Learn to make videos
Should we start teaching “How to create video content” in elementary school? I don’t mean just the shoot and edit skills, I mean the whole video production workflow!
Ok, so I’m tinkering on something, and making a video was a obstacle I had to get past. Quickly about myself. I am mildly introverted but
- I have no issues talking to a group of people.
- I can communicate effectively.
- I can get an audience to empathize (design review meetings, anyone??)
- I have experience shooting, editing, and distributing action videos.
“How hard can it be?” I asked myself as I set up the camera, framed my shot and my lighting. I hit record.
15 raw takes later
Summarizing, in a word, “Unprepared.” I don’t think I’m ready to freestyle.
“Props to all you content creators, you make it look so natural! :) “
So onto the scripting board.
- I outlined the core topics I wanted to cover and wrote post-its.
- I laid them out in my perceived natural order.
- Wrote some talking points.
Another 10 takes later
Summarizing, in a word, “Mechanical.”
- I looked rigid.
- Conscious about my hands and where my eyes were.
- This weird melody in my delivery tone.
What I was struggling with is recording a set of topics together vs. recording specific topics and stitching them together.
Another, say 10 takes later
Summarizing, in a word, “Clumsy.”
- I had a few good takes, but the audio leveling was a nightmare.
- I had moved between takes, and the jumpcuts were spooky.
I decided to stop “winging it” and decided to educate myself and repeat it with a more informed process. The topic of research: how professionals in video production, organized their workflow. I turned to my alma mater — YouTube!
After binge-watching for a few hours
Summarizing, in a word, “Enlightened.” Here is how I approached the obstacle on day 2
Phase 1: Inception
Outline the purpose, audience, and what my intended audience take away is. I wrote some simple questions and started answering them.
- Why am I making the video?
- Who is the audience?
- What do I want my audience to understand?
- How would I validate success?
This helped me outline what I was doing, why, and a framework to help me from overthinking it.
Phase 2: Pre-Production
Sounds fancy, it involved deciding
- Lighting
- Costume (yes I went there)
- Posture
- Equipment
- Cues
The stage was set.
Phase 3: Production
I started recording footage.
- I had 3 visual cues (markers) in the stage to look at so, I could keep my looking off-camera consistently.
- I decided what to do with my hands, nothing!
- I tried to visualize an audience before each take, it kinda helped.
- I paid attention to my voice, tone, and enunciation.
Phase 4: Post-Production
This is something I have experience working on, so the challenges I ran into were particular to the tool, iMovie.
- Making and timing my cuts
- Cropping and stitching
- Figuring out transitions: Timing, effect, and audio leveling.
- Deciding not to include special effects
- Images and other assets needed
Phase 5: Distribution
Although I’ve not gotten this far yet, this section plays heavily on what you defined as success criteria. For content creators, I imagine it’s very different. All I needed to decide for distribution is
- Hosting
- Privacy controls
Between Youtube and Vimeo, I am leaning towards the later. I like their privacy controls, but I’m not too fond of the pay-wall. Your needs may be different.
Conclusion
Making a video is a lot of fun, creatively and technically. I highly encourage exploring it. It is a medium of communication that is very prevalent in today’s world. Being aware of the skills, tools, and getting comfortable with both on-camera and off-camera is a vital learning/re-skill path.
There are amazing tools for quick capture, edit, and distribute if you are into “Story” pushing. It can get quite elaborate as a process, with skills needed and master tool dexterity; if you are stemming a “legit” content delivery channel as a content creator. I know that is a broad range, but I guess you can quickly determine where you fall and decide whether you need this skill path.
I’ll leave you with a simple litmus test. Pick up your phone, look right into the camera and deliver any message for 30-sec video. List out how you sound, what you say, and the things you do. If you feel comfortable with the output, I highly encourage you to leverage the video medium and platforms as a form of expression. See how you can incorporate that into your life.