5 Production Tips for Successful Video Content

When you decide to create a video for your business or organization, you need to consider how you’re going to film it. Successful videos are more than just eye-catching visuals and a good idea. You have to know how to produce and film the video to ensure the final cut isn’t dull and uninteresting. Here are five technical tips for creating successful video content. 

  1. Shoot interviews with two cameras. When you shoot interviews with two cameras instead of one, it gives you a ton of flexibility and doubles the footage to play with when editing. You can capture your subject in a wide shot, medium shot, close up, and cutaways, leaving you with way more options than a single talking head. Two cameras also allow for continuity in editing. From reframing to cropping, filming interviews with two cameras can give you a cleaner, more professional-looking final edit. 
  2. Use a slider on your second camera to give movement to talking-head interviews. Sliders allow a camera to move horizontally across the screen as the interviewee speaks. In general, flowing, flying, sliding, or movement can add intrigue to your video and make scenes feel dramatic, cinematic, and more professional. 
  3. Add stock images or video in post-production. If you don’t have the footage you need to round out your video, you can always add stock imagery in post-production to give more context to your video. There are a variety of stock video companies that you can choose from to enhance your footage. 
  4. Use a ronin or gimbal for b-roll footage. B-roll can help add even more context to your video, but it must be filmed cleanly. Get the sharpest, best-looking b-roll footage with help from a ronin or gimbal, which give these scenes movement and more interest when viewing. Ronins can help control shutter, recording, and focus, while a gimbal allows you to capture stabilized, smooth footage from a camera up/down (yaw), left/right (pitch), and forward/backward (roll) motions through 2 or 3-axis stabilizers. Whatever you do, avoid shaky video footage. Shaky footage can distract viewers and make your finished product look amateur. 
  5. Make high-quality audio a priority. While high-definition video footage is necessary, the audio quality in your video is vital to whether it’ll be a success or not. Bad audio can make a video unwatchable. While filming, put the microphone as close to your subject as possible to capture the clearest sound. You might also use a pop filter to eliminate crackling noises that can show up in the finished recording. It’s also important to pay attention to any background noise while you’re filming, as this can be distracting in the final edit of your video. 

When you consider how many cameras you’re going to film with, the equipment you’re going to use, the b-roll you’re going to capture, and the stock images you’re going to use, your video creation will be on the path to success. 

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Do you need help producing your video content from start to finish? Get in touch with RaffertyWeiss Media today to see how we can help you.