Start PromotionWant to create a professional, polished video that impresses your viewers? It’s way easier than you think.
You don’t need to drop a fortune on expensive gears and equipment. Achieving a professional look is more about your technique than your tools. By paying attention to a few key details, chances are good that you may make great videos with whatever you’ve got right now. The more professional your videos look, the more your brand will benefit from them.
The below 6 tips will help you improve the quality of your videos right away:
1. Use Plenty of Light/ Natural Light
Make lighting one of your top priorities during filming as it makes a huge difference in the quality of a finished professional video. If you don’t use enough properly-placed light, your video will probably look amateurish, even if it’s great in every other way.
The sun is one of the best light sources for video. If you’re filming in natural light, do your best to get your footage when the light is softer - in the morning or evening. Midday light coming from straight overhead can cast harsh shadows on your subjects, while morning and evening light is more flattering. If you do have to film in the middle of the day, try to do so on a cloudy day or find a shady area for softer light.
Do your best to get your footage in the morning or evening, when the light is softer.
If you’re filming indoors, you will need to be more intentional about the types of lights you use and where you place them. One thing to avoid is overhead lighting – it can cast unflattering shadows on your subjects’ faces. Windows are a good natural light source. You can also use a large lamp or two to cast the type of light you want.
2. Use a Clean Background and Dedicated Filming Space
Be very careful about the background you use for filming. Nothing looks less professional than a messy or distracting background.
Easiest way to get a professional look for your video is to use a solid-coloured background. A wall, a bedsheet, or a large sheet of backdrop paper are all good options. Make sure your subject stands several feet away from the backdrop to avoid casting shadows on it.
It’s also a good idea to shoot a video in a “professional” environment: the place where you actually work or spend time.
Be careful not to film with a window or another reflective surface in the background of your shot. You could accidentally catch the camera in the reflection. Apart from that, having a light source like a window behind your subject can make the subject look shadowy and dark.
3. Keep Your Editing Simple
Trying out different effects can definitely be fun during the video editing process, but don’t go too crazy. A simple, clean editing style generally looks most professional and polished.
A few things you should be doing during the editing stage include:
- Cutting out awkward silences and pauses
- Adjusting the lighting a little if needed
- Adding background music and transitions
- Clean up any background noise using noise cancelling
If you cut from one scene to another in your professional video, make the jump when there’s motion in both segments. This is more natural and smoother than jumping from one scene where nothing is happening to another.
4. Understand the Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is one of the most basic principles of film composition.
Imagine that there’s a 3-by-3 grid laid over the field you’re filming. Instead of placing your subject right in the middle of the shot, you should place your subject along one of the lines of the grid. The points where the lines intersect are particularly strong areas of focus, so situate important elements of the video there, if you can.
You don’t have to follow the rule of thirds all the time, but while you’re still learning, it’s a good idea to adhere to it as often as possible. As you gain experience, you’ll get a better instinct for when to stick with the rule and when to break it.
5. Shoot from a Variety of Angles
Cutting from one angle to another is a simple and good way to add visual interest to your professional videos. This is an very useful technique if you’re making how-to videos, a product demo, or another type of videos that shows that you’re doing something rather than just plain talking.
Shoot plenty of B-roll footage for each video so you have the option of using it later if you want to. When you change perspectives, shift by at least 45 degrees. Smaller shifts in perspective just look jarring to the viewer. It doesn’t really create the intended effect.
6. Promote Your Videos
Creating your videos is only 50% of the battle. The other half is getting your fans to watch them. If you want to present yourself as a professional and serious video creator - you’ve got to promote your videos and grow your fan base.
Everybody has to start somewhere, so it’s okay to not have a high audience interaction when you start out. Some channels naturally have more mass appeal than others, which gives them an advantage in picking up new viewers. But as you create and publish more videos, your viewership will grow over time. Having lots of videos, but almost no views, can make your channel seem look amateur to the new viewers who come along.
So how can you promote your videos effectively? SocioInc is here to help you get your videos get seen by millions. You can start your campaign with us here: www.socioinc.com