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You’ve made a few videos. You know how to place yourself in front of the camera and present your content in a way that others find entertaining and/or informative. However it’s time to face facts, your video blogs are practically indiscernible from every other single-perspective webcam screed clogging up the Internet. If you’re serious about stepping up your game and making your show look more like a show and less like amateur hour in Clowntown, may I suggest harnessing the power of video editing.
If you’ve never done it before, editing your own videos may sound intimidating. Truth is, if you can operate a computer, and you know how to cut, paste and move stuff around, you can probably begin to video edit at a level that will show immediate results.
There’s an old saying in Hollywood: “Go in late and get out early.” No, it doesn’t refer to lax Tinseltown employment attendance standards. What it means is that the most effective scene is one that only conveys the essential information to keep the narrative moving. Viewers have notoriously short attention spans. Unless that few seconds of you backing into frame after hitting the record button and then taking that deep breath to collect yourself before you speak is part of your video’s aesthetic, leaving it in will not only bore your audience but will also make you look like an amateur. A very simple cut that enables that part of your content to start right before you speak makes a huge difference and keeps your viewers with you. In the same regard, the end of your video scene or segment shouldn’t linger like an unwanted party guest, either.
Of course, editing allows you to create more dynamic videos by stitching together multiple segments. If those segments happen to be slightly different from one another, or are about different things, it helps to give the audience a quick cue that things are about to change course. With video editing, you can utilize what are known as “transitions”. The most common transition is the straight cut where one shot changes instantly to the next shot. Probably the next most-used transition is known as a “crossfade” or “dissolve” where one shot gradually fades into the next shot. Other transitions include wipes and various effects and as always, the best way to know what transition works best to capture your moment is to experiment and get comfortable with your computer’s “undo” command.
Now that you’ve edited the content of your show together into a nicely-flowing video, a next step to consider is adding titles on screen. Most off-the-shelf video editing programs these days will allow you to easily embed a text layer over your video with a few keystrokes. You may want to add the name of your camera subject when he or she first appears on screen or perhaps just adding the name of a certain location or object when first shown to the audience. Viewers like to know what’s going on. If it’s your product, let them know what it is with text and they stand a better chance of remembering it later. Also, don’t be afraid to add your URL or contact info on screen even if you verbally speak it to camera. Just don’t overload the screen. Remember, good, clean titles make you look like a pro.
One of the best ways to make your show more professional is adding what are known as “bumpers” to the beginning and end of your video. A bumper can be a simple opening title or closing credit sequence. Whatever you do, just keep that intro short and sweet and under no circumstances should you ever use music or images that you don’t own or license. I know that hit sitcom has that song by that platinum-selling singer in their intro, but just know they paid, minimally, hundreds of thousands of dollars to use it. You violate other people’s copyright and not only can your videos be taken down, but you could face legal action… and just know that as of this writing, there is no ceiling on financial damages that a court can assign to a copyright violation. If you want a slick bumper that’s beyond your ability to create yourself, there are plenty of people out there who can create it for you. Hit up a digital artist friend in exchange for an on-screen credit at the end of the show. If that doesn’t work, there are people out there who will do it for just a few dollars… if you know where to look online.
Sure, editing requires an additional commitment of your time and resources, but understand that when you see professional video content on TV or on the net, 99.999 percent of the time, it’s been edited somehow. If you want to succeed in any field, especially ones that involve any sort of creativity, like making videos, you have to separate yourself from the herd. Editing not only give your content polish, but it also makes it better by streamlining what it is you’re trying to convey and providing your audience with the kind of information you want them to take with them and remember, information like your name and your brand!