Last week, I wrote about the overlaps in different facets of my life particularly around the use of videos to extend brands (http://yvonnekohano.com/interesting-overlaps-in-my-life/). Here’s more along the same thread.
Things I’ve learned about being a ‘talking head’:
- Make sure the background behind your head is clear of clutter and anything embarrassing.
- Focus on your head and shoulders being in the shot – not too close or you’ll be all nose, and not too far away or people will have problems reading your facial expression.
- Feature your books in your background if possible.
- Have your camera on the same level as your eyes, or slightly above. This avoids that ugly double-chin effect.
- Experiment with lighting. For some people, natural light from their windows looks best in a video. For others, artificial light is better.
- Check the sound quality of your microphone. Some systems have very low quality mics, and they do a poor job of capturing your voice.
- Practice not moving around. A bobbing talking head is distracting!
- Know that on some systems, you aren’t seeing a mirror image of yourself as you stare at the screen while talking. In those cases, moving your body to the right moves you to the left in the video.
- Be animated. Try to avoid reading from a script, which turns most of us into something only slightly better than a computerized answering machine voice.
- Keep it short. You don’t need 20 minutes of material. Five is fine, and one and a half is better. Serialize if necessary.
- Have as your goal the addition of one video or presentation a month. More is not necessarily better.
Most of all, be yourself! That’s means being professional. (This is your brand, remember?) You won’t be perfect, but then most of us aren’t in face-to-face settings. You won’t be articulate all of the time, but if you hit 95%, call it good! Readers want to know YOU The Writer. Writers want to how YOU The Writer get through your writing challenges. We’re each of us unique and special, and that’s what should shine on the small screen.
Would you like to see my first attempt? Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QktMfiKrfo to see my welcome video for my channel.
There’s even more be said on the topic of videos. Next week, I’ll bring you more information on the technology and process of uploading your videos to extend the brand of YOU The Writer.
Yvonne is building her video and presentation library on YouTube at Yvonne Kohano. Please be gentle, viewers – she’s still getting the hang of it! Share your stories about your use of videos with her by commenting here, or through her website, www.yvonnekohano.com.
