You can start video blogging for a small investment. But to achieve a professional look and feel, you’ll need to experiment and observe certain fundamentals. Here are some tips for choosing the right equipment, and setting up a simple, well crafted shot.
Equipment
Camera: Any mid-range consumer HD camcorder will do. $1000 is more than you need to spend, unless you plan to shoot much more than video blogs. Cameras with some built-in flash memory are attractive for their simplicity, since you’re shooting relatively short scenes and usually moving the scenes to your computer immediately.
Lighting: If you have the studio space to keep your lighting set up, an inexpensive lighting kit with two stands and reflectors, and compact florescent bulbs, is simple and effective. Good overhead lighting will also be needed to illuminate the frame properly. For video blogging that requires frequent setup and take down, or video on location, choose a camera mounted, LED array light. These lights can be extremely bright, have low power requirements, but are considerably more costly, and more challenging. LED lights can blast your subject straight-on, and will only light your subject, not the studio setting.
Microphone: video blogging should use a tie-clip style microphone. Wireless models are most common, but for stationary, video blogs, a wired “lavalier” (tie clip microphone) makes sense. Wired microphones mean no time is waisted with extra components — transmitter, receiver, — batteries, and audio interference.
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Shot Essentials
Choose your background wisely. Background is the most important decision for your shot.- Your subject’s head should be ⅔ up the frame, like how you’d expect to see him in a portrait.
- Do not sacrifice on audio. Clarity, level, and background noise need to be considered. Video with poor audio gives the viewer an amateur vibe.
- Position your subject away from the background, lest he disappear into it.
- Light the shot, not the subject. Do not blast the subject with light. Remember the background, and manage shadows.
- Natural, incandescent, and florescent light will compete, and your camera can show terrible tones. Step through the automatic white balance settings before you shoot.
Editing and Delivery
Editing is simple, and requires one step: find a person who has some experience editing — this flippant advice is at least somewhat serious. Working the modern software packages is simple; but like with any other design, quality comes from experience.
Modern, inexpensive consumer software will suffice to cut and title your movies. You do not need to spend much money on software for the production of quality video.
When you are ready to broadcast your video, avoid major preparation, streaming and hosting hassles by choosing a provider to host your video. You can now embed video on your web pages with zero cost and no learning curve. Upload to YouTube or like service, and use the embed code they provide to paste your movie wherever you need it.
