Video Production Techniques – Video Production – Top 5 Mistakes
No video production is perfect, but to help make yours the best it can be, here is a rundown of the most common mistakes novice video producers make.
1. VIDEO IS TOO BORING.
Ouch! Yes, that sounds a bit harsh but it is so very true. We all like to think that our video is so riveting that viewers will be enthralled with our masterpiece. Unfortunately, this is often just wishful thinking. Generally speaking, to hold a viewer’s attention, your video needs to be fast paced and told with some emotion. Dry facts do not do well on video so spice it up with some emotionally laden production techniques and a storyline. Adding music is the single easiest way to keep a video entertaining.
Make sure your opening is entertaining. DO NOT start off with credits. I am sorry to be the one to tell you, but few people give a darn about the credits, except for the video makers themselves. (And their mommies.) Start off with a bang and then pull back and give some of the more boring information. So many videos start off with credits that it drives me nuts. That is a blatant mistake that is very easy to avoid. Yes, Hollywood movies USED to start with credits, but notice how that does not happen anymore. Most movies now start off with an explosion. When they started out with credits most of the audience used that time to get popcorn.
2. VIDEO IS TOO LONG
This goes hand-in-hand with too boring. A long video tends to get really boring, even if it is generally of high quality. While there is no set length for video, SHORTER IS ALWAYS BETTER. Done correctly, a two minute video contains tons of information. BE CONCISE. No need to drag it out to ten minutes. Ten minutes is an eternity on video. The fact that in real life ten minutes flashes by like a nano-second is irrelevant. On video, ten minutes seems like forever.
3. VIDEO IS MADE FOR THE VIDEO MAKER, NOT THE AUDIENCE.
Ouch again! I’m feeling a bit mean here but again, this is true. I have seen it a million times. And yes, when I started in video production 30 long years ago, I was a major offender. As a video producer, you have to keep in mind who your audience is and what they want to see. You are not making this video for your own gratification. You are making it to impart information to strangers. What is their viewpoint? What do they already know and how do they feel about it?
You need to look at your finished video and put yourself in the typical viewer’s frame of mind. Look at your video as though you were seeing it for the first time. This is hard to do since you are looking at it for the ten millionth time but it is really important.
4. GOING OFF ON TANGENTS
Wow, is this ever easy to do. I do it myself. But straying from the main point of your video is one way to make a really long and boring video. Be laser focused. To help you do this, sum up the point of your video in one sentence. If you can not sum it up in one simple sentence then you need to re-think your premise.
5. EXPECTING TOO MUCH.
OK, I am guilty of this one too. I really thought my comedy election spoof was gonna make the Tonight Show. It didn’t. Sob, sob. But it does have a 5-star rating on You Tube! We all hear about the internet video sensations that get millions of views. It happens, but truth is, it is relatively rare. The more common scenario is for your precious video to get lost in the 60,000 daily uploads to You Tube. Getting viewers means you have to cultivate friends and subscriptions. Sprinkle the link back to your video all over the web on social bookmarking sites. Then, if your video has hit the right nerve, the viral effect will take over and your viewership will snowball.
There you have it, the top 5 mistakes in video production as seen by yours truly. I hope this article does not discourage you but rather encourages you to avoid some of the common mistakes so your video can be as effective as possible.
2330
Lorraine Grula has been a well-respected award winning video professional for over twenty-five years. (Yeah, that makes her kind of old.) Lorraine has done virtually every kind of video production imaginable and now shares her expertise on the web. Her blog, http://www.VideoProductionTips.com is full of free information and video tutorials.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lorraine_Grula
Ok so you might find the next few links interesting. These are from around the web, just random snippets that I’ve picked up in my reading, but I found some very cool information in them. You might too. Here goes…
The Art of Fan Videos « Exploding Egg
I've tried a little video editing in the past, and you're right, it isn't easy at all. Comment by SueVo | April 19, 2010 | Reply. [...] The Art of Fan Videos « Exploding Egg // April 19, 2010 at 6:03 pm | Reply [...] … I spent the past 17 years in Albuquerque, NM — first as a college student and then as a professional journalist — but I recently left the sunny desert for Portland, OR. This blog will detail my thoughts on entertainment, engage in a few random musings and …
The Technique of Film and Video Editing : Theory and Practice
The Technique of Film and Video Editing is the best training for directors-to-be, providing a detailed, precise look at the artistic and aesthetic principles and practices of editing for both picture and sound. …
A Fly on the Wall – Daniel Delaney: VendrTV Creator Talks Food Carts
VendrTV is kind of like a best food blog, except with high-quality video cameras, fancy editing, and the ability to tour the country covering delicious food carts (read: some foodies' dreams come true). They post a new video episode every Wednesday on their website and it's pretty cool watching what other cities' food carts are like. I first started hearing noise about VendrTv when they cruised through Portland back in June and taped episodes at MoxieRX, Brunch Box, …
Hope you enjoy the read as much as I did and please if you have something to say, use the comments form below to let everyone know your thoughts.
Have a great day!
Here is a quick response to a question a reader asked the other day about how to green screen. He wondered how far the on-camera person should be from the green background. He said he was very frustrated because he had searched for an answer and everyone said something different. There was no consensus so he was confused. I explained that the reason no one seemed to agree is because the proper distance between the background and the on-camera talent is entirely dependent on the particular situation under which you are videotaping.
When you’re making a video using green screen technique, how far away from the green background should your on-camera person be? A reader asked this the other day and said he was very frustrated because he had searched for an answer and everyone said something different. There was no consensus so he was confused.
I explained that the reason no one seemed to agree is because the proper distance between the background and the on-camera talent is entirely dependent on the particular situation under which you are videotaping.
On a technical level, the distance is totally irrelevant. What matters is that the green background is an even color. No variations. Shadows are one of the chief problems that cause variations in color. The darker color of the shadow will cause the green screen effect to be uneven.
If the on-camera person is standing very close to the background, chances are her shadow will fall on the background. But if the on-camera person were twenty feet from the background, the same shadow would fall harmlessly on the floor, which is cropped out of the picture.
Problem is, most people do not have the luxury of that much room.
In an ideal situation, most professional videographers would place the on-camera talent at least five or ten feet from the background. This gives the talent a little breathing room and helps ensure an even background.
However, when I took a tour of ABC news studios, I saw them videotape a news update and the anchor person was smashed up against the wall. They shot the news update from her office, which was tiny. It looked great on the air. I could barely tell it was a green screen. It looked real!
The lighting in her office was extremely diffused so there were no shadows. The green behind her was homogenous in color which gave a beautiful green screen effect.
So if you have some room to play with, go for a distance of about ten feet. If you don’t have the room, do not worry about it. Just make sure your lighting is diffused so the shadows will be minimal or non existent.
If you have a video production question you’d like answered, drop me a line a videoproductiontips@gmail.com I’d love to hear from you!
2358
Lorraine Grula has been a well-respected award winning video professional for over twenty-five years. (Yeah, that makes her kind of old.) Lorraine has done virtually every kind of video production imaginable and now shares her expertise on the web. Her blog, http://www.VideoProductionTips.com is full of free information and video tutorials.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lorraine_Grula
