5 tips to improve the quality of your homemade clips

In this article we will give you 5 tips to improve the quality of your homemade clips. You may want to start designing a video for your company on your own. Or is lockdown pushing you to cut costs in your video productions?

You can also take a look on our website  because we are an audiovisual production company in Paris that makes videos for companies and helps to increase traffic of their communication videos. You can also go take a look to our articles page  for some examples.

We present them below:

1. Camera Positioning and Eye Contact

It’s always a good idea to make sure your eyes are aligned in the direction or slightly above the lens of your camera. Remember that the camera lens represents the eyes of the viewer.

If your camera is a little higher than your eyes, it will give the viewers the feeling that they look down to you. Don’t forget to look into the lens and not the image of yourself on the screen.

Always put yourself in the spectator’s shoes. If you don’t look at me when you talk to me, I’ll feel your distraction or your lack of interest. It’s exactly the same in movies.

The only time you can not look directly into the lens is if you are talking to someone else (interview) or if you are looking at something specific.

If you don’t have a camera, there are always fallback solutions, for example you can use the app Zoom or Quicktime  to record a video with your computer’s built-in camera. Moreover you will have your file directly on your computer and this will save you waiting for hours to transfer your files from your camera to your computer.

2. Composition of your plan

If you are in the medium shot, you will be in close-up, almost directly in front of your camera. If you are in the middle (which is the most optimal), you will need to place something on the side and in front of you. It could be anything a book or a plant that fits in the frame, these little touches of decoration dress up your composition.

In the background is what will be behind you. It could be a shelf or a painting on the wall. Avoid the windows, because the light coming from behind your head will leave your face in the dark and you will therefore be against the light, not very optimal for the viewer to see your face (unless you specifically illuminate in front).

If you are filming in an open-plan living space, consider that the viewer can see everything in it.

Don’t leave dirty laundry hanging anywhere, make sure your decor is in order and encourage your loved ones not to wander around while you film.

3. The sound

Sound is the other very important point of the device and deserves to be tested in advance.

Record a small piece and listen to it to make sure it is clear. You may not have properly connected the mic cable to the camera or may have forgotten to press the REC button.

Be sure to put your phone in airplane mode while filming. It would be a shame to waste a good catch!

Computers often have a built-in microphone. They are generally not very good, but may be adequate. If using the built-in microphone, try to keep   close to the microphone.

You can also use sound software on your computer, we advise you this very   good article to record on your computer with Audacity.

4.Lighting

Without lighting it is impossible to film or even take a photo, it makes sense. So do not neglect this last tip.

As you do not have the professional equipment like a redhead light (and we don’t talk about hair) LED lamps or HMI…you can rely on natural lighting,  sunlight is an ideal video lighting   but you have to be careful to manage it! Avoid shooting your video with the sun back.

If you are afraid of natural lighting and its frequent changes, you can close your shutters and play with artificial lighting. I mean, you can create a “three-point light” equipment with the lights you have at home. But know that you have to respect a few tips:

– The “main” lamp must be the strongest of the three and provide the essential lighting for you. It must be directed towards you to enhance you.

– The “fill” lamp eliminates shadows caused by the main lamp. It should be less intense than your main lamp so that it eliminates shadows while not producing a too flat image. You must put it   in an angle offset from the main light. It is also often positioned a little lower, to reduce the contrast and thus unblock the shadows created by the main light.

– The “back” lamp separates you from the background, creating depth and also avoiding a too flat image. It can produce a raw light (without scattering) because it will in any case produce no visible shadow by the camera on the subject. It is most often placed in a downward angle

5. Animate your logo and use visual animations to improve the quality of your videos

The brand of your company must be highlighted with a beautiful animation. This will improve the credibility of your brand image.

This is very useful considering the limited attention of viewers on social networks. You must capture the attention of the viewer in the first few seconds! With a beautiful logo animation their attention will immediately capture and give credit to your content.

Also think of put subtitles on your video! Because most viewers don’t turn on the sound when they watch a video on social networks.

You can also insert visual animations to energize the editing. When I talk about visual animations, don’t worry, I’m not talking about animations where you’re going to spend two hours to move or animate your text. In your editing software, you can find ready-made animations that can help you dress up your video.

Don’t forget to place a Call To Action at the end of your video. This may encourage users to contact your company and/or follow your brand on its various media.

Are you ready to say Action? and create a homemade video that looks like it was made by a pro?

If it starts to get too complicated, there are at least two options. We can offer you at Il est une fois:

1. We can help you remotely

First of all, call us. We’ll help you set everything up if you really want to film it yourself from home. I can walk you through all the steps and help you set up your camera positioning. How to place your background according to what you need to work with. And finally test your best sound options and place the right lighting.

2. Or else we can do it together

Finally, you can give us a brief overview of what you would like to do. We’ll do the rest using all the safety precautions. You can go and see what we do for video interviews for example.

We hope we gave you answers to improve the quality of your homemade clips.