Can Long Format Videos be Used in Any Business?

Many businesses are now adding video to their marketing content. It’s widely seen as one of the best strategies to engage an audience, generate leads and aid in conversations. While short videos (1-2 minutes in duration) should help you stand out on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, long format videos (5 -10 minutes) are also proving useful to businesses of all sizes.

Long videos give you the opportunity to tell a more detailed story and engage potential customers in a different way. And they can make a real difference to your marketing. (more…)

How a Video Can Work Both as Marketing Tool and a PR Tool

Should you have decided to spend money on developing video content as a marketing tool for your business, chances are you’ll want to get as much out of it as possible.

You might not really appreciate the difference between marketing and PR. Many people don’t. The relationship between the two has blurred a lot since the advent of the online world. And that’s not an entirely bad thing. (more…)

Why You Should Include Animation in Your Video Content

If you’re looking to get across a series of points, have a complex message or want to create an imaginative and engaging video for your audience, the flexibility you get with using animation is a huge asset.

The Best Time to Use Animation in Your Video Content

Messages can be a little complex can be difficult to explain them with just interviews It can also make the duration of your video long. Using Animation enables you to break things down and simplify the message so your audience can understand it.

For example, let’s say you have a complex healthcare product and you want to highlight its benefits and how it works. It can be difficult to show this device working properly in a real-life setting so switching to animation should make things a lot clearer. You can also add your branding to the images you create making things more impactful and on message for your marketing team.

Technology, in general, is one area where animation works perfectly. It enables you to engage your audience and keep them entertained. It’s also a great way to get your message across quickly and reasonably succinctly especially for an audience that is stuck for time.

You can make extremely focused content for your audience, quickly getting through your selling points without having to hire a studio, get actors on board, choose locations and all the other things that go along with live filming.

Animation may also be used to transport your audience to another world and really deliver that wow factor they are looking for. This more common nowadays with fast connections and the popularity of gaming and animations with high production values.

Animation is also a great way to get across sensitive stories. It can be difficult to find actors or real people to take part in your video if you are talking about a difficult situation. You can also add real audio to animation to create a powerful video.

Making Animated Video Content

The good news is that the cost of making animated videos has come down significantly in recent years putting it within reach of many smaller and medium-size companies. As with any successful piece of marketing content, it’s important to have the right strategy in place. You need to understand what you are trying to achieve, who you are aiming your message at and what sort of result you want to achieve.

People love short videos that quickly get to the action and tell them what they need to know. You’ll be well advised to trim any unnecessary fat from your script and keep it highly focused when you choose animation.

It also helps to work with a video consultant who can help you make the right animation choices and develop a video that has real, long term impact.

 

Best DSLR vlogging camera

There is a massive choice when from when it comes to picking the best camera for vlogging. The best choice is an interchangeable-lens camera with an internal microphone input. Having the ability to change lens on a camera is the major reason to consider an DSLR. For vlogging you want a lens which is wide, around 20mm focal length is perfect, a wide zoom lens will give you options. Having the ability to plug in an external mic is also a must. The internal mic on pretty much all the DSLR are poor. Either use a shotgun microphone which mounts onto the hot shoe or a wireless lavalier microphone system.

The best cameras for vlogging have features that may not seem too crucial for regular stills photography. One of the most critical is an LCD screen that can flip round to the front so that you see yourself while you’re filming to check framing, focus and exposure.  

An effective autofocus system that can also keep track of you while you’re recording yourself is also essential, as you won’t be able to adjust the camera while you’re filming and eye AF can be a significant advantage here.

So what about 4K? Even now, most vloggers will record and upload in full HD rather than 4K. Still, most of us would feel happier with a little future-proofing, and 4K does offer more scope for editing and cropping your video later, so the ability to shoot 4K video should be considered, but this feature will increase the cost of the camera. 

There are loads of fantastic models available in the mirrorless sector, combining lightweight build and great video features to make for a robust all-around vlogging package.

Here are three that I recommend:

  • Canon EOS M50 Compact System Camera and EF-M 15-45mm Lens
  • Panasonic G7 Compact System camera with 14-42 mm lens
  • Sony a6400 E-Mount compact mirrorless camera with 16-50mm Power Zoom lens

All have camera have these features:

  • flip out screen
  • microphone input
  • good autofocus
  • 4K

The Panasonic is the cheapest at around £450. Then the Canon – £550, with the Sony the most expensive at £950.

The Sony A6400 is the camera I have and use on a daily basis for my vlogging and behind the scenes videos. I use Sony as the corporate videos I make for clients  we use the larger Sony cameras such as the PXW-FS7 and PXW-FS5 which cost so much more than an DSLR (10 times more), but offer so many more features for professional videographers.

Below are links to view the current pricing and the camera features on Amazon.

Don’t forget you will also need accessories for the camera:

  • Microphone
  • SD Card
  • Extra batteries
  • Tripod