Most people do not spend enough time, energy and forethough about pre-production… you know the actions you take before you hit record. In this post we share all about it, from content types, to set-up and even testing your set-ups. The pros spend 10X time in pre-production vs production aka shooting time. In subsequent posts we will cover the production and post-production processes.

TYPES OF VIDEO CONTENT

When you are planning a new video we all need ideas on what to create to engage people online. Here are some helpful steps and areas to consider to support you to produce great video content for you and your business. Here are the most popular types of content videos to create:

• Educational - Share your expertise and teach your viewers something related to your business (easy)

• Inspirational - Move people with more emotional verbiage, imagery and content to motivate and energize them (harder)

• Entertainment - Use energy, comedy, music and emotion to excite and entertain your viewers (hardest)

Of course, all of your videos should be a value-add content, ideally they will feel something authentic after viewing your videos. Are you making it easy for people to get to know you, or to want to work with you or learn from your expertise? Remember people have to know you, like you and trust you to want to do business with you. Video as a medium is a fantastic mechanism to help them in this process to working with you.

Write down each topic and the exact bullet points you want to share in your video. Here are some content strategy ideas to consider.

• Answering common, recent or on-going questions from your FAQ, or create a new FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

• Review trends in the industry you are noticing, add your unique perspective and insights

• Dive deeper into a topic, product or service your business, that users deal with often

• Select one of the three themes above to Educate, Inspire or Entertain them

• Consider the typical three part structure of: introduction, content body and a strong closing

• Collect your additional media content in advance; photos, video clips, audio files, documents like Powerpoint slides or other media to add to the video.

  • In the video industry we call this media B-roll or background or secondary footage (aka cut-away footage). Prepare them to upload into your project when creating one in software like PitchHub.

• Decide on location/s where will you shoot your video/s; in a media studio, an office, at home, outdoors or on-location are most typical options. Depending on your video style you can use a variety of them. Here are some ideas for each location:

  1. Studios - consider your background and controlled lighting options, get creative

  2. Office - clean up your desk area or use a clear background for your video

  3. At-Home - find a quiet space to shoot, one where you will not be interrupted (good luck during shelter in place)

  4. On-Location - add value to your video by shooting in a related location

• Lighting is really important and can be the difference between a great video and a poorly planned one. Place the light in-front of you, towards your face, if you can position it in front of the camera easily. If you have two lights position them at 45º angles on the sides of you to light you evenly. Bulbs are important as some are more white (cooler) and some are more blue (cooler).

• Backgrounds are also critical to the professional quality of your videos. We recommend you only use backgrounds that add value to your videos and never distract from you as the speaker. If you are in a busy area with lots going on it may take away the viewers focus from you personally.

• Gear is important and a smartphone camera nowadays can do so much as far as good quality. Before you run out and spend tons of money on new gear, do a test shoot and share it with your colleagues. If you need to buy gear we recommend the following:

  1. Camera, a DSLR or video cameras range from $500 to infinity, so choose according to your budget. Resolution and ISO are key features to look for

  2. Microphone, use either a wired mic or a more expensive wireless mic will help with audio, or a plug-in headset into your phone or camera

  3. Lighting, try LED lights from home or a variety of lighting options from ring lights to multi-panel LEDs as options

  4. Backdrops, as mentioned above choose fun backgrounds or buy a backdrop to use like a black, white, blue, green or image backdrops

  5. Tripods are so critical and please get one that will not wobble and shake easily, be sure to get a phone mount holder if you need one.

  Test all your gear in advance before you go live on the day... it will really help you be more efficient and effective when recording your videos. Schedule your video in advance so that you have a date and time for it to shoot for. If you have others involved you will need to notify them in advance and involve them in the pre-production phases

  1. Plan for about 1-2 hours to write a 3-5 minute script, this time will decrease with experience

  2. Plan at least 30 minutes to set-up all your gear and more if it is your first time doing it, check cables, batteries and internet connections for wi-fi streaming live

  3. Plan 3-5 times more time for new productions, so a 5 minute video give it 15-25 minutes at least

  4. Plan time to break down your gear and download or upload your new videos for editing or sharing directly (editing recommended)

  In a follow-up post we will review the Production (aka Shooting Video) process in-depth for you, stay tuned and feel free to email us questions, concerns and ideas you may have. Remember getting up and starting is the hardest part and we got your back!

WE ALL NEED SUPPORT

Offering Complimentary Media Strategy Consultations up to 30 minutes delivered as a video or phone call 1:1 meeting with Jared Brick.
If you need more time you can book a paid consultation for more time where we will provide actionable steps inside the meeting and follow-up in-depth notes via email for you. We are here to help you you leverage media for growth!

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Brick House Media and PitchHub are media partner companies.