What does every director yell when they want to start filming? “Action!” Notice that they don’t say, “Stand there and talk into the camera!” or “Do nothing!”
The director yells “Action” because that is what makes a good video, be it three minutes or three hours. So when you want to make a video or have one made, start thinking about the action first. Put yourself in the viewer’s seat and think about what they will see. A good three-minute video requires about 20 different, engaging shots.
If you are doing research on cows, that means you need shots of cows in the field, in the barn, researchers interacting with the cows, researchers taking samples from the cows, researchers back in the lab conducting experiments.
If you are doing a story on a program that teaches young kids a skill, you need to show people interacting with the kids, showing them how to do projects, the expression of kids’ faces as they get excited, and the high-five when the project is completed.
There is a strong likelihood that someone will need to be interviewed about what is going on in the video and giving some details about the project, but this can be done in voiceover or interviews. The person only needs to be on camera for a short time. This is a good example: Jamie is telling you details about the program, but the video is showing the details of the program. Continue reading
