Video producing is one of the most effective and impactful ways to communicate an idea in our current society. Nowadays with the development of social media and smartphones capable to record and take pictures with high quality, we are flooded with more and more content. I find this phenomena very interesting since it’s obvious that people want to express themselves, share ideas and knowledge. But then I noticed that some of these videos are not that effective on doing its job. Well, we have to change that, won’t we?

This series is meant to share some tips with my fellow steemians regarding my insights on video production, in hopes that this might help someone to improve the quality of their creations in this awesome platform. Keep in mind that I’m not specialized on audio-visuals, my field of work is much broader than that (coding apps, websites, design, augmented reality, virtual reality, animation, photography, games…), even so I believe that my experience in this field is relevant enough to be shared and I'll do my best to keep things relevant and interesting.

Part I – Recording video

Knowing how to record videos is one of the most essential aspects on video production. If you get this right, you might reduce your time in post-production and improve your project’s overall quality. Believe me when I tell you that it’s much easier to record well than fixing your mistakes in the future. Even if you have a smartphone and you just want to vlog without producing anything that fancy, some of these tips might apply to you.

Plan your video

Planning a video may be one of the most important tips I can give you in these regards. This step can be boring but there is no great creation without a good stepping stone.

The first thing you should always do is to define your project as well as its purpose. Knowing this beforehand can help you prevent some serious problems in the future and save time and resources in the process. So asking to yourself questions like “Why am I picking up the camera?”, “What do I want to communicate” and/or “What will my video look like” can be crucial to find a concept for your video, which will be the core of your project.

The next steps may vary, depending on your project’s concept, so here is a list of some of the processes (in no particular order) that you might need to go through to plan your video:

• Create a Storyboard;
• Create a Script;
• Write down everything you will need production-wise;
• Define aesthetics in line with your project's concept;
• Think of effects/techniques you want to use and research them beforehand.

Know your camera

Doing the most with what you have is extremely important! You don’t need to get an expensive camera to create great content, you just need to do the most with what you have. For this, pick your camera’s manual (you know, that piece of paper that no one usually reads) and try out different settings and situations, you might be surprised with your results. If you do this and still feel that you need a new camera then go ahead!

Make sure you have enough light

Light is your raw material on both photography and video so you need to know how to sculpt it! Make sure that you have enough light to get the information needed, then if you want to make your video darker you can color correct it afterwards. On the other hand, if your video is too dark when you capture it, you won’t be able to get the information on a specific dark area through post-production, so be careful!

Verify your video settings

Be sure that you have the right settings for the project you planned previously, and stick with those. In these regards, always check your frame rate and resolution, since neglecting these might create serious problems in the future. Let me give you an example: there is a technique called Time Remapping which allows you to manipulate time of a video on post-production. For this technique to be executed well, you’ll need your footage to be filmed at least at 50-60 fps to ensure fluidity, otherwise you might verify some frame inconsistency/stuttering. While these settings are important, be sure to verify all the other settings your camera can offer.

Check your audio

If your project needs captured audio, you’ll probably need to know how well you camera captures audio according with your needs, and if not, check what are your options. Depending on your project’s purpose and the degree of quality you want to achieve, you might want to get a microphone and record your audio separately. If you choose to go this route, be sure to check your audio levels and tweak them. You can do this by recording short audio samples with your tweaks and check what sounds best.

If you record with both camera and microphone, you might struggle synchronizing image with sound on post-production. In these regards, try to produce a short sound that you can easily identify before the action starts. This trick helped me a lot on this matter since both files don’t usually have the same length.

Be careful while framing

Film horizontally, not vertically

Nowadays, viewer’s displays usually have a display aspect ratio of 16:9, so it’s a good practice to film horizontally instead of vertically, in this particular case. As such, unless you have a specific purpose or justification for your video to be recorded vertically, I would recommend for you to always stick with the horizontal orientation. "Why", you ask? Because the use of vertical orientation on 16:9 displays will results on a smaller video with full height and little width with huge black bars on both sides. This way you are not getting the most out of your dedicated video "canvas".

This error is most common on creators that vlog with their smartphones, since the most comfortable way for them to pick their device is to grab it vertically. I know this is becoming common sense but its important to always keep in mind the relationship between orientation and the target display aspect ratio you defined for your video.

Beware of your environment

The beauty of video production is that you can show your viewers what you want to show through your eyes. But for this to work well you’ll need to create a controlled environment in line with your project’s concept. So before you start filming, you might want to add and remove objects from your scenery and check your surroundings (people passing by, cars, whatever you don’t want to show). This way you will convey your message more effectively and create a more natural and smooth experience for your viewers.

If you are filming in different days on the same place, make sure your background stays the same

If you intend to create a video on the same place in different days, make sure your background and its objects are placed exactly where they were originally. Otherwise people can notice the inconsistency between cuts and that will dumb down their experience. To avoid this I recommend for you to take notes, to photograph your environment and/or even place marks on every object’s position (if you have the opportunity to do so, that is).

Thank you for reading this far!

I really hope this tips might help you in the future with your awesome creations!

The next parts will be slightly different since my experience and interest focuses mainly on video editing and post-production, as well as the production of motion graphics. As such, I intend to share some tips in these areas, resorting to projects in which I have been involved whenever possible. But hey! If you want me to tackle a specific topic in this series or any other subject related to the multimedia universe be sure to let me know! I’m opened to suggestions!

What about you, do you have any tips for us?

If you have any questions or feedback, you know what to do!
If you want for me to give you feedback about your videos, I would be happy to do so!
Would you like to know more about me and my work? Then check my blog page!

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All the photos on this post are original and made exclusively for this purpose

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See you soon,
Shaden