INTERNET MARKETING VIDEO PRODUCTION

EASY TIPS

Anyone who owns an Internet business knows they need to use video in their marketing efforts because video increases sales so dramatically. Video has also been proven to be one of the best methods to foster personal trust and build better relationships with your customers.

Problem is, the average small to medium size business owner has enough to do without worrying about being Cecil B. DeMille.

Video production for the Internet CAN be easy… depending on what you want to do. It’s also true that video can also seem horribly complicated to someone unfamiliar with the process.   I think it is unfair for people selling “How-to Make Video” courses to promise it’s all a piece of cake. Then, when people run into trouble, it’s too easy to get discouraged and feel stupid. It’s not you! Video production can definitely be confusing if you have never done it before.

Luckily for us all, the easiest videos to make might also be the most effective for business owners. It’s all about trust, right? Easiest way to build that with video is to put yourself on camera and speak sincerely. You don’t have to sound like a TV announcer, in fact it is probably better if you don’t. People are sick to death of slick-talking Barbie and Ken dolls pushing whatever flimsy, plastic gizmo is popular this week.

EASY STEPS TO MAKING YOURSELF LOOK GOOD ON CAMERA SO YOU CAN BE AN EFFECTIVE VIDEO MARKETER

First, decide to do it and take a deep breath. One of the beauties of video is that there’s always Take #953 if that’s what you need to get it right. If you mess up, who cares? No one will ever see it. (The cutting room floor is a dandy place to leave your messes!)

WHAT TO WEAR?

Wear clothes that are either solid colors or large patterns. Tiny details like dots or hounds tooth are simply too much information for a digital video signal and will cause an ugly glare.

Tiny details like this hounds tooth jacket will cause an ugly glare known as the morie effect.

For women, wear about 20% more make-up than usual.

For women, make-up is not a problem but men usually balk.  I do not blame them.  However, professional men on TV ALWAYS wear make-up, often just  foundation and face powder. But if you don’t want to, don’t. It will  not make that big of a difference.  Foundation helps make your skin tones look even and it prevents your skin from glaring.  A man should not look like they are wearing make-up but it is amazing how much you can actually wear before it becomes obvious.   Unless you have a huge budget, I would not even think about hiring a make-up artist.    I have been on LOTS of high dollar corporate video shoots where the make-up artist just sat around most of the day.

LIGHTING

Make sure the light falling on your face is brighter than the background light. This is a very common mistake that is easy to correct. Light coming from behind your face will make you look like a silhouette.

Modern cameras do well in low light, a 60 watt bulb a few feet in front of you and a touch off to the side will be enough. Turn all lights behind you off.

Using window light is also an easy way to light video but DO NOT stand in front of the window, place the window in front and to the side so the light falls on your face.

Lighting for video is usually best if it is diffused, or bounced. (White paint inside a light bulb is there in order to diffuse the light which makes it more visually appealing.) If you have no other way to diffuse your light, point it toward the ceiling and let it bounce down on your subject.

Here is a picture I took the other day of a lighting set-up I used during a webinar over the www.covideo.com conferencing system. You can see my web cam on top of the monitor. The 100 watt bulb in my lamp was pointed away from my face and was placed in front and slightly to the left of center. All lights behind me were off. It looked great. That’s me in the red shirt on the far left with the camera in front of my face. The guy above me, Dave Kaminski of www.webvideouniversity.com, stands out even better with his black background.

AUDIO FOR VIDEO

For sound, it’s always best to use a microphone that can be close to your mouth. That usually means you need to plug a supplemental microphone into your camera as you record. But if you don’t have one, go ahead and use the mic on your camcorder. Turn off ALL extraneous noise. Put the camera no further than 3-4 feet from you and speak loudly, directly into the camera. If you do all that, the on-camera mic will pick up decent sound.

So there you have it, starring in your own internet marketing video is not that hard and it is sure to help your business.

Videos that go beyond a head shot can be trickier and more time-consuming to produce. That’s why I am busily putting together some that you will be able to download and put on your website. Instead of merely teaching you to make fancy videos, I decided you might like it if I just went ahead and put the things together myself so you didn’t have to bother.

In other words, here’s a fish, honey… on a silver platter. Don’t bother baiting the hook yourself, this fish is cooked and ready to chow down on.

Here is a sample video and a favorite of mine:

If you want to see a preview of all the videos, go check out my You Tube channel where I have posted several other video examples.

VideoProductionTips on YouTube

Drop me a line at VideoProductionTips@gmail.com and let me know what you think.

Thanks for being a subscriber!

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal