Have you ever felt, even after using an expensive camera, best script, talented actors, and top Premiere Pro templates that your videos aren’t good enough?
Photo by form PxHere
It’s quite easy to create more professional-looking videos if you know the areas to focus on.
After analyzing hundreds of amateur and professional videos, we have identified 7 areas.
Improving these areas with the 7 tips can make your videos look more professional.
1. Take the Lighting Seriously
Inadequate lighting makes the video dull and unappealing. Lighting adds to the professional look because it enhances the overall visual quality.
This is a worthy investment, especially when the video is recorded indoors like the must-have kitchen appliances videos.
You can use a mix of the light source (example, fluorescent bulbs) and reflective surfaces. Consider lighting as one of your top priorities.
In the case of outdoor shooting, some video makers, particularly amateurs and beginners, pick midday to shoot their videos, which isn’t ideal because of the harsh shadows caused by the angle of the sun.
If the script permits, shoot the footage in the morning or evening. For filmmakers with no other option but to record the video in midday light can do so on an overcast day.
2. Focus on Color Correction to Make Your Videos Standout
Professional video editing software will lead to professional-looking videos.
So, we’ll skip this and move to the next important tip – color correction. This is a skill that’s easily acquired with minimal effort.
Video makers will notice that with some amount of color correction in the post-production stage they can greatly add to the professional look of the video content.
Keep the corrections simple and fix the color issues to give the footage a more naturalistic look. This is a valuable tip when trying to market a house for sale with a video.
Pay attention to the white balance; raise the color saturation if necessary, and boost the mid-tones.
The color corrections will depend on the video clip you have. Color correction and other color processes make your videos unique and help you convey your story effectively.
3. Make Better Jump Cuts
Jump cuts are an essential part of video content. It’s used to cut a scene to move forward in time.
In filmmaking, smooth jump cuts can help you tell a story that’s effective, griping, and engaging.
There are many ways to implement a jump cut. But, bear in mind that without properly implementing jump cuts your videos will look jumpy, jagged, and amateurish.
A simple technique to ensure smooth implementation is to adjust the audio between scenes to avoid any sudden sound variations.
Jump cuts are different from others in the sense that the transition between scenes is seamless and hardly noticeable.
4. Get Creative with Your Transitions
A clear difference between videos made by professionals and amateurs is that the former handle transitions with skill and flair.
In contrast, transitions are often weird, harsh, or poorly done by novice video creators and editors.
Fade in, fade out, zoom in, zoom out, and there are thousands more that are worth using in videos.
To give your videos a professional look, use transitions that gel with the scenes.
The transitions must enhance the value of the scenes and evoke the right kind of response from the audience.
You’ll find online blogs and guides on using the right type of transitions. You can use those guides and tutorials to make the videos more professional.
5. Use the Rule of Thirds
The rule of thirds is a basic movie-making concept used by master filmmakers to engage the audience. Virtually construct a 3×3 grid on the screen.
According to the rule, instead of positioning the main subject of the scene at the center, we place them at the points of intersection, where the grid lines meet.
These intersection points are important because they are the areas of focus for the audience.
It’s also good to remember that you can’t apply the rule of thirds all the time. That said try to use it as much as possible.
With experience, you’ll get better at making decisions on when to use the rule of thirds and when not to use.
6. Always Use a Tripod
Even if you’re an amateur recording a social media video on a smartphone, a tripod is a must.
Nothing makes the viewers leave faster than shaky, wobbly, and jerky clips.
You might tick every other checkbox in the list of great video making but if your video is unsteady, nothing will stop the audience from leaving the page.
A tripod ensures you have a smooth filming experience.
Furthermore, a tripod allows the video maker to shoot a scene from every possible angle, especially higher angles that are difficult to achieve.
Those not convinced can shoot footage with and without a tripod. The results will be quite evident.
7. Ensure Clear Audio with a Separate Microphone
The audio quality of a clip is as important as its video quality. That means your video content must look and sound professional.
This can be achieved with a separate mic that delivers clear and crisp audio.
We want to make it clear that built-in microphones even in costly and high-quality cameras don’t perform well.
The sound they produce is often low quality or not equal to the video quality.
Even with subtitles (Closed Captions), poor audio can ruin the viewer’s experience.
Hence, invest in a separate microphone. To capture the audio clearly, keep the microphone close to the subject.
Final Thoughts
Great video making is an art that you will master with experience.
The 7 tips given here do not reveal all the secrets of professional video making, but following these points will surely take you one step closer to perfection.
Author bio:
Cristian Stanciu is a freelance video editor, owner and post-production coordinator of Veedyou Media – a company offering video editing services to videographers, marketing agencies, video production studios or brands all over the globe. I can catch up with him on his blog or on LinkedIn.