‘Why produce a good video and spend time creating it well?’ 

A video that is poorly produced can be distracting to the message that you are trying to get across. By learning a few quick tips and tricks when producing videos this can help with pitching, interviews and any video which may demonstrate your project, idea or business.

What you’ll need: 

• 30-60 minutes. 
• Something to practice filming video content on. (A phone, Laptop, Camera etc)
• Content to film (People, places etc)
• Pens, notebook, laptop, or your preferred notetaking method. 

Steps: 

Lighting

You can shoot your video without specific lights, but you need to analyse your surroundings and choose to position yourself carefully.

Always avoid filming with your main, or only light source behind you. People often film a video with a window behind them and this makes their face dark as it is
within the shadow of the light source.

You should try to position yourself with your main light source roughly 45 degrees between the camera and the side of your body so that the light doesn’t hit
your face front-on or completely from the side. This should mean that one side of your face is well lit, with some of the light passing your nose and just hitting the opposite side of your face.

Stabilisation

Whether you choose to shoot your video on a camera or a phone make sure that the device is balanced and stable. It will be distracting to your viewers if you film your interview with a camera set on a slope or that moves during filming. The easiest way to ruin your video will be to neglect this point. It may sound simple but it will make a big difference.

You can invest in one of many cheap tripod’s, clamps or other stabilizing gadgets found on most online stores or improvise.
Tape your phone to the desk, wedge it between books, use other objects to create a platform to securely hold the phone/camera.

Orientating and Framing. 

Always align your camera or phone in a landscape position. In nearly all circumstances people will want to view your video the same way they view any other
media via computer screens or televisions and if you video is created in portrait view you will lose a lot of the background and there will be black space either side.

With your device aligned in a landscape position either visually imagine your screen split into thirds or select a rule of thirds grid on your phone or camera.
Example below:

Position yourself in the frame so that your eyes/nose are roughly level with the top horizontal line, be careful to make sure that there is still room above
your head but not too much. See below example:

 

It is your choice whether you want to position yourself in the centre of the screen of over to one side. If you choose to position yourself in the centre of the frame, make sure that you background is as symmetrical as possible.

Frame rates/Formats/Aspect Ratios

With many cameras and phones you can shoot in 1080p and 4K. When shooting your video, try to remember that the highest quality is not always the best choice.

Try to shoot your video at 1080p where possible as this is the most common resolution to use.

If you shoot in 4K for example, this will produce larger files, meaning your phone or SD card will fill up quicker and you will run out of space faster. It will also mean that your computer or phone may take longer to edit the footage or transfer it to different places like hard drives or online platforms like YouTube.

If your camera has multiple settings such as 4 : 3, or 16 : 9,choose 16 : 9. This will give you the full width and height needed for most viewing scenarios.

Focus. 

When filming your interview/application, using Auto-focus will be a smart move if you have access to this function. Even when you are sitting down and trying to keep still you will move slightly and you will move in and out of focus. Using an auto-focus function will allow the camera to remain focused on you and not your surroundings when you film your content you film your content.

 

Most phones have this feature built in now and it will involve you having to touch an area of the screen to focus on the a to focus on the area you have touched.

Audio

If you have an external microphone then this will really help to cut out unwanted background noise. This Rode Lapel microphone plugins into to the headphone port on mobile phones or cameras and picks up sound from close range which will help you to hear your voice clearly if there is any unwanted background noise.

If you cannot invest in an external microphone like this then following similar guidance to that in section
1) Lighting.
If using an in-built camera or phone microphone to record your audio, locate where the microphone is and point it towards your subject. If there is a lot of background noise from one area of your environment (such as a busy road outside a window), position the recording device so that the back of the device is
facing the noise, and the camera/mic is shooting away from the noise. This was the microphone will be able to pick you up more clearly and reject more background noise.

Summary

Position your light source 45 degrees between the camera and the side of your body
• Make sure you shoot landscape
• Use 1080p, 16:9 for frame rate and aspect ratio
• Use Auto-focus and select your face as the source of focus

Additional Resources
How to shoot an interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ENEuqXDwY
https://graduateland.com/article/video-application-cv
http://hative.com/diy-iphone-stand-and-tripod-ideas/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTtJovKtujo

Further Support 

For more information on developing your entrepreneurial skills or launching your business idea, book a 1:1 here.