10 mistakes to avoid when making smartphone videos
By Gregg McLcahlan
Smartphones make it super easy to create videos. You simply have to hold the camera in front of you, hit record, and instantly you have a video.
Ohhhhh, if only it was that easy to make a good smartphone video!
Every community is littered with poorly made smartphone videos. Now, I know..... some of you may think "Who cares if the video is not great, it still got tons of views!" Maybe so. But in 10 years of doing the work that I do, I have yet to meet a small business or nonprofit that said "We want to grow our long-term brand image by continually making crappy videos!" Hey, we've all made uninteresting or just plain crappy videos with our phones. I certainly have. Most of us, however, want to improve.
All the bad videos usually have a few things in common. Here are 10 common mistakes:
1. Reading pieces of paper
Ugh. This is like doing a video of someone reading a book. How long would you watch? Put down the paper and the notes and talk like you are having a regular conversation. Even TV newspeople no longer look down at a piece of paper to read the news. We want to watch you talking to us. We don't want to watch you looking down and reading notes. Reading information is not an engaging video. You are engaging. The notes are not. Be human. Talk from your heart. Pro tip: A few key words on paper as topic prompts, are OK. These can help you keep your talking flowing in a logical sequence.
2. Bad audio
The built-in microphones on smartphones suck. Spend $35 and get an external mic. Your audiences' ears will love you. Pro tip: Saramonic has some awesome mini mics for smartphones.
3. Too Dark or Harsh Lighting
You don't need expensive studio lights. A window with ambient light is great. A place in the shade is great. Just avoid bright sunlight and awkward shadows on your face, unless you like having shaded eyes that resemble a raccoon mask. Filming at noon is notorious for causing eyes to be shaded like a raccoon. Sometimes a small inexpensive LED light can work wonders too. Great lighting will flatter you. Pro tip: White coreboard at dollar stores is inexpensive and can be positioned to help bounce soft light onto your face.
4. Shaky Video
Hey, many of us love being on boats. We don't love trying to watch something that looks like it was filmed on a boat in rough seas. Hold the phone steady. Or get a gimbal. Or use a tripod. Pro tip: Your smartphone may have built in stabilization. If it does, toggle it active.
5. Standing too far away
Remember, most people watch videos on their smartphones. So when you stand far away from your phone, you look even smaller when people watch it on their phones. Get closer. And you'll be closer to your audience when they watch you on their phone. Closer means more personal. More engaging. Pro tip: Standing closer will also really help the quality of the audio
6. Holding the phone the wrong way
Wait, what? There's a wrong way? Well there can be depending on which social media platform you plan to use. If your video is going to be an Instagram Story, then hold your phone vertically. If it's going to be posted at Facebook, you can hold your phone vertically or horizontally. Alternatively, you may want to use an app like InShot to crop your video to be square. Doing this also makes it the perfect sizing for a regular Instagram post. Pro tip: Holding the phone the wrong way really can become a headache if you are sourcing clips from multiple staff. Imagine getting a mish mash of vertical and horizontal videos and having to piece them all together.
7. Using music illegally
You love Taylor Swift! You sing Taylor Swift songs! You want to use a Taylor Swift song in your next small business video! STOP!!!!!! You can't do that. You don't own rights to do that. Taylor does. And I doubt she'll say "Sure! You can use my music for free in your video to sell more cupcakes!" Only use legal music. Otherwise you could have your social media account suspended or get a copyright strike against you. You can search Royalty-free music online. Many tracks may simply require that you credit the artist in your post. And voila, you can use it for free! Pro tip: Facebook has its own free library of audio tracks and sound effects that you can use. It's called Sound Collection and is found in Facebook's Creator Studio. You can find it here at this link.
8. Forgetting your call to action
When people watch your videos, what do you want them to do after it ends? Unfortunately many small business videos created by owners simply end with a thud. Viewers are left wondering "Now what?" Simple things like how to contact the business are missing. A website url is nowhere to be found. Don't leave your viewers in the dark. A call to action is all about helping them know how to take the next step with you. Pro tip: Have a standard ending slide created so it's always ready to be placed at the end of your videos. This will give your videos consistent branding.
9. Wearing clothes that make eyes go wonky
We're not talking Speedos and bikinis. We're talking about shirts with prints that distract the eyes. Got a favourite shirts that is all over black and white checkerboard pattern r neon hot pink? Um, you'd better leave those behind. Not only can such shirts distract the eyes, they can also play games on your smartphone camera/video lens. Likewise, a white t-shirt may make your face look washed out. Pro tip: Neutral tones are good, or solid colours. Just watch the funky neon eye-popping colours.
10. Set your white balance
White balance is a setting that adjusts the lighting balance per the conditions. There are usually settings like Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Flourescent, and Incandescent. If you do not select the white balance for the situation, you may see your video have a blueish or yellowish cast. By setting white balance, you will correct this problem. Pro tip: Try to avoid using Auto. It will auto change the white balance as you change locations or lighting conditions in your video. Such auto changing can be distracting to the viewers' eyes.