Best Practices for Influencers Making Videos
Christie Goshe
You’ve got the great content-making down already, and here are our pro tips for making even more polished videos.
Before you start, find a great location (location! location! location!):
Audio
Pick a quiet location. Try to avoid background noise or large open spaces that might cause reverberations. Close doors and windows. If you are outdoors, make sure there is not too much ambient sound from roadways, airplanes, or wind.
Light
Natural light is best. Turn off any overhead or artificial lights. Sit so the light falls onto your face or the subject. The camera should be between you and the light source (read: do not sit with your back to a window). The ideal lighting is in open shade. Avoid direct sunlight (both indoors and outdoors) if possible.
Background
Prioritize the audio and lighting before getting too committed to a background. Once you know you have nice light and a quiet place, choose a spot that has some depth behind you (don’t sit right against a wall if you can help it). Good backgrounds are tidy and usually have some form of interest; try to have shapes and/or colors in frame.
Setting up a consistent space
For doing a video diary, it make be easiest to use the same space each time for optimal lighting and sound.
Now for some recording tips:
It’s usually best to shoot in landscape widescreen 16:9 mode. That means, rotate your phone on its side, so it’s wide like a movie screen.
You can record on a computer or phone (back camera is better).
Shoot in the highest quality you can (ideally 1920x1080 at minimum).
Always clean the lens before starting to record. This seems obvious, but is one of the easiest (and most common) things to forget to do!
Always use a microphone
Even your earbuds are better than nothing.
If you have a lav mic or want to buy one, these are also perfect for capturing great audio while you record on your phone. Note: you’ll need an adapter for iPhone lightning connections.
Be sure to charge your phone up before you start filming, especially since using headphones and charging at the same time requires a special adapter that you may not have.
During your filming
Eye-line: Talk straight to camera, be mindful to look at the actual lens and not at the image of yourself
Give us context and use complete sentences: When recording, please include the full context of what you’re talking about in a complete sentence. (e.g. question: “How is your dog doing with the new food” answer: “My dog, Chewie, is really liking the new food, he goes wild for it…”) Editors can always trim down from the content you provide , but cannot make up what isn’t said. It’s always better to have too much content than not enough.
Hear a loud noise? Stop and redo the soundbite.
Timecode breaks: You do not need to start/stop the recording for every question/response. Feel free to keep the camera rolling for your session, breaks are only needed if your session runs longer than ~20 minutes, then please just press the record button twice to stop and start a fresh recording. This will result in smaller file sizes that are easier to send.
Room tone: Please record about 10 seconds of just silence before or after your responses. Editors will love you forever.
Example B-roll Shot List Ideas
Existing photos/videos of you and/or your dog(s)
Feeding your dog(s)
Closeup of dog(s) eating at their eye level
Showing products to camera/dog(s)
Playing, snuggling, doing tricks with your dog(s)
Asking your partner, friend, or family member to film you and your dog
Talking Points
You and your dog’s origin story
What is your dog’s personality? Funny habits? Favorite activities?
What were you feeding your dog before?
Does your dog have any known allergies or health issues?
How is the 30-day Challenge going? Does your dog like the food? Notice any changes in behavior, energy, allergies, stomach issues, etc.?
After each shoot
Please upload your footage right away
Upload your files to Google Drive, WeTransfer, Dropbox, etc. and share the link with us. If your footage is very large (i.e. 3 gb or more), you may need to ship it directly to us. Please send us an email and let us know so we can provide you our shipping address. We recommend using a low-cost flash drive (you may even have one already laying around).