‘Why I Gave Up Video (And Why I’m Back)’ – Sean D’Souza’s Article

I didn’t give up video. I just got busy.
You know how it is, right? You want to do something and then you
make this grand list. Then you do a bit of it. And you do some
more. And some more. And you get results. And then you do a
spectacularly stupid thing.

You give up.

Why? No one knows for sure.
It’s not like video took me more time. In fact, the first time I
tried to make a video  (I say ‘try’ because I didn’t complete the
video) it took me five hundred and eight hours.

A couple of hours of shooting. Five hundred hours of wondering how
lousy I’d look and sound on video. And the remaining six hours of
fiddly stuff with the right location, video software etc.

And yet a month or two later, we were shooting eight videos in an
hour

My wife, Renuka would set up the camera. We’d switch on the lights.
And I’d speak. No teleprompter, no reading from notes, nothing.
Just speak as though I was speaking to a client.

And no, I didn’t start out that way. I needed the notes. I bought
several teleprompters. Then I just got sick of the whole process
and decided to shoot whatever I possibly could in an hour.

And it was ONE take. No second take. The less I focused on getting
it right vs. getting it done, the more videos got done. But it was
killing me to script, shoot, edit, put titles, keywords and upload
the darned thing.

Bah! It was maddening!

So I hatched a devious plan

I contacted some kids at school and one of them showed up, keen to
edit video. Now he had standing instructions. He had to show up and
never call. If he called, I might say something like, “Let’s skip
this week”.

But if I knew he was going to show up anyway, I had to do the
video. This kid was free for a few hours on Saturday. I’d shoot on
Friday evening. One hour. Eight videos. Back to back. Then I’d need
a beer or two.

But something happened along the way

I can’t remember the details. But I just gave up. The kid stopped
showing up. Maybe we went on vacation. Maybe something else
happened. The point is irrelevant. I just stopped.

And that’s what we all do. We stop. And we have to be re-booted
once again.

So towards the end of last year, I did the reboot. I contacted a film school and asked
if their alumni were keen to earn some money. Three eager beavers
showed up. Two dropped out, for some weird reason. One stayed. And
he’s good!

And that’s a lesson in itself

Trying to do the scripting, shooting, editing, rendering, uploading
is a pain in the you-know-where. You may start off all nice and
cheery, but projects come in the way, chaos drops in for a beer and
then all hell breaks loose. You definitely need to get some help.
Kids all around you know how to use video cameras and all tend to
have access to a computer.

And they will spend the time editing, if not shooting for you. I
prefer to have the person shoot and edit, and that is the best way
going forward. That way you, the talent, can do the prep work, get
time to actually comb your hair and then do the shoot in one go.

Or two. Or five. But at least once it’s done, it’s done.

And so in two weeks, we shot seventeen videos

Not in two weeks. In two hours, just spread over two weeks.

I know, I know. It sounds intimidating, but it’s only intimidating
for the first five hundred and eight hours. After that you get used
to the camera, just like you get used to looking at yourself in the
mirror.

And while those seventeen videos were the live videos, I got back
into making screencasts as well.

Now screencasts are tough

They’re tough if you want to do a good job. Because there’s no live
movement, you have to create the movement. So a 30-minute video may
have as many as 250 slides and about 300 specific animation points.

That’s not counting the audio recording time (which I do
separately) and the graphics. And the layout. And the storyboard.
And another half a dozen things. In short, it’s a big production.
And often people make screencasts because they’re afraid of facing
the screen.

Well don’t let me stop you from making 250 slides

But if you’re looking to save time, live action is better. It’s
quicker. It’s easy to trash and start again. You may not like your
voice and you may not like your face on video, but you’ll get over
it sooner or later.

Probably later, but there will be a time (and get this) when you
will actually like your voice. No, I’m not kidding. Then people
have to shut you up.

The final reason for making screencasts is because you have
something that needs to be demonstrated, rather than spoken.
Of course the final reason is just that you’re a sucker for
punishment–which I am.

So why did I start making video again?

Well, I don’t know about you, but if there’s a page of pretty
pictures to see, or if there’s text on this page, I still click on
the video. I will head to an Apple.com page in all its glory and
pretty pictures and bingo–it’s the video I want to see.

Well-made video is quicker and more tidy than reading a whole page
of stuff. But let’s say you’re not me. Let’s say for instance you
are the one who reads the pretty words and loves the pictures.
Well, then there’s a good chance you have a client like me.

A client who wants videos. And so you may not be a video-watching
person yourself, but your client loves video. And so you do what’s
needed.

So I buckled down and made the video.

I made live videos.
I made screencasts.
And I’m going to make videos for our sales pages as well. Because I
know they work. I’ve seen them work on painful people like me, who
don’t want to read or see pretty pictures. And while it’s not
always fun to get the script, the topics and do all that speaking
etc., it’s now a lot of fun to see the finished product. It’s nice.
It’s effective.

And more importantly, it doesn’t take five hundred and eight hours
any more.

Phew!

P.S. If you’re considering video, and especially if you’re
considering screencasts, you will want to look at
http://www.psychotactics.com/products/black-belt-presentations. It
really, really helps.

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