Now that you have learned all about researching YouTube, what video equipment you will need, how to brand your video with your URL, and how to upload the video, it is finally time to discuss some methods to actually create a great quality video.
A little bit of planning will go a long way to helping you create better videos.Below, I’ve outlined 7 steps to making a video blueprint. A ‘Video Blueprint’ will make it easier to create a good video, and if you don’t want to make the video yourself, you can simply give the blueprint to a video producer and pay them to produce it for you (outsourcing resources at end of this chapter).
When brainstorming, it may help to find other videos that you want to emulate. Here you are just jotting down notes and ideas about how you might put together a promotional video. Anything goes…Any idea that strikes your fancy should be recorded.
You might imagine whether you want a voice to narrate the video, whether you want actors speaking, or whether you want a musical soundtrack (or any combination).Spend a few minutes trying to visualize what a killer promotional video might look like…Is there lively techno music at the beginning? Or maybe classical music? W hat will your title screen with your URL (if any) look like? Will you personally be in front of the camera talking? Will you use actors in the video? Employees? Or will you just use images, or pictures of your product in action? W ho will narrate the video? Do you need narration? W hat will be the tone of the video…Serious? Funny? W hat will the end of the video look like? Maybe the video will fade out and then show your company name and website URL.
Once you have thought up a theme for your video, it is time to create some sort of script. The script doesn’t have to be perfect. You may discover new ideas you want to add to the video later or you may think of words that sound better as you are speaking them. But do you best to create some sort of script…Even a rough outline can go a long way towards helping guide you to video success and the smaller pieces will fall into place as you go.
© MMVII www.UndergroundTrafficBook.com Page 38Try this… Take a piece of paper, and draw a line down the middle vertically. Title the left hand column as ‘W ords’ and the right hand column as ‘Actions’, then write down the words and actions next to each other. It is not very sophisticated, but it works. After you have the mini-script, you will be well on your way to planning a good video.
Getting Actors:
You don’t need to hire Erik Estrada to pitch your product. Some of the best people for the film will probably be members of the organization for which you are doing the project. Actual people who are related to the product or service in some way will be genuine, authentic, and fun. Using members of your company or even the company CEO is also easier on the checkbook!
Friends & Family:The least expensive people to use in your videos are friends and family. W hile they may not be the most talented actors, you may find that friends who appear in the video will want to send a film to their friends , and on and on producing a viral effect.
Hiring actors:The pool of hired actors available includes theatre and media students from the local high school or college and local theatre groups; and of course professional actors. You may also want to consider voice talent if your video has a lot of narration. The voices you use in your video can make it wonderful or dull, so if you have someone else narrate your video, choose someone with a good voice without a mumble or monotone.
You may be able to find voice talent is at your local community or college radio station, and it probably won’t cost you an arm and a leg either. If you decide to use actors, you may find http://www.sag.org to be a useful site.
For sample contracts see: http://www.sagindie.org/resources/contracts/ © MMVII www.UndergroundTrafficBook.com Page 39Try to get decent lighting for your video. If you are shooting indoors in an area that has windows, open the curtains and let as much outside light as you can into the room. If there is enough sunlight, it can light up your shooting area. You may also want to look at artificial light, or experiment with different lamps for 15 second clips to see which works best. Try not to have so much light that you look like a deer in the headlights though. And remember, you don’t have to be ultra-professional, just do the best you can and remember that most of the videos on YouTube aren’t professionally produced, so people aren’t likely to notice that your lighting isn’t perfect.
If you want to learn more about lighting, I suggest you visit
http://www.youtube.com/t/video_toolbox or http://www.videomaker.com/youtube/ which have tips for beginners on how to set up the stage area for a video production.
If possible, try to have a nice background for your video. If you have a company banner, great. Otherwise just try to make sure that there aren’t random objects sitting around. You can film in your home, but you probably do not want dirty laundry, coffee mugs or empty pizza boxes in the scene.
Camera Height:It is best to have some sort of tri-pod for your camcorder or digital camera. If you have a regular sized tri-pod, use it. If not you can get a mini-tripod starting at $5.
You may want to experiment with a variety of camera heights for different effect, depending on what type of video you are producing.
Sound:
High-quality sound is important to creating a good video. If you are recording sound as you record video, do you best to position the microphone in a way that captures your voice clearly. You can also do a voice over later if you want, and all you would need to do is record your voice on a microphone attached to your computer with recording software.
Lighting, background, camera height and sound…All of these are important factors to consider when making a video. Do your best, but don’t obsess.If you are creating a video where you will be speaking into the camera, be sure to rehearse…It will save you a lot of frustration! Stand in front a large mirror with your script, and practice your facial expressions and your smile as well as your hand gestures. Also practice your script a few times until you know its contents pretty well.
© MMVII www.UndergroundTrafficBook.com Page 40Even if you feel a bit silly, doing this will save you many takes when the recorder is actually rolling. You’ll look and feel more confident on camera if you are familiar with the script pretty well and have practiced.
It is important to relax and remember that your videos do not have to be perfect in order to be effective. Consider that a vast majority of the videos on YouTube are created by total amateurs, so even a little polish can go a long way to making your videos better than most.
Also, the limitations of technology in this area can actually work to your advantage. An amateur trying to produce a glossy, high quality commercial for a television sized screen would probably utterly fail and produce something like a bad late night t.v. commercial.
However, the 425x350 pixel size of the videos on YouTube covers up many of the shortcomings of equipment because the video quality can only be so good. The limitations actually help to level the playing field a lot for amateurs who want to quickly put together promotional videos.
For more great advice on making better videos visit: http://www.youtube.com/t/video_toolbox
http://www.videomaker.com/youtube/
Now, if everything I’ve mentioned seems like a lot of work, and you just don’t feel up to the task, you can always outsource your film production. It is not hard to find film producers, and fortunately, many of them will work relatively cheap. You will still want to do steps 1, 2 and 3 above, but then when you have a good outline of what you want the video to be, you can send off the blueprint to a talented video producer.
Below are some ideas for places where you might find and hire short video producers. When you hire someone, you might want to have a clear script ready for them, complete with their words and action so that they know exactly what to do. Or you can just tell them what you want to accomplish, and leave it to the producers to create a film.
Community college digital video students. Craigslist: http://craigslist.org
eLance: http://www.elance.com
Rentacoder: http://www.rentacoder.com
A Final Note About Creating YouTube Videos:
You don’t absolutely need video footage. If you have a series of good still photos, you can put a voice narration and sound track over them to create an interesting video.
© MMVII www.UndergroundTrafficBook.com Page 42