subject: Web Video Production - Professional Techniques For Making Great Videos [print this page] Digital video is extremely significant for many businesses as a means to differentiate themselves from their competition but only when professionally produced.
It is also something many people do as a hobby or as a way of capturing the special moments in their lives they wish to remember - like they're children's development, a proud event or merely a holiday - and these could also benefit from using professional techniques using nothing more than the family camcorder.
Planning Your Videos
The first step in the production process is audience identification. As identified by Kizorek, the largest audience demographics are broken down as the 'Young and Wired', the 'Tweens', the 'Female Homemakers' and the 'Over 45s' (Bourne, 2008, p.55).
Pre-Production
Pre-production is all about detailed planning and preparation and it saves time in the production and post-production stages. The list of pre-production considerations is long. Of primary importance is the storyboard and the shot-list.
Storyboard
A carefully thought out illustrative storyboard should be sketched, supported by detailed directorial notes including as much additional information about each shot as possible to help plan how the story would be told.
Screen Composition
Good screen composition is essential. The Rule Of Thirds is a good place to start (search on Google for "Rule of thirds" - Wikipedia has some good information).
Story Elements
Screen direction along the X, Y and Z axes and the subliminal messages they are purported to project (Sijll, 2005 p.2) in order to ensure the audience does not feel uncomfortable at any time were considered and conventions like 'crossing the line'.
Shot-List
A shot-list showing all the camera angles, crucial to save production time and ensure that no shots are missed.
Techniques for Utilising Specialist Equipment
The Camcorder
Colour consistency is paramount in order for video to look professional and although "footage shot with incorrect color-temperature exposure can be tweaked using color correction in post production." (Golder, 2008), it requires specialist skill, can significantly increase the amount of time spent in post-production and cannot always be achieved.
Manual white-balancing and focus (using auto-focus and then locking focus by turning focus to manual) are simple disciplines to apply should be done before every new shot and at regular intervals.
Over-exposure can be overcome by using the zebra function, a very helpful tool to avoid shooting blown-out footage.
Lighting
Knowing how to light for the camera is essential and the importance of 3-point lighting is crucial to success. Bourne highlights that good lighting is even more important for web video: ensure that "the foreground is well lit. Some videographers even over-expose a bit for the web to compensate for compression." (Bourne, 2009 [sic] p.70).
Sound Recording
Sound is often neglected by inexperienced film-makers. However, because "Audiences will accept bad picture before they'll accept bad sound." (Bourne, 2009 [sic] p.54) it is another thing that needs to be as high-quality as possible, especially web video as the sound will lose quality through compression.
The videos' audio is a composite made up of the sound recorded during shooting (the sound of the lock turning, door closing, etc) and 'voice-over' commentary.
The audio recorded whilst shooting was edited in order to take out the direction (prompting the talent) and replace with 'Wild-track' ambience (birds tweeting, etc), using Audacity freeware. It was then saved as a stereo AIFF file and imported back into Media Composer on new stereo tracks.
Shooting for the Web
There are additional factors to consider when making videos for the internet. For example, very few or no zooms, pans or dissolves as these do not encode well. It is important to "Frame your shots for the small screen and use more close ups" (Bourne, 2009 [sic], p.70).
Editing
There are many good video (non-linear) editing packages on the market that a novice can easily learn to use from basic editors like iMovie to more professional packages like Final Cut Pro, however, there is considerably more to editing than knowing how to use the editing software. There is a 'language' to editing which enhances a story through pace and rhythm, match-cutting, inter-cutting, montage, the use of dissolves, etc.
There are numerous 'rules' or theories - for example, Pudovkin's five basic principles of editing, Dmytryk's seven rules of cutting or Walter Murch's six criteria for evaluating when and where to cut. Unless one understands these rules, they cannot be broken convincingly.
Although these principles are not obviously relevant to short corporate videos, it is important to understand them in order to become a better film-maker.
Conclusion
To make professional looking video requires specialist skill in a vast number of areas.
The key is in the planning, it keeps down the expense in production and post-production. Competent use of the equipment is important, along with techniques like white-balancing, etc.
As cinema and television have made slick presentation expected, an unprofessional-looking video can damage a brand.
References
Kizorek, J. (2008). Show Me: Marketing with Video on the Internet. Wheaton, IL: PSI Publications.
Van Sijll, J. (2005). Cinematic Storytelling. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions.
Golder, J. (n.d.). Glossary of Animation/Film. Retrieved August 17 2008, from The Animation Post website. (see glossary)
Bourne, J., Burstein, D. (2009). Web Video: Making It Great, Getting It Noticed. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press. [sic]
