HOW TO VIDEO
Introduction
What is a How-To Video?
What makes a successful How-To video?
Stage 1: Start with a great idea
Without a good idea, you have nothing to base your video on. It's essential that you have a good idea before you start creating otherwise it could easily turn out to be an unorganised mess.
Stage 2: More 'How?', less 'Why?'
When creating a how-to video, it is important to remember that the purpose of the video is to explain how to carry out a particular act, not why you are doing it.
Stage 3: Simplicity goes a long way
Most people look for a how-to video for its simplicity as it beats reading an essay of instructions on how to carry out an action. Keep it simple! Overcomplicating a situation can make the audience confused and that means your video hasn't carried out its purpose - to educate.
Stage 4: When in doubt, retrace your steps
Being doubtful is perfectly fine and nothing to be ashamed of, but when in doubt, just retrace your steps. Remember what you've done and what needs doing.
Stage 5: Don't be afraid to have fun with it
If you have fun with the video and are enthusiastic about what you are talking about, then the audience are going to connect with the material a lot more and stay focused instead of getting bored and possibly coming off the video to find a better alternative.
Research
Research and Considerations
Primary Research
Primary research is when you yourself go out and find the information you need without additional help. You make your own notes/photos/videos and it is all from you.
Secondary Research
Secondary research is more guided - taking somebody else’s ideas and using them for your research. The original ideas aren’t yours but it’s what you based your research around and referenced whatever books/websites you may have used.
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is exploratory, it’s gaining an understanding and forming opinions with the ability to justify them - these opinions don’t have to be yours to start with. A common form of this research is interviews.
Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is quantity over quality - it’s all about the numbers and the amount rather than anything else.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical Considerations is about protecting people and their identity (race/religion/sexuality/gender).
Legal Considerations
Legal Considerations is about protecting a specific adaptation of something rather than the idea itself - a common form of this is Copyright.
Regulatory and Professional Bodies
- Ofcom - Office for Communications
- BBFC - British Board of Film Classification
- ASA - Advertising Standard Authority
How-To Video Reviews
VIDEO 1:
Analysis:
I believe this was a good example of a how-to video. There were captions, catchy music, it was short, it was snappy, and it well demonstrated their understanding of camera angles. These are all important positives as it makes the video easy to follow along and captivates the audience.
Although I believe it was a good example, I would also say there is room for improvement. I found the thumbnail to be a little boring and that having only a single example of each shot could have been improved. An interesting thumbnail helps the audience to be intrigued by the video before watching it. Multiple examples of each shot help to demonstrate a further understanding of the shots - especially if one example isn't too clear!
Pros:
- Captions
- Catchy Music
- Titles
- Good understanding of the shot types
- Short and snappy
Cons:
- Slightly more why than how
- Only a single example of each shot
- Boring thumbnail
Ratings:
Conclusion:
- Sound: 7/10
- Editing: 8/10
- Filming: 7/10
- Understanding: 9/10
- Overall: 8/10
In conclusion, I believe the video had a good understanding on the topic that it was talking about. It more or less followed the 5 golden rules of making a how-to video however could contain a bit more how and less why.
VIDEO 2:
Analysis:
I believe this was a good example of a how-to video. I believe this as I found the video to be quite warm with its little introduction, multiple examples of each shot, captions and comparisons. This all goes to captivating an audience while also showing a deep understanding of the camera angles topic.
I struggled to find improvements for the video however if I was to say anything I would say that at times the video looked a little messy and the voiceover was a little quiet. A quiet voiceover is never a positive as it disables the audience from hearing the directions correctly.
Pros:
Cons:
- Nice introduction
- Multiple examples of each shot
- Captions
- Good understanding of the shots
- Comparison between angles
- Little outro was cute
- Enticing thumbnail
- A bit too quiet
- A little messy
- Slightly too long
Ratings:
Conclusion:
- Sound: 7/10
- Editing: 9/10
- Filming: 7/10
- Understanding: 9/10
- Overall: 9/10
In conclusion, I believe this video to be a great example of a good how-to video due to it's understanding and examples of the chosen topic - if I had to give feedback I would say it's a bit messy and the voiceover is a little quiet at times but other than that it was good.
VIDEO 3:
Analysis:
I believe this was a bad example of a how-to video. I believe this as I found the video to be quite boring and it failed to keep me engaged as an audience member - this is due to the lack of talking. Although the music was a nice touch, the lack of talking and explanation caused me to lose interest and to become distracted. The video didn't explain anything about the shots or how to do them, it just showed examples.
There were some good points to the video however with its use of captions and a range of angles. This contributes to the distributor's knowledge of the topic which he was talking (or in this case, not talking) about.
Pros:
Cons:
- Captions
- Range of angles
- Calming music
- No voiceover
- Little explanation
- Simply examples
Ratings:
Conclusion:
- Sound: 4/10
- Editing: 6/10
- Filming: 8/10
- Understanding: 7/10
- Overall: 6/10
In conclusion, I believe this to be a bad example of a how-to video. I believe this because there was little explanation about any of the camera angle types. This is bad as a beginner is left to simply improvise on how to capture the shots themselves.
Overall Conclusion
After watching the three How-To Videos, I believe video 2 to be the best How-To video. I think this because it was very clear and had a very deep understanding of the topic while also demonstrating this through multiple examples of camera angles. The intro and outro added a sense of realism and natural to the video which helped to captivate me as an audience due it making me feel safe and warm as opposed to talked down to and bored.
Reflection
With my research, there was quite a lot to do. My first step was to understand what the different types of research were and how I could apply them to my work - to help myself remember I made a little explanation sheet. The next step was to apply what I had just learnt about research to my own task, I did this by reviewing other people’s how-to videos on the same topic as me and then using that as inspiration on what to do and not to do with my own video. I reviewed three different example videos and for each I analysed them, made a pros and cons list, ranked the different aspects within the video and then made a conclusion on the video as a whole. After watching and analysing each video, I then wrote about which example was my favourite and why.
Originally, I didn’t see research as very important, so I didn’t feel much towards it. I also didn’t realise there were different types of research and that they have their own purposes within media. Upon completing the research tasks, I became a little wary of what not to do in my own video because I didn’t like that particular aspect of somebody else’s, but I also felt intimidated - I got worried that I wouldn’t be able to create a video like the examples. After completing all the research, I felt that it was a very useful task and that it very much impacted the way I went about my project.
Something that I really liked about the research task was the layout of my how-to video example reviews. I liked the fact that I rated the different aspects because I could see the importance of the different aspects and how it impacted my opinion on the video in its entirety.
Something I believe I wasn’t a huge fan of was the types of research sheet. I feel as if I could have researched and written more about the different types as opposed to a simple and basic response. To improve I would research the different types of research better to strengthen my understanding of the topics.
For the reviewing of example how-to videos, I decided to use two past student examples. I did this because I thought they would be less professional and therefore closer to the work I will be producing myself. I decided that using normal example videos you would find on youtube wouldn't be good for my research as they can sometimes receive a lot more funding and research which could make myself set very high expectations for myself.
From my research, I believe that I've learnt quite a lot. The research tasks have allowed me to realise which aspects of a how-to video are the most important in terms of my video and what to include/not to include. This has been helpful for my development as I now know what to consider when producing future projects - specifically I know that captions are a huge help along with a clear audio.
Next time, I would decide to look deeper into the different types of research and include examples. This is to showcase my understanding of the topics.