{"id":967,"date":"2020-09-26T16:35:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T16:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/?p=967"},"modified":"2020-10-03T01:15:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T01:15:38","slug":"vodcasting-should-you-get-into-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/26\/vodcasting-should-you-get-into-video\/","title":{"rendered":"VODCASTING – SHOULD YOU GET INTO VIDEO?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vodcasting is the latest method by which authors can stay in contact with their readers, by providing interesting and entertaining video content. After 5 years (and counting) producing an audio podcast I\u2019m now branching out into vodcasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve always experimented with video. A few years ago, I conducted a number of writer interviews online. It was quite often beset with technical problems, and a number of my interviewees needed help setting up their computers to enable the interview to go ahead. It was interesting for both me and them. although the video and audio quality was a little \u2026 basic. [ My chat channel<\/a> ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now we\u2019re in 2020, and availability of equipment was expanded, and it is much easier to create good quality videos without spending too much money. [ My channel<\/a> ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do you need to begin creating your own videos? Entry to this arena couldn\u2019t be simpler, and requires no more than a reasonably-modern smartphone, tablet or laptop. You can record your video, with audio, onto your device and immediately upload it to an account on YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But after a while, you may want to improve things – perhaps edit the video to cut out mistakes, and all those umms and ahhhs and \u2026\u2026\u2026 pauses. There is free video editing software around, and if you\u2019re on Mac, iMovie is free, which is what I use. There may be software for PC, too. Don\u2019t make too many jump cuts, which gets exhausting for the viewer. Don\u2019t try to make it too perfect, which just looks unnatural. Play around with it, experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\u2019s your lighting? The first rule of video concerns \u2026 LIGHTING. Get your lighting right. Don\u2019t sit in front of a bright window, so your face is in shadow. Try to use subdued lighting, that doesn\u2019t look too harsh. There are many video lighting systems for low prices available now. Ring lights for close-up videos, panel lights for a wider shot. All LED, mostly powered by rechargeable battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second rule of video is \u2026 audio. Yes, I know. We\u2019re coming to cameras, soon. If your microphone is built-in to your recording device, they\u2019ll pick up echoes around the room and other extraneous sounds. And the quality won’t be very good. Lapel microphones (called mics and pronounced mikes) are very low-cost and good value, and will plug into your video recorder. You can also look into \u2019shotgun\u2019 mics, which have a focussed area of sound pickup, and will cut out much of the room sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally – cameras. Strangely, the camera on your smartphone or tablet is incredibly good at recording your video. Don\u2019t forget that your video won\u2019t be shown on the local IMAX on a screen the size of a football field. Mostly, it will be viewed in a window on a laptop or phone screen, so resolution isn\u2019t a major factor. Keep the lens clean, and your phone will do a great job at recording video. If you do decide to go to a video camera, look at reviews online. See what other vloggers are using.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For what it\u2019s worth, this is what I use. I choose what is appropriate for each situation, but sometimes, recording something quickly to a smartphone works surprisingly well!
* Canon EOS M50 camera
* Trakstar SGC-598 shotgun mic (fixes to the camera\u2019s hotshoe and plugs into the external microphone socket)
* Boya BY-M1 lapel (lavalier) mic
* MPOW Bluetooth headphones
* Various Neewer tripods
* Neewer 144-LED panel light<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vodcasting is the latest method by which authors can stay in contact with their readers, by providing interesting and entertaining video content. After 5 years (and counting) producing an audio podcast I\u2019m now branching out into vodcasting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-marketing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Blank-thumbnail-800W.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5y3CH-fB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":977,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gerald-hornsby.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}