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How to make a better video?



he Single Biggest Challenge

Over the next few days, as that concept began to sink in, I thought about it in the context of our business. I suddenly realized that that “busyness” is probably the single biggest challenge our clients face during the video production process. In fact, 4 recent client examples came to mind. Let’s explore those.

  • The first client: caused their project to fall behind schedule by not responding in a timely fashion.

  • The second client: quickly responded to emails, but only to the first of 4 topics, leaving the other 3 forgotten.

  • The third client: quickly approved their video without critically watching it first.

  • The fourth client: missed their deadline because they didn’t have the internal infrastructure in place to roll out the video we delivered on-time.

The question is: are we too busy, too caught up, and too distracted?

Pause to Make a Better Video

I’m guilty of each one of these examples. So don’t get me wrong, this is not a blame game. Nor am I saying these people are not smart. On the contrary, they are very smart and work very hard. Regardless, like the rest of us, myself included, they too can get too busy, too caught up and too distracted. The good news is, there’s an easy fix for this. The longer I’m in this business, the more I realize that the single most important action our clients can take to get a better video is just to PAUSE.

  • PAUSE and respond in a timely fashion.

  • PAUSE and read each topic.

  • PAUSE and critically review your edit.

  • PAUSE and make sure you’re ready to roll out your finished video.

The single biggest contributor to the challenges we see our clients face during the video production process is not budget, schedule, capabilities, or infrastructure. It’s a lack of PAUSE. I get that we are all busy and we get pulled in too many directions. But as Mr. Cashman points out: Don’t rush. Don’t react. Set aside time. Give yourself space to focus. Take a deep breath and PAUSE.

Pause and Engage

I promise that PAUSE can become the single most important action you can take to get a better video. Pausing is not just for clients, but it’s key to your audience as well. If you think about it, PAUSE is what you want your audience to do. So, next time you want to explore a great way to help your audience, just PAUSE and engage. Now if this episode has made you PAUSE or created more questions than answers, let me know by leaving a comment below or sending me an email to info@zappl.in






 
 
 

How to engage your audience?" Part 2.



6 Ways To Create Tension for Audience Engagement

Now, let’s pick up with my 4th favorite way to create tension:

  • 4. Keep Them Guessing In episodic TV its called a plot twist. You know, when you say to yourself, “I didn’t see that coming”. You didn’t see it coming because they kept you guessing.

  • 5. Kill The Status Quo We’ve had a couple of episodes on this enemy of your video, but just know, we never bore your audience with the expected. We want to get them thinking by offering them a fresh perspective of your story. That’s why we’ve made it our mission to Kill The Status Quo.

  • 6. Spring A Surprise Ending To keep an audience engaged until the very end, we don’t give away the ending. The fastest way to watch audience engagement plummet is to signal the end is near with a, “Finally, in closing” or “In conclusion” or “Wrapping this up”. That’s why we like to keep your audience engaged with by springing a surprise ending.

And those are my 6 favorite ways to engage your audience:

  • 1. Get Their Attention

  • 2. Begin At The End

  • 3. Employ Cliff Hangers

  • 4. Keep Them Guessing

  • 5. Kill The Status Quo

  • 6. Spring A Surprise Ending

Questions?

If you have questions or comments about using tension in your video, leave a comment below or send me an email to info@zappl.in





 
 
 

How to engage your audience?



those are my 6 favorite ways to engage your audience:

  • 1. Get Their Attention

  • 2. Begin At The End

  • 3. Employ Cliff Hangers

  • 4. Keep Them Guessing

  • 5. Kill The Status Quo

  • 6. Spring A Surprise Ending


Audience Engagement Strategy: Embrace the Tension

Nobody starts a joke with the punch line. Neither should your audience hear your entire outline in the first sentence of your video. That’s why one of the best ways we’ve found to engage audiences is to embrace the tension.

Busting the Myth

How many times have you heard if this, when it comes to communication?

  • First, tell them what you’re going to tell them

  • And then, tell them

  • Finally, tell them what you just told them



  1. Get Their Attention: We like to surprise viewers, shock them or make them laugh. Any way in the first few moments of your video to show them why they need to pay attention.

  2. Begin At The End: No disrespect to Maria von Trapp, but sometimes the beginning is not the very best place to start. That’s why we will tease an audience by beginning at the end of the story, then rewind to beginning and show them how we got there.

  3. Employ Cliff Hangers: In music it’s called a suspension. In film it’s called a cliff hanger. Whatever you call it, sometimes the best way we’ve found to create tension is to leave your audience hanging.

Questions?

If you have questions or comments about using tension in your video, leave a comment below or send me an email to info@zappl.in









 
 
 
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