Producing video
Video production is a complex process involving setting up scenes, understanding lighting, framing shots, capturing audio, editing footage and producing a final product.
Just because it is cheap and easy to get hold of a video camera and record some footage does not mean that just anyone can do it well. Remember that bad footage is often worse than none at all. If at all possible, get a professional (or at least an enthusiastic amateur with significant experience of content production) involved.
Production tips
- Keep the video short. For promotional content, anything longer than two minutes is likely to really stretch the audience's attention span.
- Avoid clichés such as long slow pans across rooms or backdrops.
- Stick to quick cuts between different scenes to maintain interest and keep things lively.
- Try to use authentic voices for commentary or presentation to camera. For student recruitment materials, video content will have more credibility if a student is talking to the audience rather than a member of staff.
- Keep it informal and speak directly to the intended audience. In the same way as written web content should address the needs of the audience, so should multimedia content.
- Make sure you have a clear purpose in mind and that the media you produce addresses that purpose. Don't just assume that video or audio is an enhancement to your site.
- Make sure that the video reinforces the University's/department's key messages. Consider making a list of what these are and matching them to your storyboard ideas for the video - if a scene isn't adding to the message, cut it.
- Always try to do a test screening of your video with viewers who are representative of the intended audience. If you are targeting 18 year olds for undergraduate recruitment, the staff of your department are unlikely to be the best judge of whether the video is doing a good job of communicating on their level.
- Using multiple short videos throughout your site, perhaps with a gallery page to help people browse all of them together if they wish, is much better than one longer piece of media. Remember that the web is a very active medium where site visitors are always looking for their next 'click'. Anything more than a minute or two in length will see a rapid drop-off in the number of people viewing to the end.
- Don't try too hard to be 'cool'. Well produced, audience-targeted content is a far better starting point than going over the top with effects etc and producing something that may make an audience cringe.
- If you're putting a soundtrack with your content, be sure that you have appropriate rights to use it. Any commercial recordings are likely to have copyright restrictions which will probably prevent you from being able to use them. Be sure to read our additional guidance on copyright issues.
- Remember to consider web accessibility issues when using multimedia on your site. A transcript or captioning of video may be useful, or some alternative version of the content using just static text and images might be better.
- Be sure to use appropriate file formats and publishing methods to suit your media.