Video tips

This page provides some basic tips for getting source content for your video, which you would then provide to your post-production editor or work with yourself. Of course, you’ll get the best results in a professional recording studio, but if you don’t have access to a studio, you can also get acceptably good results by following a few tips.

Your presenter

Choose your presenter carefully: Do they know they material well such that they will not seem to be merely reading a script? Do they speak clearly and without too strong of an accent? The speaker should try to speak clearly, not too fast or too slow, and at a constant volume level.

Equipment

For best results, use separate devices to capture audio, video, and computer screens and have them all running at the same time. The audio and video tracks will be merged in post-production.

Video

For highest quality video, don’t use a phone. Instead, use a mirrorless camera, video camera, or GoPro on a sturdy tripod. You can certainly use a phone or tablet (on a tripod!), but this will be medium quality, which, frankly, is sufficient for many uses. No matter what camera you use, record at 4K resolution if possible: the files will be huge, but the quality is worth it.

Lighting and background

It is important to light the speaker’s face. Studio lighting would be best, but any room with bright, even illumination will work okay. Be mindful of what else is in the shot by situating the camera and looking carefully at the background.

Computer screen

If your video will include a computer screen, you can either have an additional camera focused on the screen, or, for significantly better results, use screen-capture software to capture what is on the screen. Of course your video can consist entirely of a computer screen, such as a presentation, but it’s nice for the final video to have occasional cuts to footage of the speaker.

Audio

You can obtain good quality audio with a phone coupled with proper microphone placement. Position the phone so that the microphone is a constant 8 to 12 inches from the speaker’s mouth, off to the side a bit to avoid capturing vocal pops and sibilants. A phone in a shirt pocket can work well, but test it first to make sure it doesn’t capture the rustling of cloth.

For convenience, use an external microphone such as a lapel (lavalier) microphone. This will give the speaker more freedom to move around, and if the speaker’s face is the focus on the video, it might look better. If you go this route, use an at-least moderately good quality microphone, as the lower-end models often have poor sound quality. Test the microphone placement to make sure it doesn’t capture unwanted sounds.

Avoid recording in a room that echoes. You may need to test different rooms to see which sounds the best. Rooms with carpeting echo less than rooms with hard floors. (Pro tip: For voice-over work, you can record excellent audio inside a clothes closet, as the clothing all around the speaker absorbs the echos.)