Avoiding the Thousand-And-One Video Pitfalls That Everyone Worries About

Does the idea of video recording yourself seem too intimidating? Has this ever kept you from getting a simple sales message out on YouTube?

I thought so. I feel that way too. I did a quick search on Google, and these are some of the issues that were raised when making a video for any purpose.

Right off the bat, I was told to buy the most expensive camera I could afford, since the quality of the video will suffer unless the camcorder is first rate.

The next thing I learned is that you have to have a tripod that costs at least $100 - $200 to insure it’ll be solid and firm enough not to wobble. I also learned you need a portable microphone and a “Lavaliere Microphone” (though I didn’t even know what that was).

Next, I was given TONS of advice on panning, zooming, editing, narration, composition, lighting - and even extensive information on how to sort and pack your equipment.

I haven’t even addressed the issues of cue cards versus memorization - keeping background noise to a minimum - inflection - facial expression - and, (my personal favorite) - STAGE FRIGHT.

All of this would make a lot of sense if you were re-making “Gone With The Wind”, but it’s way over the top if you’re just trying to explain or sell something.

If you’re like me, you understand the incredible power of YouTube and other video sites. You know that more and more internet traffic is video (52% as of this writing), and that if you want your message to get to the most pairs of eyes, you have to go video. The question some of you may be asking is: “How do I avoid all of that other nonsense mentioned above?”

Great question. You might consider buying one of those expensive video editing programs. You know, the kind where you can create flashy messages that fade in, fade out, leap in, leap out, dance and prance in a circle - all to synchronized music. Of course, that’s a lot of work and a steep learning curve to overcome.

Or, if you think that all of the above is a bit much just to get a straightforward message across, then why not consider something called “text to video” software?

If you haven’t heard of it, don’t worry. I hadn’t heard of it either until recently. But actually it’s been around for a while - only nowadays the speech sounds less robotic. The idea behind it is to simply paste or type the words you want spoken into your computer and it gets converted into audio speech.

This type of program makes creating a video as simple as writing an email. When you consider that more and more people prefer watching and listening to a message, rather than reading words on a screen, you can see the value in this.

The main question to ask is how the software handles the video portion. I would personally recommend that you choose a program that generates some kind of computer image, rather than simply flashing the words on a screen as they’re being spoken. Most viewers feel more comfortable actually seeing someone talk, and you want viewers that feel comfortable watching your message.

Want to find out more about a new text to video software? Then check out VIDEOGOROUND.COM at Jennifer Gordon’s site. Learn how VideoGoRound.com will solve your problems at VIDEOGOROUND.