8 FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS OF AN EFFECTIVE VIDEO

There are a number of components and elements to consider before venturing into creating a video. As always, the more prepared you are before you begin filming, the better your filming day will be and the more successful your video will turn out. To ensure the highest quality of video we always recommend hiring professional videographers, audio recordists and editors, in other words, a professional video production company. For those projects where budget is restricted and you have to go it alone, we hope that the following 8 Components will help you create an effective video.

COMPONENT # 1 - VIDEO LENGTH

We all live busy lives and have so much information coming at us that it's sometimes hard to find the time to read and watch everything we want to. And when we are on certain social media sites, we expect videos to be of a certain length and when they are longer, we tend to not watch them, at least not all the way through.  It's important to keep the length of your video within the recommended time for the genre of video being created.  Below is the recommended video lengths for various types of videos:

• SOCIAL MEDIA ADS                                                      15 to 25 seconds
• SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS                                                15 to 45 seconds
• EXPLAINER AND 'ABOUT' VIDEOS                    45  to 90 seconds
• DEEP EXPLAINERS                                                        90 seconds to 2 minutes
  
• TRAINING VIDEOS                                                         1 to 4 minutes
  

COMPONENT #2- KEEP THE MESSAGES CLEAR AND CONCISE

It's clear that you don't have a lot of time to get your message across so it's important to keep your message clear and concise. That is why it's imperative, before you start filming, that you have developed a SCRIPT that outlines what you want to convey to your AUDIENCE. Everything else in your video will be driven by your script, notably duration, visual-content and call to action.  The time and therefore money you will save both during filming and in post production (editing) will be correlated to the amount of time and energy went into your script. So be prepared before you begin filming.

COMPONENT #3- SUPPORT YOUR SCRIPT WITH VIDEO

A picture says a thousand words, and a moving pictures says 10 thousand! When creating your script think about the accompanying graphic imagery that will enhance the themes, keywords and actions in your script.
Humans respond to other humans, therefore incorporating people in your videos is a wonderful way to grab and keep the viewers attention, as long as they compliment the script.

COMPONENT #4- VIDEO DIMENSIONS

Make sure the dimensions or your layout of the video adhere to the platforms you would like to upload your video to. Most professional editing software offer the different dimensions required for all social media platforms. It is something to be thinking about when filming your video. The dimensions will dictate the camera you chose, or which way you hold your smart phone when filming. And do remember to consider any captions or titles you want to add to your video and make sure you have room when filming around your subjects to add those in post. Below are some general dimension guidelines to follow:

• WEBSITE, LINKEDIN, YOUTUBE                           Horizontal, 16:9
• FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM                               Square, 1:1
• TIKTOK, REELS, SHORTS                                            Vertical, 9:16
  

COMPONENT #5- VIDEO AUDIO

We have gone into more detail in another blog about audio, but it's so important that it requires repeating. Viewers will more likely abandon a video due to poor audio before they abandon it due to poor visual quality. Therefore make sure the narration and any background music are as clear as possible and of equal volume. There is nothing more frustrating than having to constantly be fiddling with the volume of a video when watching it because some things are too soft and others are too loud! Two important things to keep in mind regarding the audio quality of your video: quality of the mic you are using and the ambient sound. It is worth spending money on a good mic- it will save you money and aggravation in post- because remember many audio issues CAN NOT be fixed in post.

COMPONENT #6- LIGHTING IN VIDEO

As with audio, we have gone into video lighting in detail in our other blog, but it also bears repeating. The lighting requirements differ depending on the type of video you are filming and which platform you intend to post to. In general it's important to keep your subject well lit, and the more natural looking the better - especially for TikTok, and Reels. When creating explainer videos or training videos, using the 3 Point Lighting method is the best approach.

COMPONENT #7 - EDITING THE VIDEO

As anyone can tell you editing is where all the magic takes place and where your vision comes to fruition. Editing programs have made it easier to actually do the editing, but it takes skill and know how to do it well. Our suggestion is always to hire a professional editor- they will make magic out of your footage. And we understand that it's not always feasible to do so, therefore we hope the tips below will help you when you are editing your videos.
Remember the aim is to explain your narrative in an engaging and entertaining fashion in the allowed time.

• Always shoot more than you need and then edited out all unnecessary footage
  
• Distracting special effects such as spirals, waves and other startling sights should be avoided, unless they help showcase  your content.
• For training videos, explainer videos and short social media videos, think about using subtle scene transitions like fades and dissolves.
  

For the most part, editing should be smooth, allowing the viewer to absorb the thoughts without recognising that the scenes altered in any manner. Remember, rules were made to be broken and so your vision, content and script will dictate how you want your editing to look.

COMPONENT #8- USE CAPTIONS

Well over four-fifths of videos watched on Facebook are consumed without sound. This is why it's important to add captions to your videos. Moreover, captions allow videos to be accessible for a diverse audience.

We at Moxie Productions can and will do everything in this article and more to produce the best videos for you and your audience.

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