Video on your website

Video and the web.  People ask me if they should put video on their website. Is it necessary?  Does it matter?  The answers are easy. Yes, yes and YES!

Today’s consumers are used to moving images, They have grown up on them. They are inundated with images in hundreds of ways every day. With video, your site will feel familiar,  get a point across in less time, and portray your company as being forward thinking.

But there are issues.

• You can’t just put video up on your site. It has to be compressed and coded in the right way for your site. If not it can take too long to load and you’ll lose people.
• Don’t make the video last more than 30 seconds to 1 minute. People aren’t there to watch a movie, they are there to learn a little bit more about whether or not they want to learn more, buy something or sign up for something.
• The end of the video should have a call to action–what do you want the viewer to do now?
• Don’t start the video automatically, especially if it has sound attached. Unexpected sounds will cause people to jump off the site quickly. Let people decide to look at it, but use a compelling headline to get them to watch it.
• Use more than one video in different spots on the site if it makes sense.
• Make sure the spots are tailored to the users and make sense. They need to have value to the viewer-what did they learn about you or your product by watching. Don’t waste their time.

Your website is often the world’s window into your business. If you add video, you will increase your search effectiveness, but if you add it incorrectly, those new viewers may leave without taking the actions you need to build your business. An unprofessional or incorrectly loaded video can do more damage that you might imagine.

A well done and properly loaded video will have more value than you can imagine. Your message reaches people who are predisposed to the concept AND there is no additional media cost.  Why would you pass that up?

Virtual Sets and Digital Effects

Don’t have the money to build sets, create special effects or go on location?
No problem!  Enter the digital age and use Virtual Sets and Digital Effects.

What is a Virtual Set?  It is a computer generated set that allows you to place someone where they are not. From a studio in front of a green screen you can place your talent anywhere. They can appear to be in a newsroom, church, arena, office, lobby, in front of a cityscape or on a golf course and hundreds of other locations. Visit  a site like www.virtualsetworks.com to see some examples.

What are Digital Effects? Well, it’s not so easy to blow things up on a budget, or make your actors bleed, but you can do all of that with computer generated effects. Over time and with the right equipment, they actually look quite good.  Okay, the better the technician, the better the look. Sites like www.digitalthoughtsoftware.com have inexpensive packages that work with some of the most common editing software.

Both of these tools save you time and money and give you control over the elements, the sound and lighting in a way that location shooting would not.

So whether you are shooting a corporate video, or creating a horror flick for your friends, both of these tools can help you create a better look for more money!

Video-getting crisp color is a (white) balancing act!

Have you ever had video that turned out with a blue, green or orange tint? The problem is that while your eye can compensate for the surrounding light and filter out colors cast by different types of light, your video camera can’t. By simply compensating for different light sources you can dramatically increase the look of your video. The good news? This  is one video issue that can be fixed fairly easily, with no extra equipment or cost.

If you haven’t paid attention to the white balance settings on your video recorder, you are in for a real eye opener when it comes to getting better video. Proper white balance is the key to correcting some of the most common problems that keep your video from looking true to color, bright and crisp.

First what is white balance on a video camera? Basically it is what tells the camera what “true white” is, then compensates for the difference in intensity, or temperature, of the light in which you are shooting. Sunlight, cloudy days, candlelight and fluorescent and tungsten lights all cast your subject in different light. So varying the white balance can compensate for these lights to keep your subject looking the way they are supposed to.

Your camera may be set to the auto setting—and in some cases that will be a good thing. Other times you might want to play with some of  the other settings to see how you can improve the exposure.  Finally,  the manual setting can really come into play in mixed light settings. For instance when you are shooting on a bright day and your subject is under a shade tree.

Settings vary from camera to camera, so check out the dreaded “manual” to learn more about your model or just play around and see how much better your videos can be! Next time we’ll cover some of the basic settings.