Body language is really important on camera. Really important. I mean really. 🙂
But did you know that your camera may be giving a bad translation of what you’re trying to say?
In this video, we demonstrate one way in which your camera may literally be telling your audience something that’s flat out not true about you.
Let’s not wait too long before fixing this problem, shall we? (Not that you have it, of course, but now you can help a friend.)
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. Brilliant advice from a real pro.
I learned so much in only 4 minutes; fish-eye lenses and hulk hands – and how they hurt my business!
Thanks a ton for the valuable info, as always.
Thank you, Marina. Nice to see you back (and sum up 4 minutes in only 11 words! :))
Nice video, Steve…. great advice. I’m impressed that you would just send advice
like this out (broadcast it) to an email list. Wish you had posted your blog url.
Mel….if you look at the top of this page, there are various navigation item including “blog”. I really like the intro and exit branding music and graphics. Its just right. It is also a nice touch to see Steve begin to talk and then the intro reel comes in soon afterwards.
Of course, the content is uniformly excellent.
Having a few words about the episode before the title is vital for web videos. People on the web are very impatient, and will abandon a program during an opening title sequence, even one only 10 seconds long. A little teaser out front will entice them to stick it out through the title. (Check the Analytics for your own videos to see where people are clicking away.)
Ah well, at least you found it 🙂
The URL does get posted in the non-html version of the email.
Thanks Steven – we are always modeling something – and we sure don’t want to model something negative in an unaware state. Thanks for making this great tip short and sweet.
You’re welcome, Hanna!
Thanks Steve for the great advice – as usual – from the Video Pro 🙂
You keep getting better…. no end.
Steve
Great information. Is there a way to change the focal length in settings or are folks just stuck with their camera’s lens?
If you have an iPhone, Canon or even the Kodak; basically any camera with a zoom lens, you can change the focal length.
Great video, Steve! Thanks for sharing your wisdom on using hands naturally and the technical information about camera lenses.
By the way, it looked to me like this video was shot from above? The perspective didn’t seem straight on like other videos.
Good catch, Dave! I was trying to replicate what often happens with a webcam 🙂
Yikes Steve, with this lens your head had gotten soooo HUGE, too (compared to the size of your hands, etc). And shooting on a downward angle creates the subliminal impression the subject in inferior and less important than the audience. Pro photographer Jay Morgan has some excellent illustrations the problem shooting with lens that are too short (under 35mm):
http://tinyurl.com/a47wl5x
Happy trails, Michael
Thanks Steven great advice and also great expression ‘HULK HANDS’.
I will certainly make sure I am not overly expressive with them.
Grahame
Steve, question about wardrobe and background.
I assume that you used the darker background, brown jacket and black shirt so that you would accentuate the hands and focus our attention there.
If you used a complete black background would you need to change the wardrobe, or would it still work? Thanks.
Howard
With a black background you have to be careful of contrast. You can’t go too light because the camera doesn’t have the same capability to resolve contrast that your eyes do. In fact, it’s something like 10,000:1 for your eyes and 128:1 for your poor camera.
So yes, I would still use my brownish jacket and dark shirt, even with a black background, because I also use a backlight, which makes everything look separated from the background and easy to see,
When the video started, I was thinking, “Why’s he using a fish-eye lens?” Good to know you were making a point. 😉
I typically think that a perspective from above makes the person look less authoritative (you look down to children, literally). I usually advise people to put the camera just a hair below them so that the viewer is “looking up” at you. It’s subtle, but I think it works.
You’re right, though. People usually shoot from below on a webcam instead of just putting the computer on a couple of books or something so that it’s at least even with their eyes.
Paul
Yes. One of the things I didn’t mention is that even if you are only an inch above eye level, with the wrong focal length it can look like you’re a foot or more above.
Thanks Stephen, that’s very helpful!
Great video, Steve. Didn’t realize there’s so much to learn about making videos to get our message across.
One or two things, maybe 🙂