How to Make Better Videos

888-835-2414 This is Learning with Leslie. Music. Hello, hello, hello and welcome to another episode of Learning with Leslie. The podcast where we focus on making an impact from home, at home and beyond. No, I'm not talking about the kind of impact that will fall by the wayside when Google has a mood swing. I'm talking about the kind that will thrive no matter what happens to it. I'm your host, Leslie Samuel from IamLeslieSamuel.com, where we're changing the world one person at a time.

And as usual, I have another exciting episode for you today. In today's episode, episode 418, we're going to be talking about how to make better videos. Yes, we've been talking a lot about videos recently because, quite frankly, I think videos, it's awesome. It opens up so many ways for us to grow our audience, influence others, and even build a business. But it's also one of the things that so many people are uncomfortable doing.

So in this episode, what I'm going to do is I'm going to break down seven tips that you can use to make better videos. We're not going to get super technical, but this is going to be something that whether you're a beginner or more advanced, you're going to find value in. So if you're interested in making videos online and you don't just want to make them, you want to make them better, then this is the podcast for you. And that's what we're going to be talking about today.

What is up? What is up? What is up? How are you doing? Hope you're having a better than stupendous day. And if for some reason you're not, I hope that by the end of this episode, it's going to be just a little more better, more better, a little better than Stupendous, at least better than it is so far.

I'm so excited. Today we're talking all about videos because videos, I love making videos so much and not just I love them, it just opens up so many avenues for content creators, for people that are trying to grow a business, for people that are trying to do things online. Video, quite frankly, is the way to go. So we're gonna break it down one step at a time. We're gonna get into some tips that you can use.

But before we do that, I gotta let you know that this podcast is brought to you by our sponsors over at Ecamm Live. Ecamm Live, they are, this is the tool that I'm using right now to produce this podcast episode. And when I'm done, you know what? I don't even have to edit it. It's all done on the fly and ready to go. So if you are looking to take your video production game to the next level, then you want to check them out. Head on over to ecamm.com slash Leslie.

That's going to save you 15% off your first purchase. I also want to let you know, and this is exciting because this week, if you're watching this on the day of... Music.

I just, I pressed the wrong button. It happens, okay? I just set this up. It's the first time I'm doing it like this. I just set this up. Let's see if I could press the right button right now. There we go. There you go. Leap into tools and tactics. This is something that if you are interested in online video, you don't want to miss this because we're going to be digging into the tools and the tactics to create and produce awesome video content.

We have a bunch of speakers. I'm one of the keynote presenters for the event. It starts this Thursday and, no, this Wednesday, and it goes till Friday. So if you are watching this the week of, that's the 24th to the 26th, I think, yeah, those are the dates. Leap into Tools and Tactics. You'll want to check it out. It's a 100% free event. Of course, you can purchase access to the replays and the guidebook, but you can attend for free.

And we have a lot of great speakers like these amazing people, Jeff C., Michelle Williams, Eric Fisher, India Delgado, all kinds of sessions on how to use these tools to make your video production workflow so much better and so on. So make sure to check it out. Check out the link, as you can see on the screen, leapinto.alterlive.com. Let me see if I can press the right button here to get back to the... There we go.

There we go. I'm using the tools and the tactics, hopefully better moving forward.

Anyhow, okay, so there used to be a segment of this podcast that I called Quickie Tips. Now, I want to bring it back. That's where I share a tip or a tool or something that you can use to make what you do online better. And since we're talking all about video, I'm going to share a quickie tip, a quickie tool that works. Now, I hope you've been watching this video and thinking to yourself, man, Leslie just doesn't look right. Something is wrong.

I'm looking at myself now in the camera. And if you look at my face, it is very greasy and it's very oily. and I would never normally record a video like this unless, like today, I am trying to show you something specific about my greasy face. Now, if you're listening in audio, you're not going to be able to see this, and that's okay. You can still follow along. But once I was doing a shoot for a TV show, and normally they have someone there doing makeup.

Well, the makeup person that was there, instead of her putting powder and the normal foundation and stuff that they normally do, she had these things right here and these are i'm gonna read it off the thing natural premium oil blotting tissues now this is something evidently that women use um to take the oils out of their skin now i had never seen this before but she just wiped my face and i'm gonna show you what happened because it blew my mind i didn't have to do

no makeup or anything of that sort okay Okay, so if you're looking at the video, you can see how greasy my face is. If you're not looking at the video, just believe me. My face is greasy. And I'm going to take these little things. Let me show here. These little papers, you can see this tissue, I just wiped a little bit. And you can see a bunch of oil that came off. So I'm going to continue this process.

And this is going to be my quickie tip. I'm going to share this with you. and you're gonna see. I'm wiping, wiping. Oh, man, that's greasy. I just came from outside because I had to go to my kid's school. And I'm in Florida. So the sun is hot. And I need to get video ready. I need to get video ready. So I'm using these blotting sheets, blotting tissues. And you can start to see that my face is getting less greasy, right? Oh, look at that. Look at that. Oh, look at that. Oh, I'm so excited.

Okay, we're getting there. So instead of me having to use powder and all of that, I can just take these simple, small little blotting tissues. Now I'm going to do around my nose because I can still see that's a bit greasier than it was, than it should be when I'm on video. Unfortunately, it probably won't last very long because I just came from outside and inside is hot. But look at that. Look at this. You know how much makeup I just put on? None.

But it looks better. It looks better already. Look at that. The shine is pretty much gone. These are blotting tissues. And you can get them on Amazon. You can get them at the pharmacy or any, like Walmart. I think you can get them as well. But it takes the shine off your face. If you're in a quick run and you got to do some videos and you want to look better but your face is kind of greasy, you can use this and make that happen.

So check it out. And if you go to imlessysamuel.com slash tissue, I never thought I'd have a redirect that is a tissue redirect, but you can check them out and use it to make your face shine less on video. All right, that's my quickie tip. Check them out, imlessysamuel.tissue. Now let me press the intro thing at the right time so that we can get into today's content. Music.

All right, so let's talk about online video. Video is great for creators because I think videos offer so many positive things that can come out of video. Number one, I believe today, video is the easiest way to get discovered online. When you create video content, you can put it on YouTube. You can create shorts. You can put those shorts on TikTok while we still have it. You can put it on Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts. And this is the kind of content that people share.

I still believe today that video is one of the easiest ways to get discovered online. That's reason number one. Reason number two, video is awesome because it's like the perfect format for repurposing. When I create this podcast episode, there's so much that I can do with this. I can get it transcribed. I can then use AI to write an article about it. I can extract the audio, which is what I am doing, and then that becomes a podcast episode, an audio podcast episode.

I can take the same piece of content and create images for it. I can repurpose it and create social media status updates and tweets and all of this stuff. You can have one piece of content that can go for miles because it can be repurposed in just about any other format. If you did an audio podcast and you started as an audio podcast, yeah, you can repurpose that as well. But if you want to turn that into a video, you actually now have to create an

additional video or create the visuals for it. If you start with video, you can do everything. And that's why I think it's the perfect format for repurposing. Number three, in a world where AI is becoming more dominant, and we spoke about this in the last, the previous episode. In a world where AI is becoming much more dominant, I think the human touch becomes more valuable. Now, you're watching this, and you can see my, if you're watching this, you can see my expressions.

You can get a feel for my nuances, my uniqueness.

Whatever makes me me, you get to experience that in my videos. And quite frankly, AI can't replicate that, at least not fully. Yeah, it could make a video of me and all that good stuff, but it won't be the same. So in a world where people are turning more and more to technology and AI solutions, having the ability to put yourself out there, your face out there, your video content out there, I believe that is one way that helps to make you more you, more human.

And I think that that is extremely valuable. Now, for the seven tips that I'm gonna give you, seven tips on how to get better at making videos. Most of it, well, all of it is primarily focused on creating like talking head videos or educational videos and so on. However, the principles are going to apply all across the board. I'm just using that as a frame of reference because that's the kind of content that I primarily create.

But whether you're doing that or something else, the bulk of these tips are going to still be valuable for you.

So are you ready to get into the seven tips? Let's do it. Okay, tip number one. This one should be a no-brainer, and that is plan your videos. That is the first thing. Do your research. Create an outline. Create a script if that's what you do. You know, when I first started creating videos, sometimes I would just talk, all right? Because I'm someone that, you know, I communicate relatively well. So it's easy for me to get behind a camera and just start talking.

But the reality is when I used to do that, sometimes I would go on forever and be saying stuff that takes me down one path that then sends me down another path. And I just keep going down paths and I end up with something that is not the best quality content. But when I started planning my content out, it started going much better, and I started being much more concise, and my videos started getting more valuable because I wasn't just rambling.

With my biology videos now, I actually script out the entire video and I use a teleprompter to keep me on track so that I can, you know, refine my script and make it as concise and punchy and entertaining and educational as I can. And when I now go to record it, it saves me so much time and so much effort. You may not be someone that wants to script your videos. I'm not scripting this video, for example, this podcast episode, but I did do some research.

I did create an outline, and now I'm presenting the content because this is a different format than what I do with my biology videos. The planning phase is extremely important if you want to create the most valuable content possible, even if your content is, you know, entertaining content. In some cases, it's going to be just, you know, you capturing your day and so on. But for most of the people that listen to this podcast, you're teaching people something.

You're delivering some kind of value that will help someone solve a specific problem. And in those cases, it is always valuable to do your planning and your prep and your outlining and even scripting if necessary. So that's number one, plan your videos.

Tip number two. Oh, and this is a big one. This is a, I mean, it's so simple, but it makes such a difference. Tip number two is this. Before you go to make your videos, get in the zone. Like, get in the zone. Whatever zone you need to be in to create the best quality content, that's what I want you to do. So if you need to be relaxed, then listen to some relaxing music. Go for a walk.

Do whatever you need to do. If you need to get hyped because you're about to record some content that's going to get people going or whatever the case might be, listen to that music. Do whatever it takes for you to get hyped so that you can deliver as much value as possible. Whatever it takes. I'm trying to remember who this was, but I remember seeing someone on Instagram recording a behind-the-scenes video of what they do before they record a video.

And they played this music that was very intense, and then they started running around the room and jumping up on the couch and just getting themselves hyped. And it made it makes a significant difference because now they can come with energy and enthusiasm and that makes a huge difference. So tip number two, get in the zone, do whatever it takes to get in the zone so that you can deliver as much value as possible.

Let's go with tip number three. Tip number three, and this one applies especially if you are creating talking head videos or educational videos. Look directly into the camera if this is the format you're going for. I remember a few years back, I was invited to go to Las Vegas for NAB, the National Association of Broadcasters. And I was one of the hosts of the stream that was going out online. And, oh man, I could remember this. I wish someone had pointed this out to me.

So there was cameras in front of us and then there was a screen that showed us. And I was just focused on the screen because there was me and the person that I was interviewing and the other person that was co-hosting with me. And I did not look at the camera for the entire event and I didn't realize it until after the event when I saw the live stream and I'm like, why am I looking above the camera for the whole thing? Well, it turned out I wasn't looking directly into the lens. Don't be me.

Don't do that. Look directly into the lens if that is the style of content that you are creating.

Now, some cameras like mine right now, there's a flip up screen and I'm looking at a flip up screen right now. And when I'm looking at that flip up screen, it looks like I'm looking above the camera. But when I look directly in the lens, it actually looks like I'm looking directly at you. And that's what you want.

So look directly into the camera. look directly into the camera look directly look directly into the camera and it will look more personal because it will look like you're looking directly into the person's eyes like i am doing right now okay so that's tip number three look directly into the camera,

Tip number four, this comes from an experience. I remember when I started making biology videos and they started catching on and people started checking them out, I was invited to actually go to Khan Academy. Now, Khan Academy was the inspiration behind me starting my biology YouTube channel. And now they were inviting me to come and make videos with them and for them. So they brought us to California and they put us in this hotel. And for that week, we had to go through some intense training.

And there was a lady there that was also learning to make videos in the Khan Academy style. Now, this lady was extremely nervous and extremely uncomfortable being on camera. And this is a tip that I gave her, and it made a huge difference. Because first, you'd listen to her videos, and it sounded very boring. So I asked her to do something very simple. I asked her when she's talking to smile. And I stood behind the camera, and I was just there encouraging her to smile.

And when she started smiling and saying the exact same thing, the content just changed. It was so much more engaging. It was so much more pleasant to listen to. And she was amazed at how simple that simple change, how much of a difference it made.

I'm going to give you an example. I am recording this video right now and I am talking and I'm saying hello and welcome to help welcome to this episode of learning with Leslie the podcast where we focus on making an impact from home at home and beyond now I had energy with that and it sounded okay I'm gonna try it again with one minor difference and the only difference is I'm gonna be smiling.

Hello and welcome to another episode of, now I went to interactive biology, Learning with Leslie, the podcast where we focus on making an impact from home, at home, and beyond. Did you hear a difference? I'm sure you did. Just by smiling, that changes the entire tone, your entire delivery. It changes everything. So I want to encourage you, when you're making your content, smile. Now, of course, this is going to be dependent on the topic and what you're trying to portray.

If it's a much more serious topic or a more dramatic topic, smiling might not be the right thing. But if you're just generally creating content and you're putting educational content out there, I highly encourage you to smile. This works very well for me because I almost can't stop smiling. So, my content almost always sounds very energetic and enthusiastic. Here's one thing, right? A lot of people aren't aware of this.

You know how they say the camera adds like 10 pounds or something along those lines, 5 pounds or 10 pounds? Well, the camera seems to subtract 10 levels of energy and enthusiasm. So if you record a video and you act the way you normally act, you're actually going to sound a little more boring than you sound in real life.

So if you want to sound the way you normally sound, you actually have to give a little more energy and a little more enthusiasm for it to, when it subtracts those 10 levels of excitement, I don't know if that's the right way to say it, when it subtracts that. You still sound enthusiastic and energetic. And that can begin with a simple smile. Okay? Sounds good.

Number five. When you're recording videos. recording videos evidently it can be quite intimidating some people feel very nervous because of the idea that you know maybe there are people on the other end that are going to be watching these videos and they they're a bit you might be a bit self-conscious about that i'm going to encourage you. When you create videos, act as if nobody's watching. Like, there is literally no one that will ever watch your videos. Now, hopefully that won't be the case.

Hopefully you're going to follow the tips that I teach and many other tips for how to create great video online. And people are going to start watching because you're going to be delivering so much value. But when you're recording, I want you to act as if nobody is watching. And nobody will ever see this thing. That means you can fully show up. You can just be yourself. You could be silly if you want to be silly. You could have fun if you want to have fun.

And there's nobody around to tell you how silly or whatever you look. That's how I want you to approach your video creation process. Do it and act like nobody is watching and no one will ever watch. Watch if that makes you feel better. All right. So just, just do it. Just go. You want to try something? Try it. If you mess it up, guess what? You can do it again. So it's not a big deal. Act as if nobody's watching.

Ooh, this is the, this is the tricky one next. All right. This one is one, some of y'all ain't going to do it. Some of y'all ain't going to do it because Because you don't want to do it. But I'm going to encourage you to do it. Okay? You ready for it? Alright. So you did your research. You planned your video. You got in the zone. You're looking directly into the camera. You're smiling. You're even acting as if nobody's watching the video. So you feel free to be adventurous.

Or to try something different.

Now that you've recorded the video and you've maybe posted the video, I want you to watch it. I know, I know, it's crazy. I know, I know. But I want you to watch your video. I want you to watch your video and analyze your video. Not just your video, actually. I want you to watch other people's videos. People that you admire. You admire their content. You admire their video creation process. Watch what they're doing. Watch what you're doing and analyze it.

What did you do well? What could you improve? How could you try something a little different to make it engaging? Act as if you're not you and critique your video, criticize your video. Positive criticism is always a good thing, right? So if you watch your videos and there are some parts where you kind of doze off, like, oh man, I lost track of what I was saying. Well, how could you make it a little more engaging next time? So you create the content, now watch the content and analyze it.

See what you're doing well, what you want to keep, what you want to do differently because it's not working as well for you, or what you just want to experiment with to see how well that goes. And then checking out other people's content, not to be exactly like them, but to evaluate it to see, are there things that you can learn from what they're doing? And if there are, you can start experimenting with that and adding that into your video creation process, okay?

We've got one more tip, tip number seven. I should have had a drum roll. Why didn't I think about doing a drum roll? Anyhow, tip number seven.

I'm acting like nobody's watching and I'm being silly. Okay, tip number seven. This is probably the most important tip. And that is this. Create another video. Like the video you already created, that thing is gone. Yeah, you post it. It's done. You don't have anything else to do with that video. I mean, unless you're repurposing and all that good stuff. But it's already done. Move on and do another video. And then do another video. And then do another video. And then do another video.

And of course, watch the videos that you do and then analyze it, test and tweak and do another one and another one. Because the reality is, if you want to get better at making videos, you got to make more videos. When I first started making videos, I had learned from this guy. His name was Gideon Shalwick, and he had a very specific formula for making videos.

In his videos, he would tell you what he's going to say, and then he's going to tell it to you, and then he's going to tell you what he told you. And it works well, and I did that for a while. And by doing that, quite frankly, I did it, but it sounded kind of boring.

It was kind of like hello and welcome to this video on what is a neuron in this video i'm going to share the five the parts of a neuron how the neuron functioned and yada yada yada and it was good and at the end i would say in review we did this and we did this and we did this i'll see you next time and that worked and that helped me to get into video but then as i created more videos I started learning how to be more me.

I started learning more and more as I started getting feedback from my audience and so on what worked and what didn't work. And I started testing and tweaking. I started, no, I will always be testing and tweaking and improving so that I can get better at videos. But the way to get better at videos is to make more videos. Point blank. If you do that and you don't do, you don't even focus on anything else that I said, you will get better. So those seven tips.

Number one, plan your videos. Number two, get in the zone. Number three, look directly into the camera. Number four, smile while making your videos. Number five, act like nobody's watching. Number six, watch your videos yourself and watch others analyze, test and tweak and experiment and all that good stuff. And number seven, Seven, create another video. So which one of these tips is the tip that you need to get working on immediately? What can you do right now to help you make better videos?

Is it just looking directly into the camera and not being like me at NAB? Is it just making more videos? Is it having like a routine before to get yourself. Music. In the zone? Is it that you need to do more research in creating your videos? Whatever it is, I want you to let me know. This is episode number 418. So come on over to IamLeslieSamuel.com slash 418 and let me know in the comments. Music. Yeah, so those are my seven tips. I wanted to keep it simple. I wanted to keep it straightforward.

But I also wanted to make it something that whether you're a beginner or you're advanced, you can benefit from it. And sometimes all it takes is one simple tweak to make the world of difference. And if you're not creating videos, I want to encourage you to do so. And if you need a tool to do it, head on over to Ecamm Live. You can check them out at ecamm.com slash Leslie. But that's pretty much it for this video. I hope you got a ton of value from it.

My name is Leslie Samuel from IamLeslieSamuel.com where we're changing the world one person at a time. And until next time, take care. Music.