Today, we are going to get a little conceptual here. You know when you think back to that moment when it all just clicked. When something someone said just made you completely understand what you’ve been trying to learn or even master. Yeah, that’s what we are talking about today. I’m super lucky that this happened to me early on when I was learning how to edit video. I was creating my first documentary which you’ve heard me talk about before and my professor said one sentence to me, “Cut for your action, don’t anticipate it.”
I know you’re thinking, what does that even mean? And how does it apply to my business videos. Let’s break it down.
It’s well known in the industry that good editing is invisible to the audience. Good editing compliments and shapes your story but doesn’t overpower it.
So what my professor was trying to tell me was don’t make a cut that helps the audience anticipate what will happen next, instead react to what’s happening and cut on the action instead of after or before it happens.
So let’s watch this clip. Did you notice the cut? Probably. and that’s because she finished her thought so you anticipated that something would happen and that was the cut and zoom.
Now watch this clip. Did you notice it there? Probably not, and that’s because we cut to the second angle during the action.
Now how does this help you? Editing your videos like this will create an association in your viewers head with high quality video content. It’s what I call the HBO effect.
HBO is a television network. Period. But you know how everyone reacts to it. Everyone wants it, is willing to pay extra for it and praises their shows to no end. Why? because their shows are filmed like movies. They treat each show like an hour long film. You can see it in the writing, filming and especially the editing. They use editing techniques like what I just showed you to create mini films not TV shows. And other networks like AMC and FX quickly followed suit.
So how can you do this?
First, think about your scripts; when are the natural pauses that give your audience space to digest, when do you need to keep moving? This might sound like the opposite of what you would expect, but cut more when you need to keep moving and slow down the cuts for the natural pauses.
If you’re ready, introduce a second camera to your setup. This will allow you to cut between 2 different angles and create that flow of action that you saw in that clip. So that instead of cutting after a sentence or thought you can cut during that thought and it’ll appear seamless.
If you want more tips to creating online video, download your guide to the Top 5 Video Tools that will help you make beautiful online videos for your business Or if you really ready to dive in join my free course to Amp Up You Online Video Presence. By signing up you’ll also get exclusive Tips, Tricks, How-to’s and my personal insights about editing and using Online Videomaking in your business that I only share with my VIP storytellers.
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On a typical weekday, I sat in the waiting room of the doctor’s office, waiting, waiting and waiting some more. I usually glue myself to my phone while I sit there, but a magazine on the table next to me caught my eye; The “Pocono Flair”. How typically charming of you, small town Pennsylvania. As I flipped through the pages, I saw a profile of a local photographer. Having recently come back to my hometown I was itching to connect with local visual artists. As I read on, I saw that she graduated from the same undergraduate program at the same school! Was it fate? I had only heard of two other people from my area going to Ithaca College and I happened upon someone from the same program that was running her own business here in the Poconos, Smile Peace Love Photography (She’s amazing. Please check her out). I knew I had to reach out to her, and wouldn’t you know she was looking for someone to run the video side of her business. And we’ve been working together ever since. Now I think that was meant to be (Yes, I’m one of those weirdos that believe in signs from the universe and definitely doesn’t take them lightly).
From our meetings to our first wedding shoot together, I paid close attention to how she interacted with clients, talked about her work, and over delivered on literally everything. She exposed me to the 4 ways every photographer should be aspiring to use video in their business:
1. Behind the scenes footage
As a photographer your clients are trusting you with capturing their biggest moments; their wedding, family portraits, or Sweet 16. Developing your know, like, and trust factor is incredibly important because of this. Showing them “Your How” builds that trust; your process for making your clients comfortable, how you communicate before and after shoots, how they order prints, how you design books. If transparency is important to you and your brand, video is a clear and concise way to deliver this to your clients.
2. Be invisible on the shoot, but Show your personality before and after
Most professional photographers would agree that being invisible on a shoot is integral to allowing your client to be in their moment, completely natural. The last thing you want to hear is that your couple wanted to go enjoy the party but felt that the photography session was a time burden. Or that you were in the way while the bridesmaids tried to walk down the aisle. BUT don’t hesitate to show who you are before, after and in all your communication with your clients, whether that’s through a blog, your photos, or even a promotional video that describes your business.
3. Get in front of the camera
Don’t let the camera be the barrier between you and your clients. Don’t let them wonder how someone who has never been in front of the camera can make them feel comfortable or understand how they feel on the other side of the lens. Shoot a video as an example of how you also had to work up the courage to be on camera. Share how you felt and be honest.
4. Educate others
As entrepreneurs, we have a natural tendency towards giving back to the communities that helped build us up. The desire to teach others our skills is natural whether that’s through a blog, emails, workshops, events, or video courses. Creating your own video course for young photographers in your area to invest in, is not only a resource that was previously not available, but another stream of income for you. Why not even create a scholarship program?
Even if you’re not a photographer, you can introduce videos in similar ways into your business. You’ll build trust, connect with clients, and build relationships with your community. All you need is a plan and the motivation.
If you knew me you’d be so annoyed by what an organization freak I can be. The funny thing is that it’s only when it comes to my computer and technology. You can look on my computer and see everything carefully labeled and broken down in folders. Look to your left and see harddrives lined up in a perfect row in cases. But walk over and look at my closet and you wouldn’t think both belonged to the same person.
Now, I have my reasons. Video means the world to me. After all, it is my job and business, so I need to take really good care of it. But there are technical reasons that would blow up my entire workflow if I wasn’t organized. So I wanted to share with you my biggest tip when it comes to organizing your computer for the videos you produce for your business.
It’s all about file structure. Yeah, maybe that sounds too boring and techy. But believe me this will save you sooo much headache and time down the road.
Here’s what your file structure should look like:
Audio: The sounds or “tracks” that are recorded during filming or gathered afterwards. This includes dialogue and sounds you need to add in like doorbells, water, etc.
Footage: This is only what you film yourself, so if you are filming your vlog episodes this would be the video of you speaking to the camera.
B-Roll: B-Roll are the images and video that you are going to show in your video as you speak about the corresponding topic. So, if you are talking about your website, you could show the website. The image of the website would be B-Roll.
Graphics: This includes your intro, outro, text graphics, website banner, social media banner, and any other animated or static designs that will appear in the video.
*Quick Tip: If you have graphics that you reuse over and over again, don’t copy and paste them into every new video folder you create, just put them in one folder called “Branded Graphics” and just import them into your editing program from this file.
Music: This is very different from your audio folder. Here you only place music soundtracks; so your intro and outro jingles and any music to run through your entire video.
Scripts/documents: Here you’ll put all your drafts of your scripts, any research, schedules or planning documents.
Stills/Pictures: This includes your thumbnails and any pictures that inspired the video that will NOT be used in the video.
Organizing your videos like this is important for two reasons:
1. You and your team will be able to find anything you need quickly.
2. Most editing programs now reference your files instead of applying your edits to the original source file. So, if you move your files on your computer after you’ve imported them into your editing program, the program will no longer know where to look and you’ll get a message saying “media disconnected”.
Think of it like a street address. Your friend told you about this great restaurant a few months ago and gave you the address. You type it into your GPS and follow the directions. When you get there, you see a sign that says that the restaurant has moved to another location.
When you import your footage you are giving the program an address to your files. If you move your files, the computer will look for them at that same address, but come up empty handed. You’ll have to tell it where you moved your files in order to get it working again.
So, to avoid this frustration you should be organizing your files first thing. Now, add this to your video to-do list. It only takes seconds. I promise!
If you want more tips to creating online video, download your guide below to the Top 5 Video Tools that will help you make beautiful online videos for your business by clicking the button below Or if you really ready to dive in join my free course to Amp Up You Online Video Presence. By signing up you’ll also get exclusive Tips, Tricks, How-to’s and my personal insights about Online Videomaking & Editing that I only share in email.
I pride myself in being a creative entrepreneur and artist, but the trap we often fall into is hoping that our art will speak for itself and magically grow into a profitable business. The sooner we can recognize that business principles work with us and not against us, the sooner we can live to do our art. So today I’m going to pull out my video marketers hat and give you three secrets to getting your videos featured on online TV platforms, in blog posts, on social media or on influential sites.
I’ve been an associate producer for online video content for a while now. I know the title sounds vague, but basically what it means is that I search the web, primarily YouTube and Vimeo for great videos to be shown as part of episodes featured on the online TV platform I work with.
There are 3 things I look for when searching for the next video to feature:
1.Quality, Engaging Thumbnails and a Video that Matches
Thumbnails are your chance to lure us in. Do not overlook this and just let YouTube or Vimeo choose a frame from your video. The best option for entrepreneurs is to have an image of a person, specifically a person in action, and the title or shortened title of your video. This way we can clearly and quickly see what your video is about. Also please, please, please DO NOT put more effort into taking photos for your thumbnails than to producing great looking video. I feel duped when the quality of the video does not match the great thumbnail you posed for and designed. Here’s an example. (create my own thumbnail for this video to use as an example here)
2. Reliability and Consistency
Not only is this great for SEO and boosting your rankings, but it’s also great to make people come back for more. As a curator, I have a running list of channels that have great content that is consistently updated so i can check back when i need more of their videos. Once, you get on our radar, you have to keep giving awesome content to keep us.
3. Production Value/Variety
It’s pretty obvious that the same content presented in a poorly produced video as opposed to high quality beautiful image is less appealing. Now, that doesn’t mean that you need a full blown video studio with lights, 2 4K cameras, and an entire video crew. All you need is a simple setup and being conscious of giving your audience variety. If you are uncomfortable on camera or dont have a great camera, show other things! In the industry we call this B-Roll. Your main video (you speaking) is A-Roll and any other images shown while you speak is B-Roll. For example, let’s say you are talking about how to create a budget using a spreadsheet or how to start a google hangout on air. Instead of just speaking out each step, show them your computer screen as you fill out the budget or start the google hangout. This keeps your audience engaged. If your video isn’t a tutorial for something tangible, like “How to find your ideal client” find points in your speech that can be translated to short text that you can put on screen. If you still just want to have you on camera throughout your whole video, without B-Roll, make sure to be engaging in the way you speak and carry yourself and think very hard about your backdrop.
Ok this is a question that comes up over and over again. YouTube, Wistia, or Vimeo? I want to simplify it for you. The answer is YES! Use all three.
There is no war going on between these 3 hosting sites because they have 3 completely different purposes.
YouTube is to get found.
Wistia is for business.
And Vimeo is to share art.
Let me explain a little more.
YouTube is the second largely used search engine behind google, so if you want people to search keywords and organically find your videos, this is the perfect tool. It also has annotations which are clickable links that you can add to videos to link your audience to your sites. If your hover over my logo in the corner you’ll see that you can click on it and it’ll take you to my website. It’s the best for weekly TV shows, Vlogs, and interview series.
Vimeo is much like YouTube in that it is searchable, however it’s geared much more towards the arts (filmmaking, photography, animation and other things like that). The advantages of Vimeo is the much nicer looking player that when embedded on your site look less clunky than YouTube and the ability to have more control on where your videos are accessed from. For example, say you have a video course that you only want accessed when people sign up for your email list. You would want the videos to only be embedded on your pages and not searchable in Vimeo. With the free and pro features you can easily pull off great looking video courses and promotional landing page videos. The big drawback is that you can’t have clickable links on-screen.
Wistia is GREAT for businesses. If you are creating a video series to launch a product, or as an opt in offer, or even a landing page video, you need to get this tool. The basic features are free and with a small investment you can get some great small business controls. Wistia is not searchable like Vimeo or YouTube but it has clickable links (called mid roll links), post roll call to action links, complete customization over the design of the player, and so much control over who can access your videos from where. This is also awesome for sharing video content privately with your team or assistants.
