Videos are the easiest and most popular type of content to consume because it’s so much easier to watch a video about anything and it’s the most powerful and versatile medium to communicate a message and engage an audience. For any business, videos are a powerful tool to jazz up your brand and engage more customers. But many small businesses avoid videography as they think either it’s too hard to DIY or it’s too expensive. But creating polished, professional-looking videos doesn’t always mean spending on expensive videography equipment and filmmaking workshops or hiring a professional. You can do it yourself by just following a series of steps and guess what you can even shoot with your cell phone. Here’s how you can overcome the blocking points and begin experimenting with video making:
- Audience: Identify your target audience. Not having a clear vision of your ideal viewer groups will result in a diluted message within your video content. Your audience will determine the way you write your script, the way you shoot your video and the way you edit it. Also, determine what you are trying to achieve with the video content.
- Invest in basic gear: You can practice videography with gadgets that you may already have, like your smartphone, as long as you use the back camera of your phone, shoot horizontally and turn on overlay grid for maintaining phone level. You may use a video tripod for holding your camera as well. You can also buy an external microphone for better audio quality when you are recording sounds too.
- Choose the right background: Make an effort to use a simple background or improve it by removing as much clutter as you can. A solid colour background puts more emphasis on the message. And if you are shooting a product, then suitable background must be chosen.
- Good Lighting: One of the biggest secrets to achieving professional-looking videos is to use lighting that suits your need. For example, if you want a dramatic-looking scene, you’ll want shadows in the right places. On the contrary, having plenty of light can add cheer and create an ethereal feel, depending on your light placement. Natural lighting actually works best in photography and filming, and is the most guaranteed way for you to nail the lighting in your videos.
- Film in small segments: It will also give you more flexibility in post-production to edit the takes however you want to into the final product and it won’t come out looking choppy.
- Avoid Shaky Shots: Whether you’re panning, doing a crane shot, or dollying from side to side, you don’t want your shots to look shaky. When you do have to start panning or zooming, treat your camera as a full cup of coffee — keep your speed consistent and don’t make sudden stops.
- When you edit, use a simple video editing software that you can get used to before moving on to more complicated programs. There are a lot of free video editing software to help you practice editing your videos. They range from simple to complex so you can practice at a certain level and move to a different one (or another version) when you master a trick or method.