5 Tips For Using Video Effectively

Video is quickly becoming a more and more popular way of connecting with the public. It is a quick and easy way to get your points across, keeps the audiences attention, and attracts another sphere of consumers.  YouTube is now the second most used search engine next to Google due to the rising popularity of video.

So, with more and more people entering into video, the importance of doing it right is so important. Here are a few tips to increase your success with video.

1. Reduce background noise as much as possible. Have you ever seen a video where the main person you cannot understand because of the crowd noise around them? If you are in a noisy area you may not be able to get your points across because your audience will be distracted by other sounds.  If consumers get frustrated by not being able to hear you, or the quality of audio is low, they will leave.  An easy fix is to either record in areas that are not noisy, or if you have to record there, find a camera that allows you to use an external microphone.

2. Use a tripod! It will help steady your picture so you don’t give your audience motion sickness.  Have you ever watched a video like this? No Matter how steady I tried to keep my hands, it looks like there is a constant earthquake happening the entire time I am recording.  Setting the camera on a tripod will remove all that.  If you don’t have a tripod, try just setting it down on a table, or some other flat steady surface.  It will achieve the same effect.

3. Don’t rush! Take your time when panning around a room so that people can soak in all the details of what you are trying to share with them. Plus if you go too quickly it will make the video jerky and possibly give them nausea.  Also, unless you have a really high quality camera, it will blur everything together & the details will get lost.  While you are there in the room, and your eyes are moving that quickly with no problem, the consumers aren’t there & they have to rely on the speed of a camera which is much slower.  Use slow steady fluid movements when panning.

4. Make sure things are lit properly. If your area where you are shooting your video is too dark or too light, it will not give the people the effect you are trying for. The great benefit of video is you can make your audience feel like they are right there in the same room.  A poorly lit room will also lose a major amount of video quality.  Things will get grainy and not convey exactly what you want.  On the other end, don’t go too overboard or you will wash out all of the vibrant colors.  You will look pale and as if you have not been out in the sun in 12 years.

5. Use music. Music helps people to relate to things and helps to give them better memory of a certain thing.  It can be great for intros & endings for a video.  Depending on what you are doing, you may want to use some music for the entire video.  If you are going to have music play throughout the entire video, make sure to lower the volume during times that someone is speaking.  If not, the music will overpower the speech.  Also, pick music that goes along with the topic of the video.  Obviously, you wouldn’t use heavy metal with a real estate video, or lullabies with an interview.  Whatever you do, make sure you only use music that you have permission to use, we don’t want any lawsuits.

Here are two videos. The first is a video I made in a hurry to show a rental property to my brother who wass moving from Austin, TX back to Myrtle Beach, SC. I made this video in a matter of 5 minutes and spent about 2 minutes editing. You will notice that I did not use any of the five tips listed above. My guess is that anyone who would watch this video would be turned off from watching in no time.

Wasn’t that video rather boring? Now, this second video was produced by someone at my church to share with new visitors about all of the different ministries that are offered. The 5 keys above were used to the fullest extent and the final result was an awesome video that keeps your attention from the beginning to the end. If you watch closely, you will even find me show up a few times throughout the video participating in the many ministries I am involved in. Hope everyone enjoys!

I hope these 5 tips help you to improve your final video products.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.