How to Make a Video

I have almost no experience with video. Other than a little video I want to put together of short clips I took once a week of Zodiac while he was growing up. On Zodiac’s project I’ve only shot the video and I have some music picked out that I want to use. That is as far as I’ve gotten. I want to have it done by his graduation. So having no personal experience I went to Google and found this tutorial on Mediacollege.com.

How to Make a Video

This page outlines the process of making a video. It is intended for people who are completely new to video making, and who may be wondering where to start or how to tackle a particular video project.

There are two things to understand about making videos:

In theory, making a video is as simple as following the three-step process below. If you complete these steps properly you’ll have a good video.

In reality there are many factors that will influence how well the process works. To make it work properly and consistently, you need to spend a lot of time acquiring a lot of skills (links to tutorials are given below).

The 3-Part Video-Making Process:

Pre-Production – planning the video and gathering any resources you might need.

Planning is the most important step! Unfortunately the ability to plan videos is a skill that takes time to develop, and you really need to gain experience in the next two steps before you will become good at this one. Still, you can get started by planning a few basics such as:

The approximate length of the final video, how many shots you will need to achieve this, how much talking you can fit in, etc.

What music or other sounds will be added to the video.

A script or storyboard.

What medium and format the final video will be shown in. Be aware of any special requirements of the medium, and the best way to convert (encode) into the correct format.

Production – Camera work and sound recording

Camera work involves a range of skills from recognizing the potential for a good shot to knowing how to use the technical-looking controls on your camera. The better your skills are in all areas, the better your videos will be.

Vision and sound are equally important in most video, so learn how to capture good sound as well as good pictures.

Unless you have some other artistic purpose, camera work should be steady, in focus, well-exposed and well-framed.

You can learn the basics in our beginner’s camera tutorial.

Post-Production – Editing and/or encoding the finished video.

Beginner-level editing usually includes:

Removing unwanted footage

Arranging desired footage in the correct order

Adding music, titles, transitions and possibly other effects

Converting (encoding) into the correct format(s)

For more information see our video editing tutorials.

So translating this to my DOABLE approach, pre-production would fit into the decide, organize and analyze steps, while production and post production would be part of the build step. I can see that I have lots to learn and that I didn’t do all the pre-production stuff with my Zodiac project. I’m sure it will be a learning experience. I have no idea how it will turn out but I hope that it is good despite my being a beginner.