Social Media Advisors
We are Social Media Advisors, a Social Media Speaker, & Custom WordPress Site design.
YouTube recently launched a new design for your YouTube Channel. One of the big complaints that I’ve heard is people do not want everyone landing there. There are though, simple ways to customize the New YouTube channels and make it look really great. Also, I really like some of the newer features like adding more than one links.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to customize your new YouTube Channel design:
Experts will tell you…
One of the most important aspects of your video is the sound.
You heard that right. Not the lighting, nor the 1080p, 24 frames per second, yadda yadda yadda.
The Sound. The Audio. That might seem funny as tend to think about video as being a visual medium.
There’s plenty of equipment out there to record sound. Everything from the small pinhole on the camera itself to the Boom Mic Operator with 50lbs of equipment hanging around his neck. There’s a reason the movie industry pays big dollars for ADR Editors, Foley Artists, Re-Recording Mixers and the like – to get the best possible audio into their products.
Each instance has it’s own unique needs and corresponding tool to go with it. Use the right tool for the job and your video will be better. Much better. As in… people will watch it longer, better. That’s what you really want, right?
“Ok, so audio is important, I get it, but I’m shooting video with my Cell Phone”
With the incredible video capabilities that today’s cell phones have – that’s great! The same can be said for pocket camcorders like the Flip or Kodak Playtouch. Their video can be fabulous. Their audio recording? Not so much. Matter of fact, it’s pretty crappy unless you are in a silent enclosed room. Unfortunately it’s hard to pipe in better audio into a cell phone. There are some hacks out there but they are limited. One of the big limitations some cameras have is the lack of a external microphone jack. How can you get better sound if you can’t plug in a microphone?
I purposely shot the video below on the lowest definition camera I had – my very old Flip Ultra II. It has no external microphone jack. Instead of using the audio that the camera caught, I simultaneously recorded the audio on a separate device and then combined the better audio with the video in post production. Links to the equipment shown or used are under the video.
So there you have it – all you need to start producing better sounding videos!
My good friend Chris Brogan and I were discussing video gear the other day via Twitter. He was talking about an LED light (aff) I suggested to him to use when shooting his videos. This little light travels with me in my bag when I am on the road traveling as a social media speaker. Because it is so small, lightweight and rechargeable, it works really nicely for on the go video.
But, I also started sharing with him some of the other video gear I now use to shoot my videos in my office. Since I can have more of a controlled environment there, I can use things that may be a little more stationary.
Here is a quick tour of the various video gear I use on a regular basis as well as a tour of how I set it up in my office:
This is part three in my series on creating better videos. In our first segment we covered indoor shots and how to keep the light balanced. Then, we discussed why using a tripod is crucial to the quality of your video. For today’s segment, we are going to discuss audio.
Good videos are made up of two main components. The images on the screen and the sound that accompanies it. If one of these parts is lacking or missing, the quality of your video goes down. While you may think you need to spend several hundreds of dollars on a good microphone setup, you will be surprised what you can get for under $40.
Before I show an example, let’s first discuss the different types of microphones that exist. There are three main types that you may want to use:
Here’s a demo:
To learn more on how to create better videos, check out this presentation that I have shared as a social media speaker on Video Basics.
photo credit: Mike Mueller Areweconnected.com
Yesterday I started a series of posts on creating better videos. The series came from some recent presentations I have given as a social media speaker on using video more effectively in your online marketing strategy. The first post dealt with picking the right angles for your indoor shots. Today we are going to tackle another one of the issues I see in too many videos. The fact that you feel like you are riding a roller coaster throughout the entire video due to the shakiness. If you wonder what I am talking about, here’s an example from one of my golf outings.
So how do we go about fixing this problem? Well, absolute easiest is to just use a tripod. It steadies your camera and removes all the shake. You can purchase one for anywhere from $20 for an inexpensive one to some that can cost you several thousands. Personally, I use a tripod/monopod combo from Sunpak that is around $85. (aff link) This tripod is a little taller than some of the others out there which comes in handy if you are taller or interviewing someone who is taller than 5’7″.
In addition to this tripod, I also use a smaller lightweight one, but that can can be hard to use since it is so lightweight it causes some vibration when you try to do pan shots. The third tripod I carry in my bag always is a small desktop tripod. This one might get more use than any other tripod I own as it is with me all the time. It doesn’t always work the best with the DSLR camera due to the cameras weight, but with the pocket cameras it is perfect.
Here is a quick demonstration video showing the importance of steadying your camera:
These are just a few ideas, there are plenty more crazy things I’ve done in the past to try & get the right shot. Have you ever used any of the things I mentioned in the past? Or maybe you have another idea. If you do, please share!
Wow! What a crazy month it has been here for me. Over the past few weeks I traveled several thousand miles to share as a social media speaker at many events around the country. One of the more popular presentations I have done recently has been on video in real estate. In that video I share several video demonstrations on various tools & tips. Things like the importance of using an external microphone, using tripods, etc.
I think these video tips are fairly important and could be useful to others, so I will be sharing these short video examples and tips over the next few weeks here on the blog. Today I am sharing tip 1 for creating better real estate video.
The biggest issue I have seen in most indoor real estate videos has to do with the camera position. Too many times I see the shot focusing on the windows of a room and shooting directly at them. While it is important to point out the lightness & brightness inside a room caused by a window when trying to sell a home, if you try to convey this the same way in your video that you do when physically in the home with a buyer you end up with all kinds of problems.
Because there is so much brightness, many ignore turning on the lights in the room to try to keep the shot from being over exposed which causes problem one. Then you have the unbalanced amount of light as you pan the room. Most cameras can not adjust fast enough as you pan so you end up with part of your shot looking fine, part completely washed out and then another segment that is so dark you may think you are in a real estate cave. Not to mention the fact that it looks like the room changes color from tans to yellows to grays to whites.
You can spend hours in the editing booth trying to adjust color and exposure in your shot causing you to want to pull your hair completely out. While this option is available, there are others that are much easier. The angle you choose to shoot your video at can fix all these issues almost instantly.
Instead of shooting your video directly into the windows with no interior lights on, move the camera to the other side of the room near your windows. Turn on the interior lights and begin your video shot there. By doing so you will see a more consistent amount of light across your shot without the white balance & exposure changing as many times as a chameleon.
Here’s a quick demo video from my recent presentation on Real Estate Video Basics:
