3 Blog and Social Media Video Mishaps To Avoid

Most of us realize the importance of video for both our blogs and social media accounts.  If you want to grow your blog and social audiences, good video content is a must!  

2016 saw the launch of Facebook Live and Instagram Stories.  2017 was touted as "the year of video marketing", with a huge increase in consumer's preference for video content in pretty much every area.

According to WordStream, internet video traffic made up about 69% of all global consumer internet traffic in 2017.  The growth of  the online video evolution continued into 2018 and beyond, with global internet traffic from videos making up 80% of all internet traffic by 2019.  Video was expected to make up 82% of all internet traffic by 2021.

By 2019,  80% of all internet traffic is expected to be from videos

Now that we know how vital video has become and will continue to be, let's not screw it up by making bad videos!  One of my key goals for 2017 was to improve my video skills.  I was coming from a near zero starting point so I need to master the basics of making and editing videos.  I knew it would take some time to learn how to make a good video, but I didn't realize just how much time it would take to learn and how many blunders I'd make along the way!

Here are 3  Video Blunders I made in the last year or more that kept me from turning out quality videos both for my blog and my social media channels.  Learn from my mistakes, and have a good laugh in the process!

MECHANICAL DIFFICULTIES

I wanted to create a video to show how I make one of my frozen dog treats.  I was so happy, my video seemed to be going really well!  I set the shot up with the blender and ingredients ready to go, and I didn't flub any of my "lines".  I thought, this is gonna be a really good video.  Until it wasn't.  I almost had it, my video was nearly complete, and then this happened......

BOL!!  So the lesson here is, if you're using an appliance, tool or any other mechanical gadget in your video, test the darn thing out first!  I was so flustered and frustrated, I never did re-shoot that video. 

It was one of my very first attempts at making a simple video.  If I had learned how to edit video back then I could have re-shot just that segment and dropped it in, saving my dog treat video from ruin.  But I hadn't yet mastered any video editing skills at that point.  My Frozen Pineapple Jerky Pupsicle blog post ended up having only still photos of my recipe.  So sad!

TURN DOWN THE NOISE

When shooting video, background Noises can be a killer!  I was excited to land a sponsored post for True Chews dog treats.  I loved the product and the concept and I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my video.  I got started right away to create a heartfelt video about my journey with my shelter dog, Phoebe.  

I swear it was like a comedy of errors trying to create a video!  I envisioned this beautiful video, shot outdoors at one of our favorite dog friendly cafes.  I would tell Phoebe's story as she sat on my lap and I sipped a cup of tea. Sweet, right?

Setting up in my yard to film the opening portion of my True Chews video

We got a table on their outdoor patio, which faces the street.  I had tea and a pastry for myself and True Chews treats for Phoebe, and we were ready to roll!   Well, I thought we were ready, but who knew just how much background Noise can get magnified on video!?   I guess I hadn't noticed the traffic going by while we were there.  When I got home and played the video, it sounded like I shot it in the middle of Grand Central Station!  Even audio noise reduction in a video editor didn't reduce the background noise enough.  I had to do the whole thing over the next day, choosing a better location.

Down the street from the cafe was our favorite park, right on the water.  It seemed like the most serene spot to shoot the video.  We carefully selected a nice spot on the grass and I began speaking.  Suddenly, a small plane began buzzing overhead!  I was like REALLY!?  What are the odds??  We were nowhere near an airport!

We decided to wait out the darn plane, and when it left we returned to the park to do our video. Again.  As I began speaking, I kid you not, a large boat got slowly and loudly lowered into the harbor and began revving up it's roaring load engine once it hit the water.  I'm telling you it was the loudest boat ever!  I mean, what are the odds?

So now I'm really ticked off about all the noise, and because it was a beautiful late October day, people started pouring into the park with their dogs.  We decided to leave and come back the next morning when it wasn't so crowded, yet again!

The next morning we arrived at the park to find a hoard of gardeners mowing every inch of grass in the entire area!   We went to the cafe to have breakfast and wait out the gardeners and their deafening mowers.  After about an hour they left and once again, we headed into the park camera in hand.   

The park was crowded with people and dogs by then.  At this point I decided that if I could get some good video of us enjoying the park and the cafe, and learn how to do voice-over audio on a video that would do it!  

We finally did shoot some really good video footage in the park and the cafe.  I spent time learning how to edit audio using Filmora video editor and created my voice overs.  After the final touchups I had a finished video to include in my True Chews blog post. I'm really proud of that video,  I think it came out great, but it took a lot of re-shoots and a lot of editing, simply because of outdoor Noise!  Here's how the final video came out:

Lesson learned:  Noise is the enemy of video!  If you need to film outdoors, find a quiet spot - and I mean Quiet.  Arrive at your location during a time when there are as few people, utility workers, trucks and other noise makers as possible.  Sounds simple I know, but believe me, it's Not!  Oh, and learn how to edit audio on a video.


POOR LIGHTING CAN WRECK A GREAT VIDEO

As with photos, lighting plays a huge part in creating a good video.  Lighting has often been the bane of my existence.  I finally got the lighting issues for my indoor photos under control, but lighting for indoor video is still a challenge for me.  

Lighting is important for both indoor and outdoor video.  Bad lighting can ruin your video. Lighting for indoor video can sometimes be controlled by adjusting indoor lights and window shades.  You can also get a simple, inexpensive light set like this one by Limostudio, for staged indoor videos.  This lighting set helped me so much with my indoor photos, and now I'm starting to use it for my indoor videos too.

A simple lighting set is great for indoor photos or video

My indoor videos of the dogs are often spontaneous, so I don't have the time to work with lighting.  They come out looking dark and grainy, like this:

Don't worry!  My dogs aren't fighting, Icy is just trying to get Phoebe to come out from under the chair and play with her.  But Phoebe is having none of it!

I continue to have lighting challenges with indoor videos, but I'm working on it.  I've had to scrap many of my videos because they just came out too dark, and video editing can only do so much.

With outdoor video you have to be aware of where the sun will be during your video shoot.  Scope this out in advance if possible.  If the sun is in your subject's face, they'll be squinting and that can be distracting for the viewer.  If the sun is directly behind them it could create shadows, making the visual look poor.   This is definitely not easy, I still struggle with it a lot myself.

There's nothing worse than thinking you've shot a great video, only to realize that the lighting is terrible and the video shows poorly! 

Those are my 3 biggest sticking points in creating a good video.  Leave us a comment and share your blog and social media video challenges and goals!!