So you've made a great video and you want to share it across social media platforms. How is the quality?
A lot of things associated with videos at a personal level i.e. shaky and poorly lit footage, illegible titles etc., are not generally acceptable within business. A business video reflects your company or service and a shabbily presented video might suggest your company is a little bit shabby too.
Here’s a few tips to making a great video for business use, some of which you may not have considered, even if you are shooting with a limited budget and on a mobile device.
Use a Tripod
Even when using a mobile device for recording purposes, there is nothing more off-putting than shaky footage, leaving audiences feeling nauseous or sick with motion. Buy a tripod and use it, the difference in the quality of your output will be so much greater.
Shoot in Landscape not Portrait
Whilst 51% of Internet traffic may be viewed on a portable device, most view videos in full-screen mode, which is typically in landscape rather than portrait, on all devices.
If you shoot your video footage with your device in portrait mode, it will only ever play back using just over one-third of the screen when viewed in full-screen mode.
Lighting
Shoot your video with as much light between the camera lens and the subject as possible (without flaring out the screen). If you are not in possession of continuous video lights, try adding natural or artificial lighting that is around you. A poorly lit video will never be sharp and will have people clicking to view something else very quickly.
Audio
Make sure your audio is clear. Poor audio quality drives audiences away very quickly. Things to avoid include mobile telephone interference (if you are using your mobile telephone to shoot your video, make sure you and your friends, colleagues have put their telephones into Flight-Safe Mode), wind noise (try and avoid shooting your video directly into the wind), fluorescent light hum (often office lighting creates an audible hum when shooting audio for video).
Titles
Make sure Video Titles are large enough to be read on a mobile devices, without squinting, after all no-one will thank you for that :-).
Colour
Match colours in all of your video sequences, so you have a continuous look and feel throughout your footage. Adjusting White Balance to the same level in each clip is key to a good colour match.
Edit
Get a sharp edit. It means take out all of the un-necessary information and make your video snappy. With TV adverts, shots change every three quarters of a second or less, moving the story very quickly to end in 30-45 seconds.
Voice Over
Consider adding a voice over. This is the narrative to your story, your message or video and is a great method for transitioning your story between edits. However if your video is to be viewed in different countries consider whether adding a voice over is a positive or negative.
Music
Choose a snappy backing track. Don’t mix it too loud. An underlying theme tune will help your video become memorable.
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