Mizera Digital Video

A bit of history

The world wide web has actually been around for over 20 years.  The early years were pretty crude by today’s standards.  While one website could easily link to another, it soon became clear that there was a need for some way to “look up” a website.  The first efforts involved a human curated directory arranged by category.  The best known was Yahoo.  In time, Yahoo would also join the growing number of “search engines” on the world wide web.

What is a search engine?

A search engine is simply an automated system for indexing websites, and returning search results related to your query.  It was soon discovered just how easy it was to “cheat” some of the early search engines.  Dozens of competitors offered a range of quite different search results.  Now, the pie is shared largely by Google, Yahoo, and Bing (formerly MSN).  The latter two getting much smaller slices.

What is SEO and SERP?

SEO is an acronym for “search engine optimization”.  It refers to website design considerations made to (hopefully) improve search engine results.  SERP stands for “search engine results position” and is simply the position on a web page where your site shows up as the result of a relevant search.  Having your website appear earlier in the search results will improve your chances that a visitor clicks on your link. There are many out there who claim to be able to improve your search results almost by magic.  Beware, as this is no simple task, and it takes time.

It’s all about content

If your site has well written content, and it reads well to humans, your chances of performing well on search results are much higher than a site will little related text content.  You should include your target search keywords in the title of the relevant page, headers, and in the body content.  Highlighting keywords is also a good idea.  Do not however overdo this.  Excessive use of keywords is considered to be abusive, and can have just the opposite effect.

Meta tags

Meta tags tend to worry newcomers, as they’re hidden in the webpage code.  Many SEO experts these days believe the “keyword” meta tag is all but ignored by today’s search engines.  It was too easy to cheat with it.  Do however take care with the “description” tag.  It not only can affect the search result position (SERP), but it actually gives you control over what text is displayed in the search engine results.

Inbound links

This is probably the single most important factor in producing better search results.  Your SERP will be affected by many aspects of your website.  Most experts agree however, that it is actually websites that link to you that will be the most significant factor.  Especially those that link using your keywords in anchor text.  Getting those links can take some work.  You could offer an article to a popular blog, utilize social networking, and it never hurts just to ask.  Get your site listed on a directory such as dmoz.org.  Be aware however that a return link often cancels out the inbound link.

Choose keywords carefully

If you targets a single word for your anchor text, you’ll probably be disappointed.  If for example, you target just the word “painting” and your website is about house painting, your site will likely fall well below websites about Picasso and Monet.  If you instead chose to target “house painting” as your keywords, you’d improve your search result greatly.  As a house painter usually serves a local region or city, a better choice would be “Houston house painter”.  Your keyword group should appear in your meta description, and in the body text of the page you are linking to.

 

 

Some really creative cakes here.  Many of the references will be lost on those around my age.  Fortunately, I too am a geek, and even got the Portal cake.  The “Starry Night” cake is stunning, and worth a look on it’s own.  One thing for sure.  Some incredible in wedding cake designing talent is displayed here.

 

A number of my clients contract editing services for video that they, or a friend or family member shot themselves.  Some simply can’t afford a videographer, or just find themselves in a situation where there’s no option but to do it themselves.   More often than not, the quality of the video suffers from one (or more) of a number of common mistakes that could easily be avoided.

 

Don’t place the source of light directly behind your subject.

The result is usually a poorly lit subject, as the camera is compensating for the bright light entering the lens.  The source of light should be somewhere in front of your subject.  Not necessarily directly behind the camera operator’s back, but rather at a slight angle to the subject.  If two light sources are available, they would ideally be at the subject’s ten and two o`clock positions, and one placed farther back than the other.  Full sun is not your friend.  Outdoors, it’s better to shoot in the shade.  Better yet, shoot outdoor video in the last hour of daylight.  This is often called “the golden hour”.

Place the camera on a tripod or table when possible.

The camera movement you see in many movies and TV shows these days is deliberate.  Accidental camera movement is best avoided.  Use a tripod or mono-pod when possible, and is the hallmark of amateur video.  An inexpensive table top tripod can be had for just a few dollars.  If you must shoot handheld.  Rest your elbows on your chest, or a stable surface to help stabilize the camera.  Avoid rapidly moving the camera. This is known as “fire-hosing” and can actually make some viewers nauseous.  Limit the use of zoom.  It’s best to set your zoom before the shot begins, and leave it alone during the shot.  Zoom magnifies camera movement, so if you can just move closer, that’s always the better choice.

Use an external microphone if possible

Sound is one of the biggest problems with amateur video.  If your subject is speaking or singing, use a hand held, or wireless microphone if possible. If not, get the camera as close as you possibly can to your subject.  The quality of the microphone built into most video cameras is modest at best.  Placing it far from your subject will just pick up more echo and room noise.   Poor audio is one of the most common flaws of amateur video.  Be sure to silence any sound sources, and ask onlookers to remain “quiet on the set!”

Many cameras do not offer a way to connect an external microphone.  Almost all smartphones on the other hand do.  Some are quite inexpensive.  If your camcorder does have a microphone connection, A wireless microphone is a great choice.  Wireless lapel microphones start at about $100.  Most larger cities have rental houses that can rent a wireless mic system for as little as $20.  For rare occasions, rental is a great alternative to buying.

Leave edit room

Let the camera roll for a couple of seconds before the action begins, and the camera to continue to roll a few seconds after the action ends.  This is called “edit room”.  YouTube is filled with countless videos that are so chopped off that it would be almost impossible to combine them in a larger edit.

Auto focus has limitations

If a sharp pattern like a brick wall is behind your subject, auto focus will usually set the focus for the wall and not your subject.  If your camera offers the option for manual focus, it’s wise to learn to use it.  An easy way to use it is to first zoom in on your subject so that they fill the frame, and then turn off auto focus.  This will lock the focus to your subject rather than the wall behind them.

Compose your shot

A very common mistake is to place the subjects eyeballs at the dead center of the frame.  If you would imagine a “tic tac toe” grid drawn over the viewfinder, your subjects eyes should usually fall on the upper of the two horizontal lines.  The same is true of landscapes.  The horizon should fall on the upper or the lower horizontal line, and not right in the middle.  This is called “The rule of thirds”.

White Balance

This is one is a bit more on the advanced side.  The human eye can automatically adjust to the type of light illuminating a scene.  You’ve probably seen a video shot indoors with a very yellowish tint, or a video shot outdoors with a blueish tint.  Most every video camera attempts to automatically adjust the white balance.  When they fail to do so, your video will have an undesired tint.  Your camera may have presets for indoor and outdoor recording.  Some cameras have an option to manually pre-set the white balance using a white surface.  Even if your camera has none of these options, you can often help it figure out the correct white balance by pointing it at a white surface for a few seconds before you begin recording.

Check your video recording settings

Many modern video cameras that use memory cards, have several settings for video quality.  The highest quality setting will produce the best looking video, but will also use the most space on the memory card.  Low quality is fine if you just want a quick video posting on YouTube.  If you’re recording an important event, and especially if you intend to edit your video, choose the highest quality setting.  Check your manual and make sure you have enough space on your memory card at the chosen recording quality.  Memory cards are relatively inexpensive these days.  It’s better to sacrifice a few dollars, than to compromise the quality of your video.

Turn your smartphone sideways!

Many users of smartphones will take still pictures and video with the phone held vertically.  This tends to look best when viewed on the phone.  If you are shooting photos or videos that are intended to be used in a video to be viewed on a computer or TV, you should turn your phone sideways.  Otherwise, you will end up with a slim video in the middle of the screen, surrounded by black bars.