used to plan any video effects and transitions you may use during post production. If your video is going to include a lot of effects or animation, these storyboards will help make planning easier.

If you would like to receive any of the above templates, please email me (Tiffany Clowes) at: tclowes@changeworkscom.co.uk

Work sited

Steensland, M., ‘How to Create a Storyboard’, Video Maker, http://www.videomaker.com/article/2313/ (Oct 1995)

Online video-making

Part One – Planning:

With a rapid increase in the popularity of online video, how can you get your message heard above all others?

As part of a series of blog posts, I will be offering useful tips on how to create effective and successful online videos for your business, from pre to post production.

It is essential that documentary videos take audiences on an emotional or intellectual journey. For the purpose of marketing, your videos need to focus on the latter whilst incorporating the former. They need to inspire your audience to want to find out more about your message and take action.

Getting Good Grounding:

First of all, an effective way to get good grounding of your video is to map it out on a piece of A3 paper and set your objectives (spider diagrams are good for this). It is essential that the following points are thought out thoroughly:

1. Know your audience: It is imperative that you know exactly who your target audience is and your video ideas cater for their needs. Questions you need to think about here are: What does your audience want to know? What do you want your audience to think, feel and do? What benefits will it give them? What is it that you know but your audience does not? What would be their concerns? What would be their likely response?

2. Plan your message: When you have identified a topic area for your video, you need to think about what the initial take home message will be? It needs to be inspiring and informative, something that will make audiences act on what they have seen and heard.

3. Watch your time: Attention spans on the web are limited so keep your videos to approximately 4-5 minutes (pure talking head videos should be no longer than 3 minutes). Make a note of this and keep in mind when storyboarding.

4. Educate your audience, don’t hard sell: Using online video gives companies the opportunity to educate their specific market and audience sector. Videos that instruct, inform and enlighten will have far more impact on audiences. So, think about learning objectives for your video and make a note of them.

5. Structure your video: It is important that your videos have a beginning, middle and end and answer the questions: What? Why? Where? Who? and How?

6. Where will your message be heard?: Most online video sites have sharing and embedding capabilities. You and your video users can share videos with friends, colleagues, customers or clients on other social networking sites like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Think about where your videos are going to be hosted and who will have access to them.