There are a few key elements that make or break a video. Here's my top ten list:
1. Stay away from inside jokes: If you're going to make a comedy, make sure the jokes are funny to your audience. It's not important if you laugh. It's important if they laugh.
2. Video is 2/3 Audio: USC did an experiment to see how important audio was to video. Basically they would observe the participant as they watched TV in a hotel room. The experimenters were able to control distortion in the video and audio on that TV from the next room. They found that when they distorted the video, people were annoyed, but continued watching that program. However, when they messed with the audio, people were 2/3 more likely to change the channel or do something else. Thus, video is 2/3 audio. Make sure your audio sounds good.
3. No sound?: Far to often I'm watching a student made video and I notice an entire 15-30 seconds with no sound at all! Be aware that people have a very low attention span. When there's no sound, it gets extremely boring for the viewer. Always have some sound in the background. It can be music or just ambient noise from a park. Just always make sure that you have sound.
4. Double Jumps: Example: You see a man walk up to a door from the outside. He turns the handle and beings to push the door open. The camera cuts to a shot from the inside. You see the door handle turn and the door is pushed open. That's called a double jump because you already saw him turn the handle in the first shot. This happens when the editor isn't paying attention to their cuts. This happens a lot with audio too. You hear someone say something like, "Hey!" Then the camera cuts to a different shot and you hear, "Hey!" again. This can be fixed by some simple fine tuning cuts.
5. Multiple Takes: Rarely will someone get it right the first time. Do multiple takes! It may take a little longer, but usually the 4th take is the best because by then the actor feels more comfortable with the scene.
6. 4 Second Rule: When you say action, have your actors wait for 4 seconds before they being with their line. Same goes for when they're done with their scene. Wait about 4 seconds before you say cut. Make sure they understand that it doesn't mean, wait 4 seconds, then start the scene. It means wait 4 seconds, then start your lines. Don't stand around for 4 seconds, then start acting. This helps when you're editing because you have more to work with.
7. Plan It Out: Most students want to run out with the camera and make an awesome movie. That usually leads to disaster because shots wont match up and you'll spend a lot of time on the field trying to figure out what will look good. Try drawing a basic story board. Nothing fancy, just some stick figures to give you an idea of what the movie is going to look like. Plan on when and where to shoot so you don't waste your actor's time.
8. B-Roll: B-Roll is the footage you see a lot on the news. It's usually just shots of the scenery or the event. It doesn't matter what kind of movie you're making, always get at least 10 minutes of B-Roll. It will come in handy later if you need a "filler" in one of your scenes.
9. Bloopers: Everybody loves bloopers. Most of the time, however, the people making the movie love the bloopers too much. I've seen movies where the blooper reel is longer than the movie itself! Keep the blooper reel very short. Also, make sure they are actually bloopers. Just watching people laugh is not a blooper. Show a few people messing up and maybe someone falling down. That's all you need.
10. Keep It Short!: This is probably one of the most important factors in video making. If you want to keep the attention of your audience, your video must be shorter than 3 minutes. When people click on a YouTube video and see 4 minutes in the timeline, they usually click away. Our brains go through a process that says, "4 minutes? Is this worth my time? Probably not." When it's 3 minutes we go, "3 minutes? Sure, I have some time to waste." Keep it under 3 minutes!
I'll write more later :)
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