Do you know that most consumer traffic comes from videos? In other words, when someone is on the internet, there are great chances that they are watching videos. And it also makes sense. This is because it is the most popular and accessible type of content. For instance, if you want to know more about photo editing techniques, then it is much easier to watch it on videos rather than reading about it. Videos are the most versatile and powerful medium for engaging and communicating with the audience.
Regardless of what your purpose is in creating professional-looking videos, the following tips can help you in improving the engagement and quality of your videos.
Create a Plan for Your Video
You might think that creating a video is all about pressing that record button. However, this is not actually how it seems. In fact, there are several factors to consider if you want to make your video stand out from the rest. And most of them have a lot to do with how great you are in planning it before actually creating it. This stage can be broken down into various parts.
Setting a Goal
Before you start creating your video, you must know why you are creating one in the first place. By knowing the goal of your video, you can easily plan, shoot, modify and promote your video in the most organized way. This can save you lots of time and resources as well. Most of all, it can make your video more effective when it comes to accomplishing your desired results. When it comes to setting a goal for your video, there are important questions that you need to ask yourself.
- What do you want to accomplish with your video?
- Do you want to make people laugh?
- Is there a product that you want to promote?
- Do you want them to visit your website?
- Is there something new that you want to teach them?
Know Your Target Audience
It seems impossible to target all the people in the world. If you do not have a clear vision of who your target viewers are then you cannot also create a create a message and video content. Knowing your audience can help you write your script, shoot your video, and edit it. It can also help you figure out where you will post your videos depending on where your target audience usually hangs out.
Research on the Topic
The next thing to do is look for the appropriate theme or topic for your video. It is important to choose a topic that is not only appealing to your target audience but can also help you achieve your goals. When selecting your topic, it is also important that you have to focus on a keyword. This is especially important if you are trying to rank on search engines such as Google.
If you want to create videos for YouTube, then one of the best ways to choose on your video topic is to do some keyword research within YouTube. Simply search your keyword on YouTube and verify the top results. Then, search for predictions to check what works and doesn’t.
During this phase, you can narrow down your topic according to the type of video that you want to make. There are also some tools that you can use in finding the right keywords to target, such as Ahrefs. The overall topic or theme of your video should be at the center. Then, you can search for relevant keywords around them. Also, look for a theme that can fill the content gap and offers sufficient value to the audience.
Choose the Right Type of Video
After knowing the topic or theme of your video, you can finalize the type of video you will make. This can greatly influence the style and tone of your video. And, obviously, it can impact the whole process of shooting and editing the video.
You can choose from different video types, including live-action, animated, whiteboard, screen recording, typography, motion graphics, and combination. It is important to consider that some video types are more suitable for professional and formal videos. While others are more suitable for casual videos. Hence, it is important to choose a video type that matches your content style.
Write the Script
After you have finalized your theme and the type of video you will make, it’s time to focus on its content. The best way to do this is by writing a video script expressing your story. You can either choose to write the general topics that you want to cover in the video, or you can also create a word-by-word script for your video. Whichever you prefer, the important thing is you have a reference document just in case you miss a relevant topic as you start filming your video. Another option would be to make a storyboard for your video.
A storyboard is just a visual presentation of your story. This includes the different sequences of illustrations and images that can aid creators in visualizing their videos and creative projects. When you start shooting, you can refer to your storyboard or script.
Choose the Right Location
Another important step of the video planning stage is to choose the shooting location. Choosing a location is very important. It provides context to the video, and at the same time, it can improve the look and feel of your video. You can choose to shoot the video outdoors or in-house. No matter what option you choose, this can greatly affect the look and feel of your video.
Choose a High-Quality Camera
If you want to improve the quality of your video, then you should use the right camera. Contrary to what most people think, you don’t actually need an expensive camera when making good-quality videos. Two major options are a professional camera and your built-in mobile phone camera.
During the past few years, we have seen a great improvement in the quality of built-in cameras in top mobile phone brands. Hence, there are great chances that your mobile phone can produce 4K videos at 60 FPS, which is sufficient to match your competitors’ video quality.
Most often, if you want to make professional-looking videos, then the built-in camera on your mobile phone might not be enough. A professional camera might be more appropriate. This can give you more control of the video quality you will be creating. In addition, you will be able to enjoy several features that you can’t find on your phone including the capability to swap lenses and the built-in image stabilization.
In addition, a professional camera offers you superior colors which can help in boosting the production quality of your videos. So, if you are planning to buy a camera, you should choose the one loaded with features you will need when creating your type of video. For instance, a DSLR might be a good option if you plan to shoot in-house. However, if you want to create vlogs, a DSLR is too bulky to carry, so you will need a mirrorless camera.
If you are looking for a professional video production company, then you can get in touch with BA Productions. Just call us at 877.378.7225.