In my humble opinion, every squeeze page needs a video.

A video on your squeeze page can quadruple conversions. Chew on that sweet little statistic! 

I recently made and posted this squeeze page video for my new Video Production Tips Free Home Study Course.    It has been extremely well received and my new home study course is flying off the shelves.  Figuratively speaking of course.

Here is how I made the video.

I AM A STAR!!

Gag me.  Honestly, the thought of being on camera appeals to me about as much as stepping in dog poo.

I was always a behind-the-scenes gal, not the on-camera person.  (I simply could never get comfortable with that dang much hair spray!)

Anyway…I decided that in my web business, I HAD to appear on camera,  like it or not, throw ego to the wind.  I have to get past whatever insecurities hold me back from being comfortable looking at myself on camera and just do it!

Lots of diffused light helps anyone look their best on camera.  Actually, the entire spot is done in such a way to make up for my on-camera deficiencies.  So in the end, I look like I am having FUN staring at the camera, which is really important for the effectiveness of the spot.  In my experience, the #1 important characteristic of a good on-camera performance is how comfortable the person feels doing it.

BREAK IT UP!

One secret video production technique I used to make up for my bad acting abilities is what I will call the “short snippets.”  Instead of having to videotape one long, perfect take of my entire spot, I said every line individually.  While taping, I said every line four or five times, getting more energetic and animated each time, changing the wording if I felt like it.   That’s a WHOLE lot easier than memorizing the entire paragraph or trying to wing the whole thing.

I’ve used this technique successfully a zillion times with other people being on camera. Being on camera is not as easy as it looks and doing it in snippets like this makes it SO MUCH easier, especially if there is no teleprompter.

Then, I edited it together using a style that emphasizes the snippets. (The term jump cut is also appropriate here.   Typically, jump cuts are considered a bad thing, but they can be used effectively too.  I think this is a good example of effectively used jump cuts.)

I shrank the shot of me down to about 30% normal size and layered it with other elements.  Notice also how I switch between the wide-shot and the close-up.  While shooting, I ran through the entire spot on both a wide shot and a close-up in order to give myself this variety.   The visual variety adds to the overall fast pace and style of the finished spot.

After shrinking the shot, I also modify where its center point is in the overall big picture, trying to arrange it in an artistic fashion with all the other elements.   I bring all the elements on and off screen in a way that keeps things moving, looks pleasing, and fills the entire frame.

I used two backgrounds blended together to make the final background. On the very bottom, was a still frame of a deep-red curtain.  The second layer is a jpeg of some digital video discs.   I used the distort tool to modify the shape of the image of the video discs and I took the opacity (transparency) down to about 60%.  I left just the curtain showing on the top 1/3 of the screen and filled the rest of the screen with the colorful video discs, all distorted and softened. I used a gausian blur filter to take them slightly out of focus so the graphics and other elements would pop better and be more distinct.

To top it all off, I used an incredible funky tune from Mike Stewart. I am a big fan of Mike and belong to his Two-Buck Theme membership site for royalty free music. I loved this tune, I think it really helps make the video.

The entire video runs a mere 1:02.  Shorter is almost always better.  My personal style is to pack as much content as possible into a small time frame.   When considering the “length” of a video, total running time is not the only consideration.  Pacing goes into what I would call “perceived length.”   A slow, boring video of someone stuttering and stammering for 1:02 would seem to drag on forever, whereas this one, hopefully, engages the viewer and keeps their attention.  An engaged viewer will perceive any video to be just the perfect length, irrespective of the actual running time of the video.  This is why there is no set perfect time for a video to run.  Make it interesting, and length does not matter too much.  If it’s crummy and boring, even ten seconds is too long!

Thanks for reading video production tips.  Sign up for the free home study course if you haven’t already.

Lorraine Grula

Internet Video Gal