With so many different styles of video available, how do you choose which ones to use ?
It’s a question I get often and thought I’d answer in this (long) essay, by using a bunch of videos we’ve used in our various projects and businesses.
I’ve broken each down so you can see WHY we chose this style for the outcome desired, WHAT actually is happening in the video itself, and then some quick notes on HOW we actually put it all together.
Example 1. Product Recommendations
The video below is something you probably saw recently. It was shot on my iPhone 4S after I was recommended Jules Watkins’ iVideo Hero program. I was about to invest over $1,200 on a DSLR for face-to-camera stuff, when someone suggested I learn some amazing little hacks on the iPhone camera. Long story short, I invested the $97 in Jules’ training course, turned the iPhone on, quickly recorded my story, and recommend Jules’ program to the entire Preneur Community…
WHY would you want to use this style of video?
I’ve found that using a face-to-camera stuff is not only super quick and easy, but it’s a great way to pre-sell a recommended product or service (ala affiliate product), as it allows you to set the context and frame for the thing you are recommending to your audience.
WHAT’s actually going on in this video?
Well, face-to-camera stuff is very easy to do, once you get the confidence to put yourself on screen. It works extremely well if you are trying to relate a personal story and the audience can truly ‘see’ your expressions.
It also work well when you are trying to build trust with the viewer, like in a sales letter or testimonial.
HOW do you actually make this happen?
In this case, and as with most of my recent (and future) videos, I’ll be shooting them on the iPhone. Simple as that.
Get yourself a cheap tripod and a iPhone camera mount, and you’re good to go.
Example 2. Product Reviews
The video below is something we do quite regularly for our e-comm projects such as SimplyHeadsets.com.au. They are very simple yet highly effective product reviews, so our online prospects can get as close to a tangible understanding/feel for the products usually only visible in a photograph.
WHY would you want to use this style of video?
If you are selling a product or service that is “tangible” or “tactile”, a video showcasing that is much more impactful than any photo or textual description ever will.
WHAT’s actually going on in this video?
It’s just me sitting at a desk, talking about the headset infront of me with a few B-roll cutaways to make it a little more ‘active’ visually.
HOW do you actually make this happen?
Again, it’s just a matter of sitting down in front of a camera, having some notes for direction on a whiteboard or butcher paper behind your camera, and away you go.
If you want to have B-roll footage for the cutaways, you might need a second camera. But that’s only really needed if you want to go that extra mile in production.
Example 3. Live Event
The video is a excerpt from one of the various live events I’ve spoken at. This one is from the first outsroucing workshop Dave Jenyns and I did together a year or so back.
WHY would you want to use this style of video?
Using live events as the source material for videos (and training programs) is a fantastic positive constraint, which I’ve spoken previously on the PreneurCast podcast. If it wasn’t for the pressure of having people attending a live event, there would be a tonne of content I would have never gotten around to having recorded.
WHAT’s actually going on in this video?
From a video production standpoint, this is really quite easy as all you need to worry about is speaking and over-delivering to the live audience. As you will see from this excerpt, I completely ignore the camera and focus on the people in the room. (This also means the video viewers will be a little more forgiving of errors and stumbles you may have during your delivery.)
HOW do you actually make this happen?
The hardest part of this type of video is getting bums in the room for the live event. Beyond that, you just need to shell out some coin for the videographers who will record and edit everything up for you.
Example 4. Green-Screen Video
The video is a video from our Going Analogue course. The intros for each section were filmed just outside London while I was there speaking at an live event (which was also recorded). We very rarely use green screen for our videos as I don’t believe they give a great bang-for-buck. But like everything, there is a time and place for them.
WHY would you want to use this style of video?
To be honest, I find it very, very hard to justify the effort and expense of green screen — so unless you have a mate with a studio and some spare time. For the wider Preneur Community, I wouldn’t actually recommend you use this style of video in your business.
WHAT’s actually going on in this video?
This was a really fun (yet, over-the-top) way of doing intro videos. The way we recorded these was by having me stand in a full green-screen room with a teleprompter. The production team then went about creating the sweet backdrops and slides in post-production.
HOW do you actually make this happen?
I don’t want to get too technical here (for obvious reasons), but you need an extremely well-lit studio with a green screen and some really good software for the editing process.
Example 5. Screen-Capture Training
Hopefully, this style of video isn’t overly new to anyone here in the Preneur Community. It’s something we use a lot in all projects — from demonstrating marketing tools like SendOutCards below, to doing demo and training videos on the software that comes with the phones systems we sell thru Infiniti Telecommunications.
WHY would you want to use this style of video?
This is one of the easiest and most effective style of videos you will ever do. If you’re trying to document a process to your virtual assistant, train your clients on a tool (see: ScreencastsOnline), or just want to demonstrate a product you’re trying to promote, screen-capture video is the closest thing you’ll ever get to sitting down with them side by side.
WHAT’s actually going on in this video?
Well not a whole lot technically. I am just using the tool I’m trying to demonstrate and just commentating the process through a headset.
HOW do you actually make this happen?
All you need is a headset (or machine with inbuilt mic), and then some screen-capture software like ScreenFlow or Camtasia.
Example 6. Keynote-Style Video
Boy do we use this style of video A LOT. Every single one of our podcast episodes get this treatment, plus most of the strategy videos we produce for training programs use this style as well. The example below is a keynote-style video that’s been applied to a PreneurCast podcast episode, where funnily enough, Dom and I talk about all this video marketing.
WHY would you want to use this style of video?
I personally believe this is not only the easiest but the best way to communicate and teach anything that doesn’t need a live demonstration. The ability to support the stuff you are saying with bullets and graphs really helps the understanding and consumption for your audience.
WHAT’s actually going on in this video?
Like I mentioned above, the visuals in this style of video is primarily there to support the audio track by emphasizing the key points through graphs, bullet points, and key pieces of text.
HOW do you actually make this happen?
The way we produce this style of videos is probably a little different to what you may have heard before (unless you played along with the Profit Hacks launch), but I find it the most productive for myself personally. The short ‘how to’ is: I record the audiotrack by itself, and then let my team put the slides together after the fact. This way, I am not distracted with choosing fonts, slide transitions, or other non-essential elements so many people get bogged down with.
Example 7. Concept Demonstration / Pre-Education
The video here is another one from our telco business. Like a lot of products and services, the workings of a phone system can be quite complicated and confusing for prospects; so we put together this video to easily break down how a phone system works. By pre-educating our leads, it makes it so much easier for our sales staff to speak with and convert prospects through selling, not basic education.
WHY would you want to use this style of video?
If you are selling a solution that is even remotely technical, being able to pre-educate and thus pre-qualify prospects online via video, prior to them spending time with your sales team, is a huge ROI increaser. (You can see one from our headset business here too.)
WHAT’s actually going on in this video?
This was a really fun (and relatively easy) video to put together. We shot it in the video studio we have at the office, with me and my iPad. I am simply talking the viewer through the basics of telephone systems whilst using the graphics to support it visually.
HOW do you actually make this happen?
While we have the face-to-camera side of things recording, we used a really cool app called Reflector to stream my iPad screen to the MacBook, which was getting recorded via ScreenFlow, then just merged the two recordings in post-production.
