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Tips for Creating Online Video Content

Here’s a secret for creating online video content, short often equals sweet! So don’t be intimidated by the thought of a long complicated project, even a 30 second “one-take” video where you read a poem you wrote can be creative andeffective. Brainstorming creative ideas: What do you want the point of your video to be? To be informative or funny, or make the audience feel nervous or excited? As the director you can make choices that influence your audience’s thoughts and feelings. For instance, the person who chose the creepy ominous music for Darth Vadar’s scenes in Star Wars madea great decision! As you’re coming up with ideas, think about: What you want to say / what is your message. Will your video have characters? What’s the setting or the background? Any particular camera angles- wide, medium, close-up? Any music or sound effects?

Ideas for different types of video projects:

Creating a “One Take” video If you’re a video beginner, you might be interested in creating a quick simple video that needs no editing at all.Something where you borrow a smart phone and record your idea in just “one take”. In other words: start the video recording, show your whole idea, and then stop the recording. Of course, it’s important to have a script and practiceahead of time. And you’ll probably need to record your video a number of times before you get the “take” that youlike the best. This style will work best with simple ideas, like reading a rhyme or a song you wrote, or showing words or drawings on paper and flipping through them page by page, or perhaps a quick puppet show or interview. Creating an edited video With a little planning, shooting and editing you can create a more complex video. You’ll definitely want to create ascript, and you may find “storyboarding” to be helpful and fun. Storyboarding is where you draw out each plannedshot on paper, like a cartoon strip. It can help you stay organized and come up with a more creative plan for shooting. Editing your video footage: If your household has a computer, tablet or smartphone with an editing program such as iMovie or Windows Movie Maker already installed- try to use that. A free alternative is Adobe Premiere Clip, which works on Android, iPhone, iPad and iPad Touch. https://www.adobe.com/products/premiere-clip.html “How to” tutorial video: https://helpx.adobe.com/mobile-apps/how-to/premiere-clip-create-edit-video.html P.S. Making credits for the video ending can be very fun. Creating an animated video online Websites like www.voki.com and https://www.animaker.com and www.Movely.com make it possible to create an animated video clips online. Voki is simple. It lets you choose a character avatar, record or type in dialog and add effects. The other sites offer more flexibility and creative options and you’ll need to register with an email address to usethe free versions. SHOOTING TIPS: Choose a quiet location with good light. If shooting on a phone, make sure to hold it horizontally. The camera is your audience, pretend it’s your friend! Smile and be yourself.