Top tips from a professional videographer for producing videos

Video is an incredibly versatile medium, hugely rewarding to produce and limitless in its creative possibilities. Whether you’re watching a show on a streaming platform, a video on social media or an advert that you’ve seen, video is everywhere in modern life. But producing videos which engage and resonate with audiences can be difficult. So what can you do to raise the quality of your videos and reach your goals? 

Why is video a popular content format? 

Video has increasingly become one of the most popular mediums for consuming information in our digital-first world. There are a number of reasons for this. Video is incredibly versatile as a medium, allowing viewers to connect with a story through the power of visuals. The visuals used in videos can also be a very effective tool for grabbing and holding the attention of audiences, which is especially important when attention spans are shorter than ever before.

Visual storytelling can be absorbed quickly by viewers, making video a very shareable format which can be quickly disseminated across a wide variety of social media and digital platforms. 

What is a videographer?

A videographer is a specialist in producing video content for a variety of audiences and purposes. They often work alone or as part of a small team to plan, shoot and produce videos. Unlike film or TV productions which have larger crews, videographers usually handle multiple aspects of the production process including scriptwriting, shot lists, location scouting, filming, lighting, sound, editing and post production. 

Tips producing videos from a professional videographer

Producing videos doesn’t need to be a daunting task, it can be a fun and rewarding experience. When making a video you have the opportunity to bring a creative idea or concept of yours to life, which will convey a story or key information to your target audience. Here are some top tips from a professional videographer to help you on your journey.

Plan before you shoot your video

The number one thing you should do above all else, to increase the likelihood of producing a good video, has nothing to do with your camera or filming anything. Planning isn’t necessarily the most exciting part of producing a video, but it’s an incredibly important part of the production process. 

Before you come to filming your video you need to make sure you have a plan for what you’d like to produce. If you’ve been given a brief, this is a great starting point and will hopefully include things like the topic for the video, to whom it’s aimed and by when it needs to be ready. If you don’t have this information to hand, the first step is to make a list of questions and find some answers. Things you will want to think about include:

• What is the video about?

• Why is the video being produced?

• Who will be watching the video? Who is it aimed at?

• What is the video aim? Do you need to tell viewers something, sell them something or explain something?

• Is there a deadline for the video or a timeline to which you have to keep?

• Where will you film the video?

• Who needs to be involved?

• Do you need to find someone to present or appear in the video?

Once you have a clear idea in your head as to what you have been asked to produce, for whom and by when, you’ll then need to start planning the production of the actual video. That might include writing a script, making a storyboard, picking suitable locations for filming and deciding how you'd like to present it. Once you have everything planned you can then move onto the next stage of filming your video. 

Practice with your camera

If this is your first time filming a video or using a new camera, it’s worth taking the time to practice ahead of your shoot. You can use this time to familiarise yourself with your camera’s settings, record some test footage and review this on your computer, and practice the shots you’d like to capture. 

Taking the time to practice with your camera allows you to make mistakes without the pressure of other people watching you film the video you’ve been asked to produce. It will give you the opportunity to identify issues, which you can find solutions to before the shoot. Practicing also has the added benefit of giving you greater confidence in your ability to film and capture everything you need on the day of filming.

Get inspiration by watching other videos

There are now millions of videos available online for you to watch covering everything from current affairs, to health and safety, to comedy. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to find inspiration from watching the work of others. Consider how they have shot a sequence or started a video on a particular scene to grab and hold the attention of the viewer. Making notes is a great way to get your thoughts and ideas down on paper as you watch other videos.

You don’t need to necessarily limit your hunt for inspiration to the same type of videos that you have been commissioned to produce. If you’re producing a health and safety video for example, is there something you can take from an action or comedy video to inform how you shoot and present the information in your piece. You could get your talent to present the information in a funny way by cracking jokes or performing as a character. Alternatively, you could present each hazard as a mission which needs to be avoided by the viewer. 

Decide on your call to action

As part of your planning stage it’s important to decide on what action you’d like your viewers to take once they’ve seen your video. Do you want them to sign a petition, buy a product or share the video they’ve just watched? Whatever the action, take time to consider what you’d like your audience to do. With this in mind you can then consider how best to present this call to action in your video. If your video is presenter-led, for example, they might mention the call to action at key parts of the video including the start and end.

Test your audio and lighting equipment

As well as practicing with your camera, it’s crucial that you spend time testing your audio and lighting equipment if you will be using it as part of your shoot. Ensuring that your microphones are working correctly could be the difference between crystal clear and distorted audio. Poor audio quality can make your video appear amateur and badly made, which can reflect badly on you and your organisation or business.

If you’re recording talent speaking to camera or being interviewed you’ll want to make sure that you have them mic’d up correctly with something like a lapel microphone. It’s not a good idea to rely on the internal microphone on your camera or phone as this will capture lower quality audio which can add echo and make your subject sound quiet or distant from the camera.

When it comes to lighting you’ll want to make sure that any lights you have access to are functioning properly. If they’re battery powered make sure they are charged up. If they are powered by mains, check that the power cables work correctly. You’ll want to make sure that you have access to lights if you’re filming inside or when there is limited natural light. Filming in a darker room or setting can introduce more digital noise into your footage as your camera tries to compensate for the lack of light.

Don’t be afraid to do another take

It’s easy to fall into the trap where you think you’ve captured the perfect take and then choose to finish filming, only to discover later that something was wrong with the footage you filmed. To avoid issues and give yourself a higher likelihood of success, see if you can capture one or even two more takes of the same sequence.

It can be especially daunting to ask for another take when filming with talent. Asking to film them one more time shouldn’t be viewed as an inconvenience, instead it's showing that your aim is to capture the best possible take to use in the final video.

Avoid relying on post-production to fix issues

Let’s just fix it in post! Relying on your editing software to fix any issues that have come up during filming is not the best strategy to adopt. Taking steps during filming to make sure you can capture the highest quality footage is always going to be the best plan of action. Whilst you might be able to fix a number of issues that occur on set when you’re sitting behind a computer, it makes life a lot easier if the mistakes hadn’t occurred in the first place.

To avoid unwanted issues from happening make sure you spend time practicing, planning and writing yourself a checklist. Have you got your camera set up correctly, including adjusting settings like white balance, aperture and colour profile. If you make sure everything is ready to go before you hit record it will help streamline the creative process for you and minimise stress when trying to fix issues that occurred when recording. 

Gather feedback

Once your video is finished and you're happy with it, don’t be afraid to share it with friends or colleagues and ask for feedback before you share it online. Getting a fresh pair of eyes on your work can help prevent issues like spelling mistakes slipping through, provide suggestions for tweaks you can make to your video and give you ideas for how to improve next time. 

If you have the opportunity, see if you can gather feedback from people who are part of the target audience you are trying to reach and see how they respond to the video you’ve produced. You can then use their thoughts and comments to edit and improve what you’ve created so it better resonates with your audience and delivers the results you want.

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We’re Sheeran Media

You might have reached the end of this article and thought that you’d like some help from the professionals to produce your next video.

Hello! We're Sheeran Media, an all in one content production company with expertise in video, podcasts, animation and design. If you have a project you need support with, then get in touch. We’d love to help!