6 video production techniques to enhance your final product

When making a video, you might be willing to excuse yourself the occasional filming slip-up on the assumption that you could simply edit it out later. However, post-production can end up a very time-consuming part of the process if you always take this attitude when putting together a video.

Therefore, it can be more efficient to get it right during filming – and here are some tips for doing so.

Don’t pour too much into a single video

One common mistake by video producers is attempting to squeeze too many ideas and visuals into one video. However, as pointed out in an Entrepreneur article, “for viewers, this makes the final product unfocused and confusing.” It would also have the effect of diluting your message.

Use the right equipment to protect sound quality

Exactly how you should do this will depend on the particular situation. For filming sit-down interviews, use a hands-free lapel or lavaliere microphone, as a HubSpot article advises. Meanwhile, microphone and boom setups can work well when you are trying to capture larger shots.

Using a smartphone to capture that footage? Your device’s headphone input can accommodate microphones capable of speedily enhancing sound quality.

There’s nothing tripe about using a tripod

If you are holding a camera yourself as you film, the image could too easily come out shaky and, thus, looking more like a homemade video than the professional product you were perhaps seeking.

One answer to this potential problem is using a tripod to physically stabilise the camera. Tripods are available in standing and tabletop varieties.

Strong and stabilisation: in-phone solutions

If a smartphone will be your camera of choice, there are built-in technologies which can also help you prevent the dreaded “shaky cam”. For example, iPhones and Samsung Galaxy handsets feature optical image stabilisation, which shifts the optics as a means of compensating as the phone moves.

A similar technology – used in Google’s Pixel phones – is digital image stabilisation, where the camera app slightly crops from the complete field of view to create an effect like optical image stabilisation.

Consider shooting in 4K video

If your smartphone is a particularly high-end one, it might also give you the ability to film in what has been branded 4K resolution. Typically, in the context of smartphones, this resolution is 3,840 x 2,160. Your device might let you switch to this resolution in its resolution settings.

While The Verge acknowledges that most people don’t opt to watch 4K video, shooting your video in this resolution would enable you to future-proof it for the years ahead.

Remember to include a call to action

Are you making your video to help meet the aims of a company or organisation for which you work? Omitting a call to action in that video would leave your viewers at a loss as to how to subscribe, buy, donate or do whatever else you want them to do after watching the video. The Mob Film Company could particularly help with corporate video production in Manchester.