Our new vlog series of ‘quick tips to improve your video content’ was conceived pre-coronavirus but brought forward to be distributed shortly after the outbreak. The reason being, we want to help you, your business and other companies continue to market themselves, and encourage you to create better video content.
When we discussed our position in another post-coronavirus vlog, we made a few suggestions on how to be proactive and reactive with your marketing, and the quick tips here are designed specifically to help you with one of those suggestions: to start doing more content marketing – specifically video.
This is a good one to open with as you can use depth to make your frame look nicer for those many, many video chats we’ve all been having. Then moving forward, you can improve your own vlogs, video interviews or client testimonials – you know, the bread and butter of great content marketing.
The idea is simple. Position the subject (you, a person or a product) away from a flat wall and instead create depth within the frame. This achieves a few great things that help with good composition. It brings more focus to the subject (provided you focus correctly) so the attention is firmly on you/them. It also makes the shot nicer to look at and more professional, which also implies more expensive.
In filmmaking, cinematographers and filmmakers often shoot using a shallow depth-of-field (along with other techniques, such as high-contrast lighting) in order to create depth in their frame. But they also use this technique, and the beauty of it is, even if you film on your phone, this will help create a shallower depth of field and get that much-desired focus on your subject.
It doesn’t need to be a fancy background, just try and think about creating that depth and positioning you or your subject away from a flat, boring wall. You’re better than that.
Without a doubt, one of the biggest upgrades you can give your video is better audio. Annoyingly, it’s also the most overlooked and underappreciated, but trust us when we say people stop listening to videos with bad audio long before they stop watching bad footage.
You can build your audio knowledge and post-processing software skills over time, but the most immediate change you should make is to invest in a microphone. If you’re just dipping your toe in the water, a good quality consumer mic from brands like Rode (look for reviews on YouTube) that plug straight into your camera or smartphone is a good place to start. The next step up is to quality lavalier/clip-on mics or decent directional/shotgun mics, though there’s a bit more skill to getting the best out of them – but you’re eager to learn as you go, right?
In today’s video marketing world we’re told to design for sound off and delight with sound on, so start delighting people with good audio and make your video pleasurable to see and hear.
