How To Get Started With Video Production
Written By: Sully Rahal and Sean Kernerman10 minute readVideo is an incredibly powerful tool for marketing, sales and communication. It's also one of the best ways to engage with your audience and show off your brand. With this in mind, it's important to know how to create great videos that will drive results.
In This Blog:
What Is Video Production?
Identifying A Goal?
Creating A Plan
Acquiring A Camera
Camera Settings
Shutter Speed (Video Example)
Aperture (Video Example)
ISO (Video Example)
Rule Of Thirds (Diagram)
Three Point Lighting
Creating Great Videos With These Production Techniques!
What is video production?
Video production is a creative process that involves capturing, recording, and editing video footage. The goal of video production is to tell a story or convey a message in an entertaining way. Video production can be used in many different industries: movies and TV, advertising and marketing, sports broadcasting, politics and government—even personal use!
Identifying a Goal
Before you start a video project, make sure that you have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. This could be a simple as “I want to make an informational video about how to use my product” or as complex as “I want this video to inform my audience about how the local government can improve their lives by implementing a new system for waste management.”
Once you know what your goal is, think about what type of message needs to be conveyed and who will benefit from it. For example, if your goal is simply to inform customers about how their product works, then perhaps all they need are some step-by-step instructions with voiceover narration. On the other hand, if your goal is more complex (such as informing customers while also encouraging them not only to buy but also advocate for social change), then perhaps multiple types of media (images and text) will work best for reaching those goals.
Creating a Plan
It’s important to have a plan in mind when starting video production, but it doesn't need to be complicated. When creating a plan for your video production, think about the following things:
What is my goal for this project?
Who is my target audience?
What are all of the potential outcomes of this project, and which ones do I want most?
It's also helpful to create a timeline so that you can stay on track with your project. A timeline will help avoid unnecessary costs or delays due to mistakes made along the way.
Acquiring a Camera
A good place to start is by determining what type of camera you want. There are a number of different options available on the market, each with its own set of benefits and drawbacks.
Digital SLR cameras have been around for a while, but they're still popular because they're versatile, powerful, and easy to use. The downside is that the technology is dated and often outperformed by the new age of mirrorless cameras. DSLR technology is slowly being phased out with the recent improvements to mirrorless cameras.
Mirrorless cameras are all around the better buy when comparing things like image quality, video capabilities, and ergonomics to DSLR cameras. Unlike DSLRs, mirrorless cameras have the ability to shoot super fast repetitive photos with 15 stops of dynamic range, as well as 4k and in some cases, 8k video. With recent improvements allowing for LOG and CINE color profiles, mirrorless cameras are a force in the world of video production. Only being bested by professional cinematography cameras priced in the $10,000 - $50,000 range.
Point-and-shoot cameras offer convenience over other models because they're small enough not just fit into your pocket but also come equipped with built-in zoom lenses so you don't need any extra attachments like external tripods or selfie sticks when traveling long distances without access to power outlets at every stop along the way! But if portability isn't really an issue for you then consider investing in something else like a DSLR or mirrorless model which probably won't weigh down your bag too much either.
Camera Settings
The three main settings on your camera are shutter speed, aperture and ISO.
Shutter speed controls how long your camera shutter is open for each frame. A faster shutter speed will mean less light reaches the sensor, while a slower one lets in more light over a longer period of time.
Aperture (f-number) controls how much light gets through the lens onto the sensor: smaller numbers mean more light passes through; larger numbers mean less light passes through. This also affects the amount of Bokeh or "background blur" in your shots.
ISO controls how sensitive the sensor is to light: lower numbers indicate less sensitivity; higher numbers indicate greater sensitivity to low levels of ambient light.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed is the amount of time that your camera's shutter is open. A fast shutter speed means that the shutter is open for a short period of time, and a slow shutter speed means that it's open for longer.
When you're filming something in motion, such as a bird flying or someone running, you'll need to adjust your shutter speed so that it captures movement without creating an effect known as motion blur. If you have too low of a shutter speed (anything under 1/30th), this will cause things to become blurred if they're moving quickly in front of or behind your subject. On the other hand, if you have an extremely high shutter speed (anything faster than 1/1000th), everything will appear frozen with no sense of depth or dimensionality.
To avoid these problems when filming, try to follow the "shutter speed rule" which states that you should keep your shutter speed at 2x your frame rate for the most natural looking motion blur. Meaning, if you're shooting something in slow motion at 60fps, your shutter speed should be 1/125.
Aperture
Aperture is a term used in photography to describe the size of the opening in your camera's lens; it helps you to control depth of field, which refers to how much of a scene will be sharp and clear. Because aperture affects how much light reaches your camera sensor, it also has an impact on shutter speed and ISO.
The lower the number, the larger your aperture opening will be—and vice versa. It's worth noting that there are two ways to refer to aperture settings: f-stops or T-stops. The former is commonly used by photographers; however, because many cameras display f-stops as fractions rather than full numbers or decimals (a setting of 1/2 would appear as 1/2 instead of 0.5), some videographers prefer using T-stop measurements instead. This allows them to more easily compare camera settings across different brands and models of cameras while still getting an accurate idea about what those settings mean for their video production workflows later on down the road!
ISO
The ISO setting is the camera's sensitivity to light. The lower that number, the less sensitive it is to light. The higher that number, the more sensitive it is to light. A camera with an ISO of 100 would be very poor in low-light conditions because it wouldn't be able to capture very much detail at all! On the other hand, a camera with an ISO of 3200 could capture a lot more detail in those same low-light conditions because it's so much more sensitive.
You should choose an ISO depending on what kind of environment you're shooting in and what kind of lighting your subject has available: if they have some sort of artificial lights (candles or lamps), you can shoot at a lower ISO such as 100 or 200; if there are no artificial lights around but only natural ones (sunlight), then you may want something higher like 400 or 800; if there aren't any sources available at all then try 1600. Anything above 1600 involves digital amplification, which is when your camera is adding artificial light to your scene. The higher the ISO the more grain and noise is introduced to your scene.
The Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is a compositional technique that divides the frame into nine equal parts. It's used to help create more dynamic compositions, give the subject more room to breathe and avoid placing important elements in the center of the image.
Here's how it works: imagine a tic-tac-toe board (or chessboard) on your screen. At any intersecting point on this chessboard is where you should place your main subject. What you have now is an imaginary 9×3 grid – try placing any secondary subjects along intersecting points on the opposite side of your main subject. This will also help to create left - right balance in your scene.
Lighting (three-point lighting)
Three-point lighting is a popular method of lighting a subject. The key to this type of lighting is using three separate light sources to illuminate your subject. These three sources are called "key," "fill," and "back." The key light is the primary source on set; it's usually located at a slight angle to the subject, relatively close to the cameras position. This light helps to create the primary lighting on your subject.
Fill lights are placed off to the side of your subject, primarily at a 45 degree angle, and are used to fill in shadows casted by your key light. For this reason, the fill light is normally at a lower intensity as to prevent overpowering the key light and to fill in harsh shadows caused by the key light. Finally, back lights are positioned directly behind each subject or object being filmed so that their features stand out against any background.
Create great videos with these production techniques!
Video production is a great way to share your ideas with others and make them feel like they are part of something special. By following these steps, you can start creating your own videos today!
