Video at home? It’s a no-brainer!
With the advent of remote working and the adoption of video as a means of communication for everyone in the business, you need to be able to make and produce videos in an agile way, very often from home. With this in mind, we have prepared this guide for you.
3 good reasons to get started
The end of a taboo
Let’s put our minds at ease right away. A few weeks of lockdown have accustomed most of us to home-made videos. Even for the official communications of most brands and media. If there’s one change we can take for granted after this, it’s this one.
Video has proven its worth
Video has been THE medium of 2020. In our professional and personal lives, we have adapted to lives, interviews and webinars. Afterall, MoJo (mobile journalism) has been around for a while. Video is here to stay.
Communicating to exist
Lockdown or not, you can’t stay under your rock and wait for things to happen. Think of the Orchestre National de France, which was able to record the play the Bolero remotely. That’s the sweet spot of comms pros right there: let’s use video to inform and reassure internally and externally.
7 tips for a successful video at home
Prepare your message
Define your objective
This is the key point to get across. Everything else is unnecessary 🧐
Plan a script
Write down what should happen in your video (different shots, questions).
Follow a logical pattern
Let’s keep it logical: introduction of the topic, background questions, conclusion. 🤓
Be incisive
Deliver your point in 1-3 minutes. Cut. Avoid long intros.
Engage with authenticity
Be yourself and use your strengths (humour, energy, empathy…)
In short, make your audience want to watch it all.
Audio
To record your voice, use a microphone
The quality of the sound will be better, especially if you have children in the house hmmm background noises.
No mic? Don’t panic
The headphones that come with current smartphones have a very good mic that you can use as a backup lapel microphone. 🔧
Think about the music
Add background music to hide any small imperfections in the sound and to set the tone and emotion (e.g. happy or serious).
Find a quiet place
As we know, remote working is not easy. Lock the cat out, put SpongeBob on Netflix, avoid the spin cycle, and you’ll be fine.🤞
Brightness
Remember to set the lighting properly: the quality of your video depends on it.
Putting a small lamp in front of you, not too close, will avoid bad lighting, which is hard to make up for.
Direction
Think about what’s behind and around – and simplify.
Avoid backlighting (even if the bay window is tempting), clutter and other distractions.
Framing
Keep a good distance from the camera. Remember to leave enough room around the subject.
Don’t necessarily put yourself at the center; follow the rule of thirds for placement.
Branding
To make your videos look professional, apply your brand codes.
Use the logo (well placed), colours, fonts, intro, outro and jingle from your visual identity.
Subtitles
For social media and accessibility, subtitles are a necessity.
Depending on the broadcast mode, burn the subtitles into your video or prepare the .srt file.
