Apparently My Videos suck... thoughts?

[BlaineGlynn]

So, my partner was talking to one of our IM peers last night and he mentioned I should not do any more "white board" videos. The statement was along the lines of "...they are funny, but not really in the right way..."

I just wanted to get you warriors' opinions. Below I have a link to one thats up now to check out, feel free to rip it apart, I'm new to video and always looking for good constructive criticisms:

YouTube - How to create a Favicon to increase...

Thanks Everyone!

~Blaine

[Loren Woirhaye]

You ramble a bit. Shoot your video head-on to the whitboard
and try to minimize the glare on it. Then when you edit (which
I think you aren't doing) you can zoom in on the whiteboard in
the software for most of the video. You can also cut-out
extraneous talk and things like getting another marker.

With a few tweeks to your approach you can help people
understand what you are teaching better and increase
perception of you as a pro.

[BlaineGlynn]

Great Tips! Thank you!

[nanamo]

hi blaineglynn

you teach with a smooth approch but
it would have been better looking over
your shoulder at on screen examples

to your success;-)
nana

[Powertreb]

Oh My God!
My eyes are bleeding

Nah, kidding. But it is rather bland for an instructional. Your voice is pretty monotone and doesn't convey too much excitement or enthusiasm. Combine that with a whiteboard on an off-white wall, and you may find people tuning out.

I would also recommend closeups of the actual diagrams that you are drawing. The whole point of an instructional video is to visually intruct.

If you want to show yourself, start with an intro of yourself, and the setting. People will know who you are. Where you are, etc. Then, once you start the instructional element, zoom in and keep the whiteboard as the dominant element in the screen.

I also agree with the other posters who suggested getting rid of the glare. Nothing says unprofessional and careless like bad glare. And as another mentioned, add some visual candy to the wall or the presentation.

You can be monotone and reserved vocally, but giving people engaging visuals counters it.

Hope that helps.

[BlaineGlynn]

Great Tips Everyone Thank you so much! I will update with my new and Improved videos soon.

[Diver's]

i would have 5 sec welcome note from you, (showing you) then, directly move to focus on your handwriting on the board.

And whenever you need to stressed out an important point, just animate to make the word appear on the bottom of the video 'lower-third'.

Anyway Blaine, the most important thing to me, your training is valueable! Great job man

[Achilles1963]

I'me an offline salesman, so i always have to deliver my pitch verbally, let me give you some tips - vary the tone and volume of your voice (it can even be random) e.g... HI! my name is eric AND! i'd like to talk to you about the NEW! product etc...also i would stand behind the board so you dont have to look away from the camera (lower the board), talk with your hands and talk to the camera as if you were talking to a friend (lean forward confidentially etc., in direct sales (which i think video kinda is) your not selling a product your selling yourself, in other words MAKE THEM LIKE YOU!!! Make them laugh and they will buy a bag full of dog turds from you, you have to sell your personality, I bet you're a cool guy in real life...so be a cool guy on video! Good Luck !!

[Bald Brit]

Dear Blaine,

Here's my humble two cents' worth.

You present your stuff well, you know what
you're talking about, and you're not talking
down to your viewer.

Your video does not suck. It could use a little
spit and polish, but I've seen worse.

The following points might help:

1. If you're going to continue with live action
video, consider working from a script. Learning
your lines will mean you'll ramble less, which
helps increase credibility, and with it, belief in
your ability on the part of your prospect.

2. Your shot's a little too wide.

There's you and your sweater and your arms and
the wall and a teeny, weeny white board and honestly,
if it wasn't for your voice over, I couldn't tell what the
hell you're drawing. Consider zooming in or open a little
tighter.

3. At around the one minute mark you stoop down
to scratch something. I don't know what (too much
information), and frankly, I don't want to know what,
but it was a little distracting.

4. Dropping (or switching, I'm not sure which) your
pen, switching from one side of the screen to the other,
and some pretty deep shadows again all add extra
distractions.

5. When your website is spread across the screen,
writing it on the whiteboard isn't necessary. Besides,
I can't read your writing from where your camera's set.

6. Have you thought of screen capture solutions?
Camtasia (or camstudio.org, which is open source)
might offer greater scope for clarity.

You've got a great speaking voice, and with screen
capture, a script, and a decent microphone your final
product would positively gleam.

Hope this helps.

[sarasayshi]

I think since you are discussing favicons, it would have been better to produce a video of you actually looking at a browser and explaining it as you go so that you can point to the favicon etc.

[Intrepreneur]

Posters my friend, posters.. Realted to what you talk about makes it even better :-)

In fact head over to youtube, and watch what the succesful video tutorialists are doing and see what you can model from it.