The arrival of the equipment I splurged on and purchased to create YouTube videos beat me home about two weeks ago. My wife was delighted as now we have a way to visually record "family moments" for her to share via the internet. Relieved, I told her the expenditure was for the business, had been paid for by the business and that was the priority for its use.
I have yet to post a marketing video on YouTube yet but we have video of our youngest running in cross country races!
As simple as the concept seems, film a video and post it on YouTube, it isn't. The actual process of uploading the video is easy. The process of creating a video that does not make you cringe when you watch it is not so easy.
For those of you who are skilled at this process don't laugh. Here are some of the things I have learned one must do, or perhaps a better way of stating the obvious, NOT do when making videos for YouTube.
- You need the right equipment.
- Lighting is important!
- Be aware of the background. It can be a source of distraction from the intended subject.
- Work from a script. Ad libbing will produce poor results.
- Rehearse a couple of times. It makes a big difference.
- Use a tripod! Video that jerks around due to the camera operator's movement is very distracting.
Take the time to learn plan out your video in advance. Think about the visual aspects of what you are trying to accomplish in your video. It would seem the practice of "storyboarding" by film makers really is a good idea. Modern editing software will let you insert a variety of images with "relative" ease to create a nice looking video.
The school I teach at is a laptop school and we use MacBook Pro's as our computers. This provides me with access to both iMovie and a non-Apple product called Camtasia, a software designed to capture what is on the computer's screen.
Both of these can be used to edit video and produce a decent video. You can insert images, text, edit film segments and add audio. Both take a little practice to learn to use but they are not tremendously difficult. I use Camtasia to create review videos for my history classes.
As I move forward and learn more in this endeavor, I will be sure to share my successes and failures on this blog.
Kevin, this made me laugh because you are SO RIGHT. It's just not as easy as it looks. I'll add that it helps to have an external microphone and a video camera with an audio jack you can plug it into. In case it helps your readers, here's my blog post on what I've just started using and why. For example, Camtasia is cool, but kind of expensive, so I have a free alternative for those of us who don't have access to Camtasia without buying it. I hope this info is useful: http://buildbookbuzz.com/video-marketing-tidbits-for-newbies/ .
ReplyDeleteSandra Beckwith
Thanks for the comment and advice Sandra.
ReplyDeleteI make videos for test reviews for my students and that is where I learned my "basic" video making skills.
However, there is a bit of a difference between a video I want to use to market my books and what I make for my students to review for their tests.
Thanks for the comment and nice article. I want to thank you for this informative read, I really appreciate sharing this great post.
ReplyDeleteGet Youtube Views