Videography FAQ

Videography FAQ

Video production has quickly become one of the fastest-growing marketing tools. Video production is a simple way to create engaging and compelling content that will help your brand stand out from the crowd.

Back to Home
What is the 180 degree rule?

The 180-degree rule dictates that you draw an imaginary line between two subjects and keep your camera(s) on the same side of this 180-degree line. This is important when filming conversations/dialogue scenes. It keeps the illusion of the edit going, and enables the viewer to have a seamless viewing experience. This rule DOES NOT apply to montages/reels, just interviews, documentaries, and narrative scripted scenes.

What is the best way to store videos?

After shooting the video, the footage is stored on the SD or C Fast card within the camera. At this point, you upload it to either a desktop hard drive or an external one. From that point, the footage is stored within the same folder as other video assets – music, graphics, SFX, icons, logos, photos, project files, etc. This is called the project folder. The best practice is to edit off an external SSD drive (it has just as fast if not faster speeds than an internal SSD / HD) and frequently back them up to a larger / not as fast hard drive. You should always store a project in at least 2 places at a time. Projects can be expensive and time-consuming to put together, and to risk, the loss of data means risking losing the project, or more importantly, the client!

What does it mean to “pan”?

In cinematography/videography, a panning shot is a horizontal camera movement where the camera pivots left or right while its base remains in a fixed location. However, colloquially, most people will use it to describe a wide variety of camera movements seen here: https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/7ml0lt/types_of_camera_movements/

What is a gimbal?

A gimbal is a piece of film equipment that aids your camera in the capturing of smooth, stabilized footage using counterweights to balance the camera while in suspension. The higher the axis of the gimbal (3,4,5) the more stable your footage tends to be. This, paired with a camera touting great in-body stabilization can make for a killer combo and some really smooth footage.

What is a rough cut?

A rough cut is a version of a video that is not final, but a “rough estimate” of what the expectation of the project was. Depending upon feedback from the client/marketing team, the rough cut with be further polarized creatively and chiseled down / added to until all parties are happy with the final result, usually named the “Final Cut”.

What does SFX stand for?

Sound Effects! A whoosh, beep, buzz, pop, click, etc. Using sound effects enable your video to become more audibly dynamic and improves the overall sense of production value.

What is an aperture?

The aperture is the physical amount your lens opens to take a photo/video. The smaller (closed) aperture restricts light and increases the depth of field in a scene, whereas a larger (open) aperture allows for more light and decreases the depth of field within a scene. The tricky thing to remember is that the lower the number (1.8, 2.8) the more open the aperture is, and the higher the number (4.0, 5.8, 8.0) the smaller it is. In layman’s terms, the lower the aperture number, the more light is let in and the blurrier the background (narrower focus) the higher the aperture, less light will be let in (but more things will be in focus.) 

What is ISO?

ISO is essentially the amount of artificial light your camera is adding to the photo or video (by making it more sensitive to light.) To keep the image looking as clean and professional as possible you want to keep the ISO as low as possible, instead resorting to natural/artificial lighting (LEDs, softboxes, etc.) Depending upon the camera, adding so much light to your image will result in major “grain” (image noise/loss of detail) which ultimately leads to a less than professional-looking video. ISO? More like IS-low! Am I right? *crickets* 

What frame rate should I use?

It ultimately depends on the goal and tone of your project – if you want your video to look like a film and retain a “cinematic” look choose 24fps. If you want it to have a soap opera, commercial, documentary, or sitcom look, choose 30 fps. Remember, when slowing or speeding up your footage on 24fps or 30fps projects, make sure to use intervals of these numbers! For example, a 60fps clip can only be slowed down 50% on a 30fps timeline, a 120fps can only be slowed down to 20% on a 24 fps timeline, etc. At the end of the day, however, you should always export in either 30 or 24fps. Remember this when purchasing a camera…especially if you plan to use slow-motion! 

What are the best ways to record sound?

There are four basic ways to capture sound — in-camera audio, on-camera shotgun mics, lavalier microphones (also known as a lavs), or boom microphones. In a run-and-gun scenario (weddings, live events, speeches) a lavalier/shotgun combo is preferred. For vlogging or filming a family party, an on-camera microphone is suitable. For a commercial production with a bigger crew/budget, you would ideally use a lavalier/boom microphone. In big-budget narrative productions, a boom mic is usually preferred in addition to ADR (audio dialogue replacement,) sound mixing, and sometimes a lavalier (depending on wardrobe.) All types of sound capture are valid depending upon the scenario – it just depends on the project and your goals!

Why are CTA’s important in a video ad?

A CTA (call to action) doesn’t always have to directly lead to a sale or sign up, video CTA’s could include:

Subscribe to your channel
Follow / Like your Page
Share with your friends
Comment on the video
Check out other content

It’s good to put a CTA at the end of a video ad to give the viewer a chance to further investigate your brand/ product

How do I create a hook in a video ad?

Attention spans online are short. The average attention span is now just 8.5 seconds. In order to make a successful video, you have to instantly gather interest as people scroll through their feeds. Within the first 2-3 seconds you have to establish a connection through a story or a visual in order to gain the viewer confidence that what they’re about to watch is worth their time.

 

Does video get a lot of engagement on social media?

According to research, video is getting more engagement across all the major social platforms. For instance, on Facebook, videos get up to 135% more organic reach, six times more retweets on Twitter, and 75% of executives say they watch world-related videos each day on LinkedIn. 

Recommended Video Sizes for social media

Facebook
– Recommended size: 1280 by 720 pixels
– Minimum width: 600 pixels
– Supported aspect ratios: 16:9 (horizontal), 9:16 (full portrait), 2:3 (vertical), 4:5 (vertical), square (1:1)

Instagram:
– Square video: 600 by 600 pixels (1:1 aspect ratio)
– Horizontal video: 600 by 315 pixels (1.9:1 aspect ratio)
– Vertical video: 600 by 750 pixels (4:5 aspect ratio)

Youtube- Recommended sizes:
– 426 by 240 pixels (240p)
– 640 by 360 pixels (360p
– 854 by 480 pixels (480p)
– 1280 by 720 pixels (720p)
– 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p)
– 2560 by 1440 pixels (1440p)
– 3840 by 2160 pixels (2160p)

Minimum size: 426 by 240 pixels
Maximum size: 3840 by 2160 pixels

Supported aspect ratios: 16:9 and 4:3

LinkedIn:
– Maximum size: 4,096 by 2,304 pixels
– Minimum size: 256 by 144 pixels
– Supported aspect ratios: 1:2:4 to 2:4:1

Why should the shutter speed be double the fps?

It is suggested that you double the FPS to get your working shutter speed, so when shooting at 24 FPS, use at least 1/50 of a second shutter speed and when shooting at 30 FPS, use at least 1/60 of a second shutter speed to get a smooth video while recording. 

What does FPS mean?

“Frames Per Second.” When recording video, FPS is used to measure the video frame rate – the number of consecutive full-screen images that are displayed within a second. The higher the frame rate the smoother the image. Which will allow you to shoot and produce slow motion. Standard slow motion is shot at 60 fps, while super slow motion goes up to 1,000 fps. Keep in mind that most cameras will shoot higher frame rates in 1080p than in 4K. So, you’ll need to determine the best combination of frame rate and resolution for your particular scene or video 

What steps are involved in video creating?

Video Production usually takes about seven steps. These are script development, storyboard creation, video shooting & editing, voiceover selection (if applicable), music selection, and sound design.

What does the rendering process look like?

Before playing the video, a computer has to render it to play it back again later. “Rendering” is a process of reading the information from the source and its subsequent usage in displaying images. It may take a lot of computer time and memory. The more features, titles, effects, and other details you add, the more time and effort will be needed to make the final version of the video.

What does “Codec” mean?

It is a compression algorithm that helps to store and digitize a video on a computer hard drive in the needed format – MP4 is most common although it doesn’t exclude MOV, MPEG, MJPEG, etc.

How do I clip video files into segments?

Video Editors use editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro X, or Davinci Resolve. Traditionally, there are buttons for defining the start and end points of separate sections in video editing programs. Besides setting starting and end points, you can also arrange the sequence of scenes and clips in their proper order.

Comments are closed.