Content is king. And video content is its queen.
And let us be very honest, it’s more of a queen like that in chess. Mobile, versatile, and powerful.
Trust us, video content is incredibly impactful. About 78 percent of marketing professionals report that videos helped increase sales. Even more, 86 percent of marketing professionals report that video content increased their website traffic dramatically.
The inclination of the masses towards video content is a big way for your business to begin creating video content.
But, of course, you should be creating quality video content. Flawed videos will only repel your audience. They’ll push them away from you, towards your competitors. Certainly, you do not want that.
So, here we’ve compiled a list of tips to help you avoid failure. With the help of these tips, you can create video content that wins.
With that said, let’s not waste a moment more. Let’s get your queen!
Table of Contents
Tip #1 Prioritize Story Over Equipment
If you ask any video expert, the first thing that they’ll tell you is to drop everything and plan a video script. They will tell you to worry about the script frame by frame before you even worry about the location to shoot the video (let alone the expensive gear involved!).
Wondering why?
Well, that’s because it is the blueprint of your video’s goals. It constitutes 50% of your video content’s impact and importance.
If you belong to a technical department, grasping this aspect may be a bit difficult. But trust us, only a strong video script can achieve the purpose of your video.
Ideally, an impactful video script should:
- Have a hook
- Talk in your audience’s language
- Contain a CTA
- Comprise a compelling story
Remember, it’s best to hook your viewer within the first 8-seconds of the video because beyond that your audience might call it quits.
Also, it is essential to know the placement of your video in the sales funnel. Do you aim to create awareness? Or do you aim to sell? Determine the answer to this and align your video script with it.
Tip #2 Start Where You Are
Shawn Boyd, Ecamm’s community manager, says that you should start with whatever you have. In case you’re wondering who is Shawn Boyd and why you should do what he says. Well, he’s explored everything from print media to digital media. He holds expertise in creating meaningful content and distributing it effectively.
So, trust the guy when he says to start with whatever you have. If you have a meaningful story and you film it even with a mobile, it might as well go viral. Check out this short film by Bentley shot on iPhone 5S.
Incredible and classy. Isn’t it?
(The company spent its money intelligently. Instead of equipment, they spent on professional video editors – we’ll talk more about that later.)
So, as it’s quite evident, you can start with your phone. Do not delay your dreams and visions only because you lack the standard professional gear.
Tip #3 Arrange a Microphone, Tripod, and Proper Light
If you’re fortunate enough to have an amount that you can call budget, there are three things you should immediately invest in:
Microphone
A professional camera’s built-in camera is not reliable. It picks up lots of background noise. And yes, that’s true for the best professional cameras out there. If we’re to reason this, it’s only because a camera’s primary function is to capture perfect visuals (not the sound!).
Invest in a decent and reasonable shotgun mic or a personal mic that you’ll clip on your subject. Keep it as close to your subject as possible.
You want absolutely clear audio. It’s one of the major benchmarks of a flawless video. The sound of your video should be so arresting and compelling that if your audience is looking away from the screen for a second, the audio brings their attention back.
Light
The lighting of your video sets the mood. It determines the vibe of your video.
Pinpoint lighting can direct your viewer’s eye to a particular object or person. And poor lighting can make a funny scene look serious.
Hence, arranging a proper lighting setup is necessary. You can use a three-point light setup wherein you might need light accessories like:
- Barndoors
- Softbox
- Gel
- Gel Frame
- Umbrella
- Mounts
Tripod
Using a tripod makes your video look more professional. Shooting without a tripod may result in a shaky video. And if you let it go, thinking it’s a negligible shake – trust us, that’s a mistake. Your viewer can detect it.
Along with clarity, it also brings about better details and phenomenal shots in lowlights. Here’s the list of best tripods for video 2022. Browse through and pick yourself a suitable tripod for enhanced stability and professional filming. Also, using a tripod reduces the workload on your video editor. The more stable the video is, the more refined results you will get.
Tip #4 Use Natural Daylight
Having a good light setup is great. But even so, video experts recommend using daylight as much as possible.
Why?
Well, that’s because it gives you some of the most beautiful and unique shots. No one can replicate your video even if they follow the same videography techniques as yours (unless they are very persistent and precise with copying your content).
The best times to shoot are sunrise and sunset. It’s free of cost, beautiful, and versatile. You can use daylight for enriching any type of frame.
Tip #5 Use the rule of thirds – it’s a lifesaver.
Rule of thirds refers to a compositional guide wherein you break the view that you see on the viewfinder into thirds (horizontally and vertically). Overall, the frame comprises nine pieces and four grids, such as in the image below:
Note that you’ve to do this mentally. So, it’s more of a technique that you’ve to practice.
Once you’ve divided the image into nine boxes mentally, position the subject such that it’s at the intersecting point of the gridlines. For example, the mountain is the subject in the above image. It’s at the top-right intersection of the grid. If you can’t move the subject, move the camera. Avoid placing the subject in the center of the grid boxes.
Tip #6 Don’t Compromise Message for Visuals
People who are through with several videos report that they often found themselves stuck between:
- Brilliantly shot scenes lacking the intended message (read this as visually wow scenes.)
- Moderately shot scenes successfully deliver the message (read this as thought-provoking scenes)
Their advice to beginners is to opt for the latter. Never compromise the intent of your video for aesthetics. Keep that brilliantly shot scene for a separate video.
Alternatively, you can inquire your editor to make the required edits. But don’t get your hopes high, it’s usually impossible to do so (unless you’ve access to pro video editors – about which we’ll discuss in Tip# 8).
Tip #7 Add Emotion via Sound
Lighting is the primary supporting component in a video to intentionally arouse an emotion or perception. Sound happens to be the second most important component.
Background music and soundtracks can trigger emotions in your audience and bring them to think a certain way. Generally, you can begin your search by determining the genre of your video.
Apart from that, take care of these things:
- Do not include vocal tracks if your video comprises narration.
- Choose a steady soundtrack and ensure that the pace of the soundtrack is in sync with the progress of events in your video.
- Do not opt for any track that draws attention away from the storyline.
Tip #8 Hire a Professional Video Editor
Hear us out: even if you shoot your video content with the best filming gear with the best script, idea, and film professionals, you will still need to edit the video. Raw filmed content can never be flawless (even if you shoot in one go).
Since the content is in motion, it often ends up with errors (big and small). And this will bring about an amateur look to the video.
Do you want that? No, you don’t.
So, you should hire professional video editors to get the job done for you. Now, this is where you should invest because even if you come up with beginner content (in terms of shooting or ideation), an expert video editor can help you make it look more professional, cool, and worth watching.
We’d, of course, invite you to trust editvideo.io with your video editing needs. Our flow of work is, by far, the most transparent and customer-tailored in the video editing industry.
The process begins with signing up for one of our pricing plans. As soon as we receive your video, we appoint one of our skilled and experienced video editing professionals to analyze your footage, identify areas of improvement, and enhance its overall impact. We believe in listening to your vision for the video every step of the way, so you need not worry about receiving a flawless video that’s not as per your taste.
Tip #9 Sync Video Edits with Video
Above, we mentioned that you can make impossible situations possible in videography if you’ve got access to the best video editors.
The question arises: how? What magic do they do?
Well, they’ve got complex software and technical knowledge for that. Only experience grants them such expertise. So, always seek out an editor with experience. Do not interest freshers with your project if you want it to be flawlessly in sync.
The tip for you here is to keep this piece of information in mind. One – always aim to sync your video edits with the pace of frames as well as music. Two – if you can’t do it, do not fret. Look for an expert video editor.
Tip #10 Ask for Feedback
Once you have the final piece of content ready in your hands, get feedback from someone who doesn’t know you. And by that, we mean someone who’s not aware of the purpose of the video you shot.
When they look at it with a fresh eye, they will assess it better. Their opinion will give you an idea of how successful you were at delivering the message or if you successfully achieved the purpose.
If there is a lacking, you will still have the opportunity to make amendments.
Don’t overdo it!
Remember, the entire process of creating video content can become quite too exhausting. When you shoot over and over and make amendments now and then, you get tired of what you’re doing. You might often find yourself rushing things or approving them for the sake of getting done with the work.
Whenever you identify such a situation, take a break. You’re compromising on the quality, and that’s the thing you’ve to avoid.
So, count this as your 11th and utmost important tip: take sufficient and ample breaks.
Once your work seems pleasing to the eye and you feel satisfied at heart. Also, once it’s also acquired 2-3 positive feedbacks – just publish it! Don’t overthink, it’ll only mess things up. Good luck!
