Shooting Video Tutorials for Beginners

Week Seven

After reading about the 30 Most Iconic Camera Shots of All Time and perusing the videos, I realized my depth of knowledge in this area was very limited. I would love to create my own engaging learning materials which cater to the 21st Century demands of multi-modality and online video tutorial content accessibility. With limited hardware and financial resources, how might one begin such a creative endeavor?

I decided to reach out for some personal learning on my own, to establish a sound foundation for commencing my video tutorial endeavor. I visited Raindance and found 10 Zero Budget Filmmaking Tips which gave me some basic principles to contemplate. Elliot Grove, the founder of Raindance Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards, touts that shooting movies on cell phones has become quite commonplace since 2004. Next I visited SitePoint which had a 7 Point Checklist for making Great Video Tutorials written By Ada Ivanoff Some of the helpful tips she provides are to start by picking topics which are suitable for videos such as how-tos. She also suggested that by keeping things simple and paring quality images with clean sound or concise dialogue, is what can yield a distinction in making a successful video. She recommend keeping your videos short, sweet, and to the point, being no more than 10 minutes, though under 5 minutes is suggested. My final bundle of information came from a HubSpot where there were a few more tips to consider when making your own video such as providing good lighting, using a tripod, and using the rule of thirds to fame your subject. The rule of thirds can create an interesting negative space when the subject is not centered symmetrically in the lens view. Sophia Bernazzani also suggested to keep the words bold, simple, and minimum when using text on the screen. By using animation features on the text, the viewer can become engaged. She also suggests that this approach allows viewers to follow with the sound turned off, as this accounts for 85% of the internet populations' using habits.

This video shot from my iPod is no Independent Film Award winner. Note the black bars framing it, due to the aspect ratio being off. YouTube has recommended 16:9 aspect ratios. My take away is that I have a lot of work ahead of me and I need to stop writing about it and start doing it.