Steve Stockman
When you do use titles, keep them both short and simple in wording. Use an attractive, plain font—perhaps a nice Helvetica. Keep the title as small as can be easily read. Put it on the top or bottom third of the screen. Use white over dark backgrounds or black over light—no shadows, no outline, no underline, no motion, no glows. No poster-vision. If your background is too mid-bright for the type to read in either black or white, try putting a simple gray bar behind it. Keep titles on screen just a beat longer than it takes you to read them (Location 336)
The intent can be as simple as “I want to share my trip to Namibia with friends” or as complicated as “I want to change the 20-to-40-year-old, non-college-educated audience’s perception of recycling.” Whatever it is, it’s the reason you’re doing the video in the first place. (Location 433)
To create mystery and intrigue, make your shots raise questions instead of answering them. If you’re doing a how-to video, you don’t need to start with “Hi, I’m Steve Stockman, and this is my instructional video on how to build a fire. I’m here at the Grand Canyon, and over there is a pile of wood I’ve collected.” Instead, start with a close-up of someone striking a wooden match against the side of a lean-to, carefully lighting the kindling at the base of a pile of logs. The audience immediately wants to know where they are, why someone is lighting a fire, and what will happen next. When you tell them nothing, they’re intrigued—which makes them yours to lose. (Location 946)
The gun is just a metaphor, of course. If you’re doing a ski video about people learning to jump, start with the hero going off a huge jump, flailing in midair, and—freeze-frame. Now we’ll be with you through the whole film, wondering if he made it or not. (Location 959)
Another great way to build a non-story video is to hang it on another structure. The easiest one, and one that almost always works, is music. You can set any video to music, letting the music guide the shots and cuts. If the shots are well done and all on one theme, the right music will make them funny, moving, or exciting and hold the video together. (Location 1008)
Script It Script any video you’ve been thinking about shooting. It can be as simple as just dialogue. If you have more than one location, make it Location and Dialogue. (Location 1116)
The most memorable home videos and docs tell stories. Those stories don’t just magically appear in the edit room. You have to imagine them before you start shooting. (Location 1185)
TRY THIS Pitch It Before You Shoot It Search for the story in your next video—even if it’s as spontaneous and unscripted as a barbecue. Start thinking about the main characters. (Location 1187)
If you’re doing it all—writer/producer/director/shooter/editor—there’s a lot to keep track of. The easiest way to stay organized is with a shot list. (Location 1202)
To make your shot list, start by brainstorming a long list of everything you might want to shoot. No wrong answers—write down whatever crosses your mind. Remember that a shot is a noun plus a verb. “The bride cuts the cake” is a shot. “The bride” is not. For a documentary shoot, like a family reunion, you might list all the relatives and what you might want to ask them in an interview. Also consider: What activities will they be doing? What’s likely to happen at the event that’s funny? Or touching? Or inspiring? Add those things to the list. (Location 1208)
A storyboard is traditionally a frame-by-frame representation of what your video is going to look like. Storyboards show the placement of actors, camera angles, and indicate the action. Creating storyboards is a great exercise in planning your video. It’s also an easy way to explain what you’re doing to others (actors/bosses/skeptical relatives). (Location 1317)
Promoting Your Product or Services (Location 2839)
Start with the target customer in mind: Brainstorm a description of your customer. Who are they? How old? Where? In what frame of mind? Are they looking for your business already, or will this video be the first they’ve heard of it? Evaluate your video ideas by looking at them through your customers’ eyes. (Location 2847)
If you want to intrigue a potential customer into learning more, you’ll need a big idea and plenty of entertainment value. Think customer needs, not yours: For your bakery, your first answer about the customers’ needs might be “They need our corn muffins.” But that’s a product-centered need, not a real audience need. It’s also not a very interesting start for a video concept. But take that first need and keep asking it “Why” and you start to get someplace interesting. Just brainstorming here, but: Why do they need corn muffins? For energy. Why do they need energy? (Location 2861)
Because their lives are busy and tough. Why are their lives tough? Because they don’t have time for love. Think about how your product improves the lives of your customers. We can do this all day, but “corn muffins = love for busy people” strikes me as an interesting start for a video. (Location 2867)
Think relationship, not sale: (Location 2873)
Don’t exceed your level of video excellence: A sincere interview with the company founder, well shot and edited, will sell your company better than a lame sketch video. (Location 2879)
The fonts Helvetica, Courier, and their relatives make nice, simple, classiclooking titles. Yes, you can make them bold, shadowed, underlined, and red, and make them fly in spinning, but if the (Location 2925)
I use computer software notation. Matthew’s Birthday Version .90 is my rough draft, .91 the next, and so on. (Location 2986)
TRY THIS Is the Action Clear? Look at your video in increments. A couple of scenes or so, no more than a minute at a time. For each chunk of video, ask yourself: (Location 3087)
The next time you wonder “How do I get from here to there?” remind yourself that you probably don’t have to. Just cut, and the audience’s brains will do all the work for you. (Location 3241)
Funny is always good. See Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Super Size Me (2004) for graphics used well and sparingly. (Location 3315)
You can edit, massage, and polish your video forever—but fortunately, there are deadlines. (Location 3470)
If you want to get better at shooting video, you have to let go. (Location 3474)
Time is your most precious resource. Don’t waste it by staying too long on one video when you could be learning from your next one. (Location 3476)