Common mistake teams make when producing videos in house by Jules Blundell

THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES TEAMS MAKE WHEN IT COMES TO PRODUCING THEIR VIDEOS IN-HOUSE.

THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES TEAMS MAKE WHEN IT COMES TO PRODUCING THEIR VIDEOS IN-HOUSE. Today, many companies are looking to bringing video production inhouse as they respond to demands for more and more video content. But there is so much that can go wrong and make your videos look poor quality. Here are some of the most common errors we see when companies produce their own videos. More than ever, organisations are finding ways to produce more videos in-house.

CONTENTS Failure To Plan ................................................................................................. 05 Neglecting The Importance Of Quality Audio .................................... 07 Poor Lighting .................................................................................................... 09 Neglecting Framing ........................................................................................ 11 Composition ..................................................................................................... 13 Length ................................................................................................................. 15 Not Leveraging Video Content ................................................................. 17 Poor Presentation .......................................................................................... 19 Poor Post-Production ................................................................................... 21 About Us ............................................................................................................ 22

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

FAILURE TO PLAN

When it comes to video, one of the very

• Your audience – Who do you want that

biggest and most common mistakes that

message to reach? Knowing your audience

businesses and other organisations make is

is the most important part of any marketing

failing to plan. They’ll have a basic idea of

or branding endeavour, and it’s paramount

what they want their video to be about and

in producing a quality video that will really

how they want to present their message,

grab their attention.

but that’s it. Then, as they start to try to record, they find themselves doing take after take, and by the time the video is ready for editing, it’s such a mess that it’s almost impossible to pull together anything coherent. Whether you’re creating a video for a fundraiser, a behind the scenes tour of your organisation, an advertisement, or any other purpose, you need to have a good plan so that the whole process has direction. Before you start shooting, you need to know:

• Your message – With the purpose and audience of your video in mind, what do you want it to say? What message do you want to convey to your audience? Before you get into production, you should probably write a solid script that clearly conveys your intended message? These are the three basic elements of planning your video, but planning really doesn’t end here. The more detailed you are in creating a road map for producing your video, the smoother the whole process will be.

• Your purpose – What do you want this

Sources:

video to do for your organisation? Is it

http://www.forbes.com/sites/

intended to give your company a friendly

theyec/2013/10/18/ten-biggest-

face and promote your brand? Should

video-marketing-mistakes-to-

it encourage more customers to buy a particular product? Know your purpose,

avoid/#22a6d9a671f4

and you’ll have the beginning direction you

https://www.vidyard.com/blog/10-video-

need to proceed

marketing-mistakes-awesome-marketersavoid/

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ©Jules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

NEGLECTING THE IMPORTANCE OF QUALITY AUDIO

Never underestimate the power of sound.

When recording a person speaking,

A video with quality audio will be easier to

make sure that you have a directional

watch and listen to, and it will come across

microphone that will pick up their voice

as more professional than a video with poor

but won’t pick up most background noise.

audio. Though this may be obvious, you

And, when you’re doing voiceovers in

might be surprised at how many businesses

post-production, make sure that you speak

and organisations completely neglect the

clearly and that you keep music levels lower

importance of great sound in their videos.

than you think you need them to be. When

As a result, you’ll see videos shot in offices, factories, and warehouses where you can hardly make out what people are saying because of background noise. Likewise,

there’s a break in the voiceover, you can increase the volume on the music to mix it in better, but make sure that it’s never too overpowering, or you’ll lose your audience.

even if you can hear what the people in

Pay attention to the quality of your video’s

the video are saying, the sound quality

sound, and you’ll get a much better finished

might be so bad that the voice sound sharp

product that will keep your audience

or muffled, making it uncomfortable to

engaged instead of making them want to

continue to try to listen to the video.

click away.

If you’re creating a video for your

Sources:

organisation, whether it’s a vlog for your

https://www.vidyard.com/blog/10-video-

organisation’s YouTube channel, a marketing

production-mistakes-dont-know-youre-

video, a how-to video, or an advertisement,

making-fix/

you absolutely must keep audio in mind. Otherwise, your online audience won’t

http://gototell.com/10-mistakes-to-avoid-for-

stick around to watch. Instead, they’ll grow

your-corporate-event-video-production/

tired of trying to understand what’s going on or listening to scratchy, sharp audio, and they’ll go searching for another video that will suit their purposes.

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ©Jules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

POOR LIGHTING

Just like poor audio, poor lighting can

A lamp off to one side gives that side of

drive viewers away long before your

your face more definition and dimension

video has had a chance to finish playing.

because you now have two light sources,

Unfortunately, a lot of organisations fail

but it leaves the other side in shadow. Add

to consider the quality of their lighting.

a reflector, and you have the best shot yet,

Because they often film their videos in

with better lighting and more dimension all

offices, outside, and in other areas with

around.

good enough lighting to see comfortably with the human eye, they don’t think that lighting might be a problem for the camera.

Placing lights and reflectors properly can take some time and experimentation, but it’s well worth it. The people in your videos

If you’ve never considered the effect that

will look more composed and attractive,

good lighting can have on a video, take

and the products will really pop, so your

a few seconds of video of yourself under

audience can see what’s going on and

three different types of lighting:

appreciate the level of professionalism

• Regular lighting (e.g., fluorescent lights in an office). • Regular lighting with a lamp set off camera to one side of your face.

you’ve put into your video. Sources: https://www.vidyard.com/blog/10-videoproduction-mistakes-dont-know-youremaking-fix/

• Regular lighting with a lamp set off camera to one side of your face and a light

http://www.brafton.com/webinars-events/

reflector off camera on the other side of

video-marketing-vs-video-production-

your face.

7-costly-mistakes-how-to-avoid-them-

When you look at each of these lighting

september-2013/

scenarios, you’ll notice a dramatic

http://gototell.com/10-mistakes-to-avoid-for-

difference. Regular lighting looks flat and

your-corporate-event-video-production/

boring, and it may actually be too dark to pick up some details, which can be a problem if you’re shooting a product video. Common Mistake When Producing Video - ©Jules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

NEGLECTING FRAMING

When you watch amateur videos, you’ll

In addition to the rule of thirds, you should

often notice some very awkward shots.

also consider how much headroom you give

Close-ups on people speaking are too

people in your shots as you frame them. If

close. In shots of two or three people,

you leave too much space above their head,

there’s not enough space or the camera is

the video will look awkward, like the person

entirely too far away from them.

is too short to be in the frame. If you don’t

Framing is a tricky art that a lot of people don’t think twice about, but with a little

give enough headroom, it’ll look like you’re chopping their head off with your framing.

bit of practice, you can create videos that

Fortunately, if you follow the rule of

are perfectly framed, making them look

thirds, you’ll take care of most problems,

more professional and interesting to your

especially when you’re filming one or two

audience.

people talking, or when you’re filming

Obey the Rule of Thirds The most basic rule in framing is the rule of thirds. Imagine that your video screen (or viewfinder) is divided into three equal sections from top to bottom, and three equal sections from left to right. If you place your shot’s focal point at one of the four intersections of these sections, you’ll have pretty great framing almost every time. For example, if you’re filming a person talking to the camera, you can get a better shot by placing one of their

a product video. Keep in mind that you don’t want any shot to be so busy that the audience has to concentrate to figure out what they’re looking at, and you’ll be in great shape to frame your shots and create a beautiful video. Sources: https://www.videomaker.com/article/ f5/9231-framing-good-shots https://vimeo.com/blog/post/framing-andcomposition

eyes at the upper left or right of those four intersections.

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ©Jules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

COMPOSITION

If you’re filming a video of two people

great way to make a shot more interesting

talking, where will you have them stand in

and professional.

relation to each other and the camera? If your answer is to put them side-by-side and just start filming the conversation or interview, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, though, this could be a big mistake. The composition of your shots includes your actors’ blocking (where they stand and how they move), the placement of your products, and how you frame the whole scenario. As a result, good composition follows a lot of the same rules as good framing. You’ll want to follow the rule of thirds to ensure that you place focal points at the most interesting points on the screen, and you’ll want to give enough headroom in the video that it doesn’t seem as if the actors’ heads or the displayed products are crowding the top of the screen. In addition to these rules, when you compose a shot, you can also create

Finally, be aware of your video’s foreground and background, and how you use focal planes to differentiate between them. You want the focus of your video to stand out and your background to accentuate it, not distract from it. Good composition can make a video look more appealing, and it can send any number of messages. For example, let’s say that you’re filming an interview, and you put the interviewer in the foreground, off to the side, facing slightly away from the camera toward the interviewee, who’s a bit farther away, facing the interviewer and the camera. This gives you the opportunity to use the rule of thirds, headroom, and implied lines to make the audience feel like they’re right there with the interviewer getting all of the answers they want and need.

movement, division, and interest by

Sources:

creating implied lines. An implied line could

https://prochurchtools.com/11-video-

be a row of products, people moving in

composition-techniques-you-can-achieve-

the same or different directions, or even

with-just-a-camera/

shadows that repeat or draw the eye along a certain line. Creating implied lines is a

https://www.slrlounge.com/stills-motioncomposition-video/

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ©Jules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

LENGTH

All too often, people making videos for

to reconsider that advice. While shorter

their organisations think that they have

videos are more likely to be watched to

to cram a ton of information into a single

completion, if you have compelling content

video. Creating a video that’s too long can

that takes more than two minutes, you

have a significantly negative impact on the

shouldn’t feel as though you have to cut it

success of your video. At the same time,

down and sacrifice the quality of your video

you don’t want to make your video so

to get it under the arbitrary two-minute

short that it doesn’t convey your message

limit.

properly. So how long is too long, and what length should you be aiming for?

In general, studies have shown that audiences have slightly shorter attention

According to recent statistical information,

spans for business-oriented and focused

the top 50 most online advertisements

videos. At the same time, if you have a

from around the world have an average

video that’s more entertainment-focused,

length of just under three minutes. You

you might be able to get away with

might think, then, that you should aim for

shooting something that’s as long as eight

three minutes or just a few seconds less if

minutes or more.

you want to create a successful video for your organisation. That may not be the case, though.

Basically, as with all aspects of creating a video for your organisation, you’ll need to know your audience and understand that

Of those top 50 videos, the top 10

video length can play a major role in how

averaged just over four minutes, and the

successful your video is.

bottom 10 averaged under two minutes. Thus, within a certain range, the longer

Sources:

a video was, the more shares it got

https://www.brainshark.com/ideas-

worldwide.

blog/2013/January/online-video-length

So, while you may hear some “experts” say that you should aim for between 90 seconds and two minutes for any online marketing or product video, you might want

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ©Jules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

NOT LEVERAGING VIDEO CONTENT

Have you ever watched a video online and

out your latest sale, leave comments, share

wondered, “So what was that for? Why

your video, and much more.

did I just watch that? Did it even have a purpose?” In a lot of cases, organisations and businesses will create videos because they have heard that video marketing is a great way to get the word out online. However, they won’t actually have a clearly defined purpose for the video, and, without leveraging its content, they’ll essentially have created a video to create a video. So how can you leverage your videos to create more success for your business or organisation? First, you should NOT make your videos long, repetitive, or too technical. These things won’t help you leverage your video – in fact, they’ll hurt your video’s overall success with your audience.

Basically, think about what you want your video to do for you, and then think about how you can leverage your video to work for you. Calls to action are incredibly effective at getting your audience to engage more with your videos, social media platforms, website, and your business in general. Of course, if you’re going to leverage your video’s content, you need to ensure that people see it, which means that you need to optimize it for search, share it on social media, and post it on your website and/or blog, as well. Sources: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/young-

Instead, leverage your video by having

entrepreneur-council/how-to-leverage-video-

a specific purpose for each video. You

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can create short, informative videos that help customers use your products and/

https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/

or services more efficiently. You can build

digital-marketing/how-to-leverage-video-

trust by creating customer testimonial

content/

videos. You can conduct an interesting interview with a leader in your field. You

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/

can use calls to action to get potential and

bid/28511/5-Genius-Ways-to-Leverage-

current customers to visit your site, check

Exclusive-Video-Content.aspx#sm.0016ryj0x 1bs3coqvm52800y94bcy

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ©Jules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

POOR PRESENTATION

How you present your video is just as

the images you’re presenting? Does your

important as having a professional video

video accurately show the products and/or

with compelling content. Good video

services you want to highlight? Do the two

presentation can really work for you, but

work together to present your message in a

poor presentation can result in disaster. The

way that will draw the audience in and keep

wrong kind of presentation can mean that

them watching until the end?

your intended message doesn’t get across at all and that something else is conveyed that doesn’t help your organisation in the least.

Do You Have a Call to Action? Finally, what should your audience do at the end of your video? In general, if they’re watching your videos, your target audience

Presenting your content in a clear,

will want to know more about your

professional manner is essential to creating

organisation, products, and services. You

a quality video, but how can you do this?

just have to give them a little nudge to take

Basically, you want to ensure that your

the next step. A good call to action is the

script, video, and audio all work well

perfect way to do that to get your video’s

together to present your organisation in a

message clearly conveyed and to leverage

glowing light that shows the audience what

it for more social media engagement, more

you intend to show them.

sales, and whatever other goals you have

Is Your Message Clear?

for your organisation.

First, after you write your script and get a

Sources:

rough idea of how you want to present your

https://www.moovly.com/blog/3-ways-

ideas and message, talk to others in your

to-make-your-video-presentation-more-

organisation about it. Get them to read the

interactive

script and tell you what they get from it. Getting different perspectives can help you improve your video to make it clearer and more concise.

Do Your Video and Audio Work Well Together? Does your choice of music work well with

https://www.powtoon.com/blog/3-majorvideo-marketing-tips-small-businessmarketers/ http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/videocontent-ideas#sm.0016ryj0x1bs3coqvm528 00y94bcy

Common Mistake When Producing Video - ÂŠJules Blundell & Geoff Anderson

POOR POST-PRODUCTION

If you ever have the pleasure of talking

The post-production process also lets you

with anyone who works in film and video

figure out any last-minute changes you

production, they’ll likely tell you that the

might want to make to the flow of the

majority of the work on any movie or video

video. And you can add special effects that

occurs after the last shot is taken. Post-

you couldn’t do in filming. Adding a splash

production may seem like a small thing to

screen with your organisation’s logo is a

you, but it’s actually incredibly important in

great example of a small thing in post-

the process of creating a quality video.

production that can make a big difference.

Pay Attention to Editing

Post-production allows you to not only

Good editing can be the difference between a clunky, awkward, and overly long video and one that’s concise, entertaining, and professional. Among other things, in the editing process, you can:

clean up your video and create something that looks and sounds more professional, but it also gives you the opportunity to add more branding to your video to make it more recognisable to your audience. This can help increase your exposure, keep your

• Add voiceovers, music, and/or sound

audience interested, and help them gain

effects.

familiarity and trust in your organisation.

• Cut unnecessary scenes.

Without post-production, you can’t do

• Create professional transitions.

any of these things with the same level of

• Add graphics, logos, and/or watermarks.

professionalism for your video.

And that’s not all. Editing allows you to

Sources:

shoot different scenes in whatever order

http://www.raindance.org/the-13-steps-of-

works best for you, and it allows you to

post-production/

splice together different takes to get the best results. In other words, you can make

https://www.rocketjump.com/channels/post-

life a lot easier on the cast and crew and

production-what-is-it

still get a better result than you could without editing.

WHO IS JULES BLUNDELL?

Together with her buzzing team of top scriptwriters, producers and content creators, VideoBuzz creates brand messages in motion that have increased engagement by as much as 1,400%. Since establishing VideoBuzz, Jules has become Australia’s leading authority on the art of engagement through messages in motion. She is the author of the industry accoladed e-book, Capture More Customers with Video – The Why, What and How, and is a trainer and speaker on the topic. Jules is a long-standing judge of the Anthill Cool Company and Smart 100 awards. Jules has also recently been invited to be a regular contributor for SmallVille.com.au Entrepreneur and respected

and blogs on LinkedIn.

businesswoman, Jules Blundell, has spent the last decade founding and managing successful companies across the globe. With an MBA (Distinction) from the

All this, and a mum of twins too! They say that if you want something done, you should find a busy person!

University of London and extensive business experience, she combines genuine sales, marketing and communication skills with genuine enthusiasm to equip others with essential strategies to succeed. As the Founder and Director of VideoBuzz, Jules knows exactly how, when, what and why you should create video content.

WHO IS GEOFF ANDERSON?

As the author of Shoot Me Now – making videos to boost business, Geoff is a recognised authority in our field. Geoff has produced an online training course – Video Tips and Secrets, that condenses 25 years of experience to help business owners avoid making brand-damaging mistakes. Geoff is a prolific blogger on all things video, and a regular contributor to the websites Leaders in Heels and Smallville. com.au. When not working Geoff can be found on the ski slopes or dressing up as a Pirate – sometimes both at the same time.

Geoff Anderson loves helping his clients tell their stories through video. Since 1993 he has owned and operated Sonic Sight, a video production facility in Sydney Australia. He has worked for clients on productions throughout Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the US. Geoff is a video producer, a cameraman, an editor, a director and a scriptwriter.

IMAGINE HOW GOOD IT WOULD BE IF YOU COULD PRODUCE VIDEOS IN-HOUSE FOR NEXT TO NOTHING Video production studio is a powerhouse-training program like no other. It condenses all the knowledge and skills required to produce high quality videos and packs it into one nicely balanced, theory and practical, session jam-packed with great content.