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How to make good web video

Guest post by: Mark Shapiro

Article Overview: No more bad video! Why do most web and internet videos look so bad? Here is how you can make your business, personal and creative net videos stand out and get seen by an audience. According to Adage Magazine Magazine - One-Third of Your Viewers Bolt Before 30 Seconds. Visible Measures says "nearly 20% of the viewing audience of any given short-form video clip will click away within the first 10 seconds of playback." So how do you make your videos - personal, business, entertainment, whatever, - interesting? How do you make your video viral and motivate your audience to share it with their friends, associates and social community? If you can create short and engaging videos, with all the fat and redundancy cut away, with acceptable video imagery and good audio, you are well on the way to Internet and online web video success!

How to make good web video

Internet Video Magazine guide to creating a video that an audience will want to watch Many years ago, when you wanted to share your home movies and videos with your friends and relatives, they had to come over to your house, plop down on your comfy couch in front of a movie screen or TV set. After warming them up with liquor and treats, you would then roll your masterpiece. If it was good they would cheer. If it was not so good they would smile, snack and sip the booze but they couldn't leave. They were your guests - your prisoners.

You could get away with showing bad video or film because your audience was trapped.

Nowadays, things are a lot different. Your audience is on the Internet, their itchy fingers just a mouse tap away from clicking off to another video or a web site. You need to get their interest and keep it. That means not giving them any excuse for leaving.

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According to Adage Magazine Magazine - One third of your viewers bolt before 30 seconds. Visible Measures says "nearly 20% of the viewing audience of any given short-form video clip will click away within the first 10 seconds of playback."

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So how do you make your videos - personal, business, entertainment, whatever, - interesting? How do you make your video viral and motivate your audience to share it with their friends, associates and social community?

Keep your videos short - a good length for a online video is about two to three minutes.

Edit out the boring stuff - One lesson I learned in film school is no scene should be longer then 3 or 4 seconds unless we are seeing or learning more information. For example, we see a shot of a pretty woman walking along a path. They are tall, good looking, wearing a smart outfit and it is springtime, with lots of flowers and trees. It looks like she is strolling in a city park. That's 3 seconds. Now we watch her walk for another 10 or 15 seconds and we are not learning anything new. The viewer clicks away. Bye-bye.

Make it interesting. Ah - what is interesting to one person is a schnooze to another. Controversy always works. Sex works, Violence often works. Gossip, News and cuteness have their fans. A powerful message or life lesson can work. No one really knows what makes a video go viral. However, it is easy to figure out what will keep a video from going exploding in popularity.

Look at the various online news sites (AOL.COM, Yahoo.News) and watch shows like Entertainment Tonight and TMZ. See the kinds of subjects they exploit and how they pitch them in short, easy to digest titles.

Make it Look and Sound Good

Simple is best. If you don't really need lots of special effects, crazy wipes and cross fades - leave them out. If you don't really need a fancy set with lots of background graphics and images, leave it out. Keep it simple. The simpler the overall image, the easier it will be for the your software to compress and the web to distribute to your viewers. In addition, by keeping the image simple and clean, your audience can better focus on what you are trying to tell them and show them.

The most important factor is light. Lots of light. Yes, modern camcorders CAN often adjust and shoot in low light situations, but the image quality suffers. Open up the shades, turn on the room lights - maybe even use a pro light or two to illuminate your subjects.

Its all about Audio

Audio is often the biggest challenges for those just starting with web video creation. Most of the built in microphones on camcorders - especially camcorders - are not very good. The mikes on those small handheld mikes are for the most part atrocious. Either use a camcorder that has a good telephoto mike located on top of it or use an external mike - a handheld mike, a lavaliere mike pinned to your subject's clothes, or a shot gun mike - either handheld or on a boom in order to capture the best possible sound.

People watching online video will forgive fuzzy video and jump cuts, but won't let you get away with bad audio. They are out of there in a flash!

If you can create short and engaging videos, with all the fat and redundancy cut away, with acceptable video imagery and good audio, you are well on the way to Internet and online web video success.

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Article Tags: best camcordervideo clip, business video, how to make internet video, online video, video imagery, web video, YouTube



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