The Importance of Video Quality
When it comes to marketable content for your website or brand, nothing quite beats quality video content. The past years has seen a huge jump in the percentage of internet traffic that consists of streams and videos - an estimate of 79% back in 2018.
So with all the extra competition, you’ll need high standards for the content, style, presentation, and overall quality of your videos to gain a loyal audience base.
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Fortunately, producing high-quality videos is more about technique than they are about having the most expensive equipment. So even if you’re working on a budget, knowing how to work more efficiently, more easily, and more engagingly will get you remarkable results. Here are five tips you can follow to improve the quality of your video content:
1. Planning it Out
The most perfectly shot video won’t matter for much if the actual content is all over the place. Planning out how you want the finished product to be is the first step in making professional-looking, top-quality videos.
Use the basic principles of good scriptwriting, storyboarding, and creating lists of shots even before you start planning the tools and equipment you want to use. Figure out a main message and concept for the video and use those as a framework for the shots and edits.
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A clear plan also streamlines video editing after all the shots have been recorded. Having a clear, concise purpose for your videos is the key to tying all your ideas together into quality video content.
2. Lighting
Nothing affects the visual aspect of a video more than lighting and color. Sunlight is a great light source, but aim to use it during the morning or late afternoon when it creates softer shadows. Cloudy midday sunlight is also great for videos.
When filming indoors, natural sunlight from windows works best. When using artificial lighting, avoid positioning them overhead since that creates harsh, unflattering shadows on people in the video. Unless the goal is to create hard shadows for dramatic or visual effect, soft light always works best for human subjects.
Additionally, post-processing programs such as Adobe Premier Pro have great tools and plugins you can use to fix up your lighting during editing.
3. Audio
Some people would argue that audio quality is a much more important factor for audience retention than even video quality. As such, it’s important to invest in decent audio equipment and to make use of good audio recording practices. Decent microphones that don’t break the bank are widely available in the market.
Consider using pop filters as well to minimize audio cracks and flickers. Lav mics are also great pieces of equipment to have handy. During post-processing, make use of appropriate background music and foley sound effects. A lot of royalty-free music and sounds can be found online but don’t be afraid to opt for paid ones down the line.
4. Stability and Focus
Shaky camera framing makes it hard for the audience to focus on your video content. It’s also one of the most common ways to make a video look amateurish. Avoid shaky footage by using tripods for stationary shots. Focus on your subject and lock it in place. With the camera set up, refrain from moving it or panning too much. If you’re looking to record moving video shots, gimbals are useful tools to stabilize your camera.
5. Multiple Angles
Having a variety of shots visible in the video is an easy trick to keep your audience engaged. This is especially true for video content that’s naturally visual in nature, such as product showcases and tutorial videos.
As such, take the time to catch multiple shots of your video’s relevant subjects and do so from angles that vary by at least 45 degrees for maximum effect. This not only makes it easier to choose the most appropriate shots during the post-processing and editing phase, it also gives the video’s editor a lot of shots to use as b-roll footage.
Wrapping Up
The quality of your video content has a very tangible effect on how viewers think about your brand. So inevitably, the more care and thought you put into video production, the greater the impact will be in pushing your reputation up into greater heights.
Hopefully, what we discussed in this article will help you understand that achieving a decent level of video quality isn’t as daunting or impossible as some people may think!
