Tutorial: Audio-Visual Content Creation & Video Production Fundamentals

00:00 Hi. Previously, we learned about defining your audience, 00:03 setting strategic goals, choosing the right platform 00:06 and creating your online brand. 00:09 So, in this video I'll explain how to produce videos online. 00:12 Starting with tips for successful storytelling, 00:15 filming preparation, including the lighting, the videos, the audio 00:18 and the shooting environment 00:19 and in general how to create stories from start to end. 00:38 How to use videos to create stories. 00:40 I will start with explaining tips for successful storytelling. 00:44 First of all, we need to identify the core message. 00:47 Think of it as the main purpose of creating the video 00:50 and the main takeaway that you want 00:51 your audience to walk away with. 00:53 The core message would help guide the video. 00:55 And help you choose the right tone of 00:57 voice, graphics, music and script. 01:00 Now, after identifying the core message, 01:02 now we need to divide the video into three parts, 01:04 intro, body, and closure. 01:06 Having a beginning, middle and end will help your viewers 01:08 to go with the video's flow and help them 01:10 understand the message a lot easier. 01:12 Now, let's go even more in depth into creating the beginning, 01:15 middle and end of the story. 01:17 If you follow these steps, the storytelling of the video 01:20 that you want to create will be formed a lot easier. 01:23 First of all start with introducing a conflict or a problem 01:26 like cyber bullying for example. 01:28 Then you can increase the tension by explaining how 01:31 cyber bullying is affecting the youth. 01:33 After increasing the tension, provide resolution 01:36 and explain to the viewer how you're solving the problem. 01:38 Then finally end it by a call to action and explain to the viewers 01:41 how they could take steps in order to improve the situation. 01:45 So, after identifying the core message and having 01:47 an intro, body and closure, 01:49 then the third tip is to introduce characters 01:51 to showcase the human experiences. 01:53 As people viewing the videos will always connect 01:55 when they watch other people in the video. 01:57 The fourth tip is to keep it simple, short and in order. 02:01 Focus on one topic at a time. 02:03 And respect your audience's time 02:04 by making the videos short and concise. 02:06 And finally, don't be afraid to use fun and 02:08 humorous tone to convey your message. 02:10 Always put yourself in your audience's shoes 02:12 and think how they would react and connect with your video. 02:15 Filming preparation, I want to go over things to consider before 02:18 and during a video shoot. 02:20 I will be focusing on interviews and speaking 02:23 to camera shots like this one. 02:24 First, a successful shoot is a video that looks good and sounds good. 02:27 And believe it or not, sounding good is 02:29 even more important than looking good. 02:31 There are four things you need to consider before filming: 02:33 location, lighting, cameras, and audio. 02:37 First of all, you can choose a couple of representatives 02:39 who would always present your videos. 02:41 This will help the viewers to get used and connect 02:43 with the presenter a lot easier. 02:44 If you're presenting the video or you've chosen a narrator 02:46 who would present the video make sure that you're comfortable 02:48 and confident in front of camera 02:50 by making sure to practice a few times before the actual shoot. 02:53 And while filming it would be easy to follow the script 02:56 if you have it in bullet points. 02:58 So, make sure before shooting, 02:59 cut down the script into bullet points 03:01 where you can easily read and present. 03:03 It is very normal to make mistakes while presenting. 03:06 And keep in mind that you can always edit and cut 03:07 and put the best parts together during post production. 03:10 You don't have to speak formally to the youth, 03:13 just write and speak for the ear by speaking clearly 03:16 and more conversationally 03:17 to better connect with your audience. 03:18 Now, remember last video when we discussed the branding and 03:21 how you should be consistent across all your channels? 03:24 Now you should also be consistent across all your videos. 03:27 So, make sure to use consistent elements, 03:29 graphics and music across your videos. 03:32 Doesn't have to be the same music of course, 03:33 but the same genre of music. 03:35 And now let's discuss filming equipment. 03:38 I'm going to cover the basic equipment and setup you need 03:40 to produce your social media videos. 03:42 Anything that shows in your frame would add or subtract 03:45 from your project's message and branding. 03:47 Venue and location should complement your message 03:50 and your projects and your objectives. 03:52 For example, if you're targeting students 03:54 then shooting inside a school would 03:56 obviously fit a lot more than shooting inside a corporate office. 04:00 A corporate office setup wouldn't fit as much. 04:02 Unless done intentionally, avoid filming in front of plain, flat walls. 04:06 Accentuate the depth behind your subject 04:08 and use props in the surroundings 04:09 to help build your video's look and feel. 04:11 Also, make sure to choose a location that is quite enough 04:14 for your audio to be clear and crisp. 04:16 I live in Egypt and the noise level here in Egypt 04:19 and in the streets is very high 04:21 because of the traffic and everything. 04:22 So, I apologise for that. 04:24 Moving on to the lighting. 04:26 There are two types of lights. 04:27 They're either indoor lighting or outdoor lighting. 04:30 Whichever you use, you need to make sure 04:32 that you have a consistent light throughout. 04:34 So, starting with natural lighting. 04:35 Outdoor lighting depends mostly on sunlight, 04:38 which should be enough to light your video. 04:39 However, daylight changes throughout the day a lot. 04:41 So, for example, if you're shooting the video during sunset, 04:44 then there would be light at the beginning 04:46 of the video and near the end 04:47 it will be total darkness. 04:48 So, make sure to choose the right time to film the video. 04:51 Also, when shooting outdoors, 04:53 try to avoid the direct sunlight one at noon. 04:56 It's really harsh light and doesn't help the subject to look nice. 05:00 Try to either shoot in a shaded area or use diffusers. 05:04 Here's an example of a diffuser. 05:06 This is used to diffuse mostly the sunlight. 05:09 Sunlight will come from this direction and then it will get diffused 05:13 and look on the subjects face a lot softer. 05:17 No harsh light and harsh shadows on your face. 05:20 But for starters, you don't have to worry about it. 05:22 Maybe just shooting in a shaded area would be enough. 05:24 Also, you can shoot indoor using natural lighting next to a window 05:27 as the indirect sunlight would help illuminate the subject's skin. 05:31 It makes it look softer and nicer. 05:34 Now, if you plan to shoot indoors at night or in a closed space 05:38 and you want to use artificial lights, it is very simple. 05:41 There are three main lights that I use in this setup. 05:44 So, let me walk you through the setup quickly. 05:47 First of all, here's my camera. 05:49 This is a screen where I can see myself 05:51 and this is the main light that I'm using. 05:53 This main light consists of a light strobe 05:55 and then a light box with a light diffuser. 05:59 So, the light when it comes in, it gets diffused, 06:01 falls on my face and makes my skin look a lot softer. 06:04 Also, I use a second light source, which is a fill light. 06:08 I mainly use it because there is a light coming from this side. 06:11 This side might be a little bit darker, 06:13 so the fill light just fills the shadows on my face 06:15 and makes the subject look brighter. 06:17 And then lastly, the light on the background. 06:19 It helps to separate the background from the subject. 06:22 Imagine if I'm wearing black and there is a black background, 06:25 you would only see my face. 06:26 But, adding a light to the background 06:28 it helps separate the background from the subject. 06:31 However, if you don't want to get too advanced, 06:34 then maybe a main light source with the diffuser 06:37 would be enough to light your subject. 06:39 Now, moving on to cameras. 06:42 Recently, phone cameras can produce high quality footage 06:44 that you can start with. 06:45 But, I recommend that later on you should invest 06:47 in buying a separate video camera 06:49 for better and more professional footage. 06:51 So, if you're shooting handheld, not on a tripod, 06:54 then make sure that you have a stable footage 06:56 and not a shaky footage. 06:58 Because shaky footage could make your viewers 06:59 feel dizzy and therefore maybe skip the video. 07:02 So, you would either want to use a tripod 07:05 or to place your camera on a gimbal. 07:07 If you're moving around in a park, if you're filming 07:09 someone speaking while walking, 07:11 then use a gimbal to make sure you have stable footage. 07:15 However, if you're walking around and you don't have 07:17 a gimbal then you could use this technique. 07:20 Just place it around your neck and then 07:22 pull forward the camera like this, 07:26 keep the strap straight and then push 07:28 the camera forward while recording. 07:30 So, this would reduce the shake in the camera, 07:32 which will help the footage look a lot smoother. 07:35 So, then if you plan to use a professional camera, 07:38 a DSLR, which lens should I use? 07:41 Different lenses are used differently according to the scene. 07:44 So, generally, there are three types of lenses. 07:46 First of all, there's a wide lens that gets a lot inside the frame. 07:50 There is a medium focal lens, which is a little bit zoomed in. 07:54 And there is a zoom lens, which has really long focal lens. 07:57 People could use it for filming birds that are far away. 08:00 And for starters any lens would do, any lens will help you film 08:04 and shoot and document the video. 08:06 So, depending on the scene you might 08:08 want to choose the right lens. 08:10 Moving on to audio. 08:12 Audio quality is more important than footage quality. 08:15 For example, imagine a video that really looks crisp. 08:17 And 4K footage and very clear and high end looking video, 08:21 but the sound is terrible and you can barely hear 08:24 what the person in the video is saying. 08:26 Then this video will totally go to waste. 08:28 But, then imagine there's a video footage from World War One. 08:31 And the footage is terrible and 08:33 you can barely see anything, but you can 08:36 hear a conversation between two soldiers very clearly. 08:39 And if the conversation was interesting, 08:41 then this video could easily go viral 08:43 even with a really terrible footage. 08:45 And while recording audio you should never depend on 08:48 the internal microphones on the cameras or mobile phones. 08:51 Because microphones placed on cameras tend to 08:54 capture noise around the camera not just in front of it. 08:57 However, you should buy separate microphones 09:00 like shotgun microphones like this one. 09:03 So, shotgun mics are directional microphones 09:05 that can easily record sound coming from one direction. 09:08 And on top is used to reduce the sound of wind while recording. 09:13 However, for even more clear audio recording, 09:15 you could use a lava mic and directly 09:17 record the audio on a recording device. 09:19 And then later on in post production 09:21 add the audio on top of the footage. 09:23 This is helpful if you are walking around far away from the camera. 09:27 Then wisely the sound is transmitted 09:29 to the camera and the recording device. 09:31 There are a lot more different types of microphones, 09:33 but these are the main ones that you would probably be using. 09:36 Lastly, there are a few things I want you to consider. 09:39 The Evergreen video content strategy. 09:41 Evergreen content is the type of content that you should consider 09:44 as it will always attract viewers throughout time. 09:47 For example, how to videos, travel, language, educational videos 09:51 would always be searched by people looking to learn something new. 09:55 For example, learning how to cook vegetables 09:57 will always be searched forever 09:58 because people will always be eating vegetables. 10:00 So, always think of evergreen content that would add value 10:03 to people now and for many years to come. 10:05 Also should consider quantity versus quality. 10:08 At first, after building your project, you should take your time 10:11 and focus on building your content style. 10:13 And spend more time with producing quality content 10:15 rather than a lot of content. 10:17 After gaining confidence and building a following base, 10:20 then you should increase the quantity bit by bit 10:22 while maintaining the same consistent quality. 10:24 Aim to produce one content per day or at least three times per week 10:28 to be able to increase and maintain traffic 10:30 on your social media pages. 10:32 So far in this video, we'll learn a lot about the video production 10:35 including tips for successful storytelling. 10:38 And the preparation for the videos including the lighting, 10:41 the videos, the audio and the shooting environment. 10:43 And in general how to create stories from start to end. 10:46 So, since now we've learned how to create the content. 10:49 In the next video, I'll teach you how to distribute and promote 10:52 your videos across all your pages on social media. 10:55 So, tune in and see you in the next video.