You want videos, be they for your website, social media, business, work, charity, club or whatever else. You hesitate. Should you DIY or have them Done 4 U? What is ‘better’?
Obviously, it depends. But you don’t need me to tell you that.
So, instead of harping on about the blatantly obvious, here are three scenarios when you’re better off creating your own videos:
Scenario 1: When you have the time
Creating videos is time consuming, even when you know what you’re doing.
Let me qualify this.
Creating quality videos is time consuming. Snatching a little video clip on your smartphone and uploading it to YouTube is quick and easy.
But will snatched clips meet your standards? Will their quality be good enough? Will video like these do what they are supposed to? Or, more likely, will they do your image or brand more harm than good?
So, when should you consider creating your own videos?
If you have the time but no money to pay a professional.
Having time, though, will help you only in…
Scenario 2: When you are willing to climb a steep learning curve
What do you need to learn?
First of all, you have to master your camera, even if it is ‘only’ your smartphone. The little supercomputers in our pockets produce great videos if you have the know-how because they actually are very powerful cameras. And pretty soon, they’ll all shoot 4K.
That’s one of the first things you’ll have to grapple with: 720p, full HD, 4K.
Then:
- How to hold and position your camera.
- How to frame your subject.
- How to light your scene or subject.
- How to record your sound, and
- How to make your video sound good.
I should have listed the last point first. THE most important element of any video is good sound. People won’t mind if the image isn’t brilliant as long as the sound is good. But a video with bad sound is doomed, however great the image.
Once you have all this under your belt, post-production starts.
For quality videos, forget the free editing software bundled with your computer’s operating system. It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get going on
- NLE (non-linear editing) software,
- Graphics software,
- Animation software,
- Sound editing software,
- Music selection, unless you compose and record your own soundtracks.
(Ready to have a go at it? If you want to have a go but aren’t ready yet to spend big bucks, here is a list of free professional software.)
When you’re ready to put in the necessary time and have the aptitude to deal with all these different facets of post-production, there is one more characteristic you either have or have to acquire:
- A condition known as MAD: the ability to pay Meticulous Attention to Detail.
Without time, learning (a lot) and MAD, there is only one scenario left when you should consider creating your own videos:
Scenario 3: When you don’t care about the quality of your videos
When quality is not important but, for instance, getting a video out quickly is, then whip out your smartphone and shoot, press the upload-to-YouTube button, and hope for the best. Above all, hope that the quality of your videos will not harm your reputation, your brand, your business, project or whatever purpose your videos are supposed to serve.
Why could videos like these do harm?
Let me put it this way: if you continuously do not care how your viewers perceive you, if you only care about getting your message out and the time you save but not about the time your viewers have to put up with your hard to watch images or hardly understandable words, what will they end up thinking about you?
That’s right. Online, nothing works faster and more effectively than the click of a mouse button or the tap on a mobile screen that takes the viewer away to someone else’s website, Facebook feed or… video.
Given the abundance of videos on offer every moment of the day, your videos have to stand out and be easily accessible not difficult to understand. The only way to stand out is with quality videos, not shoddily snatched clips.
Perhaps, you’d be better off hiring a professional, after all, to help you promote your cause.
So far, I’ve only talked about technology and the technical know-how you need. Once you’ve mastered these, there are another couple of mountains to climb, which if anything can be even higher: creating the right content and getting the right people to see your videos. But these will be subjects of future videos and articles.
Do you have any further questions? Would you like me to cover specific topics in future videos? Do you wish to be notified when the next video in this series will be published? I’ll be delighted to answer all these questions and will reply as quickly as possible. Just use the form below to get in touch.
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