Creating Videos for Social Media

If you’re looking to get your cause or non-profit known and trusted, videos on social media are an excellent way to spread awareness and build brand recognition. But how are social media videos different than any other video?  Wether you’re including social media videos within a larger video project or just making a single social media piece, there are some key differences from other videos that should be considered.

As with any video, you want to start by clearly outlining your objectives. Are you trying to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, promote a specific event, or engage with your audience? Your goals will influence the content and style of your video.

LENGTH: 

Though you may have a version of the video that is used on your website or different platforms, social media videos should be much shorter—and really attention grabbing.  Plan on a crisp video, between 30 and 60 seconds. Longer than that and you will lose your viewers’ attention. 

ON SCREEN TEXT:

Research shows that the majority of people watching social media videos have the sound off.  In some cases, the number is as high as 92%. Without some kind of captions or on-screen text, your message will be completely lost for many of the viewers and they will likely just move on. This could be “burned in” stylized text, or caption files that usually can be auto-generated by the platform.  Whatever it is, just make sure that when the sound is off, text will be seen. Pro tip: if your captions are burned into the video that you upload, then be sure to turn off any captions within the platform. Otherwise, you’re likely to have text overtop text.

PACING: 

The overall energy and pacing of the video should be quick and snappy. You’ve got a very short amount of time to connect with the viewer, so bring your best visuals to this tiny video. It’s especially important that the very first second or two be attention grabbing to “stop the scroll”.  Then once you’ve done that you have to continue to keep the viewer engaged with a compelling message or visuals (or both!)

ASPECT RATIO: 

Tailor your videos for the specific platform you're using. Each social media platform has its own specifications and best practices. At Mustard Seed Cinema, we’ve found that creating square videos, as opposed to vertical or widescreen, seem to work the best and are the most flexible for use on all social media platforms. 

THUMBNAIL: 

Don’t forget to choose a custom thumbnail. The frame that is automatically chosen for you is usually NOT the best option. You can choose a frame from the video you uploaded, or in many cases you can upload a separate image. Just be sure that the thumbnail grabs ones attention and represents the topic of the video. Pro tip: it’s hard to go wrong with a close up of a smiling face.

INCLUDE A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION:

Tell viewers what you want them to do next. Whether it's visiting your website, making a donation, or sharing the video, a strong call to action guides your audience.  For ads and boosted content, the call to action is usually an obvious button below the video so in that case you wouldn’t need to explicitly say it in the video itself.

You can’t just upload any video to social media and expect it to be a success. By taking these actions to treat your social media videos differently than other videos, your posts will have more reach and impact. Best of luck!

Sound Advice: Simple Tips for Good Audio

When producing a video, some would argue that good audio is more important than the visual component. Nothing screams amateur like poor quality audio.  It is distracting to the viewer and in some cases makes it impossible for them to understand what is being said. In either case, they are likely to just stop watching and move on.

Here are some simple ways to achieve good audio for your next project. 

Capturing Clean Audio:

Good audio depends mostly on the recording process.  If you mess up this part, there’s often no recovering.  So be sure to do everything you can to capture clean audio on the day of filming.

1. Choose your location carefully. Your shoot should be set up in a quiet space with little to no background noise. Turn off the air conditioning, unplug a refrigerator, kindly ask others nearby to take their conversations elsewhere.  Outdoor interviews are often difficult because even if you’re not in a flight path or on a noisy city street, there is still likely to be the occasional dog barking or trash truck in the background that could ruin that part of the interview.

2. Use an external microphone. There is practically no way to get good audio for a video with just the microphone on your camera. The single most important rule when it comes good sound is the proximity of the mic to the sound source. The microphone needs to be near the mouth of the person speaking (preferably 3 to 12 inches away). If this is the only change you make to your audio recording process, you will see a dramatic improvement! So get a mic!

3. Recording levels are important. A lot of video recording equipment automatically adjusts the recording level based on the loudness of the environment. That works, but it also means that your volume in the recording will be constantly changing, which can be distracting and there is no easy way to undo that.  If you’re able to set recording levels manually, that will be better, with one caveat — they must be set correctly!  Set the levels as high as you can without the audio clipping or distorting. There will be meters on your recording equipment, so just remember that you never want the meters to hit the top (the red) because there’s no recovering that distorted portion of the recording.  You also don’t want the levels too soft. If in the editing process you have to turn the volume up excessively to make up for low recording levels, it will introduce noise or hissing that’s difficult to get rid of.

Equipment: 

There are two types of microphones that work best for video:

1. A lavalier microphone is the tiny one that clips onto people’s shirts.  It can be handy because it stays close to the mouth, and being wireless makes it great for situations when the speaker is walking around.  Lavalier microphones don’t offer much wind protection so if you’re outside, you might encounter a low rumble from wind noise. Lavaliers can also be visually distracting. They are usually seen clipped to outside of the speaker’s clothing, and it can be tricky to hide them without introducing rustling noise from clothing. A lavalier mic would generally be the best choice when the person who is speaking is on the move. Today there are many affordable wireless lav options, costing a few hundred dollars. You can just plug them into your camera and there are even adaptors to plug them directly into your phone, in case you’re using that as your camera.

2. A shotgun microphone (or boom mic) is typically attached to the end of a boom pole. The pole is either mounted on a stand or held by someone who is also monitoring the audio and adjusting the levels. Shotgun microphones are excellent at picking up a narrow pattern of sound directly in front of them and are great for sit-down interviews. You can position the mic above the person’s head, just outside the frame.  This way the mic is close to the subject without being visible in your shot. These microphones generally produce higher quality audio than a lavalier would and can work well outside because you can put a large windscreen over them to block out wind noise. The biggest downside to the boom mic is that it can be difficult to get the mic close enough to the person talking — especially on wide angle shots or walking shots.

Post Production: 

After you’ve recorded the audio, you will often want to make some adjustments in post-production. 

1. Depending on your editing software, there is usually a feature to normalize the audio. This means that the software will adjust the volume to the point where it’s as loud as possible without clipping or distorting. You want your audio volume to be near the top of  your meters in order for it to play back at the proper volume when people watch it. If your editing software does not offer audio normalizing, you can do it yourself by turning up the volume until the waveforms have reached the top. 

2. Applying a compressor / limier can be very helpful, especially for dialogue.  Compression in essence evens out the volume, which can be helpful for times when someone laughs loudly or raises their voice.  A limiter prevents levels from distorting by setting a ceiling and not allowing any part of the recording to exceed that set ceiling.  A compressor and limiter both help you smooth out the volume of your dialogue and allow you to raise the overall volume, making your audio more pleasing to listen to.

3. In some cases you may want to employ an equalizer, but be careful.  You could easily do more harm than good with EQ.  This is a skill that takes considerable practice, expertise, and a finely tuned ear.

4. If your editing software offers audio noise reduction, this can be a very valuable tool for some situations (mostly when one of the important parts of capturing clean audio outlined above was not well executed.)

By following these simple tips, you can greatly improve the quality of your audio, and thus your entire video project.  Go ahead — try them out, and hear the difference!

8 Editing Secrets—Crafting Your Story Effectively in Post

Post production is a vital element of any successful video. It can shape the tone, look, and success of your message. You may have a great story to tell, but if it is edited poorly, the point of the story may be lost. Here are a few tips from the team at Mustard Seed Cinema to maximize your editing efforts in post production, creating a visually appealing video that will attract viewers. This is the second of a 2-part series about storytelling. Part 1 discusses the planning stage of finding and crafting a story. Many of the concepts are also import to consider when editing, so check that out.

1. Find your hook—To start your video, you want to draw in viewers from the onset. Find an intriguing sound bite, compelling image, etc, to get viewers to want to keep watching and give a hint of what is coming. This hook should be very short to grab their attention and make them choose to continue watching the video.

2. Next, go straight to the problem. Follow the same story format as discussed in Part 1. In order to keep the viewer interested in the story, introduce the conflict in the story. It’s important to show the problem, then the solution, then the impact your organization has—what success looks and feels like. 

3. Clarity is key. The audience should never be confused (this isn’t a mystery blockbuster - it’s a promotional video). You might have to cut some parts or add in a line from the interview that you would otherwise choose not to, except to avoid confusing the audience. Sometimes introducing too many people too quickly or without a strong connection to the story can be confusing too. Watch it from the perspective of the target audience, without all the context and background that you might have.

4. Tell the same story through different perspectives. One great way to keep the story moving and keep it interesting this is to cut between two or more people explaining the same event. It provides different perspectives and can help fill in some of the gaps in the story.

5. Finish Strong:  Find a compelling, touching quote for conclusion - something that pulls it together and drives home the point you are making in the video. Keep in mind the hero and theme as discussed in Part 1. This is important throughout the video, but especially when creating the ending.

6. Don’t show a talking head; cover it with b-roll. Try to use as little of the video (actual interview) as possible. Establish the interviewee at the beginning but cover most of it with b-roll to make the video more interesting. We want to hear the interviewee’s words, but see pertinent video, photos, archived material and graphics. This helps us simultaneously utilize words and visuals to more effectively convey the message.

7. Editing workflow: When cutting together your initial story, clips from the interview or script come first—the main audio—which should stand on its own to tell the story and flow nicely. Then, you add music and b-roll on top of that.

8.  Pacing is key! It’s good sometimes to give a little space between quotes by bringing up music or video but no talking. It breaks up the video and offers a little breathing room between thoughts. You can also try breaking it up by using some of the B-roll dialogue. Don’t be afraid to change the music or eliminate music for certain parts to fit the mood of the section. It’s also helpful to intersperse segments of fast paced cuts with longer smooth slow motion shots. If the vibe and pacing is the same throughout the entire video, the viewer is more likely to loose interest, so switch it up when you can.

Following these editing tips will result in a more clear and captivating video for your organization that will be positioned to move people to action. Good luck and have fun!

Video Interviewing Tips

Learning the intricacies of pulling off the perfect video interview can take years to perfect, but there are a few rules of thumb that may help a novice. In order to create a welcoming, comfortable environment for your interview subject, you must set the tone. 

BEFORE YOU START:

If you’re at ease, that will go a long way toward making your interviewee calm and confident. Of course you’ll plan ahead to create the perfect location for the interview, free from noise, airplanes flying overhead, buses driving by and dogs barking. And you’ll maybe even do a pre-interview on the phone ahead of time. This is helpful for you both; you have a more clear picture of who you will be dealing with in the interview – he/she understands a bit more of what to expect in the interview. 

Do your homework. What is the goal of the video? What should you be asking the interviewee to accomplish this goal and tell the story? Write down questions for the interview, but don’t plan to read them at the shoot. You want to seem ‘all in’ and engaged, so no peeking at the question list unless you truly have to. 

ONCE YOU GET STARTED:

Do what you can to make the interview subject feel at ease and comfortable. This will go a long way toward a more authentic interview. Explain the interview and editing process so they know what to expect. You might want to tell them things like not to look at the camera, but to look at you off camera, as well as to ignore the camera and just have a conversation. At the start of the actual interview on-set, ask the subject to say and spell his or her name, and give their title, so you have it on tape. You might need this later in editing. 

One trick to make the interviewee comfortable is to actually start to roll tape without them knowing. You can be chatting with them as the camera is getting set up, and then just organically begin a meaningful conversation before they know you are rolling.  Also, you might want to explain to the interviewee to phrase answers as a complete sentence, restating your original question in the answer. (You ask why they joined an organization; they answer: “I joined the organization because…”)

It’s wise to have the person introduce themselves, either at the beginning or end with something like “My name is James Johnson and I’m the director of the Phoenix YMCA.” That often ends up in the final edit.

AS THE INTERVIEW PROGRESSES:

Don’t talk over the subject! The microphone will pick that up and what may be a great quote may be unusable if your voice is detected. Also, be sure to silently communicate with the interviewee. You can nod, smile, have good eye contact and show active listening and still not make a peep.

Think on your feet– be a good listener and craft appropriate follow-up questions. Always be quick to affirm and encourage them - compliment their answers, how they look, etc. Be patient!

MORE THAN JUST QUESTIONS 

The most successful interviews tap into the subject’s emotion, not just answer the questions. Ask ‘how’ questions (How did that make you feel? How did that change your life?) The more you can tap into the emotional side and how they felt, the more convincing and interesting the interview. 

Oh, and sometimes silence can be good. Give them a little time after some silences– they may add something profound at the end and the silence was a poignant addition to the interview.  

AT THE END OF THE INTERVIEW:

You may consider re-asking a few of the first questions at the end of the interview, now that the subject is all warmed up and more comfortable.

Interviewing is an acquired skill and its success often depends on both the interviewee and the interviewer. By preparing yourself as thoroughly as possible, you will definitely have a leg up in the process. Hopefully, you can infuse some of these above suggestions to make your next interview more successful, interesting and memorable. 

• To watch a tutorial video of me covering this material click the source link below.