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How to make videos.

Concept

To take an idea and turn it into a finished product (in this case a video) you have to do a certain amount of planning. Your idea serves as the concept and is the very rough outline of what actions you want to happen in your movie.

Planning

After the initial concept is formed, plan what scenes you want to film, what you want to happen in them and possibly what kind of camera angles you will use.

Storyboards

Once you decide on your scenes, the next step is to create storyboards. Storyboards are drawings that filmmakers use to show what they want each part of the video to look like. These can range from fully-rendered drawings to stick figures showing where people will be standing. Storyboards make it easier to visualize what the movie will look like and are very helpful if you are working with a team. There doesn’t have to be a storyboard for each and every shot in a scene, just enough to give people an idea of what is going on.

Lighting

A main thing that will improve the quality of a movie is lighting. Movies need a lot of light to look right. Something filmed in your kitchen under one 75 watt light bulb won’t look as good as something filmed under a lot of bright lights. However, the lighting doesn’t need to be anything fancy. You can use desk lamps, flashlights, floodlights, anything that works. Experiment and see what works the best. These kinds of details are what make for great movies.

Shooting Your Film

Once everything is set up, you can finally start shooting. When filming each scene, it is best to film more than you need. Many times something has to be changed, so having extra film is really helpful. You can always delete excess seconds of movie once you begin to edit your film. Film chunks with the video camera, polish in the video editing program.

Uploading and Editing

After you have all the film you need, it is time to upload it to your computer and open it in video editing software. A pretty standard program is Apple’s iMovie, which is pretty easy to use and is getting more and more sophisticated with the range of things you can do in it. Cutting up the scenes and putting them all together is pretty easy so you should have no trouble putting your movie in order. When cutting up scenes it is important to keep in mind how long to stay with one camera angle or how many seconds an object remains still on the screen. People have relatively short attention spans and faster cuts between the action leads to a more intriguing story. Always preview your progress and make sure the flow of each scene is how you want it and doesn’t feel too long or short. Above all, you don’t want people to be bored when they watch your finished film.

Sound

Sound is another important detail in movie-making. If someone gets punched on screen, but you don’t hear the smack of their fist, it loses its power. Recording sound effects and voiceovers is fun and makes the movie a lot more entertaining. Also, try thinking about a soundtrack that could play in the background throughout the movie. Music can take a normal scene and make it sad, joyful or full of suspense. Music is a powerful tool and an important element when telling a story through video.

Review

After all of this, the only thing left is to watch your movie one last time and make sure it all looks great. If you’re satisfied, export that masterpiece into a movie file that can be played on a program like Realplayer or Quicktime, and share it with the world!

How to make videos. Simplified...

Concept

Your idea.

Planning

Plan your scenes and angles.

Storyboards

Make visuals for your ideas and shots.

Lighting

Set up your lighting to acquire a specific mood for your film.

Shooting Your Film

Film extra, cut back and edit later.

Uploading and Editing

Upload your footage to the computer and piece together your video.

Sound

Add voice-overs and music.

Review

Watch your video, make changes if necessary, export the file, and show off your final product!