How to Make Your Videos Look Professional
Welcome to Pull My Focus, adventures in the world of filmmaking. Today we’re going to talk about how to up your game when creating a DIY or tutorial video. I’m going to use the example of making a simple cocktail to demonstrate so we can go from basic and built up to more complex and interesting.
We used the example of making a variation of the Blue Hawaii cocktail to demonstrate tricks and tips to improve your How-to videos.
It’s a variation on the Blue Hawaii from the Mai Tai Exotic Cocktail Guide put out by the Montreal Tiki Appreciation Society back in 2003. It's very different than the standard Blue Hawaii and Blue Hawaiian.
The simple "lifestyle" version with just music with no narration or text on screen.
Lifestyle Version
The first version we make is a simply bare bones one with just music. No narration. This was very simple and more what we call a "lifestyle" video. It’s not meant to educate but get the taste buds working and entice the viewer with pretty pictures. This would be used on a landing page to accompany the online version of the recipe, and act as the video version of the final product. It can also be used on social media to entice traffic over to that recipe landing page.
Narration
Now let's add narration to make it a little more tutorial as well as personal.
To make this variation on the Blue Hawaii
add 1 1/2 oz of dry gin
1/4 oz of blue curaçao
1/4 oz of amaretto
and 1 1/2 oz of lemon juice
to a shaker full of ice. Shake, and pour into an old-fashioned glass with ice.
Add your garnish of choice
Adding Text On-screen
Now it’s a bit more of a tutorial but somethings missing. Let's add text on-screen for the ingredients. Because it’s a tutorial we want to guide the viewer through the process and keep them engaged. Text on screen helps.
We add animated text on screen to augment the how-to narration.
Choosing Fonts
Next, we choose a font that fits the style of this drink and video. One that’s not too busy. Then we add animation some animation to the text to add some punch. But not distracting. We don’t want it to draw attention to its self as the drink and tutorial are the star here.
Sound Effects
Something else is missing though and that’s sound. It’s important because it draws the viewer in and makes them feel like they’re in the room with you. We add various sound effects like liquid pouring, ice sounds, clinking of a glass etc for the various shots as we mix, shake and pour our cocktail.
Bed Music
In the first “lifestyle” version we had music but we had to take it out for the narration. Music, especially if it has vocals or a lot of mid-tones, can compete with the human voice. But we can add what we call a “music bed” very low, something that doesn’t compete with the mid-tones of the human voice. Bed music can help propel a video forward though it just lies underneath everything else. You feel it more than hear it.
When I recorded the shots for this how to video, I didn’t use any camera movement (outside of a pan or tilt) as I just wanted to demonstrate editing tricks. In post, we can do small movements like a digital push in and pull out to add a little importance to an otherwise static shot
When shooting, make sure to plan for editing tricks like offsetting items to make room for on-screen text.
At this point, the whole video is very different. We’ve added narration, animated text, sound effects and bed music. Note that though these touches were added in post, you need to think about them during production. so you are prepared to accommodate them. Like offsetting items to make room for onscreen text and shooting enough insert shots.
Thanks for watching. Hope you enjoyed this episode. Let us know in the comments some of your fav tips or tricks for shooting DIY videos.
Thanks to our guest editor Tiffany Cho Ford
https://vimeo.com/channels/684090
Shot with a Canon C100, 24-105mm zoom f/4 zoom lens.
Music
Life Is Sweet
Silent Partner
https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music
The Big Score (Music bed)
https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music
Jazzy French
http://www.bensound.com
"Aloha ʻOe" (Farewell to Thee)
https://www.dl-sounds.com/
Andy Iona And His Islanders – “Naughty Hula Eyes”
http://publicdomain4u.com/public-domain-genres/hawaiian-music
"Ukulele Beach" by Doug Maxwell from the YouTube Audio Library.
Audio
Pouring Martini
by bhweber
https://www.freesound.org/people/bhweber/sounds/148167/
Serving Water Slowly
by rafael45
https://www.freesound.org/people/rafael45/sounds/241880/
martini_shake_pour
by philberts
https://www.freesound.org/people/philberts/sounds/71415/
thin ice, kicking, breaking, water splashing, lake
by be_a_hero_not_a_patriot
https://www.freesound.org/people/be_a_hero_not_a_patriot/sounds/331887/
Footsteps, Ice,
by InspectorJ
https://www.freesound.org/people/InspectorJ/sounds/338265
Lounge tea party - Ambience
By Pastabra
https://www.freesound.org/people/Pastabra/sounds/366194/
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