3 Proven Tips To Avoid These Costly Mistakes With DIY Videos
In this blog, we look at three costly mistakes people commonly make when creating DIY videos and my proven tips for how you can avoid making them.
When starting out creating DIY videos, there are certain areas that always seem to be neglected, resulting in low-quality videos that aren’t getting seen by your customers.
I’m going to talk about the three costly mistakes people commonly make when creating DIY videos and my proven tips for how you can avoid making them.
Your Choice of Location
You need to be more conscious of where you’re filming your videos. We’ve all seen videos where people are filming in their car with the engine running or they’re filming at home, and you can see their washing hung up in the background.
Your location can either be a distraction or it can help to get across your brand message.
You don’t need to spend a fortune on a dedicated set to film your videos, but it’s important that you choose a location that is on brand and relevant.
Stay away from boring white backgrounds, instead incorporate a few props such as plants, lamps or a monitor screen. Including props in your background will help to set the scene and create points of interest, improving the overall visual.
Also, make sure to choose an area of your home or office that is relatively quiet to avoid viewers being distracted by background noise.
Not Using Any Lighting
Image quality is one of the biggest problems when it comes to DIY videos.
I’ve seen lots of videos where people are either filming in a dark corner of their office or sat in front of a window with light beaming through behind them.
Whether there is too much or too little light in your video, your camera sensor will often struggle to focus and pick up details on your face, resulting in a mushy visual.
Bad lighting is one of the worst things you can do for your videos which is why it’s important to put some thought into your lighting.
One way to improve the lighting is to film outside, taking advantage of the natural light. Your best bet though would be to buy a cheap photography light, especially if video is something you want to do more of.
For the best results, your photography light should be roughly 45 degrees to the left or right of your camera, just above eye level and angled downwards towards your face. Once it is correctly set up, simply tweak your camera's exposure and you’re good to go.
For more tips on how to improve your video's lighting, check out this video: 3 Pro Lighting Tips For Better Youtube & Social Media Videos
Poor Audio
Contrary to what you might think, audio is actually more important than the quality of the video itself.
Quality audio is more likely to retain a viewer vs quality a high quality visual. If the audio is poor, it becomes difficult for the viewer to understand what you’re saying and the story you’re trying to tell. This often results in viewers clicking off your videos.
I would always recommend purchasing a dedicated microphone for your camera to optimise video audio. The two most common types of microphones to choose from are the shotgun and lapel microphone.
Shotgun Microphone
The shotgun microphone is typically mounted onto a camera, pointing towards the person being filmed. They are great for just picking up the subject’s voice but the downside is, the further away you are from the person talking, the worse the sound becomes.
The Lapel Microphone
The lapel microphone, also known as a lavalier, is attached to the person talking meaning they are always close to your subject’s mouth. The downside to this type of mic is that it tends to pick up more background noise so it’s important to film in a quiet environment.
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