How to Make a Video

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A good thing to do with your business video is submit it to youtube.com and place its embed code on as many webpages as you can. This should give your video high rank for keywords at engines and youtube.
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Matt Cutts works at Google and specializes in SEO issues. See his latest work at youtube's Google Webmaster Central.
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The bulk of my website traffic comes from popular forums, direct links from exchanges and organic search engines (free listings). If you are good at news feeds and offline promotion - these are worth the effort.
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The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. - Proverbs 22:7
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Countdown To Zero - from the producers of "Inconvenient Truth"
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How to Make a Video
(Updates)

The things to do below should help you in creating a professional video.

Pre-Production:

1. Setting a goal for the final edit is a must. A plan to achieve the goal should be your checklist. For example, my goal is to get viewers to visit my SEO website and my plan is to obtain valuable SEO Tips from an expert, then plug in a web address.

One good plan is to ask subjects only questions related to the theme of the video. The one(s) being interviewed should know, ahead of time, that preferred replies are those that specifically answer the questions.

The clips that will be most attractive to the editor will be those that are most relevant to the video's goal.

The editor should copy to file a company's Mission Statement in pre-production. It helps to show this to the one(s) being interviewed. Answers that top company officials like to hear stand a good chance of making the final cut.
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2. B-roll is extra video taken to color a story. During pre-production, editors should ask for this or high-quality photos from all subjects involved in the video.
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3. Praying to Jesus, with others, beforehand will help increase work performance! Things to ask for: Direction, simplicity.
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4. Good video makers first get to the point where they feel competent in their work. A good point is to master the art of movie making, then enjoying the work will be easy.
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Video Recording:

5. The use of in and out zooms is only good for over-the-top Hollywood or quality commercial shots. Standard business videos could give viewers nausea when pushing-in and pulling-back on the lense.
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6. For handheld shots, the Image Stabilization (Steadyshot) feature should be enabled (turned on).

When the camera is stationary, the Image Stabilization feature should be disabled (turned off), to allow for natural image recording.
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7. A camera operator can use a wheelchair or dolly, to get smooth camcorder movement.
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8. Quality Sound:
A. Microphones must be placed as close to the talent as possible. It should be set along the imaginary line of the subject's voice projection.
B. Sometimes the camcorder makes undesirable noises on its own. Using a lavaliere (small mike clipped to shirt) or hand-held will solve this issue.
C. Camera operator should not make any small sounds. Being still, at all times, behind the camera is not easy but important.
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9. Two or more cameras will help keep the video alive.
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10. The set must be much brighter than normal everyday lighting. Video lights, table lamps, reflectors (bounce) and the sun are always good.

Three-point lighting should always be priority: This is two bright lights in the front sides of talent and a dimmer backlight, all at least three feet above everyone.

It is possible to add brightness in video editing but doing so adds white graininess to the picture.
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11. Background Check:
A. Nothing in background that keeps attention of viewers off subject. Example: No pot plants appearing to sprout out of people's heads.
B. Moving the video camera further from the subjects and zooming in to original shot will reduce background width seen on screen.
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12. Keeping the camera's CCD chip safe:
A. The camera should be turned on before taking off the lens cap. If you take the cap off then switch it on - light could stream-in and cause a damaged chip.
B. Video cam cannot be pointed at really bright lights.
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13. Knowing how to white balance is found in the manual.

Professionals prefer to white balance manually, using a white flat object (cardboard or paper).

The automatic white balance feature on your video camera should always record quality images. There should be an Indoor and Outdoor auto setting.

The important thing about white balance is that it always needs to be done right before recording. In addition, when the lighting or camera angle ever changes, it should be always be redone, even in auto mode, unless you know the cam does not need it.
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14. Manual-focus (not auto) is a must. Knowing this comes from experience in getting blurry shots when using auto-focus.

The video operater can zoom in on the subject's eyes, focus, then zoom out to the desired shot. The focus will stay on the eyes as long as the subject stays in the frame. This is how professional video camera operators prepare for shots.
A. On camcorder LCD screens: A pencil's eraser head can be used for touch (spot) focus, because the fingertip may be too big.
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15. The bottom of the frame should be kept even with the horizon and flat surface of the earth.
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16. Rule of Thirds: Subject's eyes should be 1/3 from top of frame for viewer friendliness. This also includes photos.
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17. When the subject's nose is pointing to the camera, the subject should be center screen. When the subject is turned from the camera, the space in front of the subject, on screeen, must be more than behind them.
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18. Shooting everything you can helps when editing.
A. Helpful shots for use in editing: Close ups, buildings, reactions from other people, and anything that comes to mind. Silent frames in the middle of shots can be used for smooth volume transitions when editing.
B. Three seconds must be added to beginning and end of shots for editing fade-in and outs.
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19. Both eyes should be kept open to see what's going on in the viewfinder and around you.
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20. Good shots will answer: Who is the person in the video, what is he doing, when is he doing it and where is he? I like to prepare each shot, with these questions in mind.
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21. Camera operators are not supposed to appear in film.
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22. Camcorder should always be kept clean (covered).

Most camcorders auto lense cap will not close when powered off from the plug. It may need to be turned off from the switch on the cam.
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23. When batteries are kept warm, their life is longer.
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Video Editing:

24. What is the layout of the video, in terms of what video clips go where?

Does it advise viewers what they are about to see, at the beginning, to get their minds ready for easy comprehension?

Would an average 6th grader understand it?
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25. When editing, all frame shots should be kept to under 9 seconds, to keep video alive.

It is ok to extend frame shots to 30 seconds when doing interviews.
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26. Background music can be used to help reduce undesirable sounds in video.
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27. When deciding on what video to show, a good approach is to listen for positive key word phrases.

Enthusiastic speakers are priority over average ones.

When you want to mask over bad image shots but still use the sound, high quality photos relevant to the subject are good. Important low quality photos can be used but at a minimal show time.
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28. Things that help answer who, what, when and where: Maps, a big title slide at beginning stating name of the video, and words at bottom of clips that answer these questions.
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29. Reviewing the first final edit with a mature person(s) will help. Asking them questions to see their point-of-view will help make things easier.

I like to use 99% of suggestions from others, even when I do not know why the edit is needed. Most of the time I see their idea(s) makes sense, after a few days.
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Additional ideas on video making can be emailed to Scott C..
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Video stuff can be purchased at Amazon.com for 20% to 50% off retail price.
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Search Engine Optimization Videos

How to Make a Video(Updates)

How to Make a Video
(Updates)