http://youtu.be/j-qRegA4DEE

8 Video Tips to Make Your Videos Look Professional

In the video we covered the value of the content: what you actually say is important.  We covered audio, visual, location and even touched on editing.  Well, hold on while I give you three more exciting tips to get you one step closer to being a video pro.

Framing

You have probably heard the term ‘dead center.’  Dead center is a term that means our eyes get bored when something is in the middle.  It is dead because our eyes will jump around the frame to find something interesting.

If you take a photo or a video the rectangle where the images are is the frame.  When you are shooting, think about the way you put something in that frame.  The easiest way to talk about it is to consider your frame like a tic-tac-toe board.  You will imagine two lines going across and two lines going down.  Where the lines cross are ‘points of interest.’ (Some cameras have these line built in and you can visually see them!)

Look at this pic of a raptor…don’t worry it is not real.  Look at how the top of his eye (which is bright yellow) lands on the top right point of interest.  Then, his lower teeth line up on the bottom left point of interest.  The framing of this shot lines up to make the photo interesting…not that a photo of a raptor needs to be more interesting, but you get the point.

Also when you are framing, make sure you are aware of everything around you.  Have you ever seen a a video of someone talking and it looked like a tree was growing out of the top of someone’s head.  Don’t do that.  Make sure your background is also framed and there are no distracting lines.

It just takes a moment to be aware of your shot and to notice any distracting lines.

Lighting

Lighting is so important.  When you shoot a video, you want the brightest light to be on the person you are videoing.  If there is more light behind them, your camera will pick that up and your person will look dark.

Keep it simple. Put a lamp in front of the person.  Make sure to ‘soften’ the light with a light cloth or scarf so you don’t have harsh shadows behind them.  Unless you are doing a scary movie, then you may want to have a big lurking shadow behind the main person.

If you are outside be aware of the sun. If the sun is overhead, you will have strong shadows on the face.  You don’t need a long enough extension cord, use a white poster board.  Anything white will work.  Just stand right outside of the camera frame, tilt the poster board to reflect the sun and fill in the face of your main character.  You would be surprised to know that pros do this and some of them pay hundreds of dollars to get the same affect.

Angles

Make your videos interesting by changing the angle of your video.  Now, if you are just doing a vlog, you may not want to change the angle very often.  However, changing angles for effect can create powerful video images.

Let’s start with the basic.  Make sure the camera is eye level and you are situated on a point of interest.  You can tilt up a little and pull the camera a little lower to make yourself seem important or big.  You can put the camera above you and tilt it down to make yourself seem smaller.

Why?  Well, let’s say you are doing a vlog.  You are announcing an exciting big addition to your channel.  You would start by talking about the announcement.  Then, change the angle to a lower angle to make yourself look big.  Do your announcement from that angle to make it interesting.  You can even add an echo to your voice to really make it stand out.

Angles help tell the story.  Only use them to tell the story.  Remember, what you say is important.  Your content ought to be the primary purpose of your video.  Then, you use techniques to really make your message stand out.

I have covered the basic angles, but there are a lot more.  I created a video a while back that goes through a lot of different angles and show the ‘feel’ of each video.  It was done with some teens, so it is fun and a bit quirky. Click here to watch the video: The Story of Interesting Angles.

That is a lot we covered, but I am sure you can handle it. Now, go out and make some interesting videos.  Then share them with us on Youtube or GooglePlus.  I would love to see what you came up with.

Feel free to ask questions, I love helping blooming videographers.  If there is anything I can do the help, don’t hesitate to ask.