5 Tips To Help Produce Professional Videos With Your Phone

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Have you noticed the numerous TV commercials claiming to have been shot using a mobile phone? Well there is a good chance they really were! Technology has advanced so much these days that you can record professional looking videos for your website, using that little super computer in your pocket. So you may not need the expense and time of a professional video studio, just a little know how and some tips and you could soon be the next Martin Scorsese?! Well kind of...

Video is a great and powerful marketing tool and can be a truly helpful resource in promoting, selling and explaining your products and/or services to your existing and potential customers.

No Interruptions:

The last thing you want is in the middle of that great shot for your phone to beep with an email or app notification or a phone call. Make sure you put your phone in ‘do not disturb’ or ‘aeroplane’ mode.

Also make sure you have plenty of space on your phone or it’s SD card. Backup your photos etc and remove them to give you more space if required.

Landscape View:

I don’t understand why I still see so many people filming things with their phone held vertically?! The movie is likely to be viewed on a computer or TV which are all widescreen, so why not film it this way and make use of all that screen real-estate, and avoid the black sidebars. (Of course there are some exceptions, but keep this in mind with your photos also.)

Background:

Try to have a clear and uncluttered background to your videos, so as not to distract the viewer and keep the focus on what you intend it. It also simply makes the video look more professional.

Better Imagery:

Try avoiding the need for photographic lighting by studying the natural lighting through the day and look at where the shadows fall and think of the effect this could have on the video. If you can use sunlight to your advantage then it will be simple to choose the best time of day, but if you are filming inside, again check the shadows and try aiming your lights to your target area so as to keep everything as bright, clear and as light-filled as possible without reflections or shine spots.

You may have a steady hand but for a professional looking video a tripod is highly recommended. Those little hand-shakes can be distracting and may even cause some blurring.

Video Editing:

There are plenty of video editing programs to edit your video and string all the scenes together, but as the best way to utilise your video is through YouTube, you can simply use their video editor.

No need to host your video on your own web site host space, as this can take up a lot of space and may cost you to buy extra space or the extra bandwidth it uses. Post it to YouTube where you can simply copy the Embed code and paste that into your website to play just like it is actually on your website. This may also make it easier to be found and as YouTube has such a high PR (Page Rank) and profile/use, take advantage of this. Ensure you have an attention grabbing, strong relative title and a detailed description using keywords that could make your videos easily found by your potential customers when searching in Google

Lights… Camera… Action:

As you can see, just a few simple tips, a little forethought and you can soon be producing professional looking How To, Instructional, Educational, Marketing and Sales videos for your business. It is easy and can be fun. People often prefer to learn through watching rather than reading, so take advantage of this great medium, as well as the technology and tools freely available to you.

Don't forget to email out to everybody that you have a new video online as well as posting on your social media.

If you have any topics you would like me to address in these newsletters, or have further questions on this topic or anything else, please don't hesitate to contact me on Laurence@redbackstudios.com.au or Reply to this mailing.

Until next time, Happy eMarketing.

Laurence Fitzgerald

Customer service is listening - God gave you two ears and one mouth. He must have been hinting.