Module 9 - Filming tips

How should you set up the camera for a YouTube ad?

Film landscape, and get the camera off your hands. Typically with YouTube you are filming a landscape YouTube ad, so whether you are filming on a camera or a phone, you want to make sure that you are filming landscape. These tips apply whether you are filming a product, so a mug for example, or whether you are filming a person.

To make sure that your video is stable and the footage is not shaky, you want to prop up your camera or phone somewhere so that it is not handheld. You can think about investing in a tripod, and you can get them for quite an affordable price on Amazon. Or you can literally just prop it up using a few books, or on a desk. Just do not go handheld, because that footage will be really shaky.

Why should you look into the lens rather than the screen?

Because looking down the lens imitates eye contact with the viewer. Whether you are filming on a phone or a camera, you want to make sure that you are looking directly down the lens.

If, like I am now, I am looking at the screen, it does not look like I have eye contact with you. Whereas if I look into the lens of my laptop, it makes it seem like we are holding eye contact, which is really beneficial for creating a connection with your audience.

How much difference does lighting make?

A huge amount. This in my opinion is probably one of the most important things to make a video look high quality.

Filming in front of a big window is a great idea, but if you have the money to invest in studio lighting then you can get really nice kits, again on Amazon, that have things like two stands and LED lights, and sometimes they come with reflectors as well.

I just want to show you really quickly how that can look. If I get really dull lighting suddenly, it just kind of ruins the effect of the video. If I cover the good lighting, this is just so unprofessional and the quality has gone down immensely. So that is probably my biggest tip: definitely think about lighting and make sure that the lighting is good in your videos.

How do you keep the audio clean?

Try to avoid background noise, because audio is another really important factor in your videos. Whether you are doing a voiceover or you are going to get rid of the audio, it is still a good idea to make sure that the audio is clear, especially if somebody is speaking.

You need to avoid people being in the room with you and you need to avoid cars. I know that can be quite difficult if you are filming at home, but try and film in a room which is furthest away from a road and quite quiet. You also want to make sure that you do not have things on like your washing machine, because that will add background noise.

What should the person on camera do with their eyes and body?

Maintain eye contact using that tip of looking into the lens, and keep the body language natural. Body language is really important when you are filming a YouTube ad.

Let us say you have somebody directly on camera talking about your product or service. You want to make sure that the body language is right for the video: using your hands, not standing too still, not obviously moving around loads, but making sure that there is movement so you do not seem so robotic.

How should you speak on camera?

Slowly. This is something I probably have not been doing in this video. People tend to speed up when they are speaking on camera without realising, and I think it is because they are just trying to get their points out as quickly as possible so they are not on camera for too long. Just remember to take a breath, speak slowly, and speak as you would in conversation with somebody.

Similarly, you should use as many pauses as possible. Use pauses for emphasis, and also use pauses where you think you might start saying ums and ers, because those can seem quite unprofessional. Just pause, take a breath, and then carry on.

Pauses are also really great as editing points. If you feel like you have made a mistake, or even if you feel like there should be an editing point, just take a pause and that will signify to your editing team, or to whoever is editing, that you want that bit cutting.

Lastly, make sure that you relax your face and smile if it is appropriate, because that will give a lot more of a friendly demeanour to your videos if you are smiling and you look comfortable in front of the camera.

Those are all my tips for this clip, but if you do want a few more tips and a little bit more advice, we do have a downloadable document, so you can have a look over those and remind yourself before you start filming.