SECRET NUMBER 2 Avoiding Common Mistakes
Viewing video on the web is not, I repeat NOT, like watching tv. There are many differing factors, and below are some of the key factors that will help your web video not fall into some of the common pitfalls:
Duration: although there is some conflicting evidence regarding this, the consensus is that video duration should be kept to a minimum. Videos 2 minutes or longer must have good reason to justify the length. Generally anything upto 1 minute / 1.5 minutes is best.
Picture: because of the frame size (it is much smaller mostly) its crucial not to have any motion elements in the background, as they will only distract from your subject/foreground, and will only serve to blur the picture as a whole.
Safe Zone: when shooting your video, ignore the safe zone area that is set by your camera. This guide is to ensure you do not lose the 10-15% of the picture that only applies when shooting for television. Not using this space online is a waste of valuable pixels.
Camera motion: this should be kept to a minimum at all times for all web video. Fast or sudden movements do not translate well on pixelated web pages. And if you must zoom, if you really must, do it slowly. Fasts zooms will just pixelate and look bad.
Audio: obvious to many, but still we see otherwise great videos ruined by bad sound. I cannot stress this point too much. Good audio will MAKE a video, as bad audio will BREAK it.
File format: Flash or FLV is normally the best and most reliable way to go. Of course there are more choices such as Quicktime or RealPlayer that provide easy viewing also, but if you can convert to a .flv you should hit the highest number of viewers possible.
Next Week Secret Number 3 Using the Right Equipment