StudioNB.media

Videography for Beginners | 6 Step Principle-based Guide

‍

Have you wondered how to make your videos look more professional but don't know where to start?

We’re here to walk you through a simple, easy-to-follow formula that will immediately improve the quality of your videos, make your processes more efficient, and make your end result more engaging, no matter what your budget is!

‍

Step 1 | Determine Your Purpose

Step 2 | Write Your Script

Step 3 | Plan Your Shots

Step 4 | Video Production

Step 5 | Audio

Step 6 | Post Production

Gear Suggestions

‍

Step 1 | Determine your Purpose

Determine what your purpose is. Why are you making this? It may sound overly simple, but without a solid reason in mind for creating this video, you can quickly lose motivation and stop. Truly believe that what you have to share is important, worthwhile, and helpful.

After you have this reason firmly in your mind, decide on two or three supporting points. Don’t worry, we can always add more later, but to keep things manageable at this stage, let’s just keep it to two or three.

When in doubt, an important guiding principle to remember is this: Don't distract from the main point. When making decisions throughout the process, always ask yourself, "Does this support or detract from the main message of my video?"

Key Principle: “Don’t distract from the main point.”

‍

Step 2 | Write your Script

Think of your script as the blueprint or skeleton for your video. Without it, your project can easily become disjointed and hard to follow, making your audience disengage and lose interest. How do you build a successful script? Here’s a simple process.

How do you build a successful script?

Insert those main points you decided on
Break them down into the sub-points needed to fully explain them
Under each of those sub-points, insert only the required details to fully flesh them out. This could include technical specs, photos, or videos.
Then add basic dialogue. Just don't write things word for word. This can make you come across as robotic or insincere.
Now that you have things written out, you can refine your script. Ask yourself, “is this a logical progression of thoughts and information?” If not, move your segments of information to a better location. Keep practicing it until it flows naturally. To avoid a lot of unnecessary stress and wasted time, you want to get this fully worked out before you start to film.
‍

Link to Example of Good and Bad Script

‍
Link to free Word Doc Script Template

‍
Step 3 | Plan Your Shots

Planning for your shots is almost as important as the script itself. It’s really only about 10% more work to save 50% on production time and provide a few hundred percent better results. It is worth the effort! It keeps production organized, streamlined, and efficient. All of this translates to the viewer.

Two types of video are A-Roll and B-roll.

‍A-Roll is typically your primary footage.

B-Roll is any additional footage that supports the a-roll or primary narrative.

‍

And within these two classifications of footage, there are generally two categories to plan for: Emotional and Informative.

Emotionally Engaging

This could be giving a personal expression, relating an experience, or anything that would benefit from an emotional connection with the audience.

In these settings, showing your face and body language is usually a good idea.
B-roll for this category could involve more artistic shots like blurry backgrounds, lots of lights, etc.

Informative

This could be discussing a product, giving a walkthrough, or anything education-driven. Keeping most of what you see in focus, with less bokeh (or background blur) is usually a good rule of thumb.

“Show don’t tell”. Take us on the journey with you!
Show clips that match your narration.

Now that you have an idea of what kind of shots you need, you may be wondering ‘What exactly do I film? When do I show what clips? How long should they be on screen? Remember our foundation principle, don’t distract from the main point. Let this guide you and you’ll definitely get the feel for it!

You're SCRIPT is done your SHOTS are planned you’re ready to FILM. You got this!

‍

Step 4 | Video Production

Paid options: These can be great because you don’t have to learn how to film, they already look professional. There are many but we’ll just focus on two of the biggest. If you would like to check out some of our favorites, CLICK HERE.

Stock footage sites like Adobe Stock and Artlist.io

Pros:

Time Saver
Great quality

Cons:

Can get expensive quickly
Can be less engaging for your audience if you use all stock footage for the entirety of your video.

Fiverr or similar sites

Pros:

Also a time saver
Customized to your specific project and vibe

Cons:

The expense can be much higher depending on the footage requested
Scams do exist on it, so extra caution and questions are needed when choosing a videographer
Your requested product is not always licensed for commercial use so clear communication will be needed with the videographer

Self-Produced: Chances are, if you’re reading this, you would rather produce it yourself. That’s awesome! How can you improve the quality of your productions? Don’t worry, it’s not hard! Let’s break it down.

Capture only the shots that you wrote down in your plan. Please, do not get out there and start thinking, “Oh, that looks good! That looks good! Maybe I’ll use that later.” We’ve done it. It’s a nightmare. Deleting 90% of the footage that you capture is very disheartening and wastes a lot of time.

Set a time limit for yourself. This helps you stay focused on your planned shots. If, as you’re editing, you realize you actually need more, it’s okay to go back. This actually spends way less time in the long run (assuming you didn’t film hours away from your home.) And remember, a few great clips are way better than a lot of “okay” clips.

New camera needed? No! The good news is that, most likely, whatever phone or camera you’re using can produce quality that is plenty good when you’re just starting out. Whatever you’re filming with, these three things will greatly increase your production quality. Lighting, composition, and focal length. Let’s talk about them one by one.

‍

Lighting, Composition & Focal Length

Lighting is absolutely key! Check out the following examples to see just how drastically lighting can affect the mood and quality of your video.

One-point lighting looks dramatic.
‍Two-point lighting is a little bit more inviting.
‍Three-point lighting gives a little more of a cinematic flare.

BTW, these renders were made with Elixxer, a program designed to help you plan your lighting setups virtually. This is a huge time saver!

‍

Good example of the effect of lighting created by Studio NB using Elixxier software. One-point, two-point and three-point — **Good Lighting Examples**

‍

Avoid Flat lighting. This is when the first and second point lights are equally as bright. This completely removes dimension and depth from the face. All of this still applies if you’re filming a product instead of a person that flat light just looks artificial.

Avoid Harsh Backlighting. Unless your video requires it for some artistic purpose, it’s usually best to avoid backlighting that gives a harsh silhouette. This makes it hard to see the subject and makes it difficult to connect with the audience.

‍

Example of bad lighting created by Studio NB using Elixxier software — **Bad Lighting Examples**

‍

Money-Saving Lighting Tips:

Shop lights are inexpensive and easily accessible. Add a few layers of wax paper to diffuse the light to prevent harsh shadows. Use daylight bulbs that are 5-6000k for best results.
Sit by a window and let the sun do the lighting for you. If you need to bounce some light on the other side of the subject, use a white poster board.

‍

Double/Half Rule

This is not required but is definitely worth the effort when it’s pulled off! The “double half” rule is where the subject in the foreground is either double or half the brightness of the background.

‍

well-lit subject, good example of contrast — **The subject is about 50% brighter than the background**

‍

This just increases the contrast and makes them stand out even more.

‍

Composition

Put simply, this is just where things are placed in the frame. This is a very involved topic, but we’ll just follow that same basic principle: Don’t distract from the main point. Here are a few examples.

Generally, there are a few rules that you want to follow. One is having a simple background where you can try to contrast light or dark colors. Speaking of colors, accents are always a good idea.

‍

Simple background, complimentary colors, good example. — **Simple Background and Accents**

‍

Most of the time following the rule of thirds gives you a really nice look. So does keeping your lines parallel. Depending on the angle you’re filming your subject, this may not be possible. However, when you are filming something at a straight 90° angle, ensuring all horizontal and vertical lines are perfectly parallel will go a long way in making your video look and feel more professional and “spot on.”

‍

What is the rule of thirds in photography? — **Rule Of Thirds and Parallel Lines**

‍

And wherever you can use leading lines to draw your audience into the main focus.

‍

Good example of leading lines in photography — **Leading Lines**

‍

Focal length and background blur

We can explain focal length as basically how wide or tight your shot is. As you can see, this can greatly affect how the face looks.

‍

The power of focal length. The face at 20mm, 50mm, and 85mm — **Credit: danvojtech.cz**

‍

Generally, you want to stick between 50 and 100 millimeters to make the face look best. And always try to avoid going below 35 millimeters. This ends up just warping the face.

Background blur or “Bokeh” is created by lowering the “Aperture” or the “F-stop” to create a “shallow depth of field”. Just make sure that you are in a well-lit setting, since the lowering of the aperture also lowers the amount of light that enters the camera. Many entry-level DSLRs can do this, and some modern cell phones can simulate it such as portrait or cinematic mode.

‍

Image with lots of bokeh — **More Bokeh - Better for Emotional Impact**

‍

Image with less bokeh, good for a more informative setting — **Less Bokeh - Better For Information Purposes**

‍

Again, a blurry background is usually more emotional whereas a focused background is more informative.

‍
Do you want to lead the eye of your viewer? Try something called a focus pull. This is where your focus moves from one point to another.

‍

Want to lead the eye of your audience? Try a focus pull — **Focus Pull**

‍

Now of course you want to be creative. So test different shots at different angles, but get those figured out before you hit the record button.

‍
Camera settings. If you’re just a beginner, it’s fine to leave these on auto for now. After you get more comfortable creating videos, you may want to think about learning the technical aspects of “Manual Mode.”

Framerate. Unless you need slow motion, stick to 24 frames per second for something emotional or 30 frames per second for something informative. To avoid causing issues during the editing process, only use one framerate or the other throughout the entire project.

A Note About ISO. This is artificial lighting your camera will apply to images or videos that are too dark. In auto mode, you might notice your ISO up pretty high if you’re filming in a dim setting. This creates “noise” or grain that can be very distracting and detract from the professional look of a video.

‍

‍

Stabilization

Shaky footage tends to make the audience feel uneasy. Unless that's what you're going for, you might consider placing your camera on something stable. This could be a tripod, a phone stand, or even a stack of books. If you absolutely need camera movement, it’s best to use a gimbal or just practice moving slowly and smoothly. For beginner to intermediate gear suggestions, see the links at the end of this article.

‍

Phone holder, tripod, gimbal — **Stabilization Gear**

‍

Step 5 | Audio

In many ways, good audio is actually more important than good video. Sometimes, when the audience sees lower quality video, they’ll pass it off saying “it’s just a creative choice.” Whereas low-quality audio will almost always come across as unprofessional and distracting. Again, don't distract from the main point. Here are three simple steps to recording good audio.

Choosing a Microphone

Good news! Just like the camera, you probably don’t need to buy a new microphone. Whatever you’re currently using can likely record decent-quality audio. But if you would like to elevate your productions a little more, here are a few microphone options.

Shotgun Mic. Often used in interviews, these are very focused and pick up audio coming from only one direction. If you use this outside, be sure to use a "dead kitten" for wind noise reduction.
Lapel Mic. Very useful if the subject is moving or if they are small in frame, making it difficult to get a shotgun mic close.
‍Desktop Mic. A good choice when the subject is primarily sitting at a desk.

‍

‍

Lapel or Lavaliere mic use case — **Lapel/Lavalier Mic**

‍

‍

Room Treatment

Reverb is the echo you hear when a room is empty or contains lots of hard surfaces. It’s one of the biggest factors in making audio sound... well, not great. To reduce it, we need to treat the room. Again, you don’t need special equipment to fix this.

Lay, drape, cover, or hang blankets, pillows, winter coats, really anything soft over hard surfaces that your subject will face. This will greatly reduce sound waves bouncing around the room and back to the mic.
Turn off anything making noise. Even if it sounds subtle in your ears, it can be picked up by a sensitive mic. You may need to turn off noisy things in other rooms as well.

‍

**Blankets and pillows are a great alternative to acoustic panels**

‍

‍

‍Stay hydrated

Dehydration sounds bad, so be sure to drink plenty of water before filming. Your body and audience will thank you.

‍

Well, your pre-production is done, your filming is done, and now we move on to our last step...

‍

Step 6 | Post Production

Organization

First, transfer your clips onto your computer, scrub through (quickly watch) all of them, and then separate them into two folders. One for the clips you want to get rid of, we’ll call that your “burn” folder, and the other for clips you want to keep, we’ll call that your “keep” folder. Do not delete the files from your “burn” folder until your project is complete.
After that, rename all of your keepers and then put them inside a folder structure that is very organized and makes sense to you.
A good rule of thumb is you should be able to find any clip or photo within 30 seconds.

Link to Free Sample File Structure

‍

Backups

If at all possible, keep your footage in 3 places. Typically, this would be the device you filmed on, your computer, and an external source like a hard drive or the cloud.

A good rule to go by is “If it’s not backed up in three places, it’s not backed up.” Believe me, you do not want to get burned by this!

Once your project is totally done and you’ve rendered your final production, feel free to delete one of these backups. But keep the second for a while longer just in case you need it.
‍
‍

Video Editing Software

We’ll just cut to the chase. We recommend using DaVinci Resolve. We are not sponsored by them, they are just an excellent choice for several reasons.

There’s a FREE version
It’s user friendly
Can be used on Windows and Mac
And once you get more comfortable with editing and want to expand what you can do, you have the option to buy the Studio version.
But before you buy, make sure you haven’t ruled out purchasing a Blackmagic Design camera because, if you do, you get the Studio Version of Davinci for FREE.

‍

Editing your video

‍Pick your best clips. Drop those into your timeline. And then every seven to 10 seconds cut to something else, whether that be B-roll, a different angle of your subject, or even a zoomed-in version from the same clip. This keeps things interesting, keeps the viewers engaged, and keeps the focused. It’s that easy!

Usually, the more simple a transition is, the better it looks. Due to this, jump cuts are always a good go-to. This is where you move from one clip to another in an instant, without any movement or time in-between. Other simple transitions would work fine depending on the vibe of your video. Anything really fancy would need to be planned in the pre-production stage.

‍

Editing your audio

A simple way to edit your dialogue is to do a noise reduction and then raise the volume. If you would like to watch a sample of this process, CLICK HERE

Apply noise reduction Davinci resolve studio

‍

Be careful to not do too much noise reduction otherwise it kind of sounds robotic.

‍

Music and sound effects

‍Really, “less is more” because we don't want to distract from the main point. We can do this by not changing music unless there's a really good reason to. We don't want to give the audience emotional whiplash. Also using too many sound effects can come across as unprofessional.

A resource to safely download commercially licensed music is Artlist.io. Their music and sound effects are amazing and they even have stock footage now! Again, we are not being sponsored by them, we just genuinely love their selection.

‍

Rendering your video

There are many different settings and formats to export your video. We’ll show you a good starting point.

‍

Click the Delivery tab (The rocket ship)
In the Render Settings panel, title your export and choose the location it will be saved to.
Choose the MP4 format with an H.264 codec. This will give you good quality at a reduced filesize.
In most cases, a 1920 x 1080 resolution is more than enough to make your footage look good. Render at this resolution unless you absolutely need 4K.
Make sure your render framerate is equal to the framerate of your original recording (24 or 30)
Click “Add to Render Queue” and you’ll see your project in the Render Queue panel.
Click “Render All” and you’re done!

‍

Your video is ready to be released to the world!

I know as a beginner, this can all seem kind of overwhelming. But don't worry, through practice, you'll get better and better faster and faster, and eventually, you'll learn your style!

We made this PDF download just for you that includes a summary of all these steps. It's something we wish we had when we were starting out!

Did these tips help? Do you have any other questions? Have any “before and “after”s you want to share? We'd love to see them! Reach out to us in the comment section here, on Youtube or message us on Instagram. Until next time!

‍