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What are the video elements and how do you decide what you need?


When I say “video,” what do you think of? (Other than gobs of time and energy - and if you don’t think that, you should). 

Honestly, it depends on who you ask. It can mean different things to different people for different purposes. When someone says they’re making video, they might be referring to several things, but the most common are: 

  1. Talking head (pre-recorded or live)

  2. Screencast

  3. Animated

  4. Reels

  5. In Real Live (IRL)

  6. Some combination of the above.


What do these entail? How long are they? What do you need to include? What do you need to consider? It can be overwhelming to realize how much possibility there is. I’ll be going over these in the next few weeks, so ring the bell if you want to be notified when they drop. 


What video elements do you include when you’re creating video?



Talking Head


What do these entail? 


These can be pre-recorded or live videos that you record (or not). These are literally you (or someone else) from the chest up talking to the camera. This is a common format for YouTube, for online courses you might take, for lives on social media, etc. 


How long are they?


Honestly, these videos show up in a wide range of lengths. Ideally, 3-5 minutes is perfect. A good happy-medium, if you need it, is 5-10 minutes; if the topic needs it and if you find yourself needing more than 10, you’d better have more visual interest. More than 20? You absolutely need to break it up. 

 

What do you include?


The shorter the video the less bells and whistles you need. The longer the video, the more attention keeping things you should have. This holds true for topic complexity.


Considerations?


You always consider your purpose and audience first, followed by sound and lighting. I’m wearing earbuds for this because my laptop sounds like it’s gonna take off. 


Screencast


What do these entail?


Screencast videos can cover anything that involves sharing your screen. These could be instances where you screenshare for how-to videos in order to show click steps, recording slides, like this one, showing samples (I did this a lot in my instructional design portfolio). 


How long are they?


Screencast videos can typically stand to be a bit longer than talking head because there’s more going on to keep attention - there’s usually visual interest, there might be reading or engaged watching of how things are done, there’s audio that goes along with it. Still, this is another type of video where if you’re sharing slides for more than 10 minutes, it better be necessary. More than 20 minutes? Reconsider your approach. 


What do you include?


What to include is really driven by purpose. If your goal is to show someone how to do something, then you include how to get from point A to point B. If it’s to explain a concept, then you include both audio and visuals that will help explain that concept. 


Considerations?


You’re probably going to get tired of this one, but audience and purpose are the drivers. You also need to consider what programs you have access to, and you’ll need to consider how your visuals and audio will work together (which goes hand in hand with how you’ll make that accessible).  


Animated


What does this entail?


Animated videos can be something as simple as animated slides that are recorded or a full-on avatar guided video. So screencast videos can be animated (like my post from Tuesday). 


How long are they?


Animated videos, because there’s a watch and a listen aspect to them, like screencasting, they can stand to be longer, but again, only include the information that’s necessary to include to cover that topic for the purpose you have. For example, I could make this animated video a lot longer (and really dig in to how to make animated videos, but that’s not the goal here. I just want to give you the elevator (ok, really slow in an old building elevator) pitch. Again, if the video is more then 20 minutes and isn’t telling a story, rethink it.


What do you include?


Movement. Animated videos are all about movement, but there’s a fine line between tactful, engaging movement and over the top tacky (just using animations because you can). I think to think of movement in animation as visual transitions. You want those to be smooth and feel natural. Not jarring and forced


Considerations?


Yup. I did it. Audience and purpose are the top considerations. If kids are your audience and you’re delivering information about giant fruit bats to them, it will look different from the animated video that’s for adults you’re giving advice to on which microphone to buy. You’ll also want to consider planning as it will save you a lot of time, and I’ve already mentioned movement, but the way the audio goes with that movement is important as you plan that animated video.


Reels


What does this entail?


So I’m calling these Reels, but really these are micro-videos and they can be made up of footage, animations, photos, really anything you’d like. 


How long are they?


But the trick is they have to be short. In fact, 1-3 minutes depending on the platform


What do you include?


And you need to include targeted information. This type of video forces you to be concise. 


Considerations?


Audience, purpose, of course. You also need to record vertically, and really think through your use of text in the visual space.  


IRL


These tend to be more complicated as they involve setting a scene, props, or body cams (I just saw a sample of a fantastic travel video with so many adventure shots from GoPro style cameras). 


What does this entail?


In real life brings a whole scene into your video. A good example of the difference between IRL and Talking Head is that IRL would be a TEdTalk. You see the full body, there are often visuals, a live audience. You’re watching an experience. I don’t have the space or equipment for it, so this in real life video is one I made as a sample for someone. It’s most similar to the art style videos you see on YouTube.


How long are they?


IRL videos have the capacity to be longer. Clearly, we can sit in a movie theater for hours, so there’s not really a limit as long as the video content sticks to the purpose and makes sense together. 


Considerations?


Audience and purpose again drive what you include and are your top considerations. For IRL, though, you need to consider lighting, audio, camera angles, and you absolutely should expect to edit (unless you’re giving it the kind of meticulous planning a TedTalk takes).


Final Thoughts


That's a lot, but as you can see, if you start with purpose and audience, the decision about what elements to include become WAY easier!

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