Guidelines for Making How-To Videos – The Ultimate Beginners Guide
Assemble it in post-production. Set the proper rhythm, enhance your audio, and add some background music with no royalties to create the right atmosphere.
In the past, learning something new required attending class or reading a book. Still, you can pick up new abilities at any time thanks to the plethora of how-to videos (tutorials) that are available these days on just about any topic you can imagine. But sometimes it might be challenging to distinguish the good from the bad. Not every educational video is made equally. Some are difficult to understand, badly produced, have poor audio, or provide inaccurate information.
Pre-production, production, post-production, and everything in between are all important factors to take into account while making a how-to video. If you do it well, your tutorial video will connect with your viewers and fulfill its promise. The task or skill you display in your how-to video should be doable by your viewer.
Guidelines for Making How-To Videos - The Ultimate Beginners Guide
The top 5 categories of how-to videos
Guidelines for Making How-To Videos
A how-to, instructional, or tutorial video, you ask? It’s a type of video that teaches a skill or demonstrates how to accomplish something.
How-to videos come in many different varieties.
Tutorials
The most typical style of instructional film. Each of us has seen a tutorial that walks you through a task step-by-step. They are frequently used to pick up new software skills or software-based knowledge, such as video editing in DaVinci Resolve or editing images in Lightroom.
Video Instruction
At some point, you were undoubtedly compelled to complete some online training. Businesses frequently use training films in online learning environments to make sure that staff is equipped with the necessary abilities. To teach or explain a concept or procedure or to assess whether learning objectives have been met, the videos sometimes incorporate animated explainer videos.
Online Education
Online courses, like training videos, are made up of a number of educational films that are used in concert to teach a bigger subject. The courses, which cover a wide range of topics from photography to do-it-yourself carpentry and everything in between, are frequently marketed by creatives on websites like Udemy, CreativeLive, and Masterclass.
Animated Description
Explainer movies employ straightforward animations to swiftly illustrate an idea or procedure. These movies are regularly used by businesses to describe their processes or the services they provide. Typically, the videos last little more than a few minutes.
Screen Recordings and Live Streaming
These days, going live is quick and simple. In response to a query, creators may easily go live and show how to make something. Screen sharing or screen recording can be used to demonstrate how an application functions. Such movies are adaptable, affordable, and simple to make.
Making instructional films can be accomplished through a number of techniques, such as screen recording, animation, and camera-based filming.
12 guidelines for producing a how-to video
Guidelines for Making How-To Videos
Pre-production, production, and post-production are the three key stages that every video production, including instructional video production, training video production, tutorial video production, and explainer video animation, must go through.
Each phase builds on the one before it. For each step, the following are some dos and don’ts.
Pre-production
You must correctly design your how-to video before you ever consider rolling a camera, recording your screen, or creating an animation. Everything you do before you hit record or begin animating is referred to as pre-production.
The planning process should be as thorough as possible to produce the best results.
1. Perform research.
Your viewers will not appreciate it if you give them erroneous information in a how-to video, and your reputation could suffer as a result. As a result, make sure your training video has reliable information and that you are knowledgeable about the subject. If not, do extensive research before you even begin the video’s planning.
2. Create an outline or script.
Making it up as you go will only lead to rambling and inaccurate information. Follow a script or at the very least a detailed outline. It will also help with the remainder of your planning. A basic teleprompter on your phone or tablet can make recording an educational video much simpler if you have a script. Before recording your narration or filming yourself if you don’t have a teleprompter, practice reading your script until you feel confident doing so.
3. Identify your audience
You must consider your target audience when developing a script or plan. Do they already have a solid understanding of the topic, or are they total beginners? You may plan the amount of detail for your material with the use of this kind of information. For experienced viewers, simplifying it too much will make them bored and leave, while making it difficult for newbies to follow by moving too quickly and omitting subtleties.
4. Remember to storyboard
By allowing you to envision what the film will look like, a storyboard helps with planning the visual elements of the video. You may decide what pictures you need, how to frame those shots, which lenses to use, where to shoot, and your lighting requirements by even doing a fast stickman pencil design.
5. Content is Crucial
Don’t fail to satisfy the needs and desires of your audience. Ensure there is no fluff and avoid adding filler content by getting right to the point. Do not waste the time of your viewers. Your audience will be more engaged the more valuable and interesting content you offer.
Production
6. Pictures speak louder than words
No matter what the subject of your instructional is, the advantages of video are lost if your audience cannot understand what you are demonstrating. Making sure you have adequate coverage and b-roll to clearly demonstrate each step of the procedure in your how-to video is more important than having great cinematography.
When demonstrating minute details, such as tightening a tiny screw, use close-up shots instead of wide-angle ones. B-roll can provide background and serve as an example for ideas. To clearly show each phase, use a range of images and camera angles. You can zoom in on particular elements, animate mouse clicks, etc. even with screen recordings.
7. Don’t abandon your audience in the dark
The distinction between professional and amateur productions is frequently the lighting. Both you and your viewers would be in the dark if you were to record yourself while being backlit by a bright window.
Even when using animations, make sure they are crisp and clear. Your audience will become disinterested and depart if they cannot see what you are doing clearly. Even a straightforward single-light system is preferable to nothing.
Reflectors and a little forethought about your positioning can help you receive the optimum light in outdoor settings.
8. Crisp audio is crucial
While ordinary graphics are frequently accepted, we quickly click away from bad audio and move on to something else. A video is almost impossible to view if we can’t hear and understand what is being said in it.
Quality in general, not just clarity, is important. It is unpleasant to watch something that doesn’t sound nice. Subtitles are the only way to get around that. Lapel mics are an excellent technique to capture quality audio in a variety of settings without adding excessive reverb or background noise.
Since wireless lapel choices are reasonably priced as well, the investment is worthwhile.
Post Production
When the main filming is finished, the expression “that’s a wrap” is used, however, the production is far from over. The narration, royalty-free music, images, and the video or animation you produced must all be combined in post-production.
Most of us just refer to it as video editing.
9. Fix it in post
Don’t just accept it if you didn’t photograph, record, or draw it and can’t redo it. With the aid of your editing program, you can solve a sizable number of issues during post-production.
If your narrative, for instance, wasn’t clear enough, add some subtitles to help. If you didn’t film it, add some stock video from Videvo or spice it up with some Videvo sound effects. Where your footage lacks clarity, graphics and text can make things clearer. You can always crop in to reveal greater detail if your video was shot in 4K or higher.
10. Don’t move too quickly or slowly.
Pace your video appropriately for the audience and the subject matter. The script or outline may have locked in some of this during the preparation stages, but editing gives you the chance to polish it. While lumbering along while it’s simple and straightforward, you will lose your audience’s interest if you proceed too quickly with complicated details.
11. Improve your audio
A little noise reduction, some EQ, and sometimes a compressor can greatly enhance or smooth out terrible audio recordings. It’s not simply what you say that matters. The quality of the audio as a whole is important, and some upbeat background music can alter the atmosphere and assist mask some background noise. Make sure the song you chose complements the topic, such as this fantastic choice of Videvo’s royalty-free music.
12. Add chapters, please
Give your audience a choice by adding chapters to your video, if the platform you’re using supports it. Your audience will find it easier to view or rewatch specific sections of your instructional video with the help of chapters. It will be well-liked by your audience.
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Last thoughts
It will take time and practice to understand how to make instructional films because there are numerous factors to take into account. Therefore, make sure you put enough work into each of the three manufacturing processes, and you will undoubtedly succeed.
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About the author: Trent (IMDB | Youtube) has spent 10+ years working on an assortment of film and television projects. He writes about his experiences to help (and amuse) others. If he’s not working, he’s either traveling, reading or writing about travel/film, or planning travel/film projects.
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