Video Making Tips - Are You Making These Common Mistakes?

If you are new to video making mistakes are inevitable. These video making tips will help you stay away from the most common errors.

I’ve lost count of the number of mistakes I’ve made when creating videos. I’ve forgotten what I was supposed to say, forgotten to brush my hair, published a video and later noticed the laundry is hanging on the radiator behind me to name but a few.

Some errors are made so freqently that they can be easily avoided if you know about them. And that’s why I’m sharing just a few video making tips that will help you avoid those most common mistakes.

Video making tips – 7 Common mistakes beginners make

1. Lighting

It’s easy to get the lighting wrong. If there is bright light behind you your camera will expose for that leaving you as a silhouette in the foreground.

On a smartphone, you can correct this by holding your finger on your face until the camera adjusts the aperture setting. But there’s a downside, click on the wrong area and everything will look overexposed and washed out.

For best results sit with the light source facing you and shoot in natural light.

2. Looking at the wrong thing

It’s tempting to look at yourself when you are shooting a video on your smartphone but your audience is behind the lens. So adjust your eye-line to look at the camera

3. Watch your framing

If you are the subject of the video you should own the frame. Don’t leave too much space above your head when you are framing your shot and equally, avoid cutting the top of your head off.

4. Look at the background

Look at what is in the frame behind you. Is there anything there that shouldn’t be? Does it represent your business well? Find a corner of your office or shooting space that shows off your business and what you do and use that for your video shoots.

5. Listen

Sound in the background can be just as distracting as bad framing. Have a listen before you start shooting. Is your neighbour mowing the lawn, is there sound from the television bleeding in from next door? These sounds are distracting and can stop people hearing you properly. Wait until the grass is mown or move to a different location.

6. Leave a pause

You think you’ve shot the perfect video but when you come to edit there’s a problem. If you don’t pause before you speak and when you finish speaking it’s hard to cut your video together. Look at the camera for a moment before you start talking and hold your position for a second when you finish. This will make editing much easier.

7. Practice makes perfect

Do lots and lots of takes, each time you’ll get better. My first video took me over 20 takes to get right, this one still took 8.

What about you?

I’ve shared some of my most embarrassing errors above. To make me feel less silly I’d love to hear about your video making mistakes so leave me a comment.