Last Updated on June 4, 2020 by Larious

We have put together a list of 22 practical tips from our recording studios for you. These recommendations will give you. We have put together a list of 22 practical tips from our recording studios for you. These recommendations will help you to dramatically improve the quality of your videos. 

Learn tricks and tricks to shorten project times with targeted preparation techniques. Get advice from our experts on audio components, optimal lighting, and the best equipment. Let’s get started!

Preparation

Have you ever renovated a house? Then you know how important it is to prepare and plan your work. The preparation of the video production is extremely important to create better videos.

1. Plan your video. A good plan is a basis for every project.  You will save time and money and avoid a lot of problems right from the start if you plan.
2. Practice the process. Which work process works best for you? If you find that a script helps you, make it a routine for all video projects. Use a checklist to keep an overview of all detailed tasks and not to forget anything. If you have no experience yet, google what workflows are typical invideo creation. Try out what’s best for you. Practice makes perfect.
3. Set a goal. What should the video do? Do you want to make your branded products better known or do you want to inform viewers about your range of services? Define this objective from the start.
4. Get to know your audience. Where the viewers located and what are is their relationship to the topic? Do you want to show your video to internal employees, customers, or prospects? Think about the platform on which you will present your video and where your viewers are most likely to watch, share, and comment on it. Perhaps make different versions for Facebook, YouTube, and other social networks and adapt the messages accordingly.
5. Write a script.Of course, you can also simply turn on the camera and get started (especially if you are recording with your smartphone). A script is almost always a good idea unless you might be recording live at events. When you write it down, you will come up with important details about how you want to structure your video. On paper than later after production. Even a script that contains only rough keywords helps you to structure content more clearly and to present it better.
6. Make a storyboard.Don’t worry, you don’t have to have any artistic talent. Simple stick figures and shapes (circles, squares) are sufficient. Together with your script, these visual notes will help you plan your video better. Instead of spontaneously filming, sketch in advance which scenes you want to have. Think about which angles would be best, whether you want to take close-up pictures and who or what should be in the picture. This visual preparation will save you a lot of time, both when recording and editing. You will like the finished videos much better.
7. Collect all media in advance. Do you have all the logos? Are there any visual elements or music clips that you have to integrate? The editing process becomes much easier if you organize all the media before recording and production.

8.Audio

Video may be far superior to radio shows, but believe it or not, sound accounts for fifty percent of video ratings. Spoken comments or dialogues are the most important components of success in the production of high-quality videos. Bad audio affects video rating more than any other factor. That alone is reason enough to always try to produce high-quality audio.

Recording of spoken comments

9. For videos that don’t introduce people, you should record the spoken comment first. Then integrate the visual media so that they fit well with the audio. This works very well for screencasts, PowerPoint presentations, product demos, and other training videos.

Why is that so easy? This is because audio files are less flexible than visual media. You can use B-Roll material to make a section longer or remove image clips or cut out video areas so that everything fits the audio. Changing the timing of a spoken comment or dialog is much more difficult. 

If you only notice during editing that an audio comment should be longer or shorter, the correction is complicated and takes a lot of time. It is better to avoid that.

10. Record your voice.You may think that your voice does not sound good, but to the audience, your voice in the video sounds familiar and natural. Speaking yourself will save you a lot of money that you would otherwise have to spend on professional voice talent. If you want to establish yourself as an expert on a certain topic, it is very important to look authentic. Your voice is a must!
11. Prepare for the audio recording and do not drink coffee (or milk!) A few hours beforehand. Better drink water. This loosens the vocal cords and your voice sounds better. Always drink water during the recording to get consistent sound quality. Do not record when you are hungry. Eat some healthy snacks beforehand so that you stay focused during the recording.
12. If you make a mistake, clap twice. Double claps can be seen as rashes on the timeline. So the spot with the mistake can be easily found and cut out later.

Choosing a microphone

13. Buy a good microphone.USB microphones are inexpensive and much better than the microphones built into the computer. Directional microphones work well if you don’t move your head, otherwise, the sound will be lost, as this type of microphone only records audio from a restricted area; nothing from the side. Headsets are a goodchoice of microphone and wireless lapel microphones also work well.

Be sure to stand when shooting. Not only can you keep the microphone simpler, but you can get more air into your lungs and your voice is better projected and sounds better.

14. Use a windshield on your microphone. Sometimes such a filter is also called a “spit filter”. This little protection makes sibilance and pop sounds (where like S, T, D, and P consonants) a little weaker. Without the filter, these sounds can otherwise sound irritating when singing and speaking.

Color and text

15. Show annotations & text on the screen. In this way, you can selectively back up important statements, summarize core arguments, or provide additional information. However, the text should never be in the foreground and always have a clear reference to audio. Listening and reading at the same time can be exhausting for the audience and distract from the actual content.
16. What you see through the lens does not necessarily look the same in the film. Make color corrections during editing if necessary. Try to make the footage as natural as possible. White light balance can help, for example, to compensate for yellow light during the recording. Sometimes color improvements help tell a story more dramatically (e.g. black and white for scenes from the past or shades of green for science fiction).
17. When presenting a PowerPoint presentation, you should not show the speaker as a picture-in-picture. Better switch back and forth between slides and the speaker. This shows the experts much better and the viewers also see the facial expression and the gestures, which look much more authentic.

Transition effects

18. Choose simple transition effects such as dissolving or fading to black. Most of the other transition effects look a little over the top. Does Star wipe? No Please not. If you use complicated transition effects, the transitions should fit the story. An example: Show a rotating effect that symbolizes how time passes. We have more information about transition effects in this article.

Recordings in front of the green screen

19. The green screen has to look good. The lighting for the surroundings and the speakers must be just right. Something can easily go wrong (strange shadows, incomplete color removal, transparent areas, etc.) But these types of shots can also be a lot of fun, but don’t overdo it. This technique must also match the video content and the topic. You can get more promo-video-template from this platform.
20. Don’t just replace the background. Creatively use the green screen – show interactions (the speaker points to something or makes a touch gesture to create the illusion that giant apps are being used). Show silhouettes in inverted color or otherwise bring the background into play.
21. Make clips faster or slower. Use this technique to visualize the elapsed time or to show long processes faster. Clip speed is a parameter that can dramatically change the dynamics of your video.
22. Make videos with subtitles! These play a particularly important role in search engine optimization, since Google and other search engines, for example, can only read the searchable texts associated with the video (title, description, characteristics, and subtitles). The subtitles ensure that your video is also found and – more importantly – the subtitles make your video accessible and also accessible to the hearing impaired. Many viewers also see videos without sound. With subtitles, you can still understand the connections.