Avoiding the Thousand-And-One Video Pitfalls That Everyone Worries About
Does the idea of video recording yourself seem too intimidating? Has this ever kept you from getting a simple sales message out on YouTube?
If so, don’t worry, you’re not alone. I have the same problem. Consider the following video creation issues I discovered after a quick look through Google.
The first piece of advice was to get the most expensive camcorder possible within my budget. Apparently, unless the camera is top notch, the quality of the video will suffer.
Next, I learned that you MUST have a tripod. But not just any tripod. The tripod has to cost at least $100 – $200 to be solid and firm enough to prevent wobbling. I was instructed to obtain a portable microphone and something called a “Lavaliere Microphone”(like I knew what that was).
I learned about narration, editing, panning, zooming, composition, lighting, and even equipment organization and sorting.
We haven’t even gotten to the question of memorization vs. cue cards, inflection, noise minimization, facial expression, and my personal favorite – STAGE FRIGHT.
All of this would make a lot of sense if you were re-making “Gone With The Wind”, but it’s way over the top if you’re just trying to explain or sell something.
If you’re like me, you understand the incredible power of YouTube and other video sites. You know that more and more internet traffic is video (52% as of this writing), and that if you want your message to get to the most pairs of eyes, you have to go video. The question some of you may be asking is: “How do I avoid all of that other nonsense mentioned above?”
Good question. You could go for some expensive video editing software and – after overcoming a steep learning curve – create one of those masterpieces you see on YouTube from time to time. You know what I mean – a clever series of written messages which fade in and fade out, or leap on to the screen and then leap out, or dance around in a circle – all accompanied by perfectly synchronized music, of course.
But if you just want to get across a simple sales message, you might conclude that all of the above is overkill. So why not look into “text to video” software?
If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry. I hadn’t heard of it either until recently. But actually it’s been around for a while – only nowadays the speech sounds less robotic. The idea behind it is to simply paste or type the words you want spoken into your computer and it gets converted into audio speech.
This makes creating a video as easy as typing an email, and since more and more people would rather watch and listen to a message then read a message, this kind of software has real value.
The main question to ask is how the software handles the video portion. I would personally recommend that you choose a program that generates some kind of computer image, rather than simply flashing the words on a screen as they’re being spoken. Most viewers feel more comfortable actually seeing someone talk, and you want viewers that feel comfortable watching your message.
Looking to find the best deal on a new text to video program? Go to Jennifer Gordon’s site VIDEOGOROUND.COM to find the best advice on NEW TEXT TO VIDEO SOFTWARE.