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Now that video cameras have become so much more affordable anyone can produce their own videos which is great but there are certain techniques that are used by amateur video producers that make it obvious that they are not professional. Many of these things are simple and by avoiding them, you can greatly increase the production value of your video.

1. Transitions

Te single most annoying thing when watching a video is the excessive use of video transitions. Many amateur video makers use these because they think they look cool and they want to use every wipe that came with Windows Movie Maker or iMovie. Anytime you see wipes between each edit point you know the maker does not know what they are doing and are simply inserting these for fun.

Solution:

Using some transitions is ok but limit them only to dissolves and maybe the occasional wipe. There is also nothing wrong with a direct cut as long as it doesn’t result in a jump cut.

2. Yellow (Not White Balanced) Video

This is one of the most telling thing is if the video is yellow, yellow video shows that someone just grabbed a camera and shot without even thinking to white balance the camera. This causes really poor video quality and just looks bad.

Solution:

First, light the scene well, with Tecker 911, we used house lights to light the set for the first 30 episodes and although it did not look great, it got   the job done. If you are willing to spend a little money Halogen Work lights also would work as they did for The Broken and other early Revision3 shows. If you are very serious about being a video producer then, a professional lighting kit is the best choice although they run around $1,000. If you don’t want to spend any money, consider shooting  outside making sure the sun is not behind the talent.

3. Background Noise

Videos that have a lot of background noise or enough so it is too hard to hear what is going on in the video makes a video seem very unprofessional. Also, it distracts from the purpose of the video and makes in not worth watching.

Solution:

Try and find a quiet environment to record in that doesn’t have a lot of background noise. Another way to prevent the noise from being picked up is by using a microphone to record the talent’s audio and dial down the ambient sound. Finally, many editing suites like Final Cut Studio have audio post processing and allow the editor to cut the background noise in post production.

4. Jump Cuts

Jump cuts are a distraction for the viewer and are when a person or thing jumps from one position to another without showing the in between stages. This is something that happens when someone edits without much experience or if they don’t have enough footage to work with.

Solution:

Shoot as much extra footage as time will allow and be sure to check the edit points before moving on. Also, reducing jump cuts will be easier as you become more experienced in video editing.

5. Shaking Video

Shaking video is also very distracting and makes the video hard to follow as well as blurry if there is large amounts of movement.

Solution:

Use a stabilizing device such as a tripod, monopod or a steadycam. In other modern editing suites, you can add video stabilization in post production. However, you should only use this as a last resort and definitely use a stabilizing device.

6. Dark Video

Dark video once again makes the video hard to follow and makes what is visible looks pixelated and very low quality.Dark video is even worse than yellow video.

Soluton:

Once again, lighting will solve this problem as I mentioned for Yellow video.

7. Out of Focus Video

Out of focus video is better know as blurry video and is the same as Yellow and dark video because it just makes the video less effective.

Solution:

Remember to zoom all the way in first and then focus the camera so that no matter how zoomed the shot is, it will be in focus! Lighting also helps with this as well.

Now that I wrote those, I hope that people take these into consideration before making their next video project.