Can you imagine a video maker shooting a video or film on a phone a few years back? No one would have ever even considered that in their wildest dreams due to the quality that was so inferior to capture good shoots and professional content. But that is changing. Today, there are many reasons to use the smartphones to produce videos for everyone from amateur video makers to professional photographers.
The second most popular website after Google is Youtube. Users view more than 1 billion hours of video each day on YouTube and more than half of YouTube videos are viewed on mobile devices. Only in 2011 that figure was only 6%.
The increase of interest in watching videos in recent years is much higher than in previous years. A Facebook Executive predicted that their platform will be all video and hardly any text by 2021 and more than 65% of those views occur on mobile device.
So, it is absolutely crucial to consider your mobile audience when it comes to creating a video marketing strategy. Targeting a mobile audience and producing video content for this nishe create unique opportunities for your business. Considering that most everyone has their phone virtually attached to their body at all time, is a big advantage. You spot a stunning sunset or a gorgeous building, capture it on your phone instantly, then make it into a final edit video for your social media channels, upload it and share it instantaneously. It is quick and functional! Nobody can tell the difference between a professional camera or your mobile phone version.
Here are 10 things you need to take into consideration when producing a video that will be viewed primarily by a mobile audience.
1. Create a catchy composition
Before you start throwing ideas around, first of all be clear on what you want to do with this video and compose the elements in a scene or sequence deliberately. Content creation plays a really important role to make your audience watch your video from the beginning to the end. Analyze what your target wants & needs to make sure that your audience will actively engage.
Give a WHY to your audience: a reason or value as to why they need to watch your content. For example:
‘how to do…’
‘top tips & tricks you can’t live without’
Video content works beautifully as you can help your prospects solve a specific problem or guide them to succeed in something they struggle with, while introducing your product or service as a potential solution. Many of the amateur video makers use the Canvas app for to get started. Once you are more professional, you can move on to more sophisticated programs like Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro or Sony Vegas!
Every program has more or less advanced ways to arrange forms, colors, lines and text to make your videos professional and interesting.
2. Keep It Short & Sweet
Mobile videos should be short, keeping in mind your audience and your competitors. 30 seconds to 2 min videos are the ones people watch the most. Most people watch mobile content while they are on the go or switch from one to another social media.
These kinds of videos are called ‘snackable’ videos, designed to educate, entertain or delight the viewers on Facebook or Instagram preferably.
Here are some tips to create an effective snackable video:
- You should record a video less than 30 seconds in length to keep your audience’s attention. In Yahoo Migration to Mobile Video study shows that 61% of people tended to watch video that was 30 seconds or less.
- It’s better to cover one topic per video, rather than to spread yourself too thin across several topics.
3. Set It Up Properly
Before producing a video on your phone, make sure to start with the right settings.
- Clean your lens carefully with a microfiber cloth.
- Check your video resolution which refers the number of pixels displayed on screen. There are two common resolutions, 1080 HD and 4K. Control the frame rate which means the amount of individual video frames that your camera captures and it is usually expressed as FPS – Frames per Second. Common settings are 30 fps, 60 fps, and less commonly, 24 fps. The higher the number, the smoother-looking video you’ll have. Most video is shot at 30 fps although 60 fps will show smoother.
- Orient your phone horizontally and avoid creating vertically-oriented footage.
- Have the light source or window on the side or behind you.
- Use a stabilizer or both hands not to have a wavy quality, so you can produce steady footage. You can try this stabilizer to have smooth video recording experience.
- Another option would be to use a selfie stick that is more economical!
- If you want to have more professional photos, you can use studio equipment to minimize light loss and maximize light spread having high quality reflective particle. Even later on you can start to use a camera if you want to take your video making skills to the next level.
4. Keep Visuals Simple & Clear
Consider that screen size of mobile devices is considerably smaller than the one of a desktop or laptop. So you do not have enough space to squeeze your shots. That means your video should be simple & clear. The wider the shot the more difficult it will be to view smaller details within the video. When it comes to mobile videos, you can have more close up and fewer wide shots of crowded scenes.
5. Longer Videos Require Well Written Scripts
If your videos are a bit longer and especially if you produce tutorial based videos or virtual tours, it is crucial to script everything in a clear, concise way using the right words. It’s understandable to think you can just jot down the main bullet points for a script, and then just wing it on camera, especially if you know your subject matter. Though this approach makes it tough to communicate a message as concisely as possible and usually results in a lot of re-dos. So, we suggest scripting every last word. This will keep you organized during the video making and save you loads of time later. If you want to learn more about how to write a video script that sells, click here to check it out.
6.Improve the Audio Quality of your Video
When you produce a video, sound quality is fundamental, but even more critical when it comes to record a video via mobile phone. Remember to always scope out your shooting locations well in advance if possible. In general mobile videos are produced spontaneously and in noisier environment which can distract your audience. Having high-quality audio can be challenging as the quality of the speakers or headphones with a smart phone may not be particularly good. The good news is that the microphones on smartphones have improved in recent years but are not good in windy or noisy environments. You may look for audio accessories such as high quality mics or Bluetooth microphones with an affordable price to capture sound and make it outstanding. It is important to make the audio as clear and crisp as possible with a professional lavalier microphone you can purchase starting at only 44,70€ .
If you are creating an educational video and need to edit it after production, you or your editors can clear up any ambient noises and bring out the audio of the speakers. Additionally, you can also consider to invest in using a voice over technique in your videos to guarantee clear audible. If you wish to contact our team of pros who will take care of your video editing, the voice over or the entire thing, contact our pros at jens@nextdimensionweb.com to find out more.
7. Consider to Mute Audio on a Video Before Posting
Audio isn’t always needed and if your video includes all the chatter that was going on while you were recording, you might not want your audience hear all that. You can mute the original audio on your videos before you upload on social media and possibly add a voice over. For example Instagram has this option, so you can upload your videos without the audio or else you can just add a music you selected from the library.
To make it more interesting you should add some texts, key marketing messages and call to action if needed if you turn off the sound. But remember to keep the text bold, simple and clear enough to be read on a smaller screen. And also if your video is being watched in a public location then the sound is often turned off. So when you produce a video concept specifically for smartphones, you should consider the impact that having no audio may have. In this case, the visuals of the video need to be engaging that they can stand alone.
8. Try Slow Motion & Time Lapse Effect
Slow motion and time lapse have long been one of the coolest effects in videos. Before it was only possible to use these techniques if you had an expensive camera but as mobile technology improves, these effects have become accessible from pretty much each and every smartphone. Now most phones provide slo-mo and time-lapse features, so just select that option before you start to record your video. With slow motion, an accelerated frame rate is used, so when it’s played back at normal speed, action in the video appears much slower than real time. With time lapse, a lower frame rate is used, so when it’s played back at normal speed, action moves much faster than in real time. Both can produce compelling video. It’s best to record your slo-mo scenes in short bursts, about five to 10 seconds each; on the contrary you should record your time lapse videos much longer.
9. Break Your Long Videos Up Into Shorter Series
Instead of publishing one long video on a particular topic consider breaking it up into a series of shorter video. This helps to address the issue of people being able to watch your video when they may be pushed for time. It can also make it easier for people to navigate to the particular part of the content that they want to get to. By creating a playlist for a series of videos on a single topic you can make it much easier to consume the video content and intriguing for people to be waiting for the next edition to come out. Breaking up a videos into a short series can also work very well if you are creating narrative driven content.
10. Define The Most Important Content and Keep It in the Center
Select the most important part of the video you would like to convey to your audience, then keep it to the center of the screen for mobile video. When most people hold their smartphones while watching a video, their fingers and thumbs can obscure content which is at the sides of the screen. Also think about the way you watch mobile videos. Usually the eye is also drawn naturally to the center of the screen.
Finally, before you publish the video, test it or view it on different kinds of smartphones and ask your friends or family for advice and on how you could improve it!
See one of our appealing videos to get inspired and try to watch it on mobile horizontally and vertically. Also try to observe the way people watch mobile videos.
Want more advice about creating your next mobile friendly video? Why not get in touch.
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